So recently I ran into an issue, I got into my car a few days after new year’s eve and the clock had been reset with the little dashes requiring me to input the time. At first i thought it was a little quirk maybe bmw had you reset the time and date after a new year. But then i realized almost everytime i got into the car i’d have to reset it. It had been brutally cold for where I live (florida). After i reset it the first time, the yellow car on lift symbol popped up. I thought it was because i had a service scheduled for january 2018. The car started pretty long on the coldest day it’s seen with me, sounded like a diesel starting in -10F lol. Other than that the crank has been a tiny bit long but starts right up and idles fine. I get no battery indicators when driving but as soon as I stop at my destination and try to listen to the rest of my song the yellow battery light pops up and i leave it. But i come back after a few hours and it starts right up. Today I decided to buy a cheapo battery charger from wally word and it was actually pretty decent. I let it charge for a couple hours till it said it was charged/maintaining. Then I started it, took the same amount of time, clock was present. No warnings, no yellow lift. Went for a drive around the neighborhood just to see if so could use the rest air, as before i couldn’t and i read when your battery is fubar’d rest air won’t work. when I came home turned the car off and few seconds later bam yellow battery. In the hiden menu car off it sits at 12 flat and idle its 15 flat. The cheapo battery charger had a light for bad battery which wasn’t lit but not sure how much i’d really trust that.
I’m not sure, I bought it used should’ve specified it’s an 08 E93. I’m going to assume it’s a rather old battery. Also going to assume it was registered. Also a little update about 20 minutes ago the car was almost completely dead the only lights turning on after unlocking was the push button and a small other light. And window was stuck up when i tried to to close the door after turning the car on.
I'd get the battery tested to check it - if it might be the original battery, would be no surprise for that to be calling it quits, no surprise for them to call it quits anytime after 6 yrs., newer BMW's seem to do all kinds of haywire stuff if the battery is weak. Our resident tech, Charlson, will have more-informed insight too.
Sounds like the battery has a internal issue and no longer is accepting a charge. A battery replacement is most likely needed. Also once the battery on that car is replaced you will need to get it registered.
After replacing the battery in my '06 e90 330 twice, I would say battery. About every 5-6 years is what I've discovered. Depending how much you drive and what distances, you may want to invest in a battery tender to keep the battery at full power. When I don't drive either the e90 or e92 M3 they both have tenders. Here in Illinois our local dealer ran out of batteries during the most resent week long cold snap of -15 most days. I'm sure your vehicle did not like the one Florida winter ;-)
