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Thread: good battery, no lights or power at all

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    bmw z4

    good battery, no lights or power at all

    Hey all, so I have experienced a slow creep of electrical gremlins this year on my 2007 Z4. Sometimes the top motor will respond to the button, sometimes not, errors come and go at the on position, been in transport mode for a year now. Battery discharges too quickly. Bought a new battery, didn't solve the issue.

    Today, After charging my battery 100%, I get no response at all on the instrument cluster when I insert the key. Zilch. I did some searching here, and didnt find much. On youtube, I have found some non-E85 BMW folks having a similar issue. Some traced to an integrated supply module? Does anyone have any leads on this issue? It's an auto/PDK car, so I don't think I can roll it and pop the clutch to start it. Any thoughts appreciated, I'm kind of at a loss, short of towing it to a dealership. Oh, and it died with the window cracked outside, which is an added bummer! Thanks much-RJ

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
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    FL
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    2007 BMW Z4 E85 3.0 SI
    1-try jump start and see if the vehicle responds. Perhaps your charger is failing for some reason. If jump starting works then your charger or your battery are defective
    2-scan the car for error codes using the OBD port, you should be able to get some hints
    3-check the battery connections are not loose and the wire ends are not cut inside the connectors
    4-check for parasitic draw


    Did it ever rain while the top was open by any chance?
    Last edited by tekoo; 11-04-2018 at 06:01 PM.

  3. #3
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    Make sure you jumpstart using the engine power terminals, not from the trunk. If you are not able to at least close the windows or see any instrument panel lights despite jumpstart from the engine bay, then the fuse box (located behind glove box) is not getting power at all or is defective.

    If the jumpstart from engine bay works I would focus my attention on the battery, battery terminals and the other fuse box/fuses in the trunk (where the battery is located).

    How do you know the battery is good?
    Last edited by tekoo; 11-04-2018 at 06:25 PM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    philly
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    Thanks guys-the jump start at least got the panel lights on; I just got a click at the starter, the car did not fire, but I'm going to leave it on a trickle charger overnight, and then read the terminals with a DVM in the morning. i may have an issue with my lithium battery jumper.

    as for rain with the top down, no, however-the rubber seal along the top of the windshield is starting to crumble, and it has rained on the car a few times since it started failing. could that leak into the cabin? could i see that leak somewhere in the cabin IF it were leaking? thanks for the help!

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    2007 BMW Z4 E85 3.0 SI
    No. The broken windshield seal won’t cause this.
    Did you jump start the car using the engine terminals?
    Try to jump start using another vehicle with a running engine and connect to your engine terminals. I suspect your vehicle will start as the minimal charge in the lithium battery jumper showed response.
    Also clearly either your car battery or trickle charger or both are defective, so I wouldn’t rely on them in the morning.
    Last edited by tekoo; 11-04-2018 at 06:47 PM.

  6. #6
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    Sep 2010
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    Thanks for the help, all. I had the car towed to a shop today. the battery is 2 months old; I disconnected both terminals from the car, and read it with a DVM-it was over 12VDC. Immediately upon connecting to the car, the battery reading showed 2.2V. And I get no response at the on or accessory position of the key at all. Not sure if it's starter, alternator, or something else altogether, but it's beyond my pay grade. If I tried to jump it from another car, it would crank exactly once, and then just click at the starter, every time. If this sounds at all familiar, please chime in with experiences!

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    2007 BMW Z4 E85 3.0 SI
    Your battery is not holding charge. What you see is a false reading. Just like laptop or cell phone batteries would show full charge and shutdown after 15 mins. It usually happens because the battery lost its charging capacity (due to poor battery quality, frequent charging and or destructive charger).

    Not sure about the jump start since you are not giving any of the details I asked you prior.
    Last edited by tekoo; 11-06-2018 at 09:47 PM.

  8. #8
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    Thanks for the help. I tried jumping the car off another running vehicle, off the terminals in the trunk, and I got the same response-one crank, and then clicks. no firing. i think i found the +V terminal in the engine bay, but no ground terminal....

    the shop has a catalog of error codes from the vehicle; i'm gonna go over everything with them. thanks for the tips!

  9. #9
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    I am not surprised about the error code catalogue. Your vehicle has been suffering from low voltage supply for a long time as evident by being in the transport mode. The electronics in the car can’t tolerate low power and usually fail repeatedly throwing different error codes. The Z4 stores all error codes from the past even if not currently an active issue and I bet you have accumulated so many being in transport mode for the past year.

    It appears that the battery you recently purchased is either 1- purchased defective or low quality; 2-Non chargeable (was destroyed by connecting it to a charger); or 3- chargeable but a defective charger destroyed it

    Battery age and static voltage reading are not accurate measurements for battery condition; but battery load is, which is essentially what happened in your case (battery fails once loaded with the normal expected load or function)

    The Z4 is programmed to allow certain high risk errors to occur only to a limited number of times to avoid high risk operation. When the max number of errors is reached the vehicle can spontaneously shuts down and blocks these functions until serviced and error reset is performed by a professional.

    In your case if error reset doesn’t allow the vehicle to start with a functional battery or a reliable jump start then further trouble shooting is to be performed.

    I think it would have been very difficult for you to work your way out of this with no reliable battery, tools, software and adequate experience. So going to a reliable mechanic is the correct decision. However Pelican parts has great instructions for how to jump start your vehicle with beautiful images to illustrate the location of the terminals.

    https://www.pelicanparts.com/techart...eplacement.htm
    Last edited by tekoo; 11-07-2018 at 06:27 PM.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
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    2007 BMW Z4 E85 3.0 SI
    Just FYI: Here is one high risk scenario related to battery where the vehicle electronics would shut down completely to prevent fire.

    In this scenario if an electrical short in the battery terminals is detected by the vehicle safety monitoring system; the system will shut down the alternator, fuel pump and starter and prevent vehicle from starting to avoid risk of an explosion/fire (fuel tank right next to the battery).

    https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...toring/X0cjzGj

    This is the exact reason I wanted you to avoid performing the jump start from the battery terminals but rather from engine bay.
    Last edited by tekoo; 11-08-2018 at 01:10 AM.

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