sad day for my 540

[riverdadd]

had a trunk fire... car totaled. bmw bummer

[crdiscoverer]

How did the fire start? Battery positive?

[riverdadd]

i'm not sure, but it wasn't the bmw battery, i had some smaller batteries from my job in trunk to recycle. little 12 volt sealed units. like in an emergency exit light, 1 must have arced.... i'm beyond bummed

[philly98540]

That is awful. Sad to hear. Any pics? Hope they make you whole and without too much hassle. No one needs extra stress during the holidays.

[b2ke]

I'm sorry to hear about this. That's also scary because a few months ago I had a bin full of assorted batteries to be recycled from my work. Only had it in my trunk for 30minutes max but even then I was a bit anxious.

[JimLev]

Sorry for you loss River. Is anything salvageable? Engine, tranny, etc?

[riverdadd]

Yeah Jim, every thing forward of trunk, rear parcel shelf is viable. All electronics / wiring/ relays in trunk are toast. I'm kinda looking to find a new E39 and move the good bits from mine.

Thanks all for the concern, anyone have a lead on an E39 in virginia? that needs rescue?

[haolibird]

Now you why the airlines are paranoid about Ion batteries.
Very sorry to hear.

You'll find a worthy replacement.

All the manual trans parts are $$$.
Sell them together as a package, and you're halfway to another car.

[MtnGn]

I looked on Craigslist in Den. There is one 540i e39 listed for 11k. Pretty good shape, but it's been used as a track car and has a supercharger on it.

They do come up surprisingly frequently in various stages of health and beauty.

[Chedley]

had a trunk fire... car totaled. bmw bummer

@riverdadd ---> Sorry to hear it. At least it was not the timing chain/guides. Your engine and tranny are probably worth a few $$$. How many miles on it ?

[riverdadd]

165k

[StephenVA]

Sorry to read about your E39 battery burn.

[Ed CT]

Wow, sorry to hear this. It'd be bad enough for a non-car person, but for us E39 enthusiasts, it hurts even more. A minor silver lining, it could've been a lot worse if it had got to the fuel system. And, this is an excellent PSA - we won't be stowing any batteries in our cars. Hope you find a good replacement.

[crdiscoverer]

we won't be stowing any batteries in our cars

Yup. I had one of those Li-ion jump starters which obviously always sat in the trunk, until one day I found it literally bursting at the seams and it was because the massive battery in it had swollen. I can see how close I was to disaster. Don't leave those things in the car unless it's a road trip or any other situation you think you may need them.

[Ed CT]

Yup. ... Don't leave those things in the car unless it's a road trip or any other situation you think you may need them.

That is an excellent point. Don't think of it as just another tool in the trunk - it IS a battery.

[MotorMouth93]

@riverdadd ---> Sorry to hear it. At least it was not the timing chain/guides. Your engine and tranny are probably worth a few $$$. How many miles on it ?

Chedster is really trying to tell us that a car burning up is preferable to a timing chain job.

[SW530]

Yup. I had one of those Li-ion jump starters which obviously always sat in the trunk, until one day I found it literally bursting at the seams and it was because the massive battery in it had swollen. I can see how close I was to disaster. Don't leave those things in the car unless it's a road trip or any other situation you think you may need them.

This brings up an interesting point of discussion. I've got decades, well.. since the late 90's.. when digital cameras displaced film in most forms of commercial photography. They started with NIHM, maybe a few with NICAD's, but I'd say for a solid 20 years now any pro level gear has mostly been running off LiON batteries. Following suit is a host of devices, phones, laptops, test equipment, drones, video, the list is very long.

Not sure where to inject this little tidbit of knowledge so going here: Living where it gets cold and invariably people die stuck in cars without equipment they need to stay warm/watered/fed, I've made sure all of our cars have a minimum of "essentials" in the form of a tightly bundled pack which includes several dozen LiON batteries of different forms. Each fall I test each piece of gear to ascertain it's run time, (I actually run these in a chest freezer at specific temps instead of depending on math, and of course we're talking several dozen cells, not pieces of gear. Anyway, that's a lot of LiON's, packed tightly together, in a as neutral as possible temperature variations location I can come up with.

Through the years I've noticed "bloated" batteries and 100% of them have had a certain amount of use placed on them. Most are in the last 20-30% of projected cell life. With that said I'm speculating if "bloated" equals more dangerous. I'd like to find out. Doing forum searches, making calls, etc, I think most agree the cells that catch fire are high output (current) cells designed to be charged and discharged fast. Still, not definitive.

We've all noticed the battery sticker that Amazon and others put on boxes with LiON's and we know they fly. And I've googled to try and find if any part of those bar codes relate to a certain battery or equipment type. Nothing, but not definitive.

I'd like to know more, but I'm starting to think we're purposely being kept in the dark on purpose. Maybe to financially protect the industry?

Anyway, anyone have anything to add?

Meanwhile for well over a decade my camera gear and I lived on airplanes and never had an issue. Pretty sure that while those of you in western countries were being limited on what LiON batteries you could travel with, those of us in the East didn't face such issues.

I would guess that batteries and devices from the West sporting the UL logo are probably in the clear. Everyone else.. perhaps not. Anyone have thoughts on that?

Personally I'm not worried about jump packs of any type marked with the UL logo. I purposely seek out the more expensive and highly rated jump packs made in America, Germany, Asia, and other such places and steer clear of the rest. In the electronics industry there is a premium price placed on capacitors, any form of rechargeable batteries, and other certain components. I'm sticking to that.. There is plenty of reading material about on Capacitors, batteries, etc.. If you haven't I'd take advantage of said reading..

[crdiscoverer]

Through the years I've noticed "bloated" batteries and 100% of them have had a certain amount of use placed on them. Most are in the last 20-30% of projected cell life. With that said I'm speculating if "bloated" equals more dangerous. I'd like to find out. Doing forum searches, making calls, etc, I think most agree the cells that catch fire are high output (current) cells designed to be charged and discharged fast. Still, not definitive.

This is the interesting part for me. As I'm sure most of us do, I also routinely interact with many kinds of li-ion packs, ranging from cameras to power tools. Many of them turned into pillows but none had burst into flames, ever. I do like to play it safe and stop using them as soon as that happens, though, but I'm sure the process starts well before we notice so they are not as dangerous as the internet makes us think. In my case, I can tell you that the more a battery stays at 100% charge, the more likely it will swell up sooner. So, laptops, IoT devices and other things that stay always connected, or things that you must always keep at full capacity for them to be useful, like the aforementioned jump starters. Batteries like to be cycled and stay off the extremes of full charge/full discharge.

The problem that I see with routinely storing li-ion batteries in cars is that cars are worst-case-scenarios. They have very poor insulation from heat/cold, things move around so chances are high that a battery gets hit the wrong way, punctures and becomes a torch. Jump starter batteries are also a worst-case since they check all the boxes: fast discharge, massive packs, heavy and prone to move around...

[seagreen323i]

Chedster is really trying to tell us that a car burning up is preferable to a timing chain job.

Well I wanted to to that to mine during my guide job, wasn't hard just REALLY bad timing.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[kallekula]

I almost set fire to my car when I tried fixing the original dsp system. Had mounted a new radio module i found at the boneyard and it caught fire. That’s when I gave up and bought a modern audio system instead.

[riverdadd]

fire 5.jpgfire 1.jpgfire 2.jpgfire 4.jpg

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just bought a 2013 VW jetta as a stop gap until i can find the right E39

jetta is a econo sheeet box at least its german

merry xmas kick in the stick to me

[riverdadd]

fire 5.jpgfire 2.jpg

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car still runs.... all saftey systems off line plus climate control and radio

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the frontfire 7.jpg

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fire extinguisher residue everywhere

[MtnGn]

Yeah. Id be pretty upset if that happened to ours. Been in the fam for over 25 years. Gees. And all the time/money Ive dumped into it keeping it healthy and happy; still such a pleasure to drive.

[philly98540]

That looks like a hot mess! Could probably fix it with a scrap cars wiring but likely be a serious pita to fix.

[riverdadd]

thanx philly would be a wiring nightmare im sure

question would a average , generic e39 528 low range model have the same wire harness from rear seat back? compatible with my later model 540? like relays? wires ? relay buss....... im hoping to clip a harness at rear passenger seat and trans plant... i am positive all wires, relays, actuators.... from rear passenger back are toast........ I Came in HOT!!! bad joke i know im not ready.... FFS

help friends!! need a xmas miracle