[danbart]

Came back from vacation and my battery was dead. Car would not start.

Tried jumping it, but it would not start and gave me a bunch of error codes, including not recognizing my keys.

Tried trickle charging it for 2 days and the battery will no go above 4.35v.

Any ideas on what the issue could be?

Thx

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by danbart

Came back from vacation and my battery was dead. Car would not start.

Tried jumping it, but it would not start and gave me a bunch of error codes, including not recognizing my keys.

Tried trickle charging it for 2 days and the battery will no go above 4.35v.

Any ideas on what the issue could be?

Thx

Have a friend with a Porsche who went away for a month this summer and came back to discover he had a dead battery. How long were you on vacation?

[stlcdr]

Did you hook the charger up to the terminals under the hood, or directly to the battery?

Also, 4 volts seems like a terribly dead battery. Some trickle chargers won't charge under such conditions (so wont condemn the battery completely, but a battery replacement may very well be in your future).

[BEAR-AvHistory]

4 volts is dead. Each cell (6) will hold 2.2 volts fully charged. Reads like some cells are gone or you have a bad gauge.

Generally you need 11.8v to start your car. Some stuff will still work at 10.8 volts.

[danbart]

The car was not run for 10 days.

Ended up calling BMW roadside assistance, it's at the shop now getting looked at.

Crazy thing was we could not get it into neutral, so the tow truck operator used some delrin wedges under the tires and dragged/slip it out of the garage and onto the truck.

[StanDiego]

Originally Posted by danbart

The car was not run for 10 days.

Ended up calling BMW roadside assistance, it's at the shop now getting looked at.

Crazy thing was we could not get it into neutral, so the tow truck operator used some delrin wedges under the tires and dragged/slip it out of the garage and onto the truck.

I'm curious to learn what they discover. I seem to recall a post or article about an isolation switch that, if disengaged (isolating the battery), requires a higher voltage charge (greater than 13.6v) to re-engage it but this might only apply to vehicles with the dual storage system such as the US spec s30i Z4 (not M40i). In any case, I also suspect the main battery is defective.

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by danbart

The car was not run for 10 days.

Ended up calling BMW roadside assistance, it's at the shop now getting looked at.

Crazy thing was we could not get it into neutral, so the tow truck operator used some delrin wedges under the tires and dragged/slip it out of the garage and onto the truck.

I was just away for 15 days and my Z4 started up without any issues. This should not have happened to you after only 10 days.

[danbart]

Strange that it did not recognize they keys or the card either.

I tried charging and jumping from under the hood first. When that didn't work i went straight to the battery to no avail.

Still waiting to hear back from the service tech, but it's almost 6pm on Fri, so I most likely will not hear anything till Monday.

[danbart]

So BMW has had the car since Jan 5th and they still cannot figure out where the parasitic electrical draw (400 mw) is coming from.

Looks like I'm halfway to a Lemon Law claim if they can't get it sorted out.

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by danbart

So BMW has had the car since Jan 5th and they still cannot figure out where the parasitic electrical draw (400 mw) is coming from.

Looks like I'm halfway to a Lemon Law claim if they can't get it sorted out.

This is really unacceptable, please keep us updated.

[danbart]

The saga continues!!!!!!!!!!

My car has been at the shop since Jan and they still do not know how to fix it. To add insult to injury they are denying the repair under warranty.

To recap: The car sat still for 1 week and the battery went dead. When the car died it un-registered all the keys and bricked itself.

At the shop they diagnosed a 400 milliamp parasitic draw they could not figure out.

They initially blamed the NAV-TV front camera module I had installed months prior w/out any issues. So, to eliminate that variable I had to pay $1500 for the diagnostic work that was done so far, pay $150 to have the car towed to the Audio shop, have everything pulled out of the car, then spent another $150 to have it towed back to BMW.

After two weeks back at BMW and no solution they claimed that all the coding in the car in multiple modules was corrupted. They blamed the Beemer Coding I did and that was in the car since day 2 of ownership with zero issues. The coding was very basic like no seatbelt chime, different start screen and dash, different interior lighting, 1 touch 5 blink turn signals, no warning at startup.

I know that according to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act there has to be direct causation, but I have no way of proving it. I have reached out to both Nav TV and Beemer Code, but they were of no help. I even contacted 2 lemon law attorneys, but they declined engagement.

So, be very weary of using Beemer Code, not because it's bad. I had it in my M2C for years w/ no issue, but because BMW can see that code changes have been made and will use that against you to deny any warranty claim.

Part 2: I had to order a new ECU module at the tune of $4K which only arrived this week. They finally got it installed on Tuesday and were able to start the car, but it is still exhibiting several issues and throwing codes, plus the nav puts the car in the Pacific ocean.

At this point I have no idea if they will be able to properly fix the car and I hate to see what the final bill will be. $4k was just for the ECU module and does not cover installation and all the additional work they will need to do to get that car working properly.

I'm very of frustrated because, even though I'm certain it was not the Nav TV or the Beemer Code, since they were in the car for months with no issues. I have no way of proving it was not these items and it's my word against theirs.

The car has less that 3500 miles on it.

The final kick in the nuts is that when all this happened the red light by the Odometer that indicated it's been tampered with light up. If this light does not go away once they fix the car it will give me issues at the DMV since the mileage recorder will be registered as not actual mileage.

[danbart]

Anyone have any idea, tips or pointers?

At this stage I'm at a total loss as to what to do besides pay out the ass to have it fixed.

[SpeedyATL]

Nothing valuable to add except I'm sorry and that sucks! Hope it gets resolved as cheaply as possible (hard to call $4k+ cheap...)

Not blaming any of your electronics, coding, etc., but I'm picking up a new to me Z4 tomorrow and this really makes me think twice about doing anything to the car except enjoying it stock....Everyone points the finger at someone else and you are the one left holding the bill for it all.

[RigaTony1982]

Originally Posted by SpeedyATL

Nothing valuable to add except I'm sorry and that sucks! Hope it gets resolved as cheaply as possible (hard to call $4k+ cheap...)

Not blaming any of your electronics, coding, etc., but I'm picking up a new to me Z4 tomorrow and this really makes me think twice about doing anything to the car except enjoying it stock....Everyone points the finger at someone else and you are the one left holding the bill for it all.

Yeah, as long is stuff is still under warranty, I won’t mess with it for this exact reason.

[StanDiego]

Originally Posted by RigaTony1982

Yeah, as long is stuff is still under warranty, I won’t mess with it for this exact reason.

Even if not under warranty, it apparently gives them a scapegoat.

[RigaTony1982]

Originally Posted by StanDiego

Even if not under warranty, it apparently gives them a scapegoat.

True, but usually when you're not under warranty you're paying for a fix anyway.

[StanDiego]

Originally Posted by RigaTony1982

True, but usually when you're not under warranty you're paying for a fix anyway.

Agreed, but more to my point, it perhaps changes their approach to the repair, encouraging them to replace components not at fault only because Bimmercode touched them.

[Iam144]

Originally Posted by danbart

Came back from vacation and my battery was dead. Car would not start.

Tried jumping it, but it would not start and gave me a bunch of error codes, including not recognizing my keys.

Tried trickle charging it for 2 days and the battery will no go above 4.35v.

Any ideas on what the issue could be?

Thx

An idea for you...I know you are way down the rabbit hole on other fixes already but as I am new to the G29 and the convenience lock/unlock feature - it turns out my home office is close enough to my car that the car was "awake" every time I stepped into my garage. I turned off the feature rather than move my keys...any chance this is what ailed you originally?

[danbart]

Good tip, certainly something worth looking into if I ever get the car back.

As StanDiego said. Just got this from the service rep:"There is an issue on the ride height sensor for the headlights, need to order a new sensor."

Even if it was BeemerCode that caused the initial issue, how in the world could it have affected so many components and modules and had such a catastrophic effect.

Also, they could never explain why they could not just reflash all the software and set it back to factory?

[CJ421]

danbart This is truly bizarre and I'm sorry to hear what you're going through. It's almost like your car got struck by lightning ...

Was the shop able to charge the battery?

Charles

[danbart]

No had to put a new one in and only BMW can do it since they have to reprogram the car for the new battery.......what BS.

[CJ421]

Originally Posted by danbart

No had to put a new one in and only BMW can do it since they have to reprogram the car for the new battery.......what BS.

Did they tell you why the battery needed replacement? BMW batteries last for years (5-6 years on my last BMWs). If it was defective and somehow discharged and fried components in the car ...was that considered?
I'd really press them on the original battery. There is something fundamentally off here.

Either way, if you're going to be paying out of pocket, consider moving the car to a BMW independent shop.

Charles