Charge door no longer locking and unable to CCS charge now

SO I had a problem one night where it appears my clipper creek had some issue in the middle of the night. The car didn't charge, and gave a "Charge Error, go see dealer" or somesuch. It was a real pain, as the charge door did NOT want to unlock. I rebooted the charger, started and shut off the car tons of times, and was unable to unplug to leave. Finally, I resorted to the cheesy blue plastic unlock cable pull.

To my knowledge, it has not locked since. I don't care if it locks in my driveway, I just have not noticed that I was unable to unplug, because the charge door was locked anytime since, which I do recall happening prior to that one "failed charge event."

So, I am just putting on the miles and smiling along, until I decided to try and CCS again. This time, the charger was unable to lock the charge door, and therefore didn't pass the high voltage charge. I charged at the lvl 2 instead, and could just unplug as I walked up to the partially charged , in progress charge session after I ate lunch.... The good people at EVgo blamed it on "oh, there is a problem on our end, I'll notify the technician." I am not so fast to agree.

Anyone else have this happen ?

Richard

I'm not clear whether your charge port door or the AC Level 1 or 2 EVSE and DC charger plug won't lock. It sounds like the plug won't lock, not the door itself. If so, the car's charge port locking pin might not be working. Unfortunately, this has been a problem reported by a number of i3 owners. A simple fix has been to enlarge the hole through which this locking pin passes which fixes a binding locking pin. The more expensive fix has been to replace the locking pin mechanism (or maybe the entire charging port) when it has quit working. Either should be covered by the original warranty if that hasn't expired.

I had an issue when the thing wouldn't unlock. It seems that on some, the hole the solenoid's locking pin goes through is a little too tight, and the pin can't move freely. Reaming out the hole slightly generally fixes it. When you pull the emergency cable, it sometimes ends up in the wrong position, and the thing doesn't work right. The dealer should be able to resolve this for you.

I've had the same issue with my 2014 BEV a number of times. The car would charge no problem with level 1 and 2 if the tab didn't lock onto the handle, but for level 3 it's a requirement. I've had it to the dealer 3 times now and had them bore out the area around the tab to reduce friction, reroute the manual emergency release cord, and replace the locking tab itself. My more common issue was a failure to unlock on level 1 and 2 chargers though which is extra frustrating since you have to pull the manual emergency release.

I'm hoping for a software fix from BMW or BimmerCode where you can elect not to have it lock on anything except level 3 DCFC as I believe a reduction in the number of cycles on the locking tab would reduce the frequency of failures. In my case I charge at work and at home so it sees 4 cycles/day and it seems to wear out and need replaced every 3-4 months.

I wonder with the extra two large pins, that the plug may not be fully seated, and as a result, the interlock is not completed...it does take a bit more force in some cases to fully seat the thing verses the upper plug.

Some, mostly with the Meinekes (sp?) plug used elsewhere, found that the extra weight of the plug and cable sometimes required holding it up slightly while it negotiated the system requirements between the car and the CCS unit to ensure that the pins were making good contact. Once that negotiation was over (doesn't take long), the charging could start and complete. In levels 1-2, there are essentially discrete pins to deal with the interlocks and signaling. When you plug in a CCS cable, the ACV inputs become serial data lines to the CCS unit in addition to the other interlocks.

I've found that if it rains really hard, especially if it is windy, sometimes, the EVSE and car will stop the charging process. Doesn't happen often for me, as with the building placement, the wind has to be just right, but I have noticed that.

I'm having this exact same issue. 2014 i3 rex. It's at the dealer currently. They've replaced the charge port door lock servo, which didn't solve the issue. It's been at the dealer a week, they're still hunting down the issue.

Did the chargeport exchange solve the problem?

I'm having this exact same issue again on a 2014 i3 rex.

I think I'm suffering from a similar issue which is preventing me from charging at a DCFC unit with my 2014 i3 BEV.

Normally when plugging in with a CCS connector, the operation of a servo is heard. This is the car locking the CCS plug into place.

Recently the car hasn't been activating the servo during an attempted DCFC session, regardless of manipulating the plug. This situation effectively leaves me with no way to use a DCFC station.

The part in question is the "drive unit power socket lock", BMW part number 61 13 6 842 870.

I'd like to remove this part and check it, but there's a cosmetic panel that covers the area around the plug ports. Anyone have luck in removing this panel without breaking it?

frictioncircle said:

I'd like to remove this part and check it, but there's a cosmetic panel that covers the area around the plug ports. Anyone have luck in removing this panel without breaking it?

Click to expand...

According to BMW, the proper way to access the charging socket plug is to remove:
1. the rear bumper
2. the wheel arch cover

After you do that, then you can access the charging plug. If you don't mind doing the disassembly work, then you shouldn't break anything.

Here's the repair instructions from BMW:
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/i01-i3-hat/repair-manuals/61-general-vehicle-electrical-system/61-12-auxiliary-cable/1VnXad6Iwb
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/i01-i3-hat/repair-manuals/61-general-vehicle-electrical-system/61-12-auxiliary-cable/1VnYzAHLou

TheMK –

Thanks for those newTIS links!

Drilling down to the i3, there are a LOT of subheadings that seem to make no sense whatsoever. "28 Twin-clutch gearbox (DKG)"? :lol:

I think my problem is with the plug locking mechanism, but I decided to take it to the dealer before tackling bumper removal.

A note from the dealer drop-off...

They have seen this issue before and suggested that, not only could the locking plunger be at fault, failures of the control module and/or the interconnect between the two have been observed.

Once I get the i3 back I'll update this thread.

61-13-6-842-870 (High Voltage Charging Socket, Central Locking Drive) had failed. With a new one installed by the dealer, I'm now 2 for 3 in high-speed charging (versus 0 for ∞ before the repair).

Today I ran into an issue with an EVPump EVSE. The i3 locked the DCFC cable to the car (as expected) but the EVPump EVSE stayed in the "Communicating With Vehicle" state for five minutes.

Had to use the i3's manual disconnect to get the cable detached from the car.

Any ideas why this EVPump unit would accept my credit card but would time out in communicating to the i3?

frictioncircle said:

Any ideas why this EVPump unit would accept my credit card but would time out in communicating to the i3?

Click to expand...

Pure guess… Negotiation communications occur over the top pins in the J1772 connector. A CCS plug and cable can be so heavy that the plug can be pulled down which could break the connections of the communication pins. If communications problems happen again, try lifting the plug until communications have completed successfully and charging has begun. Some have reported success when doing this.

matt771 said:

... it seems to wear out and need replaced every 3-4 months.

Click to expand...

Has anyone had this issue and arrived at a solution which worked long term? Or, for a sanity check, are there other folks who are changing their charge lock more often than their brake fluid?

I replaced my charge socket lock (61136842870) about 4 months ago because it was getting stuck in the locked position on my home L2 charger.

The new one worked for a month or two then stopped locking. That's not an issue for home charging but I did want to address it to allow DC Fast Charging. I removed the "new" charge socket lock from the car and tried to manually turn the "emergency" arm to extend the locking pin to no avail. I was putting a decent amount of force on that arm and only held back because I didn't want to break it. Even trying to assist by "pulling" on the pin with pliers at the same time didn't work.

I tried jumping the lock with 12v across the outside pins and could tell there was a slight jerk, so the motor was trying to do something but no movement whatsoever. Even after opening up the mechanism, I couldn't get anything to move any of the gears inside in either direction. Finally, I removed gear #2 and then things started moving when I put 12v on the motor since it was only connected to gear #1 in the picture.

If I ran it like this for 10-30 seconds it would eventually stop and it seemed like gear #1 was binding in a way that was jamming the motor.


Long story short, I reinstalled my 'old' charge socket lock from the previous time (with the cap from the new one) and so far (3 lock/unlocks with the charge cable connected), it's working correctly. I just don't particularly want to have to do this again in 3-4 months. And more-so, I don't want to have to do it again in 6-8 months possibly in the freezing cold!

TheMK said:

frictioncircle said:

I'd like to remove this part and check it, but there's a cosmetic panel that covers the area around the plug ports. Anyone have luck in removing this panel without breaking it?

Click to expand...

According to BMW, the proper way to access the charging socket plug is to remove:
1. the rear bumper
2. the wheel arch cover

After you do that, then you can access the charging plug. If you don't mind doing the disassembly work, then you shouldn't break anything.

Here's the repair instructions from BMW:
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/i01-i3-hat/repair-manuals/61-general-vehicle-electrical-system/61-12-auxiliary-cable/1VnXad6Iwb
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/i01-i3-hat/repair-manuals/61-general-vehicle-electrical-system/61-12-auxiliary-cable/1VnYzAHLou

Click to expand...

For what it's worth, you do have to remove a lot of stuff to get to the charge socket lock (remove wheel, inner fender, etc.) but it's all fairly simple with one exception. This is a good video that shows the steps, though it's a European i3, so note that the the charge socket lock will look different and be oriented differently on a US i3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziVu9-v69eE

Around 4:20 he shows the only part I struggled with. You have to release some tabs which you can't see, and the charge port hinge really limits access to the forward side. Be patient, and it's possible to do but I was tempted to just break it and buy a new one a few times before I got it to pop loose.

I had a problem with the charging lock actuator on my i3 about a year ago. Ordered the part (61 13 6 842 870) along with two unique fastener screws, but they took so long to arrive that I no longer have the i3.

I'm happy to offer these to anyone willing to pay for the shipping.