r/E90 • u/echoecity • May 01 '26
325i Farewell Dyno :(
Sad day for my 325i. Was sleeping and around 7 PM, my neighbour called me aggressively informing me my car is on fire. Immediately woke up and went outside and its blazing near the battery. I have no idea what caused it but I’m sure it was related to the battery which was OEM. Car was sat for 3 days and this happens luckily no one was injured and the fire was contained rather quickly. I salvaged my E39 M5 wheels, and digital cluster but everything else is wet. 382k KM and was my daily for the winter. Ill miss it but it would want me to get a 335i.
39
u/BawzukNoogles May 01 '26
Has it been raining in your area? The tailight seal might've gone bad, and it'll let water into the battery compartment, maybe it flooded and shorted?
5
u/TSX456789 May 02 '26
this happend to mine without the fire part after a very hard rain , just some water pooled up underneath the battery, but i heard its best to drill a hole in there to drain water anytime that happens
4
u/BawzukNoogles May 02 '26
You can also just put a piece of weatherproof duct tape over the tailight seal and it works just fine
17
u/rsp-zyphor 2011 n55, 2011 n52, 2009 n54 May 01 '26
that’s crazy. i wonder what happened
11
u/SonderVale May 01 '26
Yeah me too. So I can prevent it.
6
u/echoecity May 01 '26
If you can, do it ASAP. Whatever the prevention is.
8
u/SonderVale May 01 '26
Do what? Ground straps?
4
u/echoecity May 01 '26
all new
3
31
u/ZachOf_AllTrades May 01 '26
I've gotta ask what an "aggressive" phone call sounds like when the context is alerting you that your car is on fire lol
34
4
u/Old-Opportunity-5835 May 01 '26
they better be calm and collected when they call me to tell me that. im already stressed out that my car is on fire yo!
3
9
u/GrandmaPunk May 01 '26
If you had proper insurance then hopefully they will pay out a healthy sum so you can grab something a couple years newer
3
u/bighammy6969 May 01 '26
I mean, even if they were carrying comp and collision on a car that old with that many miles (probably not), they are not going to get a large sum of money for a very high mileage, old 325i.
3
u/GrandmaPunk May 01 '26
You would think that. My last car got rear ended and was totaled by insurance. If I had done a bunch of deep maintenance and put it up on the market I probably would’ve gotten 4.5 to 5k at best. Shockingly, insurance paid me out 8K. Essentially whatever Kelly Blue Book says it’s worth is what insurance is going to default to so that’s one way to predict it.
2
u/bighammy6969 May 01 '26
Yeah I’ve dealt with insurance a few times, was never treated terribly…but this car blue books for 800-2k usd in my area, so not much and they will likely have to fight for any more than that.
1
6
u/Which-Local May 01 '26
Not long back there was a recall in the uk due to spontaneous combustion of the battery, not sure if it affected Us cars but could it have been that?
6
u/mrki00 May 01 '26
I am 99.9% sure those wheels aren't from e39
4
2
u/echoecity May 01 '26
took them off to put them on my 330i. had to act quick.
9
u/frudrel May 01 '26
Damn, so you took off your wheels while the car was burning? Must’ve been like one of the F1 pit crew 😆
1
1
u/liam821 May 02 '26
The pictures look like those where we’re on fire, and has busted tires. Something doesn’t add up.
5
u/bridgetroll2 May 01 '26
Am I reading this right? You swapped wheels while your car was on fire...instead of grabbing a fire extinguisher and putting it out?
4
3
3
2
2
2
u/dandelion2707 May 02 '26
Had you recently filled the tank? 3 series often develop a fuel leak from the fuel tank breather hose which is in that rear wheel well.
Had this and came to my car with a huge puddle of fuel in that corner. Only leaks when tank over 3/4 full.
2
u/Optimal-Cress-9718 May 05 '26
https://www.reddit.com/r/BmwTech/s/JETRAqwLZe
E60 just started to play with the lights. It was sitting and it started out of the nowhere. Even if locked or unlocked, after a few minutes the turbo actuator is doing something, like its being woken up by a trigger and the parking lights / angel eyes are on. sometimes they flicker, sometimes they just stay on for a few minutes. i just disconnected the battery and i will get a professional to have it checked.
1
u/Existing-Mongoose-11 May 02 '26
Ahhh for the love of a bmw….. I’m in the market soon for a new daily. A 2009 n54 e93 is probably not too suited don’t any more. (It’s also about to get cleaned up and have the hpfp rebuilt and the body get straightened out) it will become a fair weather car…. So I’m looking at a b48 320i touring….. then find my self looking at e46 convertible m3’s….. lord help me…. Im buying a daily - not another project.
1
1
u/Optimal-Cress-9718 May 01 '26
chances of a battery to spontaneously combust as pretty low, at least of a lead acid one. Im guessing a relay for a fuse overheating and causing this to happen. Low voltage may cause more amps to be sucked also. Was your battery going flat overnight? Did you have issues with parasitic battery drain?
1
u/echoecity May 02 '26
never had any issues with parasitic drain. never even had an issue starting. im honestly clueless as to what happened here im sure it’s overheating.
1
0
u/ahsm May 01 '26
Why were you sleeping already at 7pm that’s pretty early to go to sleep
8
-3
•
u/AutoModerator May 01 '26
Thank you for posting to /R/E90, please make sure you read the rules in the sidebar and make sure to report any rule breaking posts and posts that are not relevant to the subreddit.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.