Electrical woes

[jfoj]

Originally Posted by wsmeyer

Interesting, thanks for taking the time to type all that. Straight off the charger it read 12.7 but I did not test it again after I took it out of the car. I was surprised at the 11.99 but it does somewhat coincide with their reading of 63%. I was going to pull the alternator and have them test that when I picked up the battery but I decided just to wait and see what happens with the battery first. I'm thinking there's a chance it simply won't charge up much more and they'll deem it bad and give me a replacement.

Of course none of this really explains why it died in the first place.

Smart move to wait and see. I just replaced the water pump on my 4.8L yesterday, not sure I would look forward to removing the alternator.

One thing I have noticed with many of the BMW's if you make a lot of short trips with it, best to charge the battery every 2-3 weeks.

My guess is either the battery is bad, or the vehicle is used for a lot of short trips with a lot of starts and stops.

You really should consider an OBDII smart phone App or a UltraGauge.

I have an UltraGauge that I move from car to car, but it is nice because you can set threshold alarms and keep and eye on Engine Temperature and Charging Voltage.

[wsmeyer]

It is used for mostly 5-10 mile trips. I've had the alternator out when I changed the oil thermostat housing gasket. Not that difficult really but HEAVY.

I have INPA but a smart phone app would be simpler.

[jfoj]

Originally Posted by wsmeyer

It is used for mostly 5-10 mile trips. I've had the alternator out when I changed the oil thermostat housing gasket. Not that difficult really but HEAVY.

I have INPA but a smart phone app would be simpler.

I have just heard about the dreaded oil thermostat housing gasket, might have to study up on this one.

INPA is not easy due to the need for a cable and laptop in the car.

The smart phone Apps allow Logging of the OBDII datastream and it allows you to keep the interface in the car and you will always have an OBDII with you while you are on the road.


Get an OBDII smart phone/tablet App and interface, typically $30 or less. These Apps are usually best for drivability issues and they support Emission Readiness Monitor Status, Freeze Frame and Live/Realtime data. They are also great for Logging data for review after the car has been driven and can really help find unusual problems.

Android - Touch Scan for $5.00 and ELM327 OBDII to Bluetooth interface.

iProduct - OBD Fusion for $9.99 and ELM327 OBDII to Wifi interface.

Some people prefer to have an extension cable to keep the interface away from their feet.

Something like these cables are often of interested:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...A13I33IUTGJ9BK

http://www.amazon.com/OBDII-Extensio...Q9HPSGWZ2SB34Q

I usually suggest getting the OBDII interfaces from Amazon if you are located in the US/North America. Make sure you choose an interface that indicates that the order will be "Fulfilled by Amazon" otherwise you may be waiting for WEEKS for an interface to arrive from Asia. Ebay is another option, but pay attention where the interface will be shipped from, again weeks for an interface from Asia, so if you can wait and want to try to save some money, go for it, but if you need an interface soon, choose wisely.

[wsmeyer]

Went back to Autozone to pick up my battery. Their charger said "charged" but tester said %74 need charging so they gave me a new battery.

New one measured 12.75V no load and with the car running the V across the battery was 14.1 V and steady regardless of rpm.

Everything seems fine now so crossing my fingers it was just the battery.

[jfoj]

Sounds like it was good you listened and did not pull the alternator.

Until you get a "Known Good Battery" installed, it is hard to determine what is going on.

Keep an eye on the battery Voltage after about 3 weeks of driving to make sure the battery is getting a good charge and not running low due to short drives.

Get yourself an smart phone OBDII App, you will be happy you did.

[wsmeyer]

I sprung for the BlueDriver setup. Will definitely be monitoring it for the next few days as the wife is pretty razzled about having it die on her... TWICE.

The oil thermostat housing gasket is for cars with an oil cooler. Look inside the lower driver side grill and if you have one of those it's pretty easy to change. If you don't have an oil cooler then you have an alternator bracket gasket and that thing is a nightmare to change.

Thanks again for your help!

[jfoj]

Wish you would have asked before jumping on BlueDriver.

Over hyped and over marketed IMHO.

The $5-$10 Apps I recommend do a very good job.

The silly color graph they show on the website is for all intensive purposes totally useless. Almost ALL on tool/device graphing SUX. I export everything to .CSV and graph externally. Bluedriver supports this, but so do the $5 and $10 Apps I recommend.

I have been dealing with the Apps, OBDII tools and Pro Scan tools for a LONG time. I have 5 figures of tools and software so this is not my first rodeo.

I will be interested to see if Blue Driver properly supports Wideband O2 sensors or if they have made the same amateur mistakes most of the other App vendors have made.

I have had to straighten out a number of App problems for a number of different App vendors.

Anyway, will be interested to see your take and BD and what it can do.

Do not be surprised if you end up buying a $5-$10 App at the end of the day!

[jfoj]

I have the oil cooler on my 4.8l X5 so hopefully I will not have a problem with the oil housing/alternator bracket leak I have read about.

I will need to look and see what is different on the models with the oil cooler.

[wsmeyer]

The engine block is the same and has the mount on the side for the oil thermostat. On cars that do not have an oil cooler they made the alternator bracket larger to include a blanking plate to cover the holes. Both use the same gasket so are prone to the same leaking. The problem is that one of the bolts for the alternator bracket is underneath the engine mount so you have to take the weight off the mount and remove it to ultimately remove the alternator bracket and replace the gasket.

[jfoj]

Originally Posted by wsmeyer

The engine block is the same and has the mount on the side for the oil thermostat. On cars that do not have an oil cooler they made the alternator bracket larger to include a blanking plate to cover the holes. Both use the same gasket so are prone to the same leaking. The problem is that one of the bolts for the alternator bracket is underneath the engine mount so you have to take the weight off the mount and remove it to ultimately remove the alternator bracket and replace the gasket.

I had not researched this one to death, but I recall running across the problem and read about the alternator bracket. This is like the BMW I6 Oil Filter Housing Gaskets that leak all the time, same thing. But it sounds like the good news is with the oil cooler, I do not have the larger alternator bracket. I will check into this a bit more for future reference.