2011 bmw x5. 3.0D - Confused about car batteries.

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Sun 24 Jan 2021 19:01
2011 bmw x5. 3.0D - Confused about car batteries. - Gordon the golfer

Hi everyone. I hope you're all well.

I have been advised by an auto electrician that although my X5 has enough power in the battery to start and drive my car, it hasnt enough power in the cells to work all the electrics properly hence battery light comes on when using electrics. Basically buy a new battery!

I want to buy a quality battery. ECP, GSF, Halfords etc are full of batteries but i dont recognise a lot of the brands.

i've been told to buy a battery that a manufacturer uses in new cars as if its good enough for them its good enough for me.

do you guys know what brand batteries the manufacturers use in their cars? I'm going to try and get a manufacturer approved brand.

i know about the following.

exide- used by bmw, renault, land rover, jaguar,

varta- used by bmw, honda, ford,

mutlu- used by ford,

anything else?

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Sun 24 Jan 2021 19:07
2011 bmw x5. 3.0D - Confused about car batteries. - bathtub tom
I have been advised by an auto electrician that although my X5 has enough power in the battery to start and drive my car, it hasnt enough power in the cells to work all the electrics properly hence battery light comes on when using electrics. Basically buy a new battery!

I'd suggest you buy a new auto electrician. IME the highest load on a battery is starting and it would seem to me your problem's charging. How old's your battery?

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Sun 24 Jan 2021 19:12
2011 bmw x5. 3.0D - Confused about car batteries. - Gordon the golfer

the battery is 10 years old. he put a booster pack on the battery and tested it with the booster. no faults came up. when he took the booster off, the faults came up. he is a reputable auto electrician and does work for main dealers when they get stuck so i have faith in his diagnostics.

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Sun 24 Jan 2021 19:36
2011 bmw x5. 3.0D - Confused about car batteries. - bazza

Not convinced of the electrical diagnosis either, but 2 good quality makes are Yuasa and Varta . Buy online if you can, I've had good service from Tanya batteries ( no connection, just happy with the service).

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Sun 24 Jan 2021 19:43
2011 bmw x5. 3.0D - Confused about car batteries. - elekie&a/c doctor

A battery at 10 years old on a car like this needs replacing. I would suggest Exide, Bosch ,Varta or similar known brands. If the car has stop/start system ,you need the correct type. There may be enough power in the battery to crank the engine, but if the voltage drops below 10 volts, then many of the electrical control modules throw a wobbly and bring on the warning lights. A conductance test of the battery will show the battery's ability to store a charge.

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Sun 24 Jan 2021 19:38
2011 bmw x5. 3.0D - Confused about car batteries. - badbusdriver

10 years old is a good age for a battery, presumably the original given the age of the car!. As well as the makes you list, two others which spring to mind are Bosch and Yuasa. I wouldn't get too hung up on makes though, spec, warranty and how close the seller is are more important (if you buy one off t'internet and there is a problem, you'd have to pay to return it, which wouldn't be cheap!).

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Sun 24 Jan 2021 23:34
2011 bmw x5. 3.0D - Confused about car batteries. - Avant

Try to find an independent BMW specialist who can advise you. You're right - it needs to be manufacturer approved, an a cheapo one could prove inadequate: but don't pay main dealer prices.

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Tue 26 Jan 2021 09:58
2011 bmw x5. 3.0D - Confused about car batteries. - barney100

I use Halfords for batteries and no problems, had one in my V70 six months ago and it's fine.

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Tue 26 Jan 2021 12:03
2011 bmw x5. 3.0D - Confused about car batteries. - galileo

I use Halfords for batteries and no problems, had one in my V70 six months ago and it's fine.

After only 6 months I would expect any battery to be fine.

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Tue 26 Jan 2021 12:46
2011 bmw x5. 3.0D - Confused about car batteries. - skidpan

Your X5 will have Stop/Start and smart charging of some description thus will require the correct battery. Had to have a new battery on our 2008 118D which had to be specially ordered and programmed into the car, it was warranty thus free. I was told that it would still work without the programming but it would reduce its life and not benefit from the smart charging.

It will not be cheap, if it is its the wrong battery.

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Sat 6 Feb 2021 18:19
2011 bmw x5. 3.0D - Confused about car batteries. - Gordon the golfer

just an update. i bought a new exide battery. the auto electrician fitted it, coded it to the car and deleted lots of fault codes that kept coming back previously. i did around 400 miles over the next couple of week, some motorways and some a roads and went back to the auto electrician who scanned the car and showed me it was fault free.

no thanks to the armchair keyboard mechanics who totally mislead me.

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