iDrive / Nav system crashing (rebooting)

[awretham]

Hi,

Has anyone else been plagued by the iDrive / Nav system crashing (rebooting) every 30mins? I've tried everything to rectify the issue; deleted all connected devices, restarted the iDrive system etc etc.

Toyota have no idea either.

I'm running a Femto unlock with MHD+, all updated to latest version.

Help!

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[itzTang]

hows battery health? sometimes that causes all sorts of gremlins

 

[awretham]

I've not actually tested the battery... I kinda assumed given it is a 22 plate the battery would be good. It also lives on a NOCO GENIUS5 charger over the winter months. That said, testing the battery is probably a good call. I will get it tested on Monday

 

[climhazzard]

Pull codes. I’ve had iDrive crash once years ago and it was due to overheating (B7F867).

 

[awretham]

When I scanned it the other day there was quite a few codes, but all seemed to be connection related;

 

[awretham]

hows battery health? sometimes that causes all sorts of gremlins

I tested the battery, it says it's healthy but the charge is only 63%, and this is after driving it on Friday for about 3-4hours (2hours there, parked for couple of hours, then 1.5hours back). So something doesn't seem right to me.. also the CCA is over what it should be (the battery is rated at 850CCA).

I'm going to speak to Toyota tomorrow, see if they'll replace it under warranty.. otherwise I'll just buy one myself.

 

[awretham]

Decided I'd try charging it over night, my battery is now reportly good, with 95% health, and 100% charge state.. but will it stay like that, that's the question. I have reassembled everything, cleared all the fault codes, and locked the car up. Will check again on Wednesday and see what the reported charge state is via BimmerLink. If it's still good I will take it for a drive and see if the issues are fixed. If they're not, and the battery charge has dropped again, then I'll bite the bullet and just buy / replace the battery.

I also did speak to Toyota, they said my battery was outside of the 3year warranty (by 2months..) so obviously they won't help. Is what it is.

 

[FLtrackdays]

Decided I'd try charging it over night, my battery is now reportly good, with 95% health, and 100% charge state.. but will it stay like that, that's the question. I have reassembled everything, cleared all the fault codes, and locked the car up. Will check again on Wednesday and see what the reported charge state is via BimmerLink. If it's still good I will take it for a drive and see if the issues are fixed. If they're not, and the battery charge has dropped again, then I'll bite the bullet and just buy / replace the battery.

I also did speak to Toyota, they said my battery was outside of the 3year warranty (by 2months..) so obviously they won't help. Is what it is.

I switched to a LiFePO4 and really like it. If you gotta buy another one, you might want to consider it… Amazing how heavy ours are. Another benefit of switching.

 

[awretham]

I switched to a LiFePO4 and really like it. If you gotta buy another one, you might want to consider it… Amazing how heavy ours are. Another benefit of switching.

I did / am actually considering a Lithium battery. Though being in the UK I cannot get the same make everyone is running in the states, but have reached out to a UK company:

https://www.deadweightindustries.co.uk/products/touge-max

This looks like it'll do the job, but isn't cheap

I assume you're not having any issues with yours? I know I'll obviously need to program the car for the new battery, but is there anything else to be aware of?

I have also read that when parking the car for long periods it's best to disconnect the battery rather than keep it on a battery tender.

 

[awretham]

Went to test the car this evening, checked the charge state, it had already dropped to 80% after only 2days of sitting, seems a little excessive...

Thought I'd take it for a spirited drive anyway, see what happens. After 30mins.. you guessed it, the iDrive / Nav rebooted, also strangely it re-enabled traction control, but I assume that maybe due to the iDrive crash?

Drove it for about an hour in total and checked the charge state again when I got back, it only managed to reach 84%, I'd have expected it to have been fully charged but maybe I'm incorrect in that assumption.

The other thing I noticed was the capacity is set to 90Ah, where as the battery is 95Ah, but I've never touched that so assume that's how it's been from day one.

I've also got a load of reoccurring faults

The General Mobile Network error and HDCP authentication probably needs some further investigation on my part.

I don't know whether to take a punt on a new battery, but I guess at this stage it's probably worth doing. That said, I'll just get a standard replacement, incase it doesn't resolve my faults and the car needs to go to Toyota (as I'm sure they'll have an issue with a non-factory battery..)

 

[awretham]

So I think those error codes might be a bit of a red herring, I believe most are caused by the iDrive rebooting and none point to the route cause.

Thinking more about the SOC drop, I'd expect some, but a 20% decline over less than 48hours is excessive. Also, when I tested it originally on Sunday, it being 12.4v is probably another warning sign. I should really do a voltage load test I guess...

I'm going to speak to the guys at Deadweight tomorrow either way, if they can do me a cheeky discount, maybe include one of their chargers, I'm just going to bite the bullet (even though I said different above..)

If the car needs to go to Toyota the battery being non factory is the least of my problems; the Femto unlock is more of a concern

 

[lucky phil]

Decided I'd try charging it over night, my battery is now reportly good, with 95% health, and 100% charge state.. but will it stay like that, that's the question. I have reassembled everything, cleared all the fault codes, and locked the car up. Will check again on Wednesday and see what the reported charge state is via BimmerLink. If it's still good I will take it for a drive and see if the issues are fixed. If they're not, and the battery charge has dropped again, then I'll bite the bullet and just buy / replace the battery.

I also did speak to Toyota, they said my battery was outside of the 3year warranty (by 2months..) so obviously they won't help. Is what it is.

Don't be surprised if the battery is in need of replacement they don't necessarily last that well these days. I've had failed batteries pass a load and health test but were toast. You just never know. batteries are becoming a "hard life" component these days.
Phil

 

[tracer bullet]

Agreed to replace the battery. They can go anywhere from a couple years to a decade. It's not that much really nor very difficult and all signs point to it as a problem. BMW's are notorious for having random electrical issues when the batteries are dying.

Be sure afterwards to do the coding, 2 types - 1) Tell the car there's a new battery and to begin its maintenance program anew, and 2) Tell the car the Ah rating of the battery, if it changes.

There's a chance it's fine and something is draining it, but normally not. If you want to know for certain, disconnect it for a few days and see what it does. If able of course, might need another car to drive.

 

[awretham]

Yeah I agree, I've encountered a load of random issues with X3/5s at my work, all are normally battery related / fixed by installing a new battery.
Plus my iDrive issues all started after the car was sitting for about 6weeks, not on a tender. And tbh, I was a bit slack with keeping it charged over last winter (in part due to some electric issues at my house).

I appreciate the input. I'm going to bite the bullet tomorrow and just buy a silly expensive battery

 

[climhazzard]

I’m going to buck the trend and say it’s possibly not your battery, although I hope it is because the alternatives aren’t great. E1C440 - I would suggest doing some research on that.

From quickly looking around the ISTA test plan is likely to suggest updating the i-level to rewrite the software on the HU-H (ISTA will force all modules to update, which will be a problem for your tune). If that doesn’t work… it may be a hardware issue. That’s said, these cars do crazy things with low batteries so hopefully that is the root cause and the error code is a byproduct. The issue beginning after 6 weeks of the car sitting is an interesting correlation.

Also on the battery, what you’re describing doesn’t seem unusual based on my experience; IBS/Efficient Dynamics purposely does not keep the battery at full charge and it’s unlikely to see it much over 80% SoC in normal use. When you measured it at 100% SoC was that from Bimmerlink or by checking the voltage directly on the battery?

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