325i 1992

[ego]

I am a college student, I was abroad for about a year. A friend was supposed to start up my car and drive it occasionally. Well that didn;t happen. I've jump started the car, let it run approx 45 min. It started up ok but after I shut it off it did not start. It does if I jump start it. Do I replace the battery? The car ran well before I left. Appreciate any advice, college student will lots of student loans and little income.

[Kevin325i]

If you jump start it does it keep running until you shut it off again?

Sounds like a battery to me.

[ego]

After jump starting the car runs until I turn it off. I've let it idle as long as 30 minutes. But we I turn it off and try to start the car it doesn;t start. I figure I should replace the battery...after not being used for about a year could anything else be wrong?

[Kevin325i]

Definetely sounds like a battery issue. Unfortunately something probably was draining the battery while it was in storage so you'll have to worry about that later. Hopefully it just was old and lost it's charge. For now the battery should be what you need.

[bmwcrazy]

Check your battery indicator on the battery. If its red or black (cant remember) then it needs replacing.

[typ507]

Be lucky its not a major alternator problem.
BTW, whats with the batteries in the I-6 engines? You only see the positive terminal... Or im just a moron.

[El Presidente]

The battery is in the trunk. The terminal under the hood is for jumping purposes.

As for the issue at hand, a battery can go bad in as little as a few months without being started regularly. A change is in order.

[chungaa1]

Hi El Pres,
Wouldn't eat be better to jump directly from the source? as there is less resistance...??
best regards,
eric

[El Presidente]

Jumping can be quite dangerous. By having a positive terminal up front it reduces the risk (of spark and igniting battery gasses) dramatically. Plus, there is not much room to connect the cables in the rear.

[007ben]

I've done it in the rear with out a problem. (car was pulled into a grarge and getting something around to the front woulda been tricky, not to mention some damn fool of a previous owner did something to the front bat terminal.)