I went to the car this morning after parking it up last night and it was dead Just to add a little insult to injury I was 250 miles from home.
It seems the battery had somehow completely discharged itself overnight which upset the car hugely. I called BMW emergency services who arranged a recovery guy to come out who tried jump starting the car. We got it started but there were multiple problems, the worst of which was the fact that the car wouldn't go into gear or release the parking brake. The car was dragged (literarily) onto a flat bed and recovered to Ocean BMW in Torbay who were excellent - a particular thanks to Kat who was fantastic. BMW arranged a hire car which got us home eventually and I'm awaiting the outcome from them, fortunately they will get the car back home to me once it's fixed.
It's very annoying that the car failed so spectacularly and left me & my wife high and dry with only 13k miles on the clock but I have to say that BMW were excellent and got everything sorted with minimal fuss.
There is an emergency transmission release located below the cup holder in front of the gear lever, and it helps you avoid dragging the car in gear when it is dead.
Had an update from the dealers saying that the battery is toast. They have ordered a new one that will be fitted tomorrow then all systems tested to see if there is another fault.
If it does turn out that the batteries are going to be a long term issue with these cars what are BMW going to do about it? I certainly don't want to find myself in this situation again in 18 months time.
I'm from Vancouver, and I was driving to the states, and I broke down in Vegas. BMW covered Hotel and eating. Was lucky. And my car was brought in on a Saturday afternoon, and was fixed by Sunday morning.
Had an update. Apparently the water pump is leaking, I don't know how or if this has affected the battery, possibly causing a short somewhere? Anyway, the part will be there in the morning and they think they'll need the rest of the week to get it all done. Should have the car back by the weekend.
Do F10 M5's have lead acid or lithium-ion batteries? Sometimes I don't drive the car for a week or more, I am thinking about purchasing the BMW charger but it says it only works with lead acid bats.
Car is fixed and will be delivered back to me tomorrow. I've not managed to speak to the tech who did the work yet but I've not really got to the bottom of the claim that the faulty water pump ruined the battery.
There was also mention of a pipe coming off, I don't know if any of this relates to the recent work done to replace the condenser. I'll update this thread once I speak to the tech.
I agree, the car has only done 13k and looking at how the pipes connect to the water pump I find it hard to believe that a pipe just came off on its own.
As far as I can see the water pump is a conventional mechanical type so I can't understand how this has affected the battery. If I don't get a satisfactory explanation I'm going to call BMW and try to get to the bottom of this battery problem. I can't find myself stranded again in 18 months time.
It's quite possible and would make sense if there was an electric water pump fitted. Once the engine is turned off the electric pump can carry on cooling the turbo's etc this would be when sitting in traffic with the start/stop nonsense and when shut down occurs.
I for one have noticed how long the fan is running after shut down.
Most of the modern BMW's are running electric water pumps now.
Looking at the diagrams on bmminiparts, the main pump is belt driven but there is one (or maybe there are two) additional pumps which are indeed electric...
SB
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