Expert: Don Berlan - 2/23/2011

Question
My wife has a 2002 530i. She rarely drives it (has a work car right now) so it sits. I tell her to drive it atleast once a month but she never seems to get around to it. Well the battery died (I am now buying the 3rd battery in 3 years). When I replaced the battery last time she had to have a tech reset something (cost us $250). The car has been without battery two weeks now. Should I anticipate problems? If so how do I avoid them?

Answer
I understand how you feel having to replace batteries so often and not getting ones full use from them.The best thing to do is check in the owners manual and find out which fuses can be remove while it is in storage.The radio/clock and there maybe other systems that will run your battery dead if not charged often.You should maybe get a small trickle charger and charge the battery occasionally as well to keep up the charge required.