Palazzo 438 Report post Posted August 3, 2009 About 6-8 months ago, I parked up the convertible with a fully charged battery and the terminals disconnected. After seeing the E30 M3 Cab for sale, thought I'd get it out and drive it, so I headed up with jumper leads and the alarm remote (with 6-8 month old battery). Problem 1) The battery is completely flat, won't turn over with the jump cables connected. Try charging it separately? Problem 2) When I connected the positive terminal to the charged car, a large set of sparks came off, much more than the usual quick flash, then the jumper cables over heated extremely quickly (10 sec to smoking) until I ripped them off. I have used these cables before for up to 10-15min without this sort of over heating. Problem? Problem 3) The alarm remote wouldn't turn off the alarm, which goes off instantly the second terminal is connected to the battery (guess there is some charge!). Last time, I simply pushed the button and it stopped. Problem 4) The first charged cars battery isn't super strong and when I connected the convertible, it stalled that car dead. How do I get around this mess? Thought about disconnecting the alarm, but don't know where to start, there are various miscellaneous wires attached to both battery terminals. Any ideas? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jochen 4 Report post Posted August 3, 2009 Your battery is dead. Some of the internel cells will be shorted, hence the smoking jumper cables. The battery died through lack of use - car betteries need to be used on at least a monthly basis to ensure they stay good. Throw the battery away - oops - take the battery to the recyclers and then get a brand new battery. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DRTDVL 0 Report post Posted August 3, 2009 what battery do you run? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Palazzo 438 Report post Posted August 3, 2009 Hmmn, thought I replied to this earlier. Battery will be the problem, was a 5 series V8 equivalent battery, but has been left too long too often. Didn't follow my own advice as the mrs pointed out. Hopefully, this will mean the alarm problem goes away as well. Was quite disheartening to see the build up of dust and dirt after 6-8 months, especially as there is a full car cover in the boot. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
