How many have had the drive train malfunction error?

[i3Houston]

Got one but dealership fixed it as it was under warranty. But warranty will expire this year. They dont know what caused it but said resetting /updating the software cleared the error, which is super odd. Dealership also said the stale fuel may have caused it to fault. Who really knows!

I am not counting on Rex though, I think i3 as BEV is reliable.

 

[jlangham]

Got one but dealership fixed it as it was under warranty. But warranty will expire this year. They dont know what caused it but said resetting /updating the software cleared the error, which is super odd. Dealership also said the stale fuel may have caused it to fault. Who really knows!

I am not counting on Rex though, I think i3 as BEV is reliable.

That's interesting because I've had about 4 of the errors in the past couple of weeks and now my car is completely dead in my garage! BMW is towing it to the dealer in about an hour and giving me a loaner. The service guy said it may take a while to diagnose. I told him that it seemed like the 12v battery based on info from this forum and my own testing, but this time plugging in the charger didn't correct it and then my alarm went off for about 30 minutes and then my car is dead!

The BMW connected app still shows all of the drivetrain, parking brake, etc. warnings but my car doesn't have anything - no lights, no indicators, nothing.

You might want to talk to the dealership again about the 12v battery. Could have something to do with the problem.

BMW here in Chandler, AZ towed my car (dragged out of my garage) to the dealership and gave me a loaner vehicle. Impressed so far with their wanting to make me happy. They will get back to me on what they find.

 

[alohart]

That's interesting because I've had about 4 of the errors in the past couple of weeks and now my car is completely dead in my garage! BMW is towing it to the dealer in about an hour and giving me a loaner. The service guy said it may take a while to diagnose. I told him that it seemed like the 12v battery based on info from this forum and my own testing, but this time plugging in the charger didn't correct it and then my alarm went off for about 30 minutes and then my car is dead!

I think your bad 12 V battery diagnosis is correct. I know that disconnecting the 12 V battery when the alarm is armed will set off the alarm, so if the voltage of your 12 V battery dropped low enough, I'm guessing that the alarm could be triggered.

If the 12 V battery is bad enough (e.g., an internal short-circuit), it would not hold a charge or its voltage would drop too low to boot the controllers necessary to enter drive readiness state. If (when?) that happens to our 12 V battery, I'll follow BMW's instructions on safely disconnecting the 12 V battery. Then, I'll charge it with a standard 12 V battery charger in hopes that I can charge it just enough to enter drive readiness state. If successful, I'll be able to drive to wherever I'm able to buy a replacement battery (hopefully, not the dealer).

A better solution might be to buy a replacement battery before the current battery fails. The shelf life of an AGM battery is very long because its self-discharge rate is very low.

 

[jlangham]

If the 12 V battery is bad enough (e.g., an internal short-circuit), it would not hold a charge or its voltage would drop too low to boot the controllers necessary to enter drive readiness state. If (when?) that happens to our 12 V battery, I'll follow BMW's instructions on safely disconnecting the 12 V battery. Then, I'll charge it with a standard 12 V battery charger in hopes that I can charge it just enough to enter drive readiness state. If successful, I'll be able to drive to wherever I'm able to buy a replacement battery (hopefully, not the dealer).

A better solution might be to buy a replacement battery before the current battery fails. The shelf life of an AGM battery is very long because its self-discharge rate is very low.

Art, looks like I was too late anyway because the car just bricked (no power to anything) and the dealership had my car towed to there. They gave me a loaner and towing was free (dragged my car out of my garage - that's a whole other story), but just called to remind me that the 12v battery isn't covered under the warrany and it will be just shy of $600 to replace. They have replaced the battery and will charge my main battery overnight. I've asked them to check the capacity of the main battery because I'm showing less than the 70% sometimes (another thread). Should be ready sometime tomorrow unless they find something else.

So, in a nutshell, my Drivetrain errors WERE due to a low/failing 12v battery. Thanks Art and others on this forum. I appreciate the knowledge you all bring from all the experience you have.

 

[jadnashuanh]

I haven't priced a battery for my i3, but when I needed one for my other BMW, the battery from the dealer was cheaper and larger CCA than any I could find elsewhere. Now, their installation charge was high, but it's easy to do yourself, even the reprogramming, with the right tools. IOW, don't discount your dealership for things like tires or batteries, you might be surprised.

 

[TheMK]

Back when I drove a somewhat more mainstream ICE car, I bought most of the parts from the Dealer's parts department. In general, they weren't really more expensive than what you'd find at AutoZone, or O'reilly, or whatever. It also seemed like they were higher quality. So much for "Like OE". In fact, when I needed to buy a rear window wiper, they were cheaper than buying generic wipers at AutoZone. Of course it helped that I had a really good dealer, and that they moved quite a bit of volume through the parts department. I have yet to experience my BMW dealer, Hopefully they are good because it's the only one in my area.

 

[alohart]

They gave me a loaner and towing was free (dragged my car out of my garage - that's a whole other story), but just called to remind me that the 12v battery isn't covered under the warrany and it will be just shy of $600 to replace.

I hope that's Canadian dollars! If not, that's truly highway robbery. Replacing and registering the 12 V battery should not take longer than 1 hour. The battery itself is sold by BMW parts dealers on the Internet for ~$130 plus shipping.

Also, if a 12 V battery fails during the car's warranty (4 years in the U.S.), it should be replaced under warranty. Others have reported as such.

 

[jlangham]

They gave me a loaner and towing was free (dragged my car out of my garage - that's a whole other story), but just called to remind me that the 12v battery isn't covered under the warrany and it will be just shy of $600 to replace.

I hope that's Canadian dollars! If not, that's truly highway robbery. Replacing and registering the 12 V battery should not take longer than 1 hour. The battery itself is sold by BMW parts dealers on the Internet for ~$130 plus shipping.

Also, if a 12 V battery fails during the car's warranty (4 years in the U.S.), it should be replaced under warranty. Others have reported as such.

Nope, Arizona dollars. 2014 vehicle, 2019 means out of warranty and he even seemed almost happy to tell me it wasn't covered. I've had the vehicle for 3 1/2 months. Months, not years. When I pick up the car today, I'm going to "talk" to them about it. I'll let you know.

 

[Anonymous]

Suggested retail on the battery is about $140. If you were charged $600, maybe the towing and the loaner weren't free.
Don't see how they can justify charging $460 for just installation and programming.

https://parts.bmwofstratham.com/p/BMW__i3-60Ah/Original-BMW-battery--filled/50949378/61217635788.html

https://parts.bmwofstratham.com/p/BMW__i3-60Ah/Original-BMW-AGM-battery/61132606/61219321815.html

 

[jlangham]

Suggested retail on the battery is about $140. If you were charged $600, maybe the towing and the loaner weren't free.
Don't see how they can justify charging $460 for just installation and programming.

https://parts.bmwofstratham.com/p/BMW__i3-60Ah/Original-BMW-battery--filled/50949378/61217635788.html

https://parts.bmwofstratham.com/p/BMW__i3-60Ah/Original-BMW-AGM-battery/61132606/61219321815.html

$205 for the battery
$300 for labor
$39.95 shop supplies
$19.10 tax
$564.05 total

 

[Anonymous]

Ouch!
Talk about padding the bill!
Looks like they deliberately split the installation into two separate jobs, 1. Install the battery, 2. Program the battery, and billed their minimum labor charge, likely one hour at least, to each job, when the whole thing probably took 20 minutes. And am at a loss to figure out what $40 bucks worth of "shop supplies" you need to install a battery - so this shop must just tack on a percentage of the total to everyone's bill for shop supply costs, whether they used any or not.
But you did get towing and a loaner with the deal - which is worth something..

Think I'd be looking around for a well-reviewed independent service garage that specializes in BMW's for any future needs. I have two BMW dealers within 10 miles of me - both with terrible service departments, but have an independent BMW repair shop near me, owned and run by two BMW factory-trained mechanics, with top reviews (and lower prices) who get my current non-warranty service business, and will get it all once my warranty is up.

 

[jadnashuanh]

FWIW, on my BMW ICE, PepBoys will change and reprogram a new battery for $35. They'll change a battery for free. When I changed my battery in my ICE, it's just that they didn't have quite the battery I wanted, so I ended up buying the battery from the dealer (had the best parts price) and did it myself. I cannot see $400 in labor...that's nearly $800/hour actual. Dealers are private enterprises. When doing a warranty repair, they get what BMW decides is fair, but out of warranty, it's whatever the market will bare. I do not see that fee as fair, but a ripoff, and, given a choice, would not patronize them.

 

[jlangham]

Ouch!
Talk about padding the bill!
Looks like they deliberately split the installation into two separate jobs, 1. Install the battery, 2. Program the battery, and billed their minimum labor charge, likely one hour at least, to each job, when the whole thing probably took 20 minutes. And am at a loss to figure out what $40 bucks worth of "shop supplies" you need to install a battery - so this shop must just tack on a percentage of the total to everyone's bill for shop supply costs, whether they used any or not.
But you did get towing and a loaner with the deal - which is worth something..

Think I'd be looking around for a well-reviewed independent service garage that specializes in BMW's for any future needs. I have two BMW dealers within 10 miles of me - both with terrible service departments, but have an independent BMW repair shop near me, owned and run by two BMW factory-trained mechanics, with top reviews (and lower prices) who get my current non-warranty service business, and will get it all once my warranty is up.

Yeah, it was tough because they originally told me it would be under warranty. Since this is a CPO, I went with the dealer. they did tow (drag!) it out of my garage and provided a loaner, but I also believe the price was above what it should be. I can't really look around for someone else to work on my car because it's CPO. After all of my warranties are out though, yeah, I'm going to have someone else do the work or tackle things myself.

 

[Anonymous]

yeah, I'm going to have someone else do the work or tackle things myself.

Yeah, I'm looking at getting a good ODB tool, and the i3 shop manual, since the 12v batteries seem to average 4 years. Including the cost of a battery AND the ODB tool to register it with, cost would only be in the $300 range. Looking at the Foxwell ODB, but still doing some checking.

 

[TheMK]

A good diagnostic tool is key. You should look into getting ISTA set up on a Windows laptop of sorts. It's the same program the dealership uses. of course, setting up ISTA isn't the easiest thing in the world, and if you buy a BMW diagnostic tool, then you have at least some guarantee of "it just works".

 

[Anonymous]

Here is a posting from a 2016 (I am assuming) BMW i3 owner, with a bad 12 v battery, getting it replaced by the Dealership under the original vehicle warranty, at no cost. So I guess a CPO warranty does not provide the same coverage as the original vehicle warranty??

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/07/13/our-bmw-i3s-first-trip-to-the-bmw-service-center/

 

[jlangham]

Here is a posting from a 2016 (I am assuming) BMW i3 owner, with a bad 12 v battery, getting it replaced by the Dealership under the original vehicle warranty, at no cost. So I guess a CPO warranty does not provide the same coverage as the original vehicle warranty??

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/07/13/our-bmw-i3s-first-trip-to-the-bmw-service-center/

Yeah, his car was still under warranty. My car has 61k miles and they double checked that it wasn't covered. It sucks paying that much for a battery, but it looks like he (the guy in the link) had the same errors I had, though it doesn't specifically state the Drivetrain Error.

I'll definitely replace the battery myself next time. Lessons learned.

 

[ybalx]

2016 REX 14,400 miles and the drive train alert upon start. Car seemed to drive fine, A/C working, battery capacity all OK. I don't use the REX very often.

Dealer diagnosis: coolant leak, A/C unit fail, fuel pressure sensor and high voltage cable require replacement. 7-10 days back order from DE to US. I'll report back on details with repair complete.

 

[bwilson4web]

So this morning leaving at 5:30 AM, the "drive train malfunction" light comes on. The pop-up says you can continue but need to take the car into the dealer (boat payment due?) Regardless, I run my errand and driving to the fast DC charger, enabled the REx that comes on and it works normally. Huh.

While on the charger, I plug in the iCar OBD device and fire up BimmerLink:

You'll notice the three dots in the upper right on the main screens, hitting this brought up the options to "Clear Errors" or "Send a report."

• Info memory
  49 errors
  
  TRSVC
  1 error
  800BD6: ECU_RESET_REASON
  
  RE_EME
  2 errors
  21DDD0: REME INVERTER, REDUCED-POWER OPERATION: TEMPERATURE
  THRESHOLD EXCEEDED
  21DDD0: REME INVERTER, REDUCED-POWER OPERATION: TEMPERATURE
  THRESHOLD EXCEEDED
  
  ZGW
  8 errors
  100600: FLEXRAY PROTOCOL STARTUP TIME IS TOO HIGH
  100601: UNEXPECTED ASYNCHRONOUS STATE ON FLEXRAYBUS
  100604: A FLEXRAY ERROR HAS ACCUMULATED
  100100: CONTACT TO FZM SLAVE LOST
  100104: HW WECKGRUND ZGW
  100300: COMMISSIONING COULD NOT BE PERFORMED AS TAS ALREADY EMPLOYS
  100203: DM SOFTWARE ERROR INFO WARNING
  100204: MESSAGE MONITORING: SYSTEM CONTEXT SIGNAL FAILED
  
  1
  
  LIM
  1 error
  805543: PLC_ERROR_REASON
  
  KLE
  2 errors
  21E688: PARTIAL NETWORK OPERATION
  21E689: ERROR
  
  EME
  5 errors
  E89400: MESSAGE (VEHICLE CONDITION, 0X3A0) IS MISSING
  22280A: HV POWER MANAGEMENT: SHUTDOWN REQUESTOR CAT 2
  22280B: HV POWER MANAGEMENT: SHUTDOWN REQUESTOR CAT
  22282E: CHECKCONTROL 557: SECURE VEHICLE AGAINST ROLLING AWAY!
  22282A: CHECKCONTROL 244: ENGAGE THE GEAR BRAKE PEDAL!
  
  2
  
  TFM
  1 error
  1D0001: MESSAGE (VEHICLE CONDITION, 0X3A0) IS MISSING
  
  SAS
  3 errors
  030807: FAS - FUNCTIONAL DEACTIVATION
  030809: FAS - BRAKE - OPERATIONAL READINESS
  482EBB: IPDUM_E_TRANSMIT_FAILED
  
  PMA
  1 error
  8032A0: PMA ABORT FUNCTIONAL WITHOUT CCM
  
  EPS
  2 errors
  4822C6: ASSIST FIREWALL TOUCHED
  4822D4: ASSIST FIREWALL FAULTMODE
  
  3
  
  CAS
  5 errors
  400030: EWS COMMUNICATION PRIMARY: TIMEOUT REDUNDANCY
  804000: RESET FOR UNKNOWN REASON
  804002: RESET BY EXTERNAL
  80402C: NVM EEPROM DRIVER ERROR
  8040BC: IBS WAKEUP: WAKE-UP SIGNAL IMPLAUSIBLE
  
  FZD
  1 error
  801A20: CAN_E_TIMEOUT
  
  KOMBI
  6 errors
  B7F67C: COMBI: CAN INPUT BUFFER, DATA LOSS
  B7F669: COMBI: INFO ERROR 1
  E12C2F: INTERFACE HU (ACKNOWLEDGMENT REQUEST COMBINATION, 0X172):
  SIGNAL FAULTY
  E12C30: INTERFACE HU (STATUS SERVICE CALL TELEX, 0X30F): SIGNAL FAULTY
  E12C3C: INTERFACE DME, DDE (STATUS CONSUMPTION FUEL MOTOR, 0X2C4):
  SIGNAL INVALID
  E12C4A: INTERFACE HU (FORECAST ROUTE TARGET, 0X3C7): SIGNAL INVALID
  
  4
  
  ECALL
  8 errors
  610019: NVM INTEGRITY CHECK FAILED
  E14405: TIMEOUT CAN MESSAGE GPS_CTI_MOST
  E14406: TIMEOUT CAN MESSAGE GPS_PO_EXTS_MOST
  E14409: TIMEOUT CAN MESSAGE TERMINATION
  E14426: INVALID SIGNAL IN CAN MESSAGE GPS_PO_EXTS_MOST
  E1442C: INVALID SIGNAL IN CAN MESSAGE STAT_ZV_KLAPPEN
  E14413: TIMEOUT CAN MESSAGE STAT_GANG_RUECKWAERTS
  E14414: TIMEOUT CAN MESSAGE STAT_ZV_KLAPPEN
  
  KLIMA
  3 errors
  07802B: COMM_E_NET_START_IND_CHANNEL_0
  078107: EDH INVALID INDEX
  078100: EKMV ALIVECOUNTER
  
  5

Without a timestamp, a list of errors could have been collected over a long period of time. We don't have causality. Otherwise, the car worked normally. It could have been a transient. So my practice is to reset all errors and see if the problem returns.

The error indicator remained so I put the car on a charger and got breakfast. When I came back, the error indicator was clear. We call that "Cleared while testing."

Bob Wilson

 

[CanisLupus]

I had the 'drivetrain malfunction error' before . I turned off the car completely . Got out . Gave the car a push from behind and then from the front . Got back in and it started without error . I don't know if it was trying to move the drivetrain that made the difference or just restarting . It's the only time that I've had the 'drivetrain malfunction error'