ES350Bob

STIG,

Looks like dealer/BMW did everything they could, EXCEPT, if service department is wrong about what is or is not what caused your problem.

As for rental, in established areas where thousands of cars are on the road from a manufacturer it is not uncommon to be offered a rental as loaner.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

i prove probably about 7-9k miles in 8 months on my car, no problems, what a load of crap.

TwiBlueG35

My parents' 07 530i was bought August 2006 and now it has only 4500 miles on it, but the battery is fine. And it was ridiculous for a car's battery to die so early so driving less is no excuse for the dealer not to replace it for free. If it is normal, the battery should die in at least three years and sometimes five. There must be something wrong and the dealer is extremely irresponsible I tell you. Go argue with them. BMW's 4 years free maintanence and service is really bad, at least the dealer we bought the car from. They tell you to do the first oil change at 15,000 miles. WOW. Last time we took the 530i to the dealer to fix the iding vibration problem and after seven hours or so they told us it was normal. My 95 Accord's 2.7L V6 didn't vibrate like that when idling. I felt like sitting in a cheap old 4 cylinder Ford or something when waiting in front of the traffic light.....

STIG

I have been trying to explain my dealer that the dead battery is only the secondary problem. Some electrical failures in the system leads to the dead battery.

I also forgot to mention that the security guard of the building also told me that my car was flashing lights the night before.

When I jumped started the first time, I hooked up the dead battery with 4Runner with the engine on for about at least 10 minutes, and during that time, every possible electronic in the car goes haywire. From the electric seats to the chime sounds was going banana.

And the second day, I was able to drove to the dealer and all the warning were on, on the dash and the car was in the limp mode.

STIG

I took this picture on my way to dealer.

Pretty sweet eh? It says transmission failure or something like that.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Man, I really sympathize with your problem, and I hope you get it resolved soon, with no cost to you.

However, I couldn't resist from posting this.

STIG

Thanks, I think BMW is basically saying I have been jacked here. Take a look

Och

iTrader: (3)

I think you should try another BMW dealer, or contact BMW headquarters.

STIG

Possibly out of warranty??!? Glad to know that BMW stands behind their products. 6 month old 75k BMW and possibly broken 50$ part, and still trying to rip me off instead of replacing it.

So, I just talked to the adviser and, after spending sometimes, they are charging me 155$ to replace the battery, and insisted that that was a dead battery.

I am getting rid of this POS.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Not a bad idea at all.

mmarshall

That may or may not be nonsense, depending on your driving habits. HOW were the 7000 miles accumulated?....that makes a big difference. If you drove the car regularly...say, every day, or every couple of days, and went more than just a couple of miles, then the battery should not have failed unless you have a short, an alternator failure, another one of the notorious BMW electrical problems, or just simply forgot to to close something as DASHOCKER suggested.

But, conversely, if you drove those 7000 miles on just a few long trips, and let your car be a garage queen in between without starting it up regularly, then that is an invitation to battery failure, especially with the slow parasitic drain that batteries on today's computer-run vehicles have.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

^^^^^ but he only has had the car for 8 months i think he said, either way you split it, 7k in 8 months, theres not much room for battery drain in that, is there?

mmarshall

I agree....probably not, but like I said, if those 7000 miles were all put on in a few long trips while the car sat in a garage the rest of the time, then, yes, that would be a possibility.

STIG

Driven at least every other day.

mmarshall

OK...if that's the case, then, like I said in earlier posts, it's probably one of three things....alternator failure (in which case you should have gotten a red warning light), a short/electrical failure, or, like DASHOCKER mentioned, a light-bulb drain from an open door or hatch. Sometimes you forget to turn the dome or reading lights off after using them......I've done that a couple of times over the years, fortunately without a full battery drain.

Some new cars, however, have battery-rundown protection built in where the computer simply shuts everything off if it senses an other-than-normal drain.....I don't know if your X5 has that feature or not.