Originally Posted by
billb
The original BMW battery in my wife's 1995 525, that is. The battery was a Douglas, built week 17 of 1994. Car build date is 05/94. To my knowledge, the car has only been jump-started once, when my wife left her keys in the ignition at church.
Wifey called me at 9:15 this morning, on her way out with tiny-tot. She said "Is there any reason why my battery would be dead this morning?" Car was parked in the garage, and outside temps were around 39F. I had been fiddling with the car last night, installing the childseat back in the car, fixing a squeak in the right rear door handle, topping off coolant, etc. but nothing related to the battery. All doors were closed.
Autozone is on my way home, so I went ahead and stopped in to pick up a Group 49-DL. I knew the battery was old, but not HOW old.
OBC voltage (test 9) showed about 8.9 volts.
Out came the old battery (I didn't test it hooked up), in went the new, with a slight modification to the diameter of the lower hold-down (the new battery is longer and slightly wider). Total job time was 35 minutes from the time I got home to the time she was on the road.
OBC voltage (test 9) after new battery was 14.2 volts running.
Old battery tested 12.4 volts with no load. I'm taking it by this afternoon to let Autozone check it out, but if it's good, I'll keep it. My bet is it's gone, with that kind of age on it. The new battery spun the car up very quickly, so that in itself is worth it.
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