RDU shop for E90 BMW battery reset witchcraft?

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:02 am

My wife's 2008 BMW 328i needs a new battery. Obviously I can put this in myself. But I can't perform whatever witchcraft I need to do to tell the car's computers that there's a new battery in it.

Performance BMW told me 1 hour of labor. That seems criminal. Is there anyone around here who can do it for less than $100+?

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

Performance Chassis has done work on my wife's MINI (BMW) for reasonable cost and was able to reset my brake pad wear indicator light (go ahead Vincent, pile on!). Always good to support them.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:18 am

This got me reading a bit about it Karl on some of the BMW forums. What a pain in the rear. It does look like it will make a difference in the battery longevity, so do it is the right thing. - AB

JamesShort · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:25 am

Karl Shultz wrote:

My wife's 2008 BMW 328i needs a new battery. Obviously I can put this in myself. But I can't perform whatever witchcraft I need to do to tell the car's computers that there's a new battery in it.

Performance BMW told me 1 hour of labor. That seems criminal. Is there anyone around here who can do it for less than $100+

Please tell me it's not the same thing on the E46.....

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:31 am

Brice, that's a good suggestion. I didn't even think about them in this particular context.

Aaron - yeah, it's a headache, no doubt about that. It's a great car, but my god there are some things that make me scratch my head. Technology marches on, I guess.

James, I've never heard of having to do this with an E46, but I've also never looked into it, either.

Another source of frustration - the internetslist many different sizes of battery as an "Exact Fit" for a 2008 BMW 328i base. Sears shows three. Advance Auto shows eight. Eight??

48
94R
49
93
91
H8
H7
H6

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 11:38 am

We called several places.

Chapel Hill Tire, which is within walking distance of our house: for an 84 month battery, over $350

Import Motor Werks: they owe me a return phone call.

Performance BMW: $128.95 to do the reset assuming we bring the car in with the new battery in place. Don't know yet how much it'll be if we buy the battery from them.

Performance Chassis: ~$315 (!) including the battery, which he said was over $200. Labor was $80. I asked him if that was for an AGM battery, he said no. I asked him why a lead acid battery was so expensive, he said "it's for a BMW, so it's a bigger battery than what would go in say a Honda or a Toyota." That's pretty much when I stopped listening.

Black Forest Industries: $150 for a non-AGM battery, plus $80 for the install. We have a winner. I like Performance Chassis a lot, but $85.00 is a huge price difference.

Steven Carter · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 11:48 am

I needed a new battery in my M Roadster back when I owned it (apparently, the little sightglass will still be green even when it won't hold a charge b/c it only samples 1-2 cells...) The battery was more expensive everywhere and a "unique" shape and size. The reason I got was "It's for a BMW."

I suppose it could be worse. As an example, apparently the swanky SL-class Benz has 2 batteries, one for starting the car and one for the gizmowizardry...one of my partners at work has one and needed a battery replaced--reportedly it would have set him back nearly $500 if not for his warranty.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 11:57 am

All of my reading told me it was a 48, even after others were told it was a 49 from BMW. Glad you found a good solution Karl. - AB

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 11:58 am

would you like an easy to work on mustang? Yes please....

JamesShort · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 12:12 pm

Apparently a "Bav Tool" can reset the ECM for this......but I'm confused.....is a "Bav Tool" an inanimate device for fixing something or a person?..... :mrgreen:

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

Wow, that is a bit of a high price. Their prices have been pretty reasonable for work on the mini, and Andrew is usually a pretty straight up guy. I quoted them for my AC replacement (along with Happy Japs) and they didn't come in THAT much more expensive than Happy Japs or any of the others I quoted.

Scott Johnson · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 12:42 pm

Is the old one dead or just failing (does the ECM need to be reset yet). Seems you could just make sure the car always sees 12V during the swap. I've done it before, jumper cables from old battery connections to new battery, remove old battery, carefully place new battery and connect terminals. No loss of radio stations, etc. I'm sure there are less cumbersome ways then using jumper cables.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5rwnMuZVbk

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 12:50 pm

Scott Johnson wrote:

Is the old one dead or just failing (does the ECM need to be reset yet). Seems you could just make sure the car always sees 12V during the swap. I've done it before, jumper cables from old battery connections to new battery, remove old battery, carefully place new battery and connect terminals. No loss of radio stations, etc. I'm sure there are less cumbersome ways then using jumper cables.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5rwnMuZVbk

In this case though it's trying to determine how to charge the battery based upon the "learning" of the ECU. So as his original battery dies, it gives it more volts than say a "healthy" battery. When the new battery goes in, the charging process wouldn't be good for the healthy battery and it kills it with too much juice. The "reset" tells the ECU it's a new battery and starts the monitoring process from scratch. -AB

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 12:54 pm

BriceJohnson wrote:

Performance Chassis has done work on my wife's MINI (BMW) for reasonable cost and was able to reset my brake pad wear indicator light (go ahead Vincent, pile on!). Always good to support them.

You guys make it too easy. Having to go to a dealer now because of a dead battery...wow, just wow.

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 1:35 pm

Karl Shultz wrote:

We called several places.

Chapel Hill Tire, which is within walking distance of our house: for an 84 month battery, over $350

Import Motor Werks: they owe me a return phone call.

Performance BMW: $128.95 to do the reset assuming we bring the car in with the new battery in place. Don't know yet how much it'll be if we buy the battery from them.

Performance Chassis: ~$315 (!) including the battery, which he said was over $200. Labor was $80. I asked him if that was for an AGM battery, he said no. I asked him why a lead acid battery was so expensive, he said "it's for a BMW, so it's a bigger battery than what would go in say a Honda or a Toyota." That's pretty much when I stopped listening.

Black Forest Industries: $150 for a non-AGM battery, plus $80 for the install. We have a winner. I like Performance Chassis a lot, but $85.00 is a huge price difference.

Its expensive to be a baller.... :boohoo:

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