Now there's a strange thing !

[macabethiel]

Well today fitted the new Battery to my BMW a massive Type 019 100 Ah 850 cca and whilst I was at it fitted a charging connector for my C-Teck as using the front posts under the bonnet where you can jump start a motor is not ideal due to the voltage drop between front end and the battery terminals. It appears to be around 0.20 volts enough I think to mislead the charging cycle that a C-Teck uses.

Fitted a blade fuse on the live side of the connection just to be on the safe side.Added some insulating tape to ensure the insulated connectors cant come apart.

Cut a hole in the plastic cubby hole trim where the tool kit fits so that the connector can be used without the need for any removal of trims.

Interesting thing is that the new battery appears to have fixed the slightly racy fast idle on cold start that it used to have on start up for the first few minutes that the engine was running. I guess this might be a sensor / voltage related issue on the cold start idle that has fixed itself with a new battery?

And of course some pictures.
The original battery was 280mm long new one is 354mm luckily battery base has multiple dead eyes for fitting larger batteries so original clamp fitted OK. The blue bit is some silicone vent hose for the battery as the old plastic one was split.
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm191/macabethiele/20161207_103639_zps2ldqnfrl.jpg (http://s296.photobucket.com/user/macabethiele/media/20161207_103639_zps2ldqnfrl.jpg.html)

Cut out a square hole to avoid cutting into the plastic ribbing that is a diagonal pattern underneath. Sharp edges rounded off - used the tip of my soldering gun as a cutter.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm191/macabethiele/20161207_103800_zps64qnhoqv.jpg (http://s296.photobucket.com/user/macabethiele/media/20161207_103800_zps64qnhoqv.jpg.html)

Threaded connector through new hole and fitted carpet trim cover back over tool holder.
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm191/macabethiele/20161207_103837_zpshvurezvz.jpg (http://s296.photobucket.com/user/macabethiele/media/20161207_103837_zpshvurezvz.jpg.html)

[Banshee]

Nice job mate!!!

My granddad's has just come back from a guy we know locally who has a rickety shed kinda setup with a pit in Wednesbury, he races BMW's in his spare time and whenever we go down there that's all he ever has lined up in the car park so we've branded him our "BMW Specialist Tech" :lol

My Granddad's power drain issue seemed to be due to the fact that the built in screen in the dash had a dodgy connection and although it appeared "Off" it was on overnight leading to his power loss and inability to start come the morning.

Makes sense now as to why he said Radio 4 would suddenly come on when he went over speedbumps :lol

He still wants rid though, but looking around online in the classifieds and given the condition his is in it may pay to hang onto it for a while, seems a car of that vintage was a real rarity to have black leather and the grey colour that it's in.

I need a bloody big unit I tell you :(

[macabethiel]

At my workplace (MB Dealer) they tell me BMW stands for Brings More Work !

When I put the car back in the garage tonight the cold start idle speed was perfect so I don't think it was a one off that the new battery has fixed this slight issue that I took to be the nature of the beast.

It will be interesting to see how the new battery copes with the vehicles lack of use over the next month or so. In the unlikely event of the battery going flat then I will test for drain with my Multimeter.