My X6 50i won't start
 

As said, my X6 50i is won't start. The starter wows for about one second and the engine won't start. I was pretty sure that the issue was a drained battery, and I recharged it. After 1h recharging, the battery recharger says that now the battery is full. Unfortunately my car still won't start. There are no error codes visible. Does anyone have any clue what might cause the problem? (Battery/Fuel pump/Alternator)?

It may be a power supply to the DME or fuel pump or fuel pump itself.

Or injectors ....

An update: finally my car started, and ran smoothly. I drove for about one hour and everything worked fine. Then after stopping the car, it did not start anymore. I guess then the problem might be in the starter, or something weird with the battery. Does anyone know if the battery capacity goes very low, that it somehow damages it (that it won't charge well anymore)?

How old is the battery?

For your charger to call it full after only an hour of charging suggests that one of the devices, the charger or the battery is malfunctioning.

An absorbed glass mat - AGM - battery is damaged permanently by too high charging voltage and too high charging current caused by the too high voltage. Amperes = Voltage divided by Resistance (in this case the internal resistance of the battery).

onnentoivotukset

A battery which is 4 years or more old is very suspect. And you can't just buy another battery from the auto parts.store and have that work for more.than a few months? Batteries mms just be correct.type and they must be introduced configured to.the car. Bmw will charge you 400+ for this.

Could you please stop with this misinformation ;) If you believe in what BMW rep told you it is your choice, but please do not make other people pay for nothing. There are many ways to register a new battery and even if you dont do it you will shorten it's life with a few percent, if any, not a few times.
I for one, am too lazy to register a new battery in one of my cars, but that doesnt lead to any imminent death of my car or battery.
BTW, I like your style with commas in the middle of the sentence, but it is hard to read sometimes :cool:

I have not heard anything from a bmw rep would not believe them. I have read about batteries need to be introduced to the car. Have seen in my cars service records how prior owner installed an aftermarket battery seeking to avoid a $450 bil but didn't introduce it. He did not know to do that or have the means to do that. Then months later his transmission will not go out of park or worse. He takes to bmw service and they charge $100 for diagnosing the transmission and report finding nothing wrong with it. They report the problem is a incorrect aftermarket battery and then install another bmw battery. Total cost about $600.

So I was warning him, I am saying you either pay the money to bmw or you must buy a correct battery and also have the right software to introduce it.

We have seen even more of that stealership bull$$it. As I mentioned somewhere before stealerships are not in the business of fixing cars, but in the business of making money.
There are parts and consumables that you want to have original and others that you can substitute. I am curious to hear a logical or scientific explanation what would be the reason for interstate or optima battery to cause a fault in the transmission WHICH DOESNT NEED REPAIR. I will tell you right away-just a random code, which may have been caused by original or aftermarket battery, or may not, which was cleared for the total of $600. I dont have any doubts that there a re greedier dealerships out there that would have added another couple of thousands to the bill for a transmission code.

Blame the bmw engineers .... they have electronics that with lower voltage gets flaky. It is fact the prior owner of my x5 replaced a battery and didn't know how it needed to be done. Then within months he has a transmission which h he can't take out.of park or like that. Of course he does not think it is voltage and battery he thinks it a transmission problem. I won u 'd have too! But bmw tests transmission and concludes it.is good. Now if they wanted bmw could have raped him for a transmission. But instead they find the wrong type.of battery and I bet he is then somewhat happy to pay only $600.versus for a transmission.
Fact low batteries and wrong introduction can cause flaky stuff. I will be changing the battery carefully and early so I need not experience flaky stuff

Low battery will cause flaky stuff and problems, "INTRODUCTION" and "AFTERMARKET BATTERY" has nothing to do with it and will not cause electronic problems.
At the end of the day if one is cheap a$$ and practical like me, they will just throw the biggest "AFTERMARKET" battery that will fit in there and replace it at the first sing of decay. In California that is, in a colder climates i will replace it before the second winter and call it a day. $200 for 1.5-2 years for a battery is nothing in the great scheme of things owning E70 X5 in any form.

Given the sensitivity of charging an AGM battery the wrong amount, and that the BMW is intelligent enough to charge a battery differently based on the amp-hours of the battery, why not take advantage of this feature? Assuming one has the proper equipment, coding a battery takes less than a minute.

^^^ I absolutely agree. But if someone has to pay $400 to get the battery registered, or even $200, that is outrage. Like everything else, BMW made it for a reason, but it is misinformation that something in the car will fail if replacement battery is not registered.
And one more thing. If the car is driven on a short trips and the battery charge stays on the low side the module will try to charge it as much as possible for the short intervals driven, which will lead to a short battery life regardless of everything else. I like the ISTA future showing the system voltage at all times and I have figured many problems because of that display. Most modern BMWs will have 14.2-14.8V with engine running, but I have seen many with as high as 15.5V for extended driving periods.

FWIW I changed my troublesome 5 year old 90AH AGM battery for a quality 110AH standard lead acid. Reprogrammed battery type and registered with BMWhat tool. All works fine with much improved cold cranking. Total cost under £150

That's crazy. It takes about 10 minutes to change a battery in an E70, including coding. If a shop charges any more than 1/2 hour labor for all that, it's time to find a new shop.

Keep in mind that it's really a good idea to charge your new battery before install, (with a charger designed for AGM batteries if that's what you're installing). Best is to use a slow charge method or "trickle" charge, so you need to count on that taking at least several hours.

OT, but aside from 14.7v for AGM, that is what have not FULLY READ UP ON why the car needs to be registered, etc for AGM batteries, and the way BMW has their registration/charging profile setup for them

I posted this link here in the OT Lounge Forum
http://independentmotorcars.com/2010...tons-of-dough/

Great write-up on situation that repeats time and time again. Connecting/disconnecting the battery with the key in the ignition is a bad practice and may, or may not, damage the CAS. In a modern car every module is powered-up permanently (terminal 30) regardless if ignition is ON or OFF(terminal 15). Real damage to the modules happens when the voltage drops under 8 volts for a prolonged periods(battery going low and still connected to the car). What happens is that the volatile memory(RAM) and non-volatile memory (so called FLASH memory) often gets corrupt from the undervoltage and the MCU executes wrong instructions. Here is your explanation why many times disconnecting the battery may fix some strange behaviour or bring back a "dead" module. It is the same thing as if one reboots their laptop or desktop. If the FLASH is intact the module will load the correct data and will work as new again. Sometimes reprogramming will fix a corrupt data, but if the boot sector is damaged usually the module is considered "dead" and unrepairable. Of course we have ways even around that by reprogramming it directly on the lowest level- MCU and/or FLASH instead thru the diagnostic ports.
Just to clarify my position on all the modern electronic stuff. Respect the car, but dont be scared of it. Being afraid and looking at the electronic systems as "black box" gives more power to the dealers and people trying to take advantage of us. Battery is a battery and proper maintenance, operation and instalation is valid for every car, old or modern. Even if everything is done by the book modules get damaged too and there is nothing we can do.

What do they mean by 'sonically tested' ???

Bawareca -

Can you shed some more details per the article I linked.
I mean 14 volts aside, why does the registration etc, need to be acquired. CCA, etc. That's purely for the role in starting the engine....why would the vehicle know that in order to charge the battery. Isn't it's role it to just charge it to 14.7, aka, AGM voltage specs...

You don't actually put in the CCA when you code the battery. You use your scan tool to tell the car you are changing battery, and if you are changing the battery type, (ie. AGM vs Acid), and if you are putting in a battery with a change in Amp Hrs. (ie 92ah vs. 90ah). The scan tool will register the date of the battery change in the car's memory. From that point, I'm not sure if the scan tool evaluates the new battery, or the car evaluates the new battery, (my guess is that it's the car,) but the process happens automatically, you don't need to enter the data of the new battery, just whether it's different or the same. And you're done....1 minute or less.

But the car's computer controls the charging process of the alternator in a way that is specific to the type and power of the battery, along with its age.

Correct.
Registering the battery is erasing computer adaptation. Once new battery is installed the computer will evaluate it's behaviour for a few cycles and then will charge it according to the programmed data (battery type and capacity,i.e Ah) and the adaptation data. Later in the life of the battery it may keep 15v or more in order to keep the battery in the highest [possible] charge state.

I have no idea what this means, but the reality is ANY good battery charger or battery tester will tell you right away if the battery is bad or not. Modern testers are all digital. But a really good battery charger or tester is not inexpensive. If you're working on modern BMWs you need sophisticated tools like this Snap-on Charger ($830):

https://store.snapon.com/Battery-Cha...--P744410.aspx

Or tester ($735):

https://store.snapon.com/Electronic-...m-P647261.aspx

Yes, Snap-on stuff is crazy expensive, and there are other good brands that are somewhat less expensive, but this is what you're going to find typically in a good indy shop.

Update: It was the starter. Repair ~1000$. :(

Rmeuropean.com gets $238 for the $550+ list Bosch starter. So who did the work? What was the labor hours and.cost?