The battery in one of the keys for my E92 died this week, so I thought I'd pop a new one in.
There are 2 types of keys - one is for comfort access (keyless entry) and requires a normal battery which you can slot in easily.
The other type (which I have) is for non-comfort access. This has a rechargeable battery and according to BMW is a sealed unit.
It's recharged by the car and has a lifespan of about 1000 charges after which time BMW expect you to throw it away and pay £200 for a new one! It still starts the car but won't open the doors or turn the alarm off.
It is possible to crack the case open, remove the battery and solder in a new one (which I'm going to be doing), but even then I'm going to have a key that's been superglued together and will probably look sh1te.
I bet at least 50% of E9x owners wouldn't go to the trouble of getting a soldering iron out. What a nice little earner for BMW - the thieving fookers!
E9x Keys
Moderator: martauto
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Andyboy
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The Diamond keys from late 2000 are just the same, non repairable. But there is a trick with those -c find another one with a good battery, cut the blade off and caode it to the car's GM5 module before having it on your keyring. Not sure if it would work on an E90 turd though.
BMW seem to price parts to make the cars scrap at 10 years old.
BMW seem to price parts to make the cars scrap at 10 years old.
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bss325i
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It wont work on an E6x/E8x/E9x turd as the keys are matched to the CAS and not interchangeable like the diamond keys remote locking function.
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Andyboy
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Remind me to never, ever buy an E9*
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bss325i
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I give it 36 months tops! 
Last edited by bss325i on Sat Sep 13, 2014 7:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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tom325ise
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Managed to solder the new battery in and repair the case this evening - it didn't crack when I opened it and I managed to glue it back together again without leaving any nasty glue smears, so wasn't actually too bad in the end.
Still a pain in the ar5e though.
If anyone gets an e9x in the future, remember that you won't have this problem if you find a car with comfort access (although I'm sure there are problems with that).
It's a shame they do things like this as it's by a long way the best all round car I've ever owned.
It's a 330i N53 272bhp manual - I had an injector go recently (caused a rough idle when it was cold) but that actually wasn't very expensive to replace (£119 from ECP plus 1 hours labour from a local garage to change), and it had all the coils replaced under recall, but it goes much faster than the published figures suggest, sounds lovely, yet still returns just about decent fuel economy. I've thought about getting rid of it as I had to use it to commute for a while, but I can't think what i'd change it for. It's done 105,000 miles now as well and it still feels like new.
Still a pain in the ar5e though.
If anyone gets an e9x in the future, remember that you won't have this problem if you find a car with comfort access (although I'm sure there are problems with that).
It's a shame they do things like this as it's by a long way the best all round car I've ever owned.
It's a 330i N53 272bhp manual - I had an injector go recently (caused a rough idle when it was cold) but that actually wasn't very expensive to replace (£119 from ECP plus 1 hours labour from a local garage to change), and it had all the coils replaced under recall, but it goes much faster than the published figures suggest, sounds lovely, yet still returns just about decent fuel economy. I've thought about getting rid of it as I had to use it to commute for a while, but I can't think what i'd change it for. It's done 105,000 miles now as well and it still feels like new.
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bss325i
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Comfort access can cause other issues like a battery drain where one of the handles fails and keeps waking up the CAS causing a current drain.
I believe injectors are less than that from BMW now.
They like a high pressure pump as well.
I believe injectors are less than that from BMW now.
They like a high pressure pump as well.
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Andyboy
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The only way an E9* would end up here would be for breaking...bss325i wrote:I give it 36 months tops!
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tom325ise
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To quote a previous post of yours, you'd make an exception for the 330i thoughAndyboy wrote:The only way an E9* would end up here would be for breaking...bss325i wrote:I give it 36 months tops!
"The 330i is a great all rounder - it's fast, reliable, good on fuel and with the manual box it really does drive like a modern E36. For all that, the autos are very reliable and pleasant to drive.
A 330i auto Touring E91 is a just a really nice car and you'll get a good deal from a main dealer with the warranty."
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&start=75
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Andyboy
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If I knew then what I know now........
They are great cars. Until they go wrong - the common faults are eye wateringly expensive to put right.
They are great cars. Until they go wrong - the common faults are eye wateringly expensive to put right.