E70 Battery Replacement - DIY

[PAX5]

Originally Posted by Ozer

I replaced my E90 335i battery with the same CCA

You cannot replace a (modern) BMW battery based on CCA rating ... PERIOD.

(Well, you can, but you will run into problems later, if the Ah don't match)

[MAK3N3]

I also replaced the battery in my E90 335i w same one from the dealer myself with no coding, it's been 4 years already...no issues.

[Doug Huffman]

Often the full name of an AGM battery is a Valve Regulated Lead Acid Absorbed Glass Mat - VRLA-AGM. The regulating valve is the case pressure relief valve that relieves excess case pressure out the vent tube.

[boostedX5SAV]

Anyone try the Exide batteries from Home Depot? Edge L5/49/H8 Auto AGM Battery-FP-AGML5/49DS - The Home Depot

This is very similar to the OEM one and I read that Exide makes the OEM batteries for BMW. Price is similar to the other brands at Advance Auto Parts and Auto Zone without coupons.

[heatmizr]

I wanted to directly address the issue raised by some about not registering / coding their batteries, and the explanation stated here which several posters seem to have missed or ignored.... Because I had the same thought at first but am second-guessing myself now...

At first I did the math...
If the dealer is charging $200-$300 to "register" the battery, and that makes the battery last 20% longer [say 5 years instead of 4 yrs], it would be more economical to NOT pay to have it registered if you just need replace your battery at 4 yrs instead of 5. (since 20% of new battery cost is less than the Register fee)

HOWEVER at least two posters have called out the additional risk of having your electronics potentially incur damage, and other various problems down the road by choosing NOT to register the battery. Just because you didn't register, and its been fine for 4 years, doesn't mean you are not at risk. I would argue that now after 4 years will be exactly WHEN you MIGHT start to see issues.
Or not; who knows. You take your chances.

Same thing goes for Coding your car for a diff type / capacity battery. Double in fact.

So the best route would seem to be to DO the registration (& coding if needed) but finding an indy shop that can do it cheaper than dealer.

All that said, I guess it due to the mysterious sound of "some electronics may incur damage" that most folks dismiss it out of hand. Would be nice to have something a bit more concrete.

[the_ulf]

you can easily do it on your own, plenty of DIY write-ups around. i'd always choose a wired connection instead of bluetooth or wifi, if/when your wireless connection goes bad while writing "some electronics *will* incur damage". there's a reason why the guys who do it for a living plug in instead of using some fancy smartphone app.

[tank]

Just wanted to thank everyone for the information here.

I specifically registered to let everyone know of another option (maybe already listed and I missed) at Advance Auto
AutoCraft Platinum AGM Battery, Group Size H8, 900 CCA H8-AGM: Advance Auto Parts
$185.99
"AutoCraft Platinum AGM Battery, Group Size H8, 900 CCA"

Questions/Answers section does say its 92AH

When you're on the site it pops up with a 20% off coupon (have to give them an email address, if you're on gmail just use [email protected])


Now to find the coding software and get the correct cable for an 09 e70 3.0i

Thanks again for all the info!

[tank]

Does anyone know if the recommended factory procedure would be to apply 12v to the system prior to disconnecting the main battery? To prevent E/EPROM issues and reset sensors, etc?

I know this could make for an easy short situation in the trunk...

I can only imagine the charging post under the hood directly is a direct path to the battery (or alternator, either way) so no charging electronics "between" the jump battery and the vehicle battery.

[Aludski]

I think there's more risk with trying to keep the car powered during the swap. The only odd thing I found after a battery swap was a steering error that reset after I turned the wheel lock to lock. As far as I recall, all settings were retained.

[wwu123]

I've been having low battery charge problems on and off since last December on my 2007 X5 3.0i, which was about 3 years after I had the battery replaced at my BMW dealer. I didn't think it could be a bad battery after only three years, esp being the BMW OEM battery. But last week I was having the water pump replaced at an independent shop, they also did some other checkout of the car, and said that no battery had been registered to the car since it was originally sold in 2007. In other words, the dealer did not do ANY registration or coding when they replaced the battery in 2012, but still charged me $600!

So rather than go to the dealer again, I ordered the Interstate MT5-49H8 battery from a local shop and installed it this weekend. Took all of 10 minutes, if that. I haven't registered it yet though. Should I really register it, given that the car thinks the original battery is still there, going 9 years old?

Also I have a USB K-DCAN cable I ordered off Amazon, it came with a disc that appears to have INPA software, but I'm not sure it is installing correctly on my Windows 10 laptop. I was wondering, the Carly app looks more user-friendly and claims it can do registration. Can the Carly app for Android work with the USB cable if I connect the cable to my Android phone with a USB OTG adapter? Or could the Carly app work with a Bluetooth OBDII adapter (I use one with Torque app)? Or does Carly ONLY work with their Bluetooth dongle or USB cable that they sell?