[alex492]

So I was driving home today and hit a pretty bad pothole. Afterwards all the electric inside the car besides the radio went out. Gauges were stuck, no A/c, no blickers, can't even lock the car. But windows still did work. Then as I slowed down I realized I had barely any power at all. The engine was revving up slowly but no power to the wheels. Once I got home I disconnected the battery for 20 mins, then plugged it back in and still no change. I tried to start the car and it took a bunch of turnovers and it barely started, almost conking out.
Anyone know what this is? I do have a JB4 in the car so Im hoping that didn't do anything.

[e92_enthusiast_1]

Wow this symptoms been popping up a lot recently. Check your serpentine belt, sounds like it busted The older e9x models have a known issue where the belt can rub/hit the subframe esp if you hit a huge pot hole

[SpeedBuggy]

Originally Posted by e92_enthusiast_1

Wow this symptoms been popping up a lot recently. Check your serpentine belt, sounds like it busted The older e9x models have a known issue where the belt can rub/hit the subframe esp if you hit a huge pot hole

+1

[Wires]

I'd suspect that a plate broken in the battery.

[e92_enthusiast_1]

Interesting theory, that doesn't get mentioned around here a lot. What say you OP!?!?!

Originally Posted by Wires

I'd suspect that a plate broken in the battery.

[alex492]

would the belt affect the electrical power in the car?

[e92_enthusiast_1]

The belt runs all your electrical accessories (alternator) plus your power steering.

Originally Posted by alex492

would the belt affect the electrical power in the car?

[Miller335]

Originally Posted by alex492

would the belt affect the electrical power in the car?

Yes your alt.

Check your belt man, don't start your car again until you inspect the belt and lower pulley (power steering).

[alex492]

just checked the belt and it looks fine. someone told me it could be the fuse on the positive terminal of the battery that blows when the car is in an accident? Has anyone heard of this before?

[JaysBlueE92]

yikes..

[e92_enthusiast_1]

Hmmm, that's true. I've read about that happening. Some kind of fail safe. Can't hurt to look.

Originally Posted by alex492

just checked the belt and it looks fine. someone told me it could be the fuse on the positive terminal of the battery that blows when the car is in an accident? Has anyone heard of this before?

[alex492]

Originally Posted by e92_enthusiast_1

Hmmm, that's true. I've read about that happening. Some kind of fail safe. Can't hurt to look.

do you know how to check that? i looked around the battery and couldn't find anything

[PhaseP]

It is called a Battery Safety Terminal (BST), a whole lot of information on that here:

Another one that shows some sort of repair, I am not vouching for it. It shows the internals:

[Meeni]

Originally Posted by alex492

just checked the belt and it looks fine. someone told me it could be the fuse on the positive terminal of the battery that blows when the car is in an accident? Has anyone heard of this before?

So called IBS sensor. I believe you would have a dash code (ccid-391 if I am not mistaken) if that was the case.

[alex492]

Originally Posted by Meeni

So called IBS sensor. I believe you would have a dash code (ccid-391 if I am not mistaken) if that was the case.

Yeah im not sure because I have no electric whatsoever in the dash, the gages are still stuck the speed and rpm i was at. But the weird thing is that the car starts

[AcesUp]

Sorry to hear that and hope you find a solution soon. These potholes have been beating on me this spring. 2 blowouts in 2 weeks. Have they fixed a single pothole in NYC yet? I haven't seen a road crew out working on anything, anywhere, so far this year. Usually it's non-stop roadwork all over the place.

The city ain't broke so I figure de Blasio is waiting for the greasing from the road repair companies to reach acceptable levels.

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by Meeni

So called IBS sensor. I believe you would have a dash code (ccid-391 if I am not mistaken) if that was the case.

IBS (Intelligent Battery Sensor or something like that) is on the negative battery terminal. Battery Safety Terminal, BST, is on the positive battery terminal. IBS is basically a precise low value resistor, which allows the computer to measure the current drawn from the battery by the voltage drop on this resistor. IBS is mentioned to be somewhat fragile and needs to be handled by care.

BST as described in depth in the youtube links I posted above, contains a small explosive device, that computer explodes it by some current applied to it in case of an accident. The force of that small explosion pushes the main positive battery cable away from its connection internally. Meant to prevent fires what not in case of accident. There is still another positive battery cable connected to the battery post that bypasses the BST to power up certain things in the car even in case of accident I think. I don't know if this other positive cable good enough to start the car. Those videos tell how to check for the BST.

There was a recall for 2007 and older I believe for a battery terminal issue, you can look up and try to find if it applies to you and whether or not recall was done on your car.

[PhaseP]

This is the recall news I had seen:

http://www.bmwblog.com/2013/02/17/bm...le-connectors/

[Meeni]

Originally Posted by PhaseP

IBS (Intelligent Battery Sensor or something like that) is on the negative battery terminal. Battery Safety Terminal, BST, is on the positive battery terminal.

There was a recall for 2007 and older I believe for a battery terminal issue, you can look up and try to find if it applies to you and whether or not recall was done on your car.

All correct, but in any case, with a BST failure, the car would not start at all. With an IBS failure, some electric remain operative, but not all, however, there should be a code, but since your dash is dead, maybe there -is- a code, you just can't see it.

You checked that all fuses are well engaged, first, right ? Could be that simple and matches symptoms.

The battery cable recall is also a very good candidate for the root cause of your problem.

[Dark_Knight_335]

Was it a pothole, or a sinkhole? Jesus.

[PhaseP]

Was it a pothole, or a sinkhole? Jesus.

RFT plus XI makes pothole hits explosive.

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by Meeni

All correct, but in any case, with a BST failure, the car would not start at all. With an IBS failure, some electric remain operative, but not all,

I am afraid you have this inaccurate. There are two thick red positive cables that come to the battery. One goes to BST that is right beside the positive terminal of the battery. This one is a bit thicker than the other positive cable. The other thick positive cable comes on top of the battery and gets connected there to a bolt, which underneath gets directly connected to the battery post by a plate. This one therefor bypasses the BST. Like I said, I don't know what each of these cables power, but even after BST blows up, there is a second thick wire attached to the battery positive terminal. I don't know if this would power the starter or not. But this is what I see when I look at my battery. (I see a third positive cable that comes there, but this is thinner, probably for some accessory)

And also on the negative battery terminal, there is only one black thick wire attached to it, via the IBS, the rectangle metal thingy. If IBS is broken or something like that, there is no other cable to by pass it to provide negative battery connection. Now, it may be not connecting well raising the resistance or having intermittent issues, or the sender wires got broken or detached (the two small wires that come to the IBS) those are different story.