regular equipment failure or sabotage drama...

Asked by thetrinity Dec 02, 2013 at 06:01 PM about the 2003 BMW 3 Series 325xi Sedan AWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Lights began getting dimmer at night. Then battery light came on, went off, drove again,
no light for a min then battery light on again. All of the sudden everything grew dim, abs,
airbag, battery, basically all warning lights came on then seconds later dead. I let sit for
night, started fine, got across town then died, let sit, started up, backed out died. Battery
testing at 12, haven't tested alternate yet.
Several questions...
Can I test something, somehow, to diagnose problem? obc? Schematics flow chart I can
follow to narrow down? A probe that can check for fault codes? Something?

I guess I sound cheap but my car still has temp tags-i haven't had for 2 months yet and
this psycho hater b*#*# has already attacked my car several known times... (with
charges pending) slashed two tires, then stabbed my car from hood, down drivers side,
and finished off the trunk. Over 10 slashes down to the metal slashes.
Puddle under car, found power stearing cap off, driving down street horrible sound when
breaks applied. Rear caliper barely hanging on, no bolts at all, other side barely screwed
in with tool marks. No way to wiggle out on their own....

Question... can this possibly be someones doing as well? Is there a way to even tell if it
is? I'm afraid to invest too much more on these wack a do repairs if its sabotage.
Totalling car out charging the crime and before from under if this is the case...

Next suprise...5lb bag of disolved sugar in my gas tank? Brake lines cut?

1 Answer

as far as the voltage to start the engine is concerned, 12.00 may or may not work, 12.10 or higher (will go to i think around 1.6-12.9V when battery is max health. yes as tom said there, 13.6-14.6V is what the voltmeter will read IF your alternators volt regulator is working AND your alt's genral condition is good, a rebuild of that 1 u have may only cost about 50 ish i replace the regulator on my own beemers and have never yet had to replace the alt itself. thing is the car must see over 12V as many systems that pass thru the check control unit wich has relays that ar set for that exact voltage. it is a tale tale sign of alt or belt failure. hope this helps. i have at the moment an issue of y own...my E38 740il i have i think a failed crank sensor...u and i need also to have the fault/diagnostic codes read out from the obc these code readers are about 40 but many places only charge 30 or so for the service and they no exactly how to rite down and interprit the flashing light codes it sends, happy driving i hope soon :)

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