Head Up Display image 'rolling'

[atregent]

I'm hoping this is not a major issue, but I'm also kind of fearing the worst

A couple of nights ago I started and drove off, and the HUD image started rolling slowly up (like in the old days when the TV needed a bit of a whack to stabilise the image)

Occasionally it'll shift to the left and half the numbers a cut off, and a couple of times there's just been static.

It's like there's something come loose somewhere (although I doubt it'll be that simple a fix)

I think the battery is on it's last legs (I think it's still the original one from 2010, I've only had it for about a year now), so not sure if that might be causing issues with the video signal stability

Any advice or reassurances would be much appreciated!

[smassey321]

Check your voltage. My backup camera screen rolled with low voltage.

[ard]

7 year old battery? Just replace it.

If you want, buy a proper charger, charge it overnight- see if/when the issue comes back. If it is immediate, prolly not the battery. If it comes back after a few trips, battery.

[atregent]

Originally Posted by smassey321

Check your voltage. My backup camera screen rolled with low voltage.

It seems the making the observation has affected the outcome. I plugged a voltmeter into the cig socket this morning and got a reading of 14.6V with the engine running, and the HUD was nice and stable.

On the bright side, it would indicate that my alternator is working correctly...

[atregent]

Originally Posted by ard

7 year old battery? Just replace it.

If you want, buy a proper charger, charge it overnight- see if/when the issue comes back. If it is immediate, prolly not the battery. If it comes back after a few trips, battery.

Yeah, it's on my list of things to take care of. Just need to check the actual age of the battery first. I believe the month/year was stamped into the negative terminal in some instances, not sure how else I would determine the age though.

I've got a good charger and give it a top up about once a month, or whenever it starts complaining about increased electrical discharge (or whatever the alert it)

I topped it up over the weekend and still had the issue, except for this morning when I was actually monitoring the voltage, of course...

[ard]

Oh boy...

So in post 5, end of your thread, you first bring up 'whatever that increased discharge warning is'...

You likely have one of the following:
1. Failing battery, just due to age
2. Some issue in the car is causing parasitic drains- a module, an accessory, something
3. The alternator (or more likely regulator) is intermittant leading to incomplete charging.


Connecting a charger eevry month/week/night will work. For a while.

[atregent]

Oh dear

Driving home from work last night, the voltage was around 13.8-13.9, and there were HUD issues. Back in the car this morning, 14.6V, rock solid HUD.

Hopefully it comes down to the battery (which I know is a couple of years over it's use by, if it is the original).

A regulator issue seems like it would be fairly straightforward to diagnose, but how on earth do you work out where a parasitic drain is happening?

[ard]

Originally Posted by atregent

Oh dear

Driving home from work last night, the voltage was around 13.8-13.9, and there were HUD issues. Back in the car this morning, 14.6V, rock solid HUD.

Hopefully it comes down to the battery (which I know is a couple of years over it's use by, if it is the original).

A regulator issue seems like it would be fairly straightforward to diagnose, but how on earth do you work out where a parasitic drain is happening?

First things first. If the battery is old, just replace it. Futzing around with removing it, having it tested, etc, will just waste your time- and is not very accurate.

Go from there.

Diagnosing a bad intermittent regulator isnt easy, kind of presumptive. (I assume you dont have BMW test computer, ability to log voltages and other data over time.)

Likewise the parasitic stuff is a pain

[Qsilver7]

You can tell how old a battery is by a couple of methods.

If there is not an obvious month/year sticker on the battery case...then look for alpha/numeric digits stamped/branded somewhere into the battery case. It could be more than two digits...but the first two digits should reveal the month & year of manufacture.

The month of manufacture will be represented by an ALPHA character (A thru M)...with "A" representing January, "B" representing February, "C" representing March, etc. In most cases...the letter "I" is skipped in order to not confuse it with the numerical digit 1. That's why the letters range from A-M instead of A-L.

The second digit is numerical and represents the last digit of the year (0-9). Since this number repeats every 10 years...one must consider when the vehicle was built along with the possible age of the vehicle & battery.

In the pic below...you can see five alpha/numeric digits branded into the battery case G5MC3. The "G5" represents the "month/year" of manufacture...and in this case the "G" represents "JULY"....and the "5" represent "2015". But if the battery was really old...it could represent "2005" but automotive batteries don't usually last that long. There are very few vehicles still operating with a 17 year old battery that was produced in 2005.

[ard]

Originally Posted by Qsilver7

. There are very few vehicles still operating with a 17 year old battery that was produced in 2005.

Id say there are none.




(excellent info, btw)