[fazman]

Hi All,

So i am on my original car battery which is exactly 6 years old from car production date. I don't have a garage, so no simple way to use a battery tender. I don't want to remove the battery and charge it in the house, because:
1) don't have a garage to secure the car in
2) PITA if the trunk is closed with no car battery and forgetting to drop down rear seats to reach the inside manual release
3) don't trust using the jump points to power the car to pop the trunk & don't want to leave my hood partially open.
4) if i'm doing the effort to pull the battery... Makes no sense to put the old one back in.... Might as well replace.

So the question is... At what point/sign do i bite the bullet and preemptively change it with one from advanced auto parts??

My dealer shows my key read of 11.1v and in the summer i've been 11.55v, i do 25mile trips one way to work (50 round trip) 6 days a week. Currently @ 76k miles and 6yrs old. No battery warnings yet and no random things shutting down. Car seems to fire up a fraction slower than in the summer time.

[335BOY]

Don't know the facts but 6 years is a long time to be on one battery.

[benjlv]

i have a 06/2006 330i with ~108k on the clock with the original battery. i have been debating doing this as well. On some recent 20deg mornings, it has been slow to crank after sitting for the weekend. Based on how my car is behaving, and my previous experience with car batteries, i believe that this one will eventually run out of capacity to the point that it wont be able to start the car on a cold morning. That day seems to be approaching based on the cars behavior now. However, the previous owner tells me that it did the same thing last winter, so maybe it has another year or so in it....maybe it will give next week.

Unless i suddenly get some free time, i do not plan on replacing my battery though.
1) when the battery doesn't have enough omph to start the car I will probably be at home or at work. I have access to means to jump start the car at both.
2) it is more than likely the battery will be able to still power the locks on the car when it does run out of capacity, so i am not worried about gaining access to the trunk. Worse case you have to get someone to jump you to get into the trunk. The underhood connections work great and access to them can be gained without the electronics working
3)my car is a stick shift, so it can always be push started

in your case. I wouldnt worry about replacing the battery if the car isn't cranking real slow. When it starts consistently doing so, it will be time because its not worth the hassle to just get a few more months of use out of the battery.

[catcher22]

Do you have access to a code scanner/reader?

I started to see codes related to what I now know was my old battery dying just a few weeks before it died or me noticing any symptoms. Something like DME Power Management something. At the time I didn't think anything of it, but all of the codes went away after replacing my battery.

It was too late by the time the battery actually died and I only got 2 starts out of it. So I would pre-empt if I were you.

[Efthreeoh]

A 25 mile one way trip should easily keep the battery in good condition. I'd wait until you get a low battery notification and then change it. The battery in my 1999 F-150 lasted until a few months ago, it was getting slow to crank, but it was 14 years old so no surprise there. The truck sits most the time and gets maybe 50 miles a weekend. It's hard to say when a battery will go on you. My motorcycle battery lasted over 13 years too, but I kept it on a Tender most the time. It was cranking very slow and would die out if I let the bike sit a few weeks even on a battery tender.

My advice is to get a OEM BMW battery and get it properly registered when you do change it out.

[Seattlesquash]

I just changed mine, it had exactly 7 years on it, the white top 90ah one. Never had too much issues but it felt a bit tired... Indicator showed black. Changed to a super start platinum AGM 49PLT I think. I believe that it is the same as the one produced by DEKA. Had independent shop do the programming and starts up way quicker. Happy with the choice, at $179 + tax. Also I think the specs were 92ah, and 170 reserve minutes and 850 CCA vs 720 CCA stock. Sounds like a good time to start thinking of doing it, mine never left me stranded but I knew it was coming at one point!

[fazman]

Originally Posted by catcher22

Do you have access to a code scanner/reader?

I started to see codes related to what I now know was my old battery dying just a few weeks before it died or me noticing any symptoms. Something like DME Power Management something. At the time I didn't think anything of it, but all of the codes went away after replacing my battery.

It was too late by the time the battery actually died and I only got 2 starts out of it. So I would pre-empt if I were you.

Yea my JB4, inpa, BMWLogger all do code reading.... Don't have any issues yet.

[fazman]

Originally Posted by benjlv

i have a 06/2006 330i with ~108k on the clock with the original battery. i have been debating doing this as well. On some recent 20deg mornings, it has been slow to crank after sitting for the weekend. Based on how my car is behaving, and my previous experience with car batteries, i believe that this one will eventually run out of capacity to the point that it wont be able to start the car on a cold morning. That day seems to be approaching based on the cars behavior now. However, the previous owner tells me that it did the same thing last winter, so maybe it has another year or so in it....maybe it will give next week.

Unless i suddenly get some free time, i do not plan on replacing my battery though.
1) when the battery doesn't have enough omph to start the car I will probably be at home or at work. I have access to means to jump start the car at both.
2) it is more than likely the battery will be able to still power the locks on the car when it does run out of capacity, so i am not worried about gaining access to the trunk. Worse case you have to get someone to jump you to get into the trunk. The underhood connections work great and access to them can be gained without the electronics working
3)my car is a stick shift, so it can always be push started

in your case. I wouldnt worry about replacing the battery if the car isn't cranking real slow. When it starts consistently doing so, it will be time because its not worth the hassle to just get a few more months of use out of the battery.

Nice!!!

[fazman]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

A 25 mile one way trip should easily keep the battery in good condition. I'd wait until you get a low battery notification and then change it. The battery in my 1999 F-150 lasted until a few months ago, it was getting slow to crank, but it was 14 years old so no surprise there. The truck sits most the time and gets maybe 50 miles a weekend. It's hard to say when a battery will go on you. My motorcycle battery lasted over 13 years too, but I kept it on a Tender most the time. It was cranking very slow and would die out if I let the bike sit a few weeks even on a battery tender.

My advice is to get a OEM BMW battery and get it properly registered when you do change it out.

WOW that is impressive usage with the truck!!!

[fazman]

Originally Posted by Seattlesquash

I just changed mine, it had exactly 7 years on it, the white top 90ah one. Never had too much issues but it felt a bit tired... Indicator showed black. Changed to a super start platinum AGM 49PLT I think. I believe that it is the same as the one produced by DEKA. Had independent shop do the programming and starts up way quicker. Happy with the choice, at $179 + tax. Also I think the specs were 92ah, and 170 reserve minutes and 850 CCA vs 720 CCA stock. Sounds like a good time to start thinking of doing it, mine never left me stranded but I knew it was coming at one point!

I was planning to register using my OBD2 cable and the BMWLogger software, then verify in INPA. I just need to make sure i get a non-AGM with an RC of about 160. The CA&CCA just need to be 720+

I have no idea how/if AGM's are better? also i'm not sure how to correctly code my 90ah white ca&cca 720/rc 160 battery to the strongest spec AGM??? Then again other than starting/lighting/ignition... What more do i really want out of a battery??? I'm not running any high powered audio

[Seattlesquash]

I am not sure on the cable/tools required to do the coding if you do it yourself. On the AGM here is what I like/heard, although I agree with what you are saying and possible making it overkill for what I needed it to do: AGM performs better in cold climates with smaller negative impacts from low temperatures, and this AGM is a sealed battery which I feel better about having it in the trunk.

For whatever those thoughts are worth...

[fazman]

Originally Posted by Seattlesquash

I am not sure on the cable/tools required to do the coding if you do it yourself. On the AGM here is what I like/heard, although I agree with what you are saying and possible making it overkill for what I needed it do: AGM performs better in cold climates with smaller negative impacts from low temperatures, and this AGM is a sealed battery which I feel better about having it in the trunk.

For whatever those thoughts are worth...

Sealed, meaning no vent tube? I like that idea of better in colder climates since its cold in NJ for 1/3 of the year

[Frenk]

2008 so far so good

[Seattlesquash]

Correct, mine is sealed with no vent tube.

[iDriveanXi]

I have 06/2007 328 on original battery and have been getting very slow cranks. I'll be getting a new one tomorrow and have it registered at dealer during the week.

[fazman]

Originally Posted by iDriveanXi

I have 06/2007 328 on original battery and have been getting very slow cranks. I'll be getting a new one tomorrow and have it registered at dealer during the week.

If your in NJ near edison, i can register your battery for free. Takes me only 1 minute with my laptop and cable. Advanced Auto Parts is even having a sale on the batteries for about $128 with coupon code (Make sure to keep your original battery rather than taking the $18 core charge). PM me if you want help doing this because i've helped others do this if u r just changing like for like.

[ctuna]

The under 12 volts says change me now.
I got slow cranks with a weak battery long
before any low battery messages.
These cars don't jump easily my e46 wouldn't jump when the
battery went bad. My Indy says its the same on the e90's.
I got a Interstate MTP 49/H8 installed and registered at my Indy for
240.
The battery itself runs about 160 to 180 msrp.
A lot of people on here have found cheaper batterys.
I wouldn't want to be stuck in a snow storm because of something like this . Besides being somewhat dangerous it will be way more expensive .

[fazman]

Originally Posted by ctuna

The under 12 volts says change me now.
I got slow cranks with a weak battery long
before any low battery messages.
These cars don't jump easily my e46 wouldn't jump when the
battery went bad. My Indy says its the same on the e90's.
I got a Interstate MTP 49/H8 installed and registered at my Indy for
240.
The battery itself runs about 160 to 180 msrp.
A lot of people on here have found cheaper batterys.
I wouldn't want to be stuck in a snow storm because of something like this . Besides being somewhat dangerous it will be way more expensive .

My friends stock battery was the white 90ah 720 cca&ca with 160 rc battery, we went to AAP and they installed the gold 1000 ca/900ish cca battery with 150 rc, it works fine as a 90ah since i think it's technically a 95ah battery and the next step up on the car would be to code it as a 110ah. The only issue we had with AAP installing the battery was that they plugged in some battery back device to the OBD2 port to save settings (this caused a 5a fuse to blow for the speedo, i think it was fuse number 74) after about a day of research to figure that out we replaced the fuse and all was good!!!

I used BMWLogger to register the battery and INPA to verify the old battery details were wiped and the last battery change mileage recorded was the current mileage.

[ctuna]

Don't use battery back up .
That fuse blowing has been reported a lot .
Its either fuse 74 or 58 depending on the car.
There is a picture representation of the instrument cluster
next to the fuse number toward the bottom of the fuse map page.
No need to reprogram the 95ah battery in my opinion its close enough.

[fazman]

Originally Posted by ctuna

Don't use battery back up .
That fuse blowing has been reported a lot .
Its either fuse 74 or 58 depending on the car.
There is a picture representation of the instrument cluster
next to the fuse number toward the bottom of the fuse map page.
No need to reprogram the 95ah battery in my opinion its close enough.

It is worth while to do the sunroof reset and power window reset after a battery change tho.

[Frenk]

should it start instantanously ? How many crank you guys need in cold winter to start ?

[ex-poster]

Funny this thread should show up now... my 05/2006 330i was cranking a bit slower for the last few weeks, but I figured I had time to change it later.

Nope. Left the car outside (it's normally garaged) in windy 32 deg F conditions for 6 hours and all it would do is click. Had to get a jump. Basically no warning (e.g., no dash light or icon displayed) from the car.

I normally drive this car for at least 30 minutes at a time.

I don't have the gear for calibration so I'll be off to the stealership to get bent over one of these days. I really don't drive the car in winter so I may just leave it parked in the garage until spring though.