XSeries-forum

ok so this came up on the car earlier. I stopped switched off for five mins re-started and it had cleared. For now I'm going to assume, for now at least, that it is the usual "electrical gremlin/poss battery on the way out" as the cause.

So my question is, if the battery is on the way out (it is a Bosch Silver S5 3 years old) and not say, the alternator, will hooking it up to my CTEK battery charger/conditioner help ie does the CTEK only prolong the life of a good battery or can it extend the life of a battery that is past its best ?

Smee

When I had my X5 d sport I replaced the battery with an S3 019 100ah. I also used to put it on trickle charge about once a month in the garage to keep it topped up.( I only had it as a weekend toy)
We sold a shogun to a friend of the wives who only uses it say once a month to pull her horse trailer. In the winter when she goes to it it struggles to start after being left that long.
The trouble is that she keeps it outside up at the farm, out of the way, and hundreds of yards from a power supply.
She bought a solar powered charger/conditioner that she sits in the car and plugs into the cig lighter to condition the battery. Seems to do the trick as she hasn't borrowed my charger for few months now. halfords I think

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_255205

I had the self level alarm inactive regularly since I got the car from the dealer (2nd hand) a few years ago.  It occured every other journey or so, was an annoyance more than anything and there was a couple of other intermittent alarms at the same time.
I discovered the fault by accident when I went to look at the radio module in the boot.  Noticed that the last person to have the compressor unit off (the dome thing under the spare wheel) had put it back and folded over the air lines, blue and red, and hence closing them off.  Once I had straightened them with a little heat from a hot air gun it was all fine.
Worth a look if someone has been into the battery recently for instance.

The battery should be good after only 3 years I would have thought ?

B X5   

Battery should be OK, but it will depend upon how it's being used.  Modern AGM batteries are very intolerant of any 'abuse'.  They only have to go flat a couple of times and their 'life' gets seriously shortened.

If you have an 8-stage CTEK it has a reconditioning function (some of the others do to) which may help recover the battery although not to its former glory.  I'm using one to keep our E46 going whilst it's in storage but .i know the battery is beginning to suffer.  It is not holding it's charge as well as it did.

Richard

ok thanks. No-one has been in the boot recently (in fact not since battery went in 3 years ago) so shouldn't be that. Not sure if my CTEk is an 8 stage model or not - any way to tell easily other than contacting CTEk with the model number?

Smee

Number of LEDs on top.  8 stage ones have 8.  There may also be a 'mode' button for doing a recon charge - it brings another step into play which is normally ignored.

Richard

ah ok - definitely have a mode button - will check the number of lights

Thanks
Smee