Stranded/no start. Any brilliant ideas?

[ceeyo]

OP check my previous post. Worth a shot!

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by KevinC

Update: Just went out and tightened up the positive terminal connection. It was VERY slightly loose - like turning with my hand on the post was possible, but not an easy turn so I doubt that was of any significance. What probably is - what the heck is going on with this doo-hingus that the cable connects too? That stuff seen oozing out of the cable is solid as a rock. I don't remember it looking like that when I put the new battery in last fall. Any new ideas after seeing this? Before I yank the battery and go back to the battery store, which may or may not be a worthwhile trip, I'm wondering if this sheds new light on the situation. Thanks all.

So the loose connection is not the battery terminal, but rather, the Battery Safety Terminal (BST). The BST is a pyrotechnic device (it's in the cylinder that the cable is bolted to), which shuts primary power to the electrical system in a major crash.

Can't explain the brown material other than it might be conformal coating that is melting and oozing out from the connector.

[XMetal]

It looks like your Battery Safety Terminal (BST) got disconnected or broken off? What I circled in yellow is supposed to be connected to that red cable on the left side of your picture - that is what powers your starter! I've also attached a picture of what it's supposed to look like on my car.

[v3.2mc]

^ Good catch

[KevinC]

My buddy is absolutely convinced it's the battery. So I'll yank it and swap it out late this afternoon, ASSuming I can convince the store to give me a warranty replacement. Update in a few hours.

EDIT: Just saw that pic of the cable that may be astray.. will check that shortly and report back!

[KevinC]

Well well well.. I owe somebody a beer...



The thing is blown clean apart. Found a YouTube video about them, says they are supposed to stay together and only separate internally, but this sucker went BLAMMO. I now see that there's a slight burn mark right around the barcode on the battery - right below the BST. So now it all makes sense. Except why did it blow? Should only blow in an impact. There was none.

However - when I parked the car yesterday, when I shut it down, there was a loud impact sound, which I was sure was a rock or other hard object hitting the external body someplace, sounded like a rock had hit it. Did a quick walk around and found nothing. Now it's obvious that this must have been the explosive charge going off in the BST.

So, how to proceed? I am not particularly handy tearing into stuff like this myself. Will probably just tow to the nearest mechanic that's changed the oil in our other cars a couple of times, seems like a good shop, though not BMW-specific. Any other advice? Generic replacement perhaps? Bypass the whole damn thing and get rid of it? Looks like a new one is $200 or so.

[KevinC]

Found this thread from a year ago.. yep, same problem. Looks like a mongolian clusterfarkle to replace the cable. It's going to my mechanic, also in case anything else is FUBAR.

https://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1482602

[RossBMWZseries]

Yup that’s the BST. This happened to me a while back as I was sitting in my car on idle. A loud explosion went off, I shut the car off and found nothing. Quickly came on the forum to do some reading and found the BST exploded, releasing the red cable connection off the positive terminal as well as that gooey stuff. I bought the BST on ECS tuning and replaced it myself. Car worked like a charm after that. It’s an easy DIY. You can find one of my posts on this forum. Some people will tell you you need to drop and remove certain suspension components: NEGATIVE. I didn’t drop anything. I jacked the rear of the car up, squeezed my hand underneath, found the bolt holding the BST cable covered by a plastic cap, removed, and replaced. EASY. Don’t waste your money.


EDIT: KevinC you found my post in the link above. It’s really not a big deal to take care of, even if you’re not a DIY’er. If you feel comfortable jacking up the car or driving it up on ramps, if you can use a screwdriver and don’t mind being on your back underneath the car, then you’re the man for the job!

[KevinC]

Update of sorts: My car is still stranded at home. The stupid BST is unobtainium this side of Germany. First my indy tried to order it from the local Tucson BMW dealer, and was quoted 2 weeks to bring over. I said hold off and went on my own hunt. BMW/Mini dealer in SF allegedly had it in stock according to their Amazon store. I attempted to call them to verify, and waited on hold listening to a robot and bad elevator music for 18 minutes before giving up, and just placed the order. 2 days later it still hadn't shipped, so I cancelled the order at Amazon. Dealer responded to me claiming they had 4-5 days to ship it and that it would ship THAT day - but Amazon had already killed the order. Then magically it shows "not available" on the Amazon page. So they obviously never had it.

Turner showed 2 days lead-time to ship, so I ordered one there last night. Got an email today with a revised ETA to the east coast of 5/20. Jesus Murphy, what a mongolian clusterfarkle. Wound up cancelling that and calling my indy back and letting them order it. The car isn't going anywhere for a few more weeks. Shame on BMW for not having such a critical part available anywhere stateside, when it is so critical.

[StickMon]

Yea, you'd think that a critical component with a probability of failure would be stocked.
I know what I'm doing when mine fails. Solid connection.
I think another thread in here on the same problem had a link to a YouTube where somebody bypassed it.
You need to put a resistor in the blast connector so the module thinks the igniter's still intact.

For the time being, if you need to drive it, you can bridge it over with a jumper cable.

[KevinC]

I don't have any desire to screw around with a resistor, I'll stick with the stock part. Hopefully odds of having TWO of them fail are very tiny.

For now it's just decorating the driveway and I drive the Golf R full time, not exactly a harsh penalty. Still frustrating as hell.

[Clearancediver]

Resistor trick is strictly for a SRS low voltage/high resistance error code for the SRS power connection to the battery. The issue there is a dirty/bad connection within the connector on the wire leading to the BST. Absolutely nothing to do with a blown BST cable which is the OP's issue here.

[StickMon]

Unless you plan to bypass the blown BST, which is what I'll do when mine inevitably goes.

[elerner61]

Interesting, I found this service that repairs BST cables.

https://www.myairbags.com/product/ca...iABEgKSvPD_BwE

[KevinC]

^^ damn I wish I would have found that 2 weeks ago!

Then again - would I want to trust a "rebuilt" cable from some dude I don't even know anything about? With its ability to disable the car, I'm not sure I would have taken a chance. Then again, the factory part failed when it shouldn't have, so ... grrrrrrr

[KevinC]

FINALLY back on the road today. Sheesh!!

Wasted a week trying to chase down a BST, first from an SF dealer with an Amazon store claiming it was in stock. Wrong. Then Turner Motorsports, claiming 3 days lead time - wrong. Still waiting for my PayPal refund on that one. Finally wound up letting the shop order it from the Tucson dealer, 2 weeks lead time. Flat-bedded it up yesterday (91 miles from home), fixed today, back home now. Pretty massive labor charge for replacing the BST - that thing is a nightmare. Also had the damaged LF brake duct replaced while it was there, the original was smashed and rubbing the wheel at full lock.

So my question now is, WHY did the original BST decide to detonate and strand me? That shouldn't happen for no reason. I just hope that it doesn't turn out to be like a fuse that's tripping because of a fault elsewhere, and do it all over again. That would be brutal.

[Caddyshk]

Any updates on starting over the past 6 weeks?

[KevinC]

Originally Posted by Caddyshk

Any updates on starting over the past 6 weeks?

The post right above yours. I've been back in the saddle for a while now. Just hoping that whatever triggered the first one to blow doesn't happen again!

[RitaClark]

Originally Posted by KevinC

Update: Just went out and tightened up the positive terminal connection. It was VERY slightly loose - like turning with my hand on the post was possible, but not an easy turn so I doubt that was of any significance. What probably is - what the heck is going on with this doo-hingus that the cable connects too? That stuff seen oozing out of the cable is solid as a rock crawler. I don't remember it looking like that when I put the new battery in last fall. Any new ideas after seeing this? Before I yank the battery and go back to the battery store, which may or may not be a worthwhile trip, I'm wondering if this sheds new light on the situation. Thanks all.

What are the types of rocks and their examples?