[skeee1]

Here is a new one for you guys. My new (4500 Miles Old) 2009 328XI has been having problems starting lately. Battery will not hold a charge at all. Yesterday I was driving the car and I put in a USB stick to transfer my music to the hard drive. I forgot to pull it out yesterday.
My wife brought the vehicle to the Stealership today and of course they tried to say the USB stick has been killing the battery. I told my wife to tell them that I just put it in yesterday for the first ever. They said that BMW does not cover bad batteries. But they are doing us a favor to replace it since the USB is the cause. Another new one!!! The vehicle has been having problems for two weeks before yesterday's insertion of USB.

Go Herb Chambers!!!!

[bsamoul]

BMW does cover bad batteries on brand new cars, especially yours. Saying that a USB stick is killing the battery is such BS

[02themax]

What a joke! Seems like some dealers dont care.

[Roowah]

Originally Posted by skeee1

Here is a new one for you guys. My new (4500 Miles Old) 2009 328XI has been having problems starting lately. Battery will not hold a charge at all. Yesterday I was driving the car and I put in a USB stick to transfer my music to the hard drive. I forgot to pull it out yesterday.
My wife brought the vehicle to the Stealership today and of course they tried to say the USB stick has been killing the battery. I told my wife to tell them that I just put it in yesterday for the first ever. They said that BMW does not cover bad batteries. But they are doing us a favor to replace it since the USB is the cause. Another new one!!! The vehicle has been having problems for two weeks before yesterday's insertion of USB.

Go Herb Chambers!!!!

That's a new one. I've heard not so great things about their service. If you're willing to travel a bit, there are better options. I've been very satisfied with BMW of Peabody's Centennial Drive service center.

[JohnSprm69]

Originally Posted by skeee1

Here is a new one for you guys. My new (4500 Miles Old) 2009 328XI has been having problems starting lately. Battery will not hold a charge at all. Yesterday I was driving the car and I put in a USB stick to transfer my music to the hard drive. I forgot to pull it out yesterday.
My wife brought the vehicle to the Stealership today and of course they tried to say the USB stick has been killing the battery. I told my wife to tell them that I just put it in yesterday for the first ever. They said that BMW does not cover bad batteries. But they are doing us a favor to replace it since the USB is the cause. Another new one!!! The vehicle has been having problems for two weeks before yesterday's insertion of USB.

Go Herb Chambers!!!!

wow just wow, what a crack of shit......i've had a usb stick for the past week without removing and my battery is just fine.

[infinitigor]

Originally Posted by Johnsprm69

wow just wow, what a crack of shit......i've had a usb stick for the past week without removing and my battery is just fine.

complete bull. Had my usb in there for months and no problem.

[fruition3000]

What? This is old news..USB stick kills the battery slowly over time. It has a constant draw of 1mw every second!

[Oulixes]

The dealer's USB story is obviously one of the tales that is only good for laughs. The fortunate part of the mater is that the dealer is willing to replace the battery under warranty. The unfortunate part is that unless the dealer has established that it was the battery that was faulty, the battery replacement may not help in the long run, and the problem may occur again. It takes faith to believe that the dealership that blames USB memory sticks for discharging batteries could find the true reason why the battery charge have been depleted.

[Alexander]

Fuck that.

[e90prelci]

i hate how bmw stealers always try to find a way to avoid fixing shit! if you are going to sell maintenance or warranty just fix it!

[Morpheus]

I have a 60GB usb drive that never leaves my car unless it is to transfer new music. Been this way for over a year with NO battery problems.

[alex2112]

Originally Posted by skeee1

Go Herb Chambers!!!!

There's your problem right there. Just look at the threads about them in the New England forum.

[tim818]

Admit it, you must be doing this in your car...



Tim

[positiveions]

Originally Posted by tim818

Admit it, you must be doing this in your car...


Tim

yea, stealership will do anything to rip people off. No one is immune. I would have looked at the guy, and said to him: whatever you are smoking, bro, it is having a positive effect on your cerebral-you know the shit that is located inside your cranial that is covered by cerebral spinal fluid. what a freaking joke.

[bulldog_yyc]

any references in the manual that say you MUST remove the USB key when you switch the car off? take the page of the manual to the dealer (pretty sure it does NOT say anything w/regard to removing the stick) and press his slimy face into it until he understands WTF is going on

[rikwynnpa]

I had a problem with my last E92 lease return and had a discussion with BMW Finance about it. I told him that the product they build has to be incredibly good to overcome the horrible buying and servicing experience many of us have at their dealers. He said that BMWNA knows this and are trying to work with dealers to improve them. It was even worse in the late 90's when the factories were sold out - but now in the economy we're in even the BMW dealers have to have some humility. Paybacks are a bitch.

[E92-Lighting]

first time i heard a dealer trying to pull this one, they probably would have said something different if you brought the car in

[bsamoul]

Originally Posted by tim818

Admit it, you must be doing this in your car...



Tim

That'd be pretty cool to play chess with

[Morpheus]

Originally Posted by Takashi

Since your car have been having problems weeks before the USB stick being added to it, it is highly unlikely the USB stick that "killed" the battery. I won't worry about it much if the dealership is willing to replace the battery for free. I would, however, try to figure out the reason why your car is acting funny weeks before.

fixed-simplified version. I think in my last BMW, even if you left a dome light or other accessory on, everything shuts off after a predetermined time to prevent battery drainage. No reason to think the e90s aren't even more sophisticated.

[mid-corner fun]

Originally Posted by Morpheus

fixed-simplified version. I think in my last BMW, even if you left a dome light or other accessory on, everything shuts off after a predetermined time to prevent battery drainage. No reason to think the e90s aren't even more sophisticated.

they're not more sophisticated sadly, and it has been demonstrated to me at the dealership how my usb-based hard drive prevents the car electronics from shutting down after the 10-15min interval when you lock your car. I still have the diagnostics printout with and without something plugged into the usb port, I refused to believe them initially.

Having said this, it takes 4-5 days of not driving the car to drain the battery with the HD plugged into the usb port, at least in my case. The solution is simple, unplug/turn off the usb device or even better, just drive more often!

[skeee1]

They finally replaced the battery after a little haggling.

Definitely makes me wonder if they care. (NOT). They still charge BMW USA for the service. Oh well. At least my 8 year old Avalanche still starts up when I need it. Good ol' Mexican/American truck.

[persian54]

My battery discharged recently

But that was cause I have HIDs and had it on without it being 'on' for about 15 mins

but it discharged itself and then after I drove it was fine...

So it didn't let me drain it...