2007 BMW 328xi Battery question

JULBUG HINTON

MEMBER
2007 BMW 328XI
3.0L
6 CYL
AUTOMATIC
77 MILES

I recently found moisture (leaky compartment) over battery caused possible problems. Car would not start-push & would not come out of park. The battery was removed & all dried out and re installed. I have been told I can pick up car instead of towing & actually unplug one terminal on battery to get the car to run & drive to get where I need to go to purchase a new battery. Is this true? Does this sound correct? And Will all the modules recover during reset when new battery installed here do you have a recommendation of where I can buy my battery? Would you recommend new terminals too? Need answer as quickly as possible Thank you Julie Hinton

3 Replies

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,885 POSTS

Julie:

I'm not sure what caused the battery to get wet unless is was overcharged by the alternator which could have damaged it. However, to answer your question, there is nothing you can take off the battery to make it start. Additionally, the terminals don't need replaced unless they are damaged. Most times they are fine.

As far as locations, I don't know where you are located. If there are any nationally recognized parts stores such as Auto Zone, Advance. They will both test the battery and the alternator for you free of charge and install the battery free.

If you have a friend or someone who could jump start the car for you, then you may be able to drive it to have things checked and replaced.

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Monday, April 20th, 2015 AT 10:56 AM

JULBUG HINTON

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Actually it was a bottled water up in the compartment above the battery that leaked. I had car towed to a 3 rd party BMW local repair shop that had it for 10 days & charged me 4 hours @ $99 per hour to now come back telling me I owe $396 for diagnostic and $371 for battery and that they would recommend replacing both pos & neg terminal cables even though they found nothing wrong but due to age. So out the door I would owe $1331. They also wanted to replaced the starter at $812. The second day they had it. I just cried because they seen this woman coming and they were going to get anything they could. So since I told them to stop & I would come get it. They now tell me it is running and I just need a battery & when I get there they would do this (exact words) unplug one terminal on battery and I could actually drive it to get new battery at wherever instead of having towed again It didn't make sense to me either. As long as AutoZone can replace battery I am going to pick up & go right after work today & buy the best battery they have for my car. It was an expensive lesson I learned at $396. But I did lear something. Thank you so much for your help! I will come back & ask you now before I do anything with this car. Thank you

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Monday, April 20th, 2015 AT 11:45 AM

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,885 POSTS

Wow! I can't believe they would charge that much! As far as the battery, it sounds like once it is running, then they plan to disconnect something.

If you have other questions, let me know.

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Tuesday, April 21st, 2015 AT 8:46 AM