BMW E90 Issue
 

Dropped my car off at the dealership this evening. Had an interesting problem.

On my way home from work, everything is running fine. Brake lightly while approaching a red light, airbag and seatbelt lights come on (message on the dash was CC-ID97). Weird. Re-plug in my seatbelt, no change. Plug in the passenger belt, no change. Stop at the gas station, fill up. Do a quick check under the hood, in the battery compartment, and under the seats, everything seems okay, no loose connections.. Hoped it would go away, but it was still there when I started it back up.

Drive another 15 minutes, I lose power going around 90 km/h for a few seconds, all my dash lights start flashing like Stranger Things when the power comes back, mileage is now in miles instead of km, etc.

Pull over, call BMW to see if I can bring my car in. Turn the car back on, dashboard no longer lights up, but you can faintly see the clock, odometer, etc. in a slightly lighter grey than the background. Turn off the fan, headlights, etc. to conserve power thinking it may be a charging system issue.

Get to the dealership after an unsettlingly long 45-minute drive back to Nanaimo, they do a readout of my key. Reads 14.9 volts under battery voltage section. They're going to check it out on Monday.

Any ideas what I'm in for here (besides a hefty bill)? Car is a 2006 BMW 325xi w/ 190k kms.

has battery been swapped? have you checked the ECU area to see if there are any water damage?

Battery was replaced last winter (December if I recall correctly), so it's only ~13 months old.

Engine bay was dry. Wasn't raining on the drive home, just cloudy.

Edit: I didn't specifically check the ECU.

As a E92 M owner I'm interested to know what the cause and fix are. Please let us know.

There was a bulletin/recall regarding the connection between the battery and the junction box electronics in the front. At the terminal, it would end up getting burnt/corroded and eventually wearing out completely. Sometimes the damage would also extend to the JBE requiring replacement. It's not a very fun job to do.

Here's a video on an m3 but its the same idea.

you can always send me a pm with the last 7 digits of the vin so I can check for anything outstanding that might be causing this issue.

that goes to all the RS members with bmws.

PM Sent

Let us know what the dealer found :)

goodluck,

I'm pretty sure I won't be a BMW owner much longer ...
Basically couldn't tell me what actually caused the issue, suspect there was a short somewhere but couldn't locate it. Want me to spend $5k without fixing the cause.

Took it to another shop for another opinion. Figure, worst case scenario, what's the difference between a $5k and a $5.2k bill if they find the same thing ...