Battery on way out?

[bodhi]

Got back from Birmingham Airport yesterday, parked up on the drive and killed the engine, but left the ignition on so I could listen to the radio whilst responding to a text - halfway through the text, about 10 seconds or so after parking up, the radio switched itself off and I was presented with a yellow battery warning light which stayed on until I locked the car.

Did another couple of short trips last night and it has made it into the office today without any further warning lights - however should I be looking at new batteries now? Car has just ticked over 100k, is a 2008 125i M Sport, still on original battery I believe.

[Mattt]

You'll probably be ok short term - but at 9 years old it's probably worth doing before it lets you down in freezing cold weather.

[Andy70]

If you decide to buy one, have a peek on ebay before you spend over 100 quid from Halfords etc, Lucus 640amps, 68AH, so better than GSF ones for a fraction of the price, about £50 I paid. Just a thought :-)

[trickywoo]

Does your car have an IBS? Could have been this telling the car to shut down due to unexpected power usage.

[Locknut]

Andy70 said:

If you decide to buy one, have a peek on ebay before you spend over 100 quid from Halfords etc, Lucus 640amps, 68AH, so better than GSF ones for a fraction of the price, about £50 I paid. Just a thought :-)

Careful there! That's a flooded cell battery. If the car has stop/start it needs an AGM battery which will cost more than twice as much.

I agree with Matt, at nine years you have got good service and you will have to think about another one soon.

[Andy70]

Locknut said:

Careful there! That's a flooded cell battery. If the car has stop/start it needs an AGM battery which will cost more than twice as much.

I agree with Matt, at nine years you have got good service and you will have to think about another one soon.

Apologies there then, I didn't realise that (good job my car doesn't)

[bodhi]

I've had the battery warning light come on once more when starting the car, so going to replace it I think. Next question is where to do that - do batteries for these need coded to the car, or can Halfords do it? Car doesn't have stop/start.

[Andy70]

honestly mate, don't spend 90 quid on a Halfords battery with only 550 amps when you can get a more powerful one off ebay for 50 quid, mine is working fine, its a lucus and their batteries are ok aren't they?

[helix402]

Battery replacement needs registration with the car. Cheapest and easiest diy way is Carly BMW.

[Andy70]

helix402 said:

Battery replacement needs registration with the car. Cheapest and easiest diy way is Carly BMW.

registration, why? every BM I've owned that's needed a new battery, I just found the most competitively priced one possible that is suitable for the job and replaced it and there were never any issues. surely its just a car that needs a battery? (I get the stop start thing though however which needs more thought, but a normal one?). Not meaning to be argumentative, I've just never heard of a battery needing registration that's all

[Mistrale]

I believe it is because the car optimises charge for the battery age/condition. If you don't tell it it has a new battery it can overcharge/damage the new one.

My 08 125i msport is doing something similar BTW!!

[STO]

When I changed mine, I connected a slave battery to the jump start posts under the bonnet then swapped the cars battery [making sure not to touch the positve on any metal]. But haven`t regersted it.

[helix402]

This may help:

http://freemaxx.de/e90forum/03_Power%20Management....

The ops car should have an agm battery, I think the 1 series got them from 03/07, however it's best to check on realoem.

[helix402]

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/attachment.php?atta...

[helix402]

STO said:

When I changed mine, I connected a slave battery to the jump start posts under the bonnet then swapped the cars battery [making sure not to touch the positve on any metal]. But haven`t regersted it.

Your car does not need battery Registration as its pre ibs.

[bodhi]

Thanks for the help folks - mine is an Efficient Dynamics model, and whilst it doesn't have Stop Start, it does have a couple of token add ons to help the polar bear - one being a suggested gear indicator (woo) and the other is energy harvesting under braking, so it looks like I need an AGM battery.

Just about to call my indie to sort it out, as need the car for work and don;t want to risk waiting on a battery from ebay that won't fit. Will report back how I get on.