Auto Shut Down if Not Locked?

digicidal · Mar 15, 2020

legacy_etu said:
This bugged the hell out of me when I first got the car. I don’t like the way BMW does this “idle state” stuff in the car.
Anyway, after I toggled my setting in I drive to turn off car after door opening it’s all good. Now my dash cam shuts off as soon as I get out and shut the door. Although I gotta admit I still check the dash cam is off every time....why do the Germans do this stuff?

It bugged me a bit at first, but now I don't even notice... pushing the radio button for 3 secs. just became habit and I don't even think about it. I actually love the feature now in comparison to all the Lexus cars I've owned (and still own one). By the time I get in it's already booted in acc mode and I can just put my windows up before starting (I like to keep them down in the garage to let the glue fumes off-gas). I agree that it's definitely not optimal for those tracking or using it as a weekend car - but for a daily driver, it's never going to be an issue.

JasonO · Mar 15, 2020

phm14 said:
Yes...things like poor warranty service, poor reliability, high depreciation, sky high consumable parts, and having to pay the dealer to clear maintenance minders for oil changes kept me from buying German for 40 years, until I recently owned a '18 911. First car I ever owned that could drain a battery in a week, sitting in the garage. Having to constantly fool with a tender is not ideal...What if you're traveling and happen to leave the car parked for a week or more, at a hotel of airport? I think the Germans have underestimated the impact these things have on sales/reputation. I hear people talking about how they appreciate the "dealer experience", but I'm more concerned about them leaving buyers out in the cold with known issues that a company like Toyota/Lexus will cover. Warranty histories speak for themselves, and I've come to trust Toyota/Lexus over nearly 40 years of ownership. That's one reason I'm buying a Supra from Toyota, and not a BMW.

If you change your setting in iDrive to shut the car off on opening the door, this fixes it. At least it did for my use case.

You may need to set it for both keys as I was having random issues for the first week. The only thing I can think of was I eventually realized each key has somewhat independent settings for many actions.

30MilesOffshore · Mar 15, 2020

Yeah, I agree with JasonO, just change your setting in the iDrive system to shut the car off on opening the door. Less headache and worrying. However, even with this setup the car does still remain "live/powered" for 6 minutes. I ran across this when I was testing/installing my radar detector.

clementc · Mar 16, 2020

Glad to have found this post. Had to learn it the hard way.

We were installing new coilovers for the Supra in my garage over the weekends and I left the doors unlocked and hood popped. Bad idea... Battery is completely dead now after 24 hours lol.

Thinking of picking up a jump starter from the local Autozone (NOCO Genius 2000 Amp Lithium Jump Starter) and also charge the battery up myself since the dealer I purchased the vehicle from is far away. Any suggestions/recommendations on which battery charger and battery tender y'all use?

Cheers.

30MilesOffshore · Mar 16, 2020

Clementc, the NOCO Genius looks good to me. I ran a quick check on ECS Tuning for Z4 G29 Chargers and all of these came up as options (including a few of the NOCO products).

https://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-G29-Z4_sDrive_M40i-B58_3.0L/Tools/Electronic/Battery_Charger/

From my understanding, make sure you connect the charger to the posts under the hood and not directly to the battery itself. This way the computer knows that the vehicle is being charged as opposed to the power coming from the battery. Hopefully, someone can chime in and confirm this?

legacy_etu · Mar 17, 2020

30MilesOffshore said:
Yeah, I agree with JasonO, just change your setting in the iDrive system to shut the car off on opening the door. Less headache and worrying. However, even with this setup the car does still remain "live/powered" for 6 minutes. I ran across this when I was testing/installing my radar detector.

Did you time it to determine it's 6 minutes? I didn't see this in the manual.

clementc · Mar 17, 2020

30MilesOffshore said:
Clementc, the NOCO Genius looks good to me. I ran a quick check on ECS Tuning for Z4 G29 Chargers and all of these came up as options (including a few of the NOCO products).

https://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-G29-Z4_sDrive_M40i-B58_3.0L/Tools/Electronic/Battery_Charger/

From my understanding, make sure you connect the charger to the posts under the hood and not directly to the battery itself. This way the computer knows that the vehicle is being charged as opposed to the power coming from the battery. Hopefully, someone can chime in and confirm this?

30MilesOffshore, thanks for sharing with us the list! Picked up the NOCO Genius 1000 Amp Lithium Jump Starter, and the cables between positive and negative were too short. Lol!

WhatsApp Image 2020-03-17 at 4.05.43 PM.jpeg

30MilesOffshore · Mar 17, 2020

legacy_etu, I timed it many times on several fuse locations as I was trying to find one that cut of immediately when the car was turned off. I didn't like have my radar powered after turning off the car. The ones that did stay active cut off exactly at the 6 minute mark. There were a couple of fuse locations that triggered the car alarm at the 1:30 mark. This was done with a volt meter and timed each time.

A quick test to verify this is to turn the car off and lock the doors. Watch the hazard light switch in the center of the dash. It will remained lit/powered red until the 6:00 minute mark. At this time the computer shuts everything down in the car, including some of the fuse locations in the passenger footwell.

30MilesOffshore · Mar 17, 2020

clementc, that sucks about the wires being too short! Did you extend them or return it?

I just came across this tread where someone was using this bolt for the ground due to the same thing.

https://www.supramkv.com/threads/battery-charger-placement.2896/

Auto Shut Down if Not Locked?

digicidal

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JasonO

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30MilesOffshore

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clementc

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30MilesOffshore

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legacy_etu

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clementc

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30MilesOffshore

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30MilesOffshore

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