[MisterSkiMask]

So, what is the consensus? I have read about batteries blowing up (I’m sure they were not the correct battery), and common sense suggests that it should not be an issue if you put in an O.E. battery or equal.

I have hardly driven my M5 in the past month and a half and the battery needs to be replaced.

Thoughts?
(waits for 'I'll drive your M5')

[Elie335]

hardly? you meant barely ?

nobody cares to drive your M5 tough.

[MisterSkiMask]

Originally Posted by Elie335

hardly? you meant barely ?

nobody cares to drive your M5 tough.

I meant what I said, and in this context they basically mean the same thing.

If anyone is interested, I spoke to a BMW tech today. He said that you can replace your battery with the exact same new battery (in this case 850cca) with no programming, but any other battery will require an hours worth of programming.

Unfortunately for me, is they discontinued the original battery and replaced it with a 900cca battery which, according to him, requires programming (an additional $160, and more importantly a PITA)

[Elie335]

if you are changing your battery to another one with the same AMP ( BRAND doesn't matter ), ( 80 AMP to 80 AMP ) you do NOT need to get it coded, as your alternator will still charge the new battery as the same older one. (80 AMP in this case )

but if you change your battery to a bigger/smaller AMP bettery, you need to get it coded/registered to " tell " the alternator the proper AMP of the newer battery, so it doesn't over charge / under charge which will cause the malfunction of the battery in term of longevity.

and hell, $160 for coding the battery is extra raping from the stealerships, search around there's some threads over here shows how to code your car bettery VIA BT cable, there's no hassle and it takes 2 minutes MAX.