charging plug will not release from my i3

[louisgrenier]

Had the problem. Finally it was the J1772 plug that was the culprit. Pulled the emergency unlock cable ( broke it ) , unlock relock the car a thousand times, wrestled with the plug like mad, was going to cut the 240v cable when a friend ask me to check. With some lights from his iPhone, he looked at the plug. He could see that the small locking pin was not there ( unlock position ). But that the hook from the J1772 was still not high enough. He took a key, and pried it up. The J1772 was removed. Afterward, i was able to see that pressing the unlock lever on the J1772 was , sometimes, not moving up enough the hook. So i unlock it with a key when it was stuck the next months. Now i did fix the J1772 so it does work all the time.

I learned that sometimes it pays to look closely before assuming something is the culprit

 

[Ci3ndy]

We had the same issue two days ago: we were loading at a free charging point, but you needed (any card would do) a charging card to start the loading. It was one charging pole with two outlets, one on each side. You had to present your card in the middle and then you could charge. All OK. When we tried to remove the cable from our car at 100% charge, cable would not unlock. We tried every possible action (re-present card, lock/unlock car etc...) and then finally we read in the user manual about the blue "emergency release" cable, which we pulled. Charger cable was released from the car. When the next day we wanted to charge again, it was not possible: "car cannot lock the cable"... as we were too far from home we had to call BMW Mobile Care and they came and towed us back home. Car is now in the shop, and they say the locking mechanism needs to be replaced. FYI the BMW mobile care assistant on the phone was able to tell us: once you pull the blue emergency unlock cable from the inside of the back door, you need to visit your dealer asap..... that was not in the user manual...oh well.. stressful experience and I think twice about ever pulling on that blue button again...

 

[louisgrenier]

Live with that problem since two years. May be once per two months. Unlocking and relocking usually finally works. Yesterday, it did not work. Finally, i saw that if i left the main door open ( passenger or driver ) the lock does not always lock and delock the charger gun pin.

Can,T say for sure, since i did tried today to reproduce the thing without success. But yesterday, i had to close the doors to be able to make the pin go on the unlock position. So if you are stuck, remember to also try with the doors closed

Louis

 

[dfs]

Second time!

First time, had to pull emergency release so hard that cable stretched and broke, but was able to grab remaining cable with pliers to release. Dealer, after some parts delay replaced the cable - but it appears didn't connect it to the handle/button at the end. Button came out clean, but doesn't appear to have ever been attached to the cable. It's riding to BMW Seattle behind a tow truck as I write this.

Sunday, so no loaner until tomorrow requiring another trip to the dealer.

EXPLETIVE !!!!

DFS

 

[jadnashuanh]

Someone said, and I have not been able to verify it, that one fix was to slightly ream out the hole that the pin moves through (once everything is back together!). Someone also said that with a small screwdriver, you can push the locking pin back to release the plug. I've not tried that either.

 

[jhu321]

Update: dropped by SF BMW this morning, and the tech there mentioned another off-the-books way to force-release a stuck plug from the socket. At the very top of the car's charging bay there is a locking pin, which slides out to engage and lock the plug, and back in to unlock; under normal operation you can see this when you are plugged in and charging, if you squint in the narrow space above the plug as you lock and unlock the car you can see the pin slide out to lock and in to unlock — this pin will need to be pushed back in if it is stuck in the out position and all else (release cable, WD-40/PTFE) fails.
Try this: make sure the car is unlocked and the mains is off, say a prayer, then slide a very thin probe (e.g. a small screwdriver or a 1/16" drill bit) and push the head of the pin back in.

You don't even need any special tool. I just use my house keys. As long as the doors are unlocked it just needs a little help to move it back in.

This has happened to me a couple of times now, I haven't found a pattern as to the cause but it's just a minor annoyance as I just grab my house keys and push the white locking pin back in and go on my way. The lock works again when the car is locked.

 

[i3an]

There might be some confusion here between the safety-release knob concealed by the right-hand passenger door hinge, and, at the other end of the cable, the lock/release pin component of the charging receptacle. When the male charge plug is locked and jammed onto the female charging receptacle of the i3 there is no way in the world that a bulky key would fit through the shadow gap in the top of the casings of the charge plug sufficient to engage and push back the release pin, so I keep on hand a 1.5mm Wiha screwdriver just for this emergency, although periodic prophylactic application of PTFE spray directly onto the side of the release pin when exposed has so far kept repeat jamming at bay.

 

[jhu321]

Yeah no way the bulky i3 key. Hence I said I use my house keys. I live in a high rise. No direct access from the garage. Gotta use of these old tech keys to get into the apartment lol.