[Chrisclimer]

Hello!

I am new to this forum and somewhat new to the BMW world. I had an e46 and now I have a 2011 E90 N55 Sedan. I recently changed out the Valve cover because the seal went bad. I don’t know if it is related but ever since then I have been getting the “charging malfunction” on the I drive and red battery light on cluster. At first I thought it was maybe a non registered battery and the car was having issues not knowing how long the battery was around. I bought the car from someone who riced it out and just did work to for reason other then to say he had certain parts on and he put in a new battery about 2 years ago. I went ahead and bought a new battery anyway and registered it with the car. Still got the charging malfunction.

So, I went ahead and changed out the alternator and I am still having issues. My belt looks good my connections look good. I checked the grounds and they look good.

I need some assistance on what I can look at to fix this problem. Maybe I am not right in the head but it is a lot of fun to take this car apart and working on it, I just need some more direction.

From what I can tell here are other things I can look into:

IBS Cable
Power Distribution Box
Footwell Module
DME

Any help would be gratefully appreciated

[TunafishE93]

Have you cleared error and gave it a good run.. Then let it sit overnight..

[Chrisclimer]

I cleared codes and I did the drive for about 20-30 minutes some highway and in town driving. As soon as I pulled into the driveway the malfunction light came on. I checked voltage at the battery and it was 11.25v and I had just a little better at the alternator of 11.80v

[TunafishE93]

So your alternator is not working.. Do you ever get charge voltage +13v??

[Chrisclimer]

No, but I put a new alternator in. You think I just got a bad alternator?

[TunafishE93]

It is possible .. Did you test the old alternator?

[Chrisclimer]

Unfortunately that is the big mistake that I made I didn’t get it tested. I made the assumption based off of my battery going dead and charging it again and it died on me another time. Let’s say for the sake of trying to understand that the old alternator was bad and the new is good. What else might cause these symptoms?

[marvinstockman]

The signal/voltage for the alternator to charge comes from the computer. No signal, no charge.

Could be as simple as a bad wire.

On older cars the voltage regulator was internal to the alternator, on modern cars the voltage regulation is done externally by the computer. Please don't change the computer before you get a wiring diagram, a multimeter, and trouble shoot the system

[AllBlackBimmer]

Battery needs to be registered to the car.
IBS cable absolutely could be causing it as there was a recall many years ago on these - make sure your has had the recall done.

In my opinion, it is probably as simple as one of those two items.

[haaken675]

If it's not charging with a new alternator, I would be wiling to be the IBS module isn't working. Did you code the new battery?

[nsjames]

do you have standard tools?
You need inpa to ask the BSD devices questions.

[Gatriel]

You can code a new battery with Carly.

[dpaul]

Originally Posted by marvinstockman

The signal/voltage for the alternator to charge comes from the computer. No signal, no charge.

No - the Voltage regulator defaults to 13.8 when there is no valid signal on the BSD bus

[dpaul]

Originally Posted by AllBlackBimmer

Battery needs to be registered to the car.
IBS cable absolutely could be causing it as there was a recall many years ago on these - make sure your has had the recall done.

In my opinion, it is probably as simple as one of those two items.

No chance that an IBS problem or failure to register the battery will result in 11.8v at the alternator in a running motor

[dpaul]

Follow @nsjames advice - first thing to do is read the codes

[Chrisclimer]

I have registered the battery with the car I think… I did just learn about needing to code the battery to the car. I am now doing research on what and where to buy the tools to doing coding. I have a Mac so I am hoping to find something that can use a Mac. I am not showing any codes for the charging issue. I am only getting codes for my turbo issue I am dealing with.

Here are the codes my car is showing
P0444 Evap purge control valve
P0229 Turbo charger under boost
P12aB
P10d0
P10b0
P15FE - which went away after I register the battery and hasn’t come back but it did show up.

I have an autophix 7910 code reader that has BMW feature on it. This is what I used to register the battery with the car. I don’t know if this helps anything. I will totally find a schematic and start looking as well as look into coding the battery/.

[F31B48]

Originally Posted by Chrisclimer

I have registered the battery with the car I think… I did just learn about needing to code the battery to the car. I am now doing research on what and where to buy the tools to doing coding. I have a Mac so I am hoping to find something that can use a Mac. I am not showing any codes for the charging issue. I am only getting codes for my turbo issue I am dealing with.

Here are the codes my car is showing
P0444 Evap purge control valve
P0229 Turbo charger under boost
P12aB
P10d0
P10b0
P15FE - which went away after I register the battery and hasn’t come back but it did show up.

I have an autophix 7910 code reader that has BMW feature on it. This is what I used to register the battery with the car. I don’t know if this helps anything. I will totally find a schematic and start looking as well as look into coding the battery/.

When you did the valve cover, are you 100% sure you refitted the battery cable that goes across the top of the engine to the alternator? Check if you have battery voltage at the main cable of the alternator.

If it happened right after you did that job then i would say it's not connected or loose.

[Chrisclimer]

I didn’t disconnect any battery cables. I took them out of the engine cover I guess. But I never unbolted anything. Is it possible I pulled another wire out then? I checked voltage at the alternator with got the car on and off and I get pretty much the same voltage at the battery that I do at the alternator.

[marvinstockman]

I found this for an E60, but the E90 is pretty much the same:

My E61 also charges pretty high - I see a max of 15.1V. During starting it drops below 10V (when it's below freezing outside) but always starts. I'm planning on replacing the battery, but it hasn't failed me yet, and I've got a portable battery jumpstarter in the car (which is probably why it hasn't failed me yet). My charge voltage isn't steady at 15.1 though - it starts off lower, when you can see the charging brains are "feeling out" the battery to see how it's doing. Then the alternator output slowly ramps up to hit the 15ish point. After driving for a while, stopping and idling while sitting at a traffic light the voltage will cycle down, check battery's capacity, and then boost back up.

Here's a huge writeup from the WDS on bmw-planet ... alternators in our cars are way smarter than a fixed voltage regulator module inside the alternator. The car computer controls charging, and measures battery voltage using the IBS right at the battery. The brains will store a code if there's a fault that causes overvoltage (among other reasons).

-tom


BSD interface to the alternator

The alternator with BSD interface can actively communicate with the engine control unit. The alternator is not linked to the charge indicator lamp, only to the engine control unit. The alternator can detect a variety of faults.
Function

The following functions have been implemented in the engine control unit for the alternator with BSD interface:
-Activating/deactivating the alternator on the basis of appliable parameters
-Specification of the maximum permitted degree of utilisation of the alternator
-Control of the alternator's load response
-Calculation of the alternator moment degree of utilisation
-Diagnosis of the data line between the alternator and the engine control
-Filing of alternator faults in the defect code memory
Activating the load control lamp in instrument cluster via CAN
In comparison to alternators used so far, the display strategy of the load control lamp does not change when the alternator with BSD interface.
The basic function of the alternator is also ensured if the communication between the alternator and the engine control is interrupted.
Possible faults

The following possible faults can be distinguished from fault entries:
High temperature control: The alternator is overloaded; to be safe, the alternator voltage is reduced until the alternator has cooled down again. The charge indicator lamp does not light up.
-Mechanical fault: The alternator is mechanically blocked or the belt drive has failed.
-Electrical fault: Exciter diode defect, excite interruption, overvoltage due to controller defect.
-Communication failure: Line defect between the engine control and alternator.
The following cannot be detected: Coil interruption or short-circuit
Battery charge indicator lamp

The signal for the charge indicator lamp to light up is transferred across CAN to the instrument cluster. The charge indicator lamp lights up if there is mechanical and electrical fault (see above).
Detection

The above-mentioned calculation of the alternator moment and the rate of utilisation of the alternator are heavily dependent on the type (performance) and manufacturer.
This is why the alternator provides the engine control with this data. The engine control adapts its calculation and set values to the exact type.
Aim

The precise calculation of the alternator moment and control of the load response function enables good idling of the engine.
Control of the alternator voltage based on nominal values from the engine control enables a good charge balance of the battery.

This is the string:

https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/a...oltage.763508/

[lookalikehuuh]

Originally Posted by Chrisclimer

I have registered the battery with the car I think… I did just learn about needing to code the battery to the car. I am now doing research on what and where to buy the tools to doing coding. I have a Mac so I am hoping to find something that can use a Mac. I am not showing any codes for the charging issue. I am only getting codes for my turbo issue I am dealing with.

Here are the codes my car is showing
P0444 Evap purge control valve
P0229 Turbo charger under boost
P12aB
P10d0
P10b0
P15FE - which went away after I register the battery and hasn’t come back but it did show up.

I have an autophix 7910 code reader that has BMW feature on it. This is what I used to register the battery with the car. I don’t know if this helps anything. I will totally find a schematic and start looking as well as look into coding the battery/.

Where did you source the "new" alternator that went into the vehicle? You can disconnect the BSD connector from the alternator to eliminate the BSD BUS issue causing the charge to not work This is the clip at the top with the single cable thin cable coming out of it. This will force the alternator to its default charge voltage which should be around 13.8.

[Chrisclimer]

Originally Posted by lookalikehuuh

Where did you source the "new" alternator that went into the vehicle? You can disconnect the BSD connector from the alternator to eliminate the BSD BUS issue causing the charge to not work This is the clip at the top with the single cable thin cable coming out of it. This will force the alternator to its default charge voltage which should be around 13.8.

I got it from Autozone. It was the only place that I could get one in time for a filming that my car was going to be in (which doesn’t matter now because it didn’t make it). The alternator I took out and put in only had the power cable and a connection cable(on the back). Forgive my ignorance but where can I find the cable you are talking about?

[dpaul]

Originally Posted by marvinstockman

I found this for an E60, but the E90 is pretty much the same:

My E61 also charges pretty high - I see a max of 15.1V. During starting it drops below 10V (when it's below freezing outside) but always starts. I'm planning on replacing the battery, but it hasn't failed me yet, and I've got a portable battery jumpstarter in the car (which is probably why it hasn't failed me yet). My charge voltage isn't steady at 15.1 though - it starts off lower, when you can see the charging brains are "feeling out" the battery to see how it's doing. Then the alternator output slowly ramps up to hit the 15ish point. After driving for a while, stopping and idling while sitting at a traffic light the voltage will cycle down, check battery's capacity, and then boost back up.

Here's a huge writeup from the WDS on bmw-planet ... alternators in our cars are way smarter than a fixed voltage regulator module inside the alternator. The car computer controls charging, and measures battery voltage using the IBS right at the battery. The brains will store a code if there's a fault that causes overvoltage (among other reasons).

-tom


BSD interface to the alternator

The alternator with BSD interface can actively communicate with the engine control unit. The alternator is not linked to the charge indicator lamp, only to the engine control unit. The alternator can detect a variety of faults.
Function

The following functions have been implemented in the engine control unit for the alternator with BSD interface:
-Activating/deactivating the alternator on the basis of appliable parameters
-Specification of the maximum permitted degree of utilisation of the alternator
-Control of the alternator's load response
-Calculation of the alternator moment degree of utilisation
-Diagnosis of the data line between the alternator and the engine control
-Filing of alternator faults in the defect code memory
Activating the load control lamp in instrument cluster via CAN
In comparison to alternators used so far, the display strategy of the load control lamp does not change when the alternator with BSD interface.
The basic function of the alternator is also ensured if the communication between the alternator and the engine control is interrupted.
Possible faults

The following possible faults can be distinguished from fault entries:
High temperature control: The alternator is overloaded; to be safe, the alternator voltage is reduced until the alternator has cooled down again. The charge indicator lamp does not light up.
-Mechanical fault: The alternator is mechanically blocked or the belt drive has failed.
-Electrical fault: Exciter diode defect, excite interruption, overvoltage due to controller defect.
-Communication failure: Line defect between the engine control and alternator.
The following cannot be detected: Coil interruption or short-circuit
Battery charge indicator lamp

The signal for the charge indicator lamp to light up is transferred across CAN to the instrument cluster. The charge indicator lamp lights up if there is mechanical and electrical fault (see above).
Detection

The above-mentioned calculation of the alternator moment and the rate of utilisation of the alternator are heavily dependent on the type (performance) and manufacturer.
This is why the alternator provides the engine control with this data. The engine control adapts its calculation and set values to the exact type.
Aim

The precise calculation of the alternator moment and control of the load response function enables good idling of the engine.
Control of the alternator voltage based on nominal values from the engine control enables a good charge balance of the battery.

This is the string:

https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/a...oltage.763508/

You're just making this a whole lot more complicated than it is. Yes, there is bidirectional communication with the alternator in the BSD bus. But when there is a bus fault, the regulator is designed to default to a preset value. It defaults to being one of those old fashioned 'dumb' alternators.

Think about it - would you want the alternator to shut itself off just because your oil level sensor went on the fritz or a bus wire got pinched? Of course not.