Any idea on what could've caused this?

Joined
Nov 12, 2020
Messages
939
Location
Chicago, IL
Drove my car to work today. Drove fine.

I go to start the car after work. Fires up fine and then a few seconds after, everything goes blank. Headlights turn off and back on, the radio turns off and back on and the redback gauge light turns off and back on.

Then I get the 4x4 light.

Went home ran the codes. Too many codes for me to read so I just erased them Hopefully, nothing pops up tomorrow.

Weird thing is, a few days ago I tried to unlock my car with the remote and it wouldn't unlock. I have keyless entry. So, I put my hand behind the door handle with the keys in my pocket and nothing. It was like the car was dead or didn't recognize the key.

After like 5 tries of pressing the unlock button on the remote, the car unlocked.

I wonder if this all can be a sign of a bad battery or a leaking ValveTronic motor gasket? Idk if I should drive the car tomorrow.

Car drove fine on my way back home.

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I believe 6 years old
Average life expectancy on most batteries is 4 to 6 years (some sources say 5 to 7 years).
Anything after that and your running on borrowed time.

Considering your sig indicates the car only has roughly 72k miles, leads me to believe the car isn't driven often (a major contributor to shortened battery lifespan).
 
Average life expectancy on most batteries is 4 to 6 years (some sources say 5 to 7 years).
Anything after that and your running on borrowed time.

Considering your sig indicates the car only has roughly 72k miles, leads me to believe the car isn't driven often (a major contributor to shortened battery lifespan).
Yeah it sat a lot during Covid. I mean, I’ll probably need a new battery sooner Iater so I guess I’ll just go get an interstate battery from Costco
 
Loose or damaged battery connections can often cause bizarre electrical issues, along with poor grounds. Check those things first and see which codes come back.

Agree!

Sounds like a dying battery
Agree with this too! Get a meter on the battery after the car has sat overnight, and report the voltage with everything turned off...
 
Yeah it sat a lot during Covid. I mean, I’ll probably need a new battery sooner Iater so I guess I’ll just go get an interstate battery from Costco

The interstate batteries I've seen at Costco are not the "good" interstate ones (green-top, mtp). Interstate does have a cheap line; firestone used to carry it and dropped it because the failure rate/warranty rate was so high.
 
Seems more like the chassis ground. Try cleaning the ground post and terminal clamp with baking soda, then remove the chassis ground and soak it in the cup you mixed the baking soda in and put some on the core support where the chassis ground bolts to and brush it a little and rinse off with straight water. Put it all back together. See if that fixes it. Its the first place to start.
 
Battery, given the age you stated.

My 2008 BMW 535xi I had did this one week prior to Christmas a few years back. I replaced remote key fob batteries and still nothing. Multiple codes for things that conflict with one another, essentially everything you reported. My research on forums pointed to battery weakness.

My battery still showed a minimal charge of 12.2v, enough to start it. But not run the thousands of electronics these have in them cleanly.

A new NAPA group 49 battery (even though it had a smaller group 94 original in it) fixed it all. Since I didn’t have my nice scan tools I have now, a trip to the dealer for a battery reprogram took care of it until I sold it a while later. 👍

If nothing else, this is the quickest and easiest fix for your issues. It’s not cheap, however.
 
Anyone by any chance now the AMP hours on Walmart H7 and H8 batteries?

The current Bosh one I've got is a 80AMP hour battery.

My scan tool can only register a new battery. Not code.
 
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