[SenorFunkyPants]

Bought my late 2008 M3 from these guys.
Just after it was 2 years old I started getting problems with low battery and excessive discharge warnings. 3 times it was looked at over the course of the 2011 at Sytner Solihul but no problem was discovered.
Rybrook had the car to check yesterday and found the battery to be faulty (no surprise) but now of course I'm out of main warranty and the extended warranty doesn't cover it. When Rybrook called Sytner Solihul to get confirmation that this was an ongoing problem Sytner have only recorded one visit!
So unless Rybrook can convince BMW that it should be covered, it looks like I could be out of pocket for £500 for a new battery.
So thanks for that Sytners.

[zedman]

i had the same problems and BMW won't cover the battery under the main warranty anyway, apparently 2 years life is normal.

it's pathetic

[chedixon]

Holy cow, £500 for a battery! You'd think it was a frikkin hybrid :O

[Mr Singh]

For £500 you'd hope its Lithium! I sell high end AGM batteries for the car audio market, and we don't do anything that expensive unless you went down the route of Lithium race cells.

I wonder if your alternators charging correctly, if you have had problems it suggests the batteries discharging or indeed not getting the correct charge to keep it maintained. Either way, £500 is daylight robbery

[SenorFunkyPants]

Its supposed to be some special super sticky swishy sealed wet glass mat affair that goes with the (in)efficient dynamic system - the system that is supposed to save you fuel by only charging the battery on overrun but actually costs you fuel because you have to do extra miles every trip to keep the sodding battery charged up!

[Mr Singh]

LOL. Doubt its an AGM as those are gel filled. Either way not for £500. Buy it and fit it yourself

Also, if the car doesn't have very many long runs that also could explain it being discharged, in which case you should invest in a CTEK charger, an XS3600 will do the job just fine.

[SenorFunkyPants]

" The Original BMW Battery with AGM Technology (AGM stands for ‘Absorbent Glass Mat’) is ideally suited to meeting the constantly growing energy requirements. The battery’s increased performance capacity allows it to sustain important BMW EfficientDynamics................."
I understand that this is the battery used in the current M3 but I could be wrong. Anyway I can't seem to be able to source an 2008-2012 M3 battery online - no one lists it.
On my last visit Sytners did at least manage to confirm that my "driver profile" showed that it wasn't the cause of the discharging battery.

[edowen]

worth asking this guy if he still has the battery?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E93-E9...#ht_500wt_1156

Personally I'd be making hell at the supplying dealer.

[nicktyler]

That sounds like a pretty expensive and complicated setup. Is it only on the nwere M3's?

It's a bit silly for them to promote it as energy saving if you have to do longer journeys sometimes. What if you only need it to go a few miles to work or the train station?

[Ant Man]

So the dealer checked the IBS and alternator too? It's definately the battery that's faulty?

You should be able to get a Bosch S5 for around £100. It's AGM and various capacities are offered.

It's very easy to replace but the new battery will need to be registered to the car. It will not need additional coding. Any independent with Autologic can do this.

Though BMW should cover this as the problems were previously reported.

[carbonSI]

Looks like Sytner Oldbury as a franchise is awful!! My 320si has been in numerous times about the steering and they just want to fob you off so you keep coming back with the readies I'm afraid thats the state of this country now...

[mistryn]

I am not to impressed by the parts dept at sytner oldbury, when I rang up few weeks ago to order a main thermostat. I was told the retail price, asked for a discount (as Anneka on here part of sytner and see if there is a discount etc) they said no but I was planning on getting it done that weekend so ordered it.

Went into the dealer asked the parts guy cheekily for a discount and he goes the reciept is already printed and you should have asked before the reciept was printed and you would have got the discount (bang head against wall)


Now I just pm Anneka on here and then pick it up

[Anneka @ Sytner]

Unfortunately BMW Warranty will not accept a fault exists unless it can actually be demonstrated, reproduced by us or has a memory log in the vehicle. Just mentioning a fault while the car is in Warranty doesn't give an extension of the warranty on that item.
Unfortunately the fault didn’t indicate a new Battery was required when it was look at by Solihull as was indicated on their test log, and we wouldn't be able to have made a claim/recorded something with Warranty unless there was something to claim/record. I hope that makes sense.

Anyway, the Battery may be able to be replaced at no cost provided there is a fault which has been demonstrated and the BMW test plan indicates it is faulty using the Warranty parameters and testing criteria. (It must not have a fault due to misuse or caused by the fitment of external devices.)

The work may be able to be done by following DSA Goodwill guidelines, and provided the criteria are met for DSA Goodwill (each case is looked at individually) the job could be done FOC or at a reduced cost if the Dealer sees fit to do it.

I hope this helps and wish you the very best of luck with the repair.

[SenorFunkyPants]

Its catch 22.
The car says there is a battery fault which is displayed on iDrive.
The battery charge level is indeed low, characterized by sluggish starting.
Yet the tests performed by Sytner Solihull says there is no problem.
That leaves me the mug arguing with service and workshop techs that its not right but getting fobbed off with a battery recharge.

I drove the car for 2 years without any battery problems.
Without a change in driving style I start to get "low battery" and "excessive battery discharge" warnings in the 3rd year of ownership...what logical person would not deduce that there is a problem with the system

I bought the car from Sytner Solihull at considerable cost, I drove past other BMW dealers to go back there for (expensive) servicing for three years but when it came time for them step up and take care of my battery problem they failed.

Luckily Rybrook Warwick went the extra mile with BMW and the faulty battery is being replaced under warranty.

[zedman]

This whole battery thing is a SKANK, mine started playing up at 2 years old, took it to 2 different dealerships who both said 'got to drive more long journeys mate', once in the original warranty and once in the extended.

The second time I told them to look into it further and lo and behold the battery isnt holding charge and is faulty! Only now the original warranty has lapsed and i have to pay my excess for them to tell me this. When I pointed out to BMW UK that the original fault was in the warranty period and had got no better since their response was 'well, it may have been fine the first time, so we're not paying for a new battery' and apparently 2 years thereabouts life for a battery is fine. So no goodwill payment.

Family 11 year old carisma, battery lasted 8 years
Family 7 year old Audi A4 - original battery
Family 5 year old Audi A3 - original battery
Family BMW E92 - battery screwed after 2 and a bit years, car driven same as the rest on a variety of journeys


Shame on them.

[SenorFunkyPants]

I wonder if battery technology is mature enough to cope with the very short term/high charge rate cycles that efficientdynamics requires. If enough batteries start to fail after 2-3 years then BMW could end up with another "cracked alloy" style fiasco.

[jimmylad]

I usually put my car on charge overnight once a week using the CTEK charger (100 quid jobby) when its just doing the school runs with heated seats on etc. I have wired the charger leads into the battery compartment & it's just a case of plugging it in inside the boot.

Got 2 mates with 5 series & both had to have new batteries & both fobbed off with need to drive it further........

[Anneka @ Sytner]

Great result.

[Ant Man]

Originally Posted by SenorFunkyPants

Its catch 22.
The car says there is a battery fault which is displayed on iDrive.
The battery charge level is indeed low, characterized by sluggish starting.
Yet the tests performed by Sytner Solihull says there is no problem.
That leaves me the mug arguing with service and workshop techs that its not right but getting fobbed off with a battery recharge.

I drove the car for 2 years without any battery problems.
Without a change in driving style I start to get "low battery" and "excessive battery discharge" warnings in the 3rd year of ownership...what logical person would not deduce that there is a problem with the system

I bought the car from Sytner Solihull at considerable cost, I drove past other BMW dealers to go back there for (expensive) servicing for three years but when it came time for them step up and take care of my battery problem they failed.

Luckily Rybrook Warwick went the extra mile with BMW and the faulty battery is being replaced under warranty.

Pls see my earlier post. Was the IBS and alternator checked too? It was definately the battery as being the root cause?

[SenorFunkyPants]

Originally Posted by Ant Man

Pls see my earlier post. Was the IBS and alternator checked too? It was definately the battery as being the root cause?

Rybrook have rung a few times to keep me up to date but I didn't really get into what the problem was other than that the battery was faulty and was going to be replaced.
They had the car on test overnight - I have no idea what results are generated by that test.
I am really impressed by how much effort Rybrook put into getting this covered under warranty - calling Sytners, liaising with me and negotiating with BMW. It might have helped that I had filled in a BMW questionnaire after one of my visits to Sytners in which I left no doubt of my disappointment with my ongoing battery problem.