Range Extender Anxiety!

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SSi3

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 15, 2014
Messages
384
Location
Ontario, Canada
I posted this to the facebook group last week since this forum was down, figured I should share here too.

07/14/15
We embarked on a 400+km roadtrip late last week in our 2015 REx, ended up getting the CEL after running on the REx for a bit, which didn't concern me based on Tom and others saying the issue was due to moisture and wonky sensors. I forgot to bring my OBD reader to clear it, so we pushed on. Until a drivetrain warning came up, the CEL flashed and the REx shutoff while we were at highway speed! So we pulled over to the shoulder with 2% SOC left. We called roadside assistance and all they could offer was a tow, no other suggestions. So we restarted the car, the REx fired back up, and we pushed on to the nearest i dealer, which was only 28kms away (Markham). The REx shut off once more before getting to the dealer, but that was on the off-ramp with the dealer in sight. Once there they were of no help, only offering to schedule the car in and it would likely be a 2hr wait to at least do that. So I asked where the nearest Canadian Tire was and headed there to buy an OBD reader. We cleared the codes (cylinder 1 misfire and crank position sensor) in the parking lot and headed for the Powerstream DCFC, having to stop a couple more times to reboot the car and clear the codes to keep the REx running. This was our first time trying out a DCFC, wow!. After disconnecting from the DCFC, the car gave us a HV cable error.. sigh. It was running fine, we had 92% SOC so we grabbed dinner and pushed on to the cottage. Ran halfway on batt and half on REx, everything was flawless, no CELs, the REx behaved as it should. During all this, we called the dealer (BMW Toronto) we purchased the car at and scheduled a service appt for Monday morning. We enjoyed the weekend at the cottage and headed for Toronto Sunday eve, the car and REx ran fine, even stopped for another DCFC boost at the BMW Canada HQ this time to try out their newly installed blue box. The dealer diagnosed the car as having to replace the crankshaft position sensor and that it was a big job, so they would need the car for a few days :cry: They gave us a 320xi yesterday aft and we headed for home 200kms away. I miss the i3 already. Very impressed with the F30 320xi though, great fuel econ on the drive home (6.6L/100kms).

UPDATE!
Our BMW SA contacted us yesterday (Weds) afternoon to say the car was done and ready to roll. So we headed out this morning (Thurs 07/16/15) in the 320xi for Toronto. The i3 was fully charged and washed for us. They replaced the crank position sensor (and an o ring) which according to the invoice required dropping the REx from the rear cradle. We headed home for London 200+kms away (made use of some HOV lanes too), ran the last 90kms or so on REx, no issues, no CEL, got 5.4L/100kms over that distance. So fingers crossed our Range Extender Anxiety is cured!

So lessons learned, never leave home without my OBD reader.... and don't ignore a CEL.
 
Good to hear you got it fixed.

Any idea on your Elec. consumption socket to rubber for that trip?
 
ecoangel said:
Good to hear you got it fixed.

Any idea on your Elec. consumption socket to rubber for that trip?

I do not, i lost track and forgot to record it in all the CEL/dealership excitement. :(
 
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