Quote:
Originally Posted by John 070
I thought that the M cars came with AGM, which are black. I know I looked into it i.e. switching from lead acid to AGM. AT the time, the dealer wanted $280 to replace the battery and program it. They said if I wanted AGM, it would be $450, because the car would then be coded as opposed to programmed--even they told me it's not worth it. So sounds like yours was switched to AGM at some point...
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I agree, somewhere along the line (maybe with the first owner) the battery was swapped out. I don't know if there's a way using the VIN to find out what the car came with as original equipment? As I mentioned, when I bought is last spring from the second owner (he's a neighbor and bought the car several years ago as a "Certified Pre-owned" from local BMW dealer) He told me he has swapped out the battery a few years ago. At the time, I had no idea about the battery registration or coding. The battery that was in the car was a DuraCell Group 49 (H8) lead acid from Sams Club. According to the date sticker, it was around 4 years old. So I went to Sams and bought a new one! I researched and found it needed to be registered, so I bought the icarsoft scan tool which allowed me to simply register the battery. That tool did not have any provision to switch amp hours or type, so I sent it back. A few weeks ago I bought the Schwaben scanner from ECS which was on sale for $122 shipped. Nice tool, allowed me to scan for codes and check battery voltage and register it, but again no provision to change amp or type. The Schwaben gave a read out that my car has a 90ah AGM. That's how I found out I need to try something else. So far I've gotten a hint that the Protool from Bimmergeeks will do it all, but I'm waiting for them to answer my email before I buy it. Some folks on Bimmerfest say Carly can register a battery, but I've yet to find solid evidence that Carly can code the amp hours and type. The mystery continues.....
I will update here when I get a solid anwer.
Meanwhile, anyone with hands on experience with either Protool or Carly and Battery reg/coding please reply.
Thanks!