Today I had to give my car to the dealer to get serviced (again!). The problems were that I had a misweld in my exhaust which led to a hole, my passenger window doesn't go all the way down (all but about a quarter inch), and the sunroof sticking problem.

The SA just called me to ask me if I ever leave anything plugged into the car overnight to charge, which I never do, because my whole car has "undervoltage issues." Great...

Anyone know what exactly that means??

 

I think the undervoltage has to do with the alternator not charging the battery properly.

 

(Politely) Tell the SA to diagnose it, and fix it.

 

Even if you left something plugged in overnight, the cigarette lighter and boot power plug don't work unless the car is on or the ignition is on... They're obviously trying to lay blame on you...

 

When you have headlights on and turn the car off, the headlights turn off (standard, not auto-headlights), but the parking lights will remain on.

Inside a well lit garage or outside in daylight, this might not be noticed and will drain your battery.

In sixteen months, this has happend to me twice to the point of 'no-start'.

When the battery is low, it is difficult for the alternator to achieve a full recharge on average short errands and needs a 'trickle-charge' over-night or more to restore a full charge.

These are 'sealed' lead-acid battery's and can be damaged by 'quick' or 'high amperage' charging; I set my 6 Amp Charger for its 2 Amp setting, charging 24 hours.

 

That's what I thought too, that everything turns off once the car is off. Because I tried to charge my phone ONCE when I went in the mall last fall, and it didn't charge.

I had to pick up my car from the BMW side of the dealership because it was 10 minutes after 5 o'clock. They mysteriously had an empty folder with no paperwork for my car, and the BMW SA couldn't even tell me what had been done to my car. She kept repeating that "it's under warranty" and didn't understand why I wanted my paperwork. It's the 10th or so problem I have had with my car in the last year. I have to call Monday to try to figure it out.

Great service...