How many have had the drive train malfunction error?

[Greatwhite]

Cool, hopefully it's a quick fix!

 

[Greatwhite]

Well BMW got back to me that they determined a faulty module that controls the 12v system battery charging, module was ordered and supposedly will be ready tomorrow

Stuart

 

[Greatwhite]

Well my car is still at BMW the issue has been escalated and they now have swapped out $22.5K in parts and still at a loss to the problem with the car as we head into week 3 frustrating unfortunately

 

[CMineiro]

Hi,
I've got my car i3+rex for 3 weeks... and 3200kms. Bougth it in france
I've drove +-350kms on 1st Nov saturday ... charged at a 22KWH during halfway...
When I arrived home, put it to charge on regular 220v... and at 80% loading it halted with "Charging Default"... Furtunatly it had enough battery to arrive to geneva BMW. the first thing we did when arriving to BMW garage, was to put it to charge - and it halted their 50KW station (which doesn't work anymore)!!!
It's now seated for one week...and just received a message on my BMW i App, a "Drive Train malfunction"!!!

It seems to be a serious problem ... for the overal serie

 

[jackt]

Don't worry too much about Drive Train malfunction errors when your car is in for service. You get that error as soon as the techs put the car on test - worried me the first time it happened

 

[Greatwhite]

Well my car is still with BMW well into its third week with mechanics still trying to resolve the root issue with the car, BMW NA had to send an engineer out to inspect the car and assess, evaluate the issues. They now feel a bad motor is the root cause and the car will be in another week (1 month) to have that part replaced. they've practically replaced the car in major parts at this point, frustrating to say the least......

 

[CMineiro]

I got a call from BMW Geneva this morning, and they received the order yesterday... they are installing it, but according to them, they need first to unmount several others, before being able to replace and then remount everything!!! So, not before next monday!

 

[RCZWhite]

I had it after 800 miles on a 120 mile return trip 80 miles in and 4 mile electric reserve on Rex. Outside temp 8 degrees. Cleared in the morning. Wife saw some faults a few days earlier in the car park but cleared after a turn off and on again, knows IT

 

[jackt]

Drivetrain warning after a log rex stint is probably related to the following:

The drive train warning light fault. The Range extender e-machine (REM) could have moisture inside it. After a long drive the moisture evapourates and then condenses in an area that can cause the vehicle electronics to incorrectly detect an isolation fault. At this moment in time BMW want us to perform a test run to try get rid of this moisture as a temporary fix. They are developing a new REM for a permanent fix but it isn’t available yet.

 

[RCZWhite]

Thanks Jackt, saw that earlier and have photo to show them if it happens again from a screenshot.

 

[Greatwhite]

Well my car is officially dead, the car reported the drive train failure on Oct 17th and has been at the dealer since then. They have replaced over $30k in parts can not get it to work, they even flew in an engineer and replaced the components he said were the issue and still no joy. Now waiting on my offer of resolution from BMW quite a crappy customer service experience with my first BMW. The dealer i bought it from has been as much use as a chocolate fire guard, while its stuck at another dealer that was closer when it died!

 

[Greatwhite]

As the saga continues with my car being in the shop, I am on day 37 now of a non function car, trading calls with BMW NA who are agreeing to consider a solution and purchase the car back and will give me their answer by Dec 12th.

Then my dealer proposed yesterday to resolve this ASAP and swap me out into a replacement! this is what I wanted and upbeat at getting an i3 back.
So I was asked to go to my dealer and meet with a sales guy. Go over this AM meet the sales guy, he pulls up all the available cars that were locally available and close to the spec of my car. I made a compromise on a couple of minor features, they were good at driving over different color cars and interiors, so I could see what I would get into. Spent almost 2 hours at the dealer, I leave with the promise of a call around 1PM. 3PM rolls around and the sales guy calls me and says we are going to do a trade and will have the car for you at 630 today if that works for you, I agree and can't wait, finally resolution...
Well 430 a call from my sales guy the manager who initiated this deal wanted to talk with me. Turns out they can't do the deal they proposed that the value of my 3 month old car was $17k in difference and therefore not tradable. He also advised me that the car would be in some state for me to take it back and that BMW would purchase the car back probably at a third less than what I paid for it.
No apology. I was stunned....
So I call them back and ask why is it you have my car and know the value yet did not check this ahead of time and just waste my time and now leave me pissed, sales manager apologizes was not aware that on electric cars they have to take the rebates into consideration and remove that off the value of the car!
At this point i am so over this that I am just going to hire a Lemon Attorney as this is insane, yes I have my state check $2500, the $3k from the county won't happen as I have to keep the car 3 years and how can I file on my taxes for a car I won't own, or is that still ok?
Cant wait to talk with BMW NA!

 

[RCZWhite]

Crikey poor you that's appalling! When I picked mine up and there was a crashing Nav and the cruise control was not quite as the brochure stated BMW UK gave me a letter for £500 of BMW services or goods.

 

[WoodlandHills]

Geez, that sounds like theft of your $17k by fraud.... They promised you a working car, delivered something less than that and now want you to pay for the shortfall and you end up with no car. How can this be legal?
If I was you I would get lawyered up and deal with this in as local a court as possible. If a jury of your neighbors was faced with this case, do you think BMW would win and don't you think they know that too. Right now they are trying to bully you and see if that gets them off of the hook, if it works: case closed and their problem has gone away. You need to make BMW see that the lesser of their evils is to be fair to you, to "make you whole" as far as your i3 experience goes.

A phone call to local TV stations that resulted in a "Big Corporation runs over Little Guy" story on the 6:00 news would not hurt either...... After all, it does not really seem like BMW is playing fair with you, why not use all the weapons in your arsenal to compel them to do the right thing?

 

[Greatwhite]

Yes the challenge is the car is sold through a dealer and they need to resell your equity in the car, the rebates available are tied to the car not the owner, so reselling would have to be lower. In any event its a giant pain and can't believe how much of my time its consuming... just want a car that works and move on its like a drawn out 45 day discussion to reach the divorce option lol

 

[Greatwhite]

Well 46 days woefully beaten to death by consistent ineptitude BMW has really made me feel no loyalty as a first time buyer in this brand and resolving my Lemon is just a nightmare, not a good start and woefully inefficient customer support. Its great when your contact is asking you to hang in while they get resolution and will have it for you tomorrow and then goes on vacation and not bother to tell me!

 

[BCWatty]

Add me to the list with malfunction. After overnight full charge, got in car and encountered it. Attempted putting car to sleep fix to no avail. In hour #3 of waiting for tow. Car will not move out of park. Hate being early adopter. Seems like there are a lot of us on a percentage basis. Neat car when it functions properly.

 

[troutguy52]

Add me to list. I live in New Hampshire, USA and just before Thanksgiving, picked up a 2014 REX, plain model with just heated seats. Primary use, 40 mile round trip per day work commuter car + local driving. At 660 miles had drivetrain malfunction warning come on (still said driving possible but check in with service). I had been running REX about 70+ miles on a return leg from a long trip during a heavy rainstorm. Car did switch to REX mode ok even when turned off/back on (one extra refuel stop later).

Next day, took car to dealer. Dealer had car 2 days (did the 4 hour run the REX dry out mode) - they also wanted to do a 50 mile road test strictly REX mode but I had another trip that I knew I could run REX > 50 miles on return leg. Went on the trip the next day, had the same warning a second time, again after about 70 miles strictly on REX again on a return leg, same message. Continued driving car home. Stopped at a Chargepoint, chared about 12 miles worth of battery, Continued on and car switched to REX mode again ok but still had same error message.

Following day, car ( now 908 miles) was in shop 2+ weeks and root cause identified as moisture in generator unit [rex electrical machine fault from moisture buildup] ; storage at assembly site contributing and the vent on generator inadquate to allow any trapped moisture to escape. New generators have a modified vent. My car received: AT Starter Motor Generator, Sealing Sleeve , Compensation Ring, Compression Spring, Splined Torsion Shaft, Core Return, Torx bolt. I had to wait for seals to come in...all in all a 2.5 week repair. Since the repair, I now have 1600+ miles on car, running REX >60 miles on some trips, during rain, sleet, ice, snow, -5 deg weather, the usual fun New England weather challenges. No further issues. Also had the KLE replaced, reprogrammed, per service bulletin while car was in the shop.

The entire incident reminded me of my first Volvo (a V-40) that was a semi lemon - Volvo ended up buying back but it was the great service / support of dealer that made that all work out).

My dealer response was outstanding. Immediately offered to give me the BMW 220VAC home charger unit I was planning to buy - I did not even ask for anything in return for my discomfort. Loaned me a 650 grand coupe for 2 days on first repair and 320i for second repair period. Service manager as well as service advisor called/emailed me at every turn to keep me informed. Probably helped this was my 5th BMW with this dealer and 2nd one in 14 months (wife & I did a European delivery on 2014 Z4 Sept 2013. Really enjoy the car, getting lots of interest from folk....fun to drive. Never had any customer support issues with the dealer with any of the five cars I've had the pleasure of owning.

 

[FrancisJeffries]

We had the drivetrain malfunction when the car was nearly new running on REx. It stayed on for another 200-300 miles and then came and went until the dealer changed a high voltage cable (!). It never stopped us driving, fortunately.
Now, 4000 miles later and after the original cable replacement, it's coming back (only on REx) from time to time. The dealers are waiting for delivery of "a high voltage cable" to - they hope - fix it permanently. My wife had a long trip recently and it came on again. She took the warning in her stride and simply carried on driving.
Is the US version of the i3 different to the European in the debilitation the drivetrain warning inflicts?

 

[BrianStanier]

We had the drive train error coming back up the A1M after Chrismas. No problem carrying on and the car behaved quite normally. As above traced to moisture in the HV cable connector. The dealer has the modified cable but is waiting for the longer bolts.