I3 drive me crazy … even with a new 12v

[Pault5959]

Hello all


I have a 2016 BMW i3 since only 2 months Recently, the 12V battery completely died. I replaced it and fully charged the new battery, but since then, when I start the car, it shows errors like drive train, unable to charge, and battery discharging. Then it shuts itself off after 2 or 3 minutes, telling me that the battery is discharging.


I tried diagnosing it with BimmerLink and an OBDLink CX, and the error codes show that the Battery Management System (BMS) and other systems are in protection mode. This limits the charging of the 12V battery and triggers the error messages.

Now I am stuck with a nine running car … and I have no ideas what to do … so affraid of going to bmw …

Could you help me please ?

 

[EvanstonI3]

Can you clear all the error codes with BimmerLINK? If so, that may help. When a 12v battery fails, it causes many incorrect error codes to be generated. Have you tried plugging the car in for charging, then let it sit overnight? This also helps "fix" things when the 12v battery fails and is replaced.

If those don't work, then you may have a short in the car's electrical system someplace. This could have been what caused the initial failure of the 12v battery but a new 12v won't fix it. A short could be due to a failed headlamp module or perhaps rodents got into the wiring of the car. That's not something to be diagnosed on the internet.

 

[nickp]

Hello all


I have a 2016 BMW i3 since only 2 months Recently, the 12V battery completely died. I replaced it and fully charged the new battery, but since then, when I start the car, it shows errors like drive train, unable to charge, and battery discharging. Then it shuts itself off after 2 or 3 minutes, telling me that the battery is discharging.


I tried diagnosing it with BimmerLink and an OBDLink CX, and the error codes show that the Battery Management System (BMS) and other systems are in protection mode. This limits the charging of the 12V battery and triggers the error messages.

Now I am stuck with a nine running car … and I have no ideas what to do … so affraid of going to bmw …

Could you help me please ?

Did you disable the high voltage battery and register the new battery?

 

[alohart]

Did you disable the high voltage battery and register the new battery?

If the HV disconnect were still disconnected, an i3 would not be able to start (i.e., enter drive ready state).

Not registering a replacement battery would not cause an i3 to quit functioning normally or result in any diagnostic trouble codes (DTC's) being stored.

 

[Pault5959]

Hello ! Thank you . Yes I did register the battery and I did disconnect and re connect the hv … this is a nightmare

 

[mfogarty]

I've heard leaving the car alone for up to 24 hours can help it reset.

 

[chamilun]

Definitely need to at least try a battery reset. Then clear all dtcs and see what it shows.

 

[Pault5959]

Definitely need to at least try a battery reset. Then clear all dtcs and see what it shows.

Thank you ! What do you mean by battery reset ?

 

[Gonville]

Hello all


I have a 2016 BMW i3 since only 2 months Recently, the 12V battery completely died. I replaced it and fully charged the new battery, but since then, when I start the car, it shows errors like drive train, unable to charge, and battery discharging. Then it shuts itself off after 2 or 3 minutes, telling me that the battery is discharging.


I tried diagnosing it with BimmerLink and an OBDLink CX, and the error codes show that the Battery Management System (BMS) and other systems are in protection mode. This limits the charging of the 12V battery and triggers the error messages.

Now I am stuck with a nine running car … and I have no ideas what to do … so affraid of going to bmw …

Could you help me please ?

Check that the terminals for the 12v are correctly seated. Retighten.

 

[Pault5959]

Check that the terminals for the 12v are correctly seated. Retighten.

Thank you … just did . They are ok . I will try to connect a 2nd 12v battery … they might help …

 

[Pault5959]

Hello , just to keep you posted in case that could help someone . I found a guy ( who work at bmw) , he came to my place with the software Ista+ (latest version) and his knowledge . In half an hour , he cleared all .. and the car is now running perfectly. This cost me 70euro… There is no comparaison between BimmerLink ( a toy ) and Ista+ , good version ( a tool) . This save my car !

 

[mfogarty]

Hello , just to keep you posted in case that could help someone . I found a guy ( who work at bmw) , he came to my place with the software Ista+ (latest version) and his knowledge . In half an hour , he cleared all .. and the car is now running perfectly. This cost me 70euro… There is no comparaison between BimmerLink ( a toy ) and Ista+ , good version ( a tool) . This save my car !

So did you try and clear the codes with Bimmerlink as recommended earlier?

 

[Pault5959]

So did you try and clear the codes with Bimmerlink as recommended earlier?

Hello , I did try but it was impossible as the car shut off . We did that with Ista+. With Ista the car can not shut off … and it is so much better …

 

[mfogarty]

Hello , I did try but it was impossible as the car shut off . We did that with Ista+. With Ista the car can not shut off … and it is so much better …

I have both ISTA+ on my laptop and I have Bimmercode on my phone and Bimmercode is way easier to use in my opinion. Then again I have never had a dead car as such so insta+ sounds like the best option in this particular case and is information worth knowing. I used ISTA+ a few years ago to register a new car battery on my old 7 series and I compare that to using Bimmercode on my i3 for the same thing and it was both easier and quicker using the mobile app.

This being said, I will get the latest version of ISTA+ installed though as I am intrigued to see if it much improved over the version I have which is quite old now.

 

[Pault5959]

I think you get it right . For “minors” issues BimmerLink is fine . When it comes to be more complicated…. Ista+ is really an other level. I just want to report here what the guy said to me (he worked at bmw ) : for Ista+ always use the latest version . This point were very important to him . Take care all and thank you !

 

[alohart]

I think you get it right . For “minors” issues BimmerLink is fine . When it comes to be more complicated…. Ista+ is really an other level. I just want to report here what the guy said to me (he worked at bmw ) : for Ista+ always use the latest version . This point were very important to him .

Unfortunately, BMW doesn't license ISTA+ to regular BMW owners, so always using the latest version is impossible. The best we can do is to install an older bootlegged version. I would think that any ISTA+ version released after one's i3 was manufactured should be fine. ISTA+ suggests repair procedures to eliminate existing diagnostic trouble codes (DTC's) which BimmerLink doesn't. However, BimmerLink is so much easier to use than ISTA+ whose user interface is pretty terrible, and anyone can license it.

 

[mfogarty]

I think you get it right . For “minors” issues BimmerLink is fine . When it comes to be more complicated…. Ista+ is really an other level. I just want to report here what the guy said to me (he worked at bmw ) : for Ista+ always use the latest version . This point were very important to him . Take care all and thank you !

The latest I have now is 4.39.20 which I am happy with.

 

[alohart]

The latest I have now is 4.39.20 which I am happy with.

That's the version I have as well but I don't know whether it's recent enough to work reliably with our 2021 i3. Do you know how to associate ISTA version numbers with their release dates?

 

[mfogarty]

That's the version I have as well but I don't know whether it's recent enough to work reliably with our 2021 i3. Do you know how to associate ISTA version numbers with their release dates?

To be honest, I've kind of looked on forums like Bimmerpost to get an idea when releases are made and what those numbers are and gone by that as a rough guide. Sometimes the readme has an actual date in there which helps.

ISTA+ 4.39.20 was available for installation in early 2023 according to discussions on various forums, and later versions such as 4.39.31 appeared by mid-2023 it seems, but when their official release date was I'm unsure.

 

[alohart]

ISTA+ 4.39.20 was available for installation in early 2023 according to discussions on various forums, and later versions such as 4.39.31 appeared by mid-2023 it seems, but when their official release date was I'm unsure.

Thanks! The file creation dates in the distribution that I downloaded are 23 March, 2023, which might be when they were bootlegged rather than when the ISTA developer created them. Nevertheless, seems likely that this version would be recent enough to work well with our 2021 i3 and maybe even the final 2022 i3's manufactured.