Hi. I went to start my BMW today after it had been sitting for 3 days and it won't start. When I turn it over it makes a clicking sound and the headlights flash on and off in fast succession. All of the interior lights and headlights are nice and bright so I don't think it's the battery. Everything else works like the locks, windows and radio. Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated! Thank you in advance.
get the car jump-started and go to an autozone etc. Let them check the battery. Lights etc need voltage and not much in "cranking amps". Most of the time, a shorted battery cell will provide the car with volts but there just isn't enough "PUSH" or amps....That's my best guess, the battery is internally shorted (cell to cell).
Thanks for the advice. I assumed the worst. I took the advice and tried to jump start it. I put the cables on and immediately tried to jump it and it did the same thing so I let the battery charge for about 3 minutes before I tried again and it fired right up. I took it to the local garage and they checked the indicator in the original BMW battery. It was black meaning it was not charged. Green indicates normal charge. Yellow indicates that the battery needs replacement. So I stuck a battery charger on it and am hoping that will do the trick for now. The BMW 330 takes about 735 cold cranking amps to start which is a large amount due to all of the electronics and performance engine. I was also warned that when jumping a BMW be careful not to overload it by jump starting it with a big vehicle (such as an F-350) as it may fry the internal computer. Also make sure when replacing the battery it is hooked up to a power source as to not put the car in theft mode thus requiring it to be towed to a BMW garage to reset it so it will start. Just thought I would pass on my experience to the next guy.
I don't no where on earth you are, but assuming northern hemis-sphere and it is very cold then this is when you find out your battery is marginal, as the cold means it gives less juice, the engine is harder to crank (thick oil) and the mixture is less likely to fire.
If you are just unlucky and have left the door ajar, phone charger or similar plugged in, then as you haven't flattened the battery completely then you might be OK, but the chances are it is on its way out and you will need to replace before summer.
Don't let the garage check the battery before you charge it - it will always fail when nearly flat and you might be replacing a good battery!
If the battery is the original, it's toast.
The starter takes lots of amps to make it go, but when the battery dies, the ability to supply those amps decreases, and the result is that the voltage decreases to the point that nothing works, then the voltaqge rises again because there are no loads, then because you are holding the key, the voltage drops again, then no load and the voltage rises, the load resumes so the voltage drops. All of this rising and falling ot the supplied voltage causes the clicking noise.
The interior lights draw a relative low amperage, so they might appear to be okay but really the batttery is dead.
Get the car jumped by the Auto Club or equivelent, and drive it to charge the battery again. This is at best a temporary fix, odds favor the same performance one night when you would rather the performance be better.
UPDATE:
The charging didn't work so I had to buy a new battery. I went to several auto parts stores with no luck. I finally found a Deka brand battery with enough cold cranking amps (730) for $99. Everything is back to working like a charm. Thanks!
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.