Battery issues

[Rav]

Thanks all. I have swapped out the batter with one from my wifes old A6. It was a diesel so its plenty big.

I measured the current drain and it showed 20mA which is acceptable. The replacement battery seems to be doing what it should although the indicators do not blink on lock and unlock and nor does the LED in the rear view mirror.

I am really unsure what is going on....

[Charles]

The flashing indicators when locking and unlocking is something that can be changed via the OBD.

Perhaps someone at BMR changed a setting when they were working on the car?

[Rav]

Thanks All. Resurrecting this thread as I have had some more trouble.

Left the Alpina on my drive way and left for a long weekend in Edinburgh. Just as i got to Carlisle, my neighbour called up and told me that the car alarm was going off. Luckily he has the key to my house and was able to access the car keys to turn off the alarm. When i got home the car battery is dead again.

Looking at batteries on Euro Car Parts - they range from £100s to £500s

Before I invest in a new battery, how can i be sure that it is the battery that needs replacing. Is the FSR failure easy to diagnose? What can i look out for?

[Rav]

I have just bought a cheap and cheerful battery load tester from Ebay. This will help and at around £10 for the tester, might save me money.

Still - if anyone knows how to diagnose the FSR - that would be great.

[Charles]

Still - if anyone knows how to diagnose the FSR - that would be great.

Plenty of threads online with a variety of possible symptoms. The most common is a fluctuating fan speed but you might also experience poor heat control (bit difficult to spot in this weather, mind you!). Alternatively, it may be mostly asymptomatic apart from battery drain.

The replacement part is not that expensive but installation is a right bugger as you need three arms and the skills of a fairground contortionist.

This is a very well known problem on the E46 which, once replaced, goes away forever. Might be worth getting it done anyway, perhaps?

[Rav]

Just to update the battery arrived from Euro Car Parts today.

I have changes this out with the old Varta battery from my wife's Audi A6, which i was using in the short term.

I went for a Bosch item S4 Spec as follows:

Capacity80 Ah
CCA720 A
Guarantee4 Years
Height175 mm
Hold DownB13
Length315 mm
Range Bosch S4
Terminals0/1
UK Reference No110
Width175 mm

Its considerably smaller than the space in the car in both length and height and I had to improvise the securing mechanism with 5 pence pieces to get the clamp to work.

I hope that this does the trick.

Forgot to say that the Hedgehog is on order too!

[Rav]

The car is testing me at the moment.

So when i replaced the battery yesterday the sunroof was open in the tilt position. I didn't give it a thought as it was so warm.

Today I tried to close it and it doesn't want to know. It will open fully and then go back to the tilt position.

The hedgehog has arrived and the battery tester and I am totally demoralised with the car - again.

[Rav]

I followed the E46 Sunroof reset guide here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gogb7rBjxms and it has got my sunroof working with all features again.

I then tried all the windows and all have one touch up and down, with exception the drivers side rear. I have tried all manner of things on this, but no luck. Any ideas?

[Charles]

I then tried all the windows and all have one touch up and down, with exception the drivers side rear. I have tried all manner of things on this, but no luck. Any ideas?

Have you tried this:

Drop window fully then depress switch (lower position) for two seconds. Then raise window fully then lift switch (raise position)for two seconds.

[Rav]

Thanks Charles. It didn't work.

Alarm also seems to have a life of its own.