Gents,

I go to get into my car this morning and noticed my car would not unlock. My sideview mirror lights did not come on as usual. I use my key to get into my car and NO PWOER WHATSOEVER!! No lights inside the car comes on and brake pedal hard to push in. Anyone ever experienced this or know what main fuse I need to check if there is any? I have a feeling I have a very expensive repair on my hands! Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Sounds like your battery is dead.
Do you have another car you can boost it with?

Since your car is 5-6 years old, this would be right around the end of life for a battery.

 

dead battery?

 

I just changed the battery a few months ago, like maybe 5 months ago. I just checked the voltage and getting 5.8V DC!!!! But what I do not understand is that this is a fairly new battery. Not sure if it just went bad or something drained it. I will go have it tested for sure.

 

What kind of battery is it?

If it's 5.8V then the battery will not start the car for sure.

 

It's a Super Start battery with 6/19 sticker on top. That is around the time I purchased it. When my original battery went out, at least some of the lights came on, this one, no lights come on at all. But the original battery had at least 11 VDC on it, this one barely has at least half that voltage.

 

I took the battery to O'Reilly auto parts and they read 10V. They are thinking its my alternator. They will charger it for 6 hours and call me so I can go pick it up. I hope its not my alternator. If it is, is the alternator hard to change?

 

The fact that is read 5.8V when you checked it, and 10V when they checked it, would seem to indicate the battery has a bad cell.
If nothing was done to the battery other than removing it from the vehicle and taking it to them to be checked, then there's no magical way it could have gained 4+V's.

It's fine if they want to speculate that the alternator is an issue, but that's all it is.
Without the vehicle present, you can't check the charge rate of the alternator, which will tell you for sure it has an issue.
And considering no one on the forum has replaced an alternator, that I can recall, kinda points to the fact it's the battery.
For batteries to have bad cells these days is not uncommon...in this world of mass production, quality has taken a sucker punch to the gut.

I would assume if they charge it for 6 hours it will likely test perfectly fine...which still doesn't guarantee you it doesn't has a bad cell.
A bad cell is so hard to detect unless it's acting up at the time you are testing the battery.

 

Hi and I agree. Once I have the battery put back on, I will take it to an auto parts store to have the alternator tested. I agree, I think its a bad cell but just saying that is what the auto parts store clerk is assuming that its the alternator.

 

if it was your alternator you would have a red battery light on the dash. You still have to suspect the battery, the battery is one of the most unreliable parts of the car that likes to die suddenly as opposed to an alternator

 

This happened to me last week.
I had a local AutoZone guy tell me that my alternator was bad after putting their tester on it. Alternator was fine.

The culprit looks to be corrosion on battery terminal.

 

With a charged battery and engine on, you should be reading between 13.7 and 14.2V at idle. You can test yourself using a multimeter. I recall someone else here having to replace their alternator on a 2014. So it's not unheard of. Typically it would be the brushes in the voltage regulator worn down, but on most cars it requires replacing the entire alternator. On some past BMWs, it was a $40 part you can replace that installs with two screws.




should you do need one, they're $125 a pop. this guy is selling a bakers dozen. so don't buy new which is likely ridiculous.











Could also be just a bad battery or parasitic draw if your 2014 gateway computer hasn't been changed yet which is known to drain the battery.




https://www.ebay.com/itm/2014-2015-L...5652617f4945e4





Also alternator shops can just rebuild them but requires specialty tools, parts, and knowledge. Can be done at home but its not fun.

 

It's too bad they didn't just check for a bad cell. Takes about 30 seconds with the right tool.

I went to a battery only shop, sells mostly no name high output batteries and they told me (on my other car) right away it was a bad cell. And I got a much better battery for about half price the OEM battery. Still less than the mid grade battery at O'Reilly's.

 

you have a 14, you probably have a battery drain issue. I've taken mine to the dealer a bunch of times and it still has it, albeit not as bad.

 

+1 on the alternator comment -> It has not happened to my 3IS yet, but my previous car had a bad alternator. I got a new battery prior to the alternator and my car would always end up dead the next morning which required a jump. The alternator is the thing that charges your car when it is in motion -> if the alternator is bad, then the battery won't charge. Few weeks after my alternator was replaced, my new battery also died as a result of my jumping the battery too much during the time I had the bad alternator (just giving you some extra info, incase your battery dies after the alternator swap). Not a crazy expensive fix, but definitely buy OEM alternators if you can since electrical components are major parts of your car and having a good quality part is better than having a faulty one that dies in a year or two!

Best of luck!