[mathyoo]

I have a 2006 e90.

I unlock the door with the remote, then stick the remote in and press the power ignition button and the car goes dead. I have no power or electricity and the remote is stuck and I cannot pull it out.

I then get one of my spare keys, and unlock and open the trunk manually, and then as soon as I shut the trunk, all the electricity is back on in the car and everything works fine.

This has happened 3 times in the last week.

Has anybody else ever experienced this?

Does anybody know why this is happening?

[ctuna]

I would start by measuring the Car Battery Voltage.
Below 12 volts is bad a new battery should measure 12.6
Having diagnostics with these is recommended.

[mathyoo]

Originally Posted by ctuna

I would start by measuring the Car Battery Voltage.
Below 12 volts is bad a new battery should measure 12.6
Having diagnostics with these is recommended.

Yeah, my first thought was the battery, but i wasn't sure because haven't been getting the battery warning light.

[mathyoo]

I just got back from O'Rielly, not the battery and not the alternator.

[ctuna]

Where are the hard figures that prove that.
If you are depending on other people to tell you
what's wrong with it without doing any work yourself
you might as well take it to a shop.
A BMW shop.
Also you are better off taking this to the general Forum
since it's not really a stereo question.

[mathyoo]

Originally Posted by ctuna

Where are the hard figures that prove that.
If you are depending on other people to tell you
what's wrong with it without doing any work yourself
you might as well take it to a shop.
A BMW shop.
Also you are better off taking this to the general Forum
since it's not really a stereo question.

It says electronics and this is most likely an electronics issue.

But then again if I could get better feedback.......

You don't have to be offended or anything.....but I posted this to get some idea of what the issue might be so I could get more insight on how to proceed, because I'm sure I'm not the first to experience this problem

I also don't have the equipment to test the battery or the alternator and O'Rielly will do it for free.

30 minutes and two potential culprits axed out. It was a good move on my part.

[ctuna]

If you don't have the values from the test all you know is some
guy said it was OK.
The stuff related to general failure of the car is covered a lot more
in the General section .
This area is dedicated to stereo in general .
The guys that are likely to give you detailed help
are in the general section .
And they will tell you right off the bat to get something to read codes
and to give values from measurements,
So you need tools and diagnostics to do anything yourself.

If you read the headers on the topic's here how many are about general car problems ?
This is not the section for this.

Try this google search "e90 key stuck"
a lot of threads will come up mostly that point to the general section here.

Some report the car must be in park in an automatic transmission car for the key to be removed.

[mathyoo]

Originally Posted by ctuna

If you don't have the values from the test all you know is some
guy said it was OK.

Why would he lie and say my battery and alternator are ok, if one of them isn't ok? What would he have to gain?

[ctuna]

Not saying he is lying but maybe doesn't understand what the
values for a BMW are. That is why the numbers are important.

For instance the Car Battery is often called a 12 volt battery and you might
think 12 volts is a good resting battery voltage but in reality it is shot because
the real out of the box value is 12.6 for a healthy battery.

https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/k...9-328i.784971/

[2oSoJ]

Yank that fool out the slot works every time

[ValveslapAdjustment]

Originally Posted by mathyoo

Why would he lie and say my battery and alternator are ok, if one of them isn't ok? What would he have to gain?

@mathyoo I've had a brand new car battery test OK by auto technicians before when it was actually bad. Took it back to be tested twice, the battery passed twice but the car wouldn't start. The third time I took it back it was exchanged and the car started and ran fine. Maybe your battery test guy wasn't lying to you AND the battery isn't working well. Sometimes that happens, which is why the others are interested in the actual battery voltage. 🙂

Do you or someone you know have a multimeter? I think you could easily get the voltage for the guys across the terminals. And hey, if your battery really is a good battery, even better because a lot of us love a diagnostic challenge on here! 😉

BTW if you need a battery, Costco provides a 7 year warranty on theirs and they don't test them when you exchange under warranty. Technically you could get a new Costco battery every 5 years or so for free.

[mathyoo]

Update:

A few months before this happened I was rear ended. The other guy was at fault, so I took it to the body shop serviced by his insurance company.

It turned out that a computer in the trunk that turns off all electricity in the car was shook up when this guy rear ended me and a loose connection within regards to that computer is what was causing the car to go dead every now and again.

[nuke21]

Originally Posted by mathyoo

Why would he lie and say my battery and alternator are ok, if one of them isn't ok? What would he have to gain?

So just so you know, I wouldn't think he is "lying" I just don't think they can test them well.

I had a weird electrical problem with my BMW. I drove down the road and lights would randomly flash on the dash and go nuts. Instrument cluster was having a seizure. I freaked out because I was on the highway and scared the car would lock up so I got off the next exit and drove home.

I thought, it has to be my battery or alternator. I swapped batteries with my other car and same problem. I took out the alternator, drove to a specialty shop that rebuilds them, and they tested it. They said it was fine. I couldn't believe it. I checked everything I could think of again and came to the same conclusion, it has to be the alternator. So I decided to just go buy one and install it. Was very pricy for a BMW one so I was hesitant at first but it had to be it.

It was.

I was so mad at the shop for wasting my time. They must not have tested mine properly because it defiantly wasn't working. I ended up taking mine apart and used my Fluke on it and found one of the diodes (Thing that makes electricity only go one way) was fried, letting electricity go the other way (where it shouldn't), which was causing all my problems.

Moral of the story. They might not be lying to you, they might just not be testing it correctly or maybe the alternator isn't doing the problematic thing at that time it is being tested.

I'm glad you found out what your problem was, but just keep that in mind to not trust them 100%.

[Captain Buumer]

Costco provides a 7 year warranty on theirs and they don't test them when you exchange under warranty. Technically you could get a new Costco battery every 5 years or so for free.

I don't think it works like that.

You buy a battery with 7 years of warranty.

Battery fails for some reason after 5 years. Most probably it was undercharged most of time and sulphates resulting not holding charge or the voltage regulator is bad and overcharged AGM one.

You take it back claiming you got faulty battery - get replacement battery.

Now the warranty doesn't reset back to 7 years but you have 2 years left for original purchase.

After the 2 years no warranty is for the 2nd battery.

This is how it is in EU.


Is it different in Canada? This can be abused forever and you can buy anything only once. Just need to create a list when to return certain item with made up fault that makes sense. I don't think shops are that stupid to reset warranty or are they?

But 7 years for battery, that surely has to be AGM battery as they last really long time if properly maintained.