Help! Replaced my battery 2 months ago and car was doing well until I left her garaged for 2 weeks. I had to jump her and she ran ok. Tried to restart 2 days later and car won't turn. Warning/dash lights as well as door light go on but appear to fade. Then radio as well as headlights, and hazards stopped working. Battery or alternator problem? Is it that I need to jump her again and run her consistently? Help and thanks!!! Cheers D
It is obvious that you have a drain somewhere in the system if your battery is only two months old. I guess the next question is how handy and patient are you? Electrical gremlins can be very frustrating to find and frankly a bit too complex and long winded to explain here. Fortunately, your car is older and does not have a lot of the modern gizmos that make finding the problem so much harder. One simple way to begin is to connect a multimeter to the battery. Make sure the battery is fully charged first. Look to see what the draw is, then one at a time remove each fuse and check the draw. When it drops, you have found the circuit where the problem lays (lies?). The next trick is to check all the connections, relays and fixtures on that circuit. There are books in your local library and articles on the internet which can help you figure out exactly (well close enough anyway) how do do this. If you don't have a schematic of your car get one first and spend hours and hours studying it. If you are not an electronic whiz then find a friend or fellow club member to help you decipher it. I'm afraid I'll have to leave it at that. Another idea is to hold a Tech Session for your local BMWCCA chapter with your car as the subject. Just make sure you have a lot of beer and sausages on hand and be ready for plenty of "expert" advice. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
