[easy66]

Hi There,

My battery died on me two nights ago and I took my car to BMW dealership... They quoted me $700 to replace a battery. Battery itself is only $250, but they charged about $450 for labor since they have to "register" the battery to my car. I just thought this was ridiculous and walked out.

I was thinking about replacing a battery myself or taking it to indy shop. Have you guys done DIY on battery replacement? "Registering" is really necessary? if not i would like to DIY, if not i should take it to indy shop.

Any advice is greatly appreciated, folks!

[Delta0311]

God damn!!
A tech can probably swap the battery out in under 30min. The registration process only takes a few minutes..

[ctuna]

Yes you should do the later or DIY.
Do not use battery back up it blows fuses.
Do not close the trunk its and electric lock.
There are DIY procedures in the DIY and maintenance
section there and on ytube.
You could buy the Carly (BMWhat) app and register it yourself
and then have diagnostic and programming capabilty
so you don't get messed with in the future.
About 120 with cable or wi fi dongle.
And Indy or Coder will register it for between 25 and 50 bucks.
A really good Interstate Battery will run you a little under 200 bucks
and a lot of people get a Walmart battery for between 100 and 150.
It's usually a group 49/h8 ot 49/h7
I paid 250 for an INterstate MTP 49/h8 installed and registered at an Indy.

[easy66]

Originally Posted by ctuna

Yes you should do the later or DIY.
Do not use battery back up it blows fuses.
Do not close the trunk its and electric lock.
There are DIY procedures in the DIY and maintenance
section there and on ytube.
You could buy the Carly (BMWhat) app and register it yourself
and then have diagnostic and programming capabilty
so you don't get messed with in the future.
About 120 with cable or wi fi dongle.
And Indy or Coder will register it for between 25 and 50 bucks.
A really good Interstate Battery will run you a little under 200 bucks
and a lot of people get a Walmart battery for between 100 and 150.
It's usually a group 49/h8 ot 49/h7
I paid 250 for an INterstate MTP 49/h8 installed and registered at an Indy.

I am planning to buy one at Autozone? Is there any specific one that I should look for?

I am not planning to buy an OEM one, so hopefully that's okay.

have you ever used Carly App in the past? How intuitive or easy is it?!

Thanks a lot

[ctuna]

The most important thing to match is amp/hours
or get close most of the stock ones are 90 amp hours(usually)
so something that meets or exceeds that it will be
a group 49/h8 or h7.
Be sure to install the vent tube.
Take a picture of the wiring before diss assembly .
Vist the Carly app site I would say its very user friendly from
the adverts. I have a coding setup already but if I didn't I think
the Carly app is the way to go. Its easy and fairly foolproof and doesn't
cost a lot compared to alternatives. There are demos on ytube I believe.
There are plenty of coders in LA.
See coding sub forum.

electical e90 pdf
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...,d.cGU&cad=rja
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...85464276,d.cGU
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...85464276,d.cGU

read the first pdf with regards to the battery distribution block .

[easy66]

Originally Posted by ctuna

The most important thing to match is amp/hours
or get close most of the stock ones are 90 amp hours(usually)
so something that meets or exceeds that it will be
a group 49/h8 or h7.
Vist the Carly app site I would say its very user friendly from
the adverts.
There are plenty of coders in LA.
See coding sub forum.

Thanks for your help!!

Appreciate it a lot

[easy66]

Originally Posted by Delta0311

God damn!!
A tech can probably swap the battery out in under 30min. The registration process only takes a few minutes..

Seriously....

they gotta be joking me. Who would have thought replacing a simple battery which takes 30mins cost you $700...

[optigrab]

Originally Posted by easy66

Seriously....

they gotta be joking me. Who would have thought replacing a simple battery which takes 30mins cost you $700...

That should be i hour of labor at most so 250 plus 1 hr @ the hourly rate.

i guess its 450$ a hour lol

[Delta0311]

Originally Posted by easy66

Seriously....

they gotta be joking me. Who would have thought replacing a simple battery which takes 30mins cost you $700...

Only our local BMW rape centers.

[ny325]

WOW. Total ripoff. Went to a BMW Indy. They put in the Bosch brand that BMW uses, install, program was $325.00. It took the the tech approximately 30 minutes to remove the battery. I'd say another 20-30 to register it. My car is a 2008 328i.I don't go to the dealer for anything. Several times they tried to upsell me unnecessary repairs that cost in the thousands. Really unethical practice most dealers have. Good luck OP. Stay away from the dealer if you can.

[ny325]

The Bosch battery was $199.00 labor was $105.00 a hour. So the battery, labor, taxes came to approximately $325.00.

[Vitalität]

Home depot has the same ratings for bmw batteries and for under $100 and coding is $20

[optigrab]

i know Nissan and Chevy have a certain amount of hours specified per job in the dealer service manual . I guess bmw doesnt do that?

[easy66]

Originally Posted by ny325

WOW. Total ripoff. Went to a BMW Indy. They put in the Bosch brand that BMW uses, install, program was $325.00. It took the the tech approximately 30 minutes to remove the battery. I'd say another 20-30 to register it. My car is a 2008 328i.I don't go to the dealer for anything. Several times they tried to upsell me unnecessary repairs that cost in the thousands. Really unethical practice most dealers have. Good luck OP. Stay away from the dealer if you can.

Thanks for your feedback! Yea, I was expecting around $300 too at first. How's Bosch battery?

[easy66]

Originally Posted by optigrab

i know Nissan and Chevy have a certain amount of hours specified per job in the dealer service manual . I guess bmw doesnt do that?

My SA put in 1.5 of hours, and their hourly rate is about $200. That being said, that's $300 in labor, plus tax and registration plus battery came out to be like $688.

[easy66]

Originally Posted by iDrive3

Home depot has the same ratings for bmw batteries and for under $100 and coding is $20

Wow that's dirt cheap! Pretty much any home depot?

[Wilt]

The Carly app currently lets you 'register' BMW battery (which tells it 'new battery' for charge profile purposes), but it currently lacks any ability to code the car to recognize a DIFFERENT TYPE & CAPACITY than the battery which is being replaced.

You do not have to immediately 'register' a battery, but be aware that you can eventually run into either

• a battery which seems to die prematurely (should last 4-7 years typically)
• a car which lights up all sorts of warning lights and pops a lot of error codes

[easy66]

Originally Posted by Wilt

The Carly app currently lets you 'register' BMW battery (which tells it 'new battery' for charge profile purposes), but it currently lacks any ability to code the car to recognize a DIFFERENT TYPE & CAPACITY than the battery which is being replaced.

You do not have to immediately 'register' a battery, but be aware that you can eventually run into either

• a battery which seems to die prematurely (should last 4-7 years typically)
• a car which lights up all sorts of warning lights and pops a lot of error codes

Ya, I think i'll be going to indy shop to replace it just to make everything simple and quick.

[El Cheapo Loco]

From what i've heard, the price of OEM battery has skyrocketed the past 2 years as BMW changed vendors.

Talk to Charlie at Mckenna. He quoted $475 out the door couple weeks ago. That's quite reasonable for OEM at a dealership.

[ctuna]

I would shop prices metro area's are expensive.
Home depot can register a battery?

[VTECaddict]

There's no good reason to pay a premium for the OEM battery when you can get a battery at Autozone for $100. You should be able to install and register it at an indy for cheap or DIY if you know how to code.

[AceOnShake]

Originally Posted by VTECaddict

There's no good reason to pay a premium for the OEM battery when you can get a battery at Autozone for $100. You should be able to install and register it at an indy for cheap or DIY if you know how to code.

Exactly this! I pay 20 bucks to get it registered. I bought the OEM battery a while back for 250 and I thought that was high.

Dealerships are charging 1.5 hours for labor? WTF?? It was my first time on my e90 and did it in 15 minutes TOPS!