Quote:
Originally Posted by chickdr
Please let us know when you get this sorted. I am pretty certain this is transport mode as others have speculated. Even if the battery is testing good now it could have died while on a lot before purchase and just needed a good charge(which you accomplished on the drive home from Georgia). As others have mentioned, this is a common issue in our cars. Dealers are supposed to disable the transport mode when doing the PDI on the car. If it is still enabled, what BMW should do is give you a freebee deactivation as a goodwill gesture. We should not still be hearing about transport mode on cars that stopped production in 2008....
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I believe your guess about the battery dying while on a lot is likely true. I bought my car this January. I researched its recent history that showed it had been traded last fall, and eventually went to an auction lot. It was picked up by the used car lot where I eventually bought it, in the dead of winter. The used car dealer had it almost 2 months before I bought it, and the car may have been test driven a few times, which wouldn't provide a decent recharge of the battery. The day I drove it the temp was about 35 degrees and I drove it maybe 2 miles. My test drive was 3 weeks before I purchased it.
When I first trailered the car home, I subsequently measured the battery voltage to be 11.7v. I guessed the battery may be ready for the scrap heap. I slowly charged it for 24 hours, and then disconnected it from the charger and car, and let it stabilize for 24 hours. After stabilizing, the voltage measured 12.57v at 25 degrees, a very good number. I also did a CCA test and it measured out at 800 CCA, great for a battery rated at 590 CCA.
As I stated earlier, after charging the battery I still had to visit the dealer for the Transport Mode reset.
David