Very interesting Battery coding on my X5M!

[Ebtahi98]

So winter is here up in the East Coast so just for preparation I figured I'd swap my battery out. After delving deep into the back of my vehicle I noticed I have an interstate battery that's dates aren't even punched out so I might just have to interact with the interstate guy and have another battery on back up, but here comes the fun part so I reinstall new Exide battery (obviously I'm familiar with coding the battery to the car) so I start the coding procedure the car. According to the computer the car accepts it. I go to start the car like a Christmas tree lit up. from the all-wheel-drive unit to the Servotronic steering - and God knows whatever else. I tried doing this with Carly. So after Carly gave me nothing but a headache, I plug-in my high end Autel - I also try recoding the battery with that unit and still come up with the same lights (yes it's a correct H9 if I remember correctly) so I ended up clearing all the codes going into each module individually resetting/recalibrating the entire Servotronics system inside the module itself and then clearing the codes and all of a sudden the battery took. FINALLY but I had to do all this unnecessary work- NEVER RAN INTO THIS ODD ISSUE . just a little fair warning ahead to people if and when they change their battery I hope they don't incur the same interesting procedure unless your tech savvy and have the appropriate tools I don't want someone to stumble upon this surprise Without- having access to some higher end diag - and electronic automotive equipment / well I fixed everything but your average person might not have the tools and know how to get into specific modules to recalibrate it . - JUST A WARNING WHAT TO POSSIBLY EXPECT. - and the fix / GOODLUCK

[Sophisticated Redneck]

Originally Posted by Ebtahi98

So winter is here up in the East Coast so just for preparation I figured I'd swap my battery out. After delving deep into the back of my vehicle I noticed I have an interstate battery that's dates aren't even punched out so I might just have to interact with the interstate guy and have another battery on back up, but here comes the fun part so I reinstall new Exide battery (obviously I'm familiar with coding the battery to the car) so I start the coding procedure the car. According to the computer the car accepts it. I go to start the car like a Christmas tree lit up. from the all-wheel-drive unit to the Servotronic steering - and God knows whatever else. I tried doing this with Carly. So after Carly gave me nothing but a headache, I plug-in my high end Autel - I also try recoding the battery with that unit and still come up with the same lights (yes it's a correct H9 if I remember correctly) so I ended up clearing all the codes going into each module individually resetting/recalibrating the entire Servotronics system inside the module itself and then clearing the codes and all of a sudden the battery took. FINALLY but I had to do all this unnecessary work- NEVER RAN INTO THIS ODD ISSUE . just a little fair warning ahead to people if and when they change their battery I hope they don't incur the same interesting procedure unless your tech savvy and have the appropriate tools I don't want someone to stumble upon this surprise Without- having access to some higher end diag - and electronic automotive equipment / well I fixed everything but your average person might not have the tools and know how to get into specific modules to recalibrate it . - JUST A WARNING WHAT TO POSSIBLY EXPECT. - and the fix / GOODLUCK

Mine lights up like a Christmas tree too after the battery is disconnected but everything auto-calibrates after driving a few hundred feet and turning the wheel lock to lock. I freaked out to the first time I went through it and then read just to drive it a bit and everything will go back to normal as the systems reinitialize.

[aligoodn]

The steering angle sensor needs to be recalibrated after the battery is disconnected. This results in lots of DSC/VTG codes and limp mode. You can either run the calibration routine in ISTA where it basically asks you to center the steering wheel and resets the sensor or do as Sophisticated Redneck suggests.

[Ebtahi98]

Originally Posted by aligoodn

The steering angle sensor needs to be recalibrated after the battery is disconnected. This results in lots of DSC/VTG codes and limp mode. You can either run the calibration routine in ISTA where it basically asks you to center the steering wheel and resets the sensor or do as Sophisticated Redneck suggests.

That is exactly what happened ! I don’t know if that’s just a BMW X5M thing because of the Servotronic steering and all the wonderful German engineering that is overly unnecessary . Never had that happen with any other BMW or with any other German car except for a few very high-end Mercedes AMG 65 etc. Hmmm.

[Thecastle]

This is normal on any BMW I've owned to have a lot of dash lights go on and then recalibrate things as you drive. Happens anytime the battery is disconnected or dying.

Same thing happens on VWs and other cars its not unique to BMW.

[Ebtahi98]

Originally Posted by Thecastle

This is normal on any BMW I've owned to have a lot of dash lights go on and then recalibrate things as you drive. Happens anytime the battery is disconnected or dying.

Same thing happens on VWs and other cars its not unique to BMW.

I'm not saying I haven't had this happen on other vehicles but not at this level. I've coded about 175 batteries in my life if not 275 - But it was strange to see something like a steering angle sensor and things like that go on that's all no big deal