Do not turn off engine, engine restart will not be possible.

My new 2014 i3 BEV says:

"Do not turn off engine, engine restart will not be possible. Consult nearest service center."

Car is in park; I cannot shift into drive (or anything else).

Any ideas?

Thankfully in my case the answer appears to have been:

• disregard message
• do turn off engine
• get out of car
• lock car
• wait until various dashboard lights go out
• get back in

Just wish I had tried these steps before spending an hour on the phone with BMW, or that they had suggested trying this. (They didn't do any troubleshooting; they just arranged a tow-truck, which I then had to cancel.)

An eventful first day of EV ownership!

Apparently this error is going to occur every time I get into the car, and randomly while I'm driving. So it went to the service center on Monday. As of now they have no idea how long it will take to even begin looking at the car. The loaner they gave me is not an i3. Next time I'll be sure to request that.

You sound remarkably even-keeled in light of your delivery fiasco, and now this. I'd be livid. Hope it gets sorted soon.

It's an extraordinary car when it works.

websterize said:

You sound remarkably even-keeled in light of your delivery fiasco, and now this. I'd be livid. Hope it gets sorted soon.

Click to expand...

Being livid takes too much energy and seldom makes me happy. However, I do wish they would get my car fixed and returned to me. After an unsuccessful first repair attempt, they have at last requested assistance from the mothership, which has directed them to replace an unspecified module (and the KLE, for good measure), which they have ordered. I will request more detailed information on what ends up fixing it so that I can share it here.

I can be annoyed that the financing deal they offered me by email was not entirely honored when I arrived in person, but I can't say I was surprised. Maybe that will still be put right; waiting to see if BMW FS sends me a letter. As for delivery, it was totally my decision to try to drive it back myself and not ask for delivery. My plans were overly optimistic, and the trip taught me about the kinds of things that can make charging take longer than expected. I wouldn't recommend the trip to someone who needs to be somewhere the next day, but I'm glad I had the experience.

I inquired about getting an i3 loaner. They said they didn't have any but were looking into getting some, and I explained why i3 owners would greatly appreciate that. Surprisingly, they got one the next day, and let me trade my loaner for it today. It is a brand new i3 REx and it is very nice.

Got the car back today, and so far it's working fine. The repair notes say there were KLE fault codes. They updated the software to 3.55.0 (i-step I001-15-03-502), which didn't resolve the issue, so they replaced the KLE (and some coolant), which was apparently the solution. (My i3's manufacture date is 2014-11-26, so it should have already had the new KLE.) Hopefully this means I'll be able to charge reliably and at full speed (I'll check that after I get my level 2 EVSE installed), and I guess I'll have to assume that the error message was just completely bogus and hope that the software has improved in 3.55.0 so that this error no longer occurs.

Did the error message ever return? I just bought a use i3 and getting the same message. Already taken to the dealer twice and now making an appointment for a 3rd time.

The error message did not return for my i3. I returned my car to BMW in March 2017. (It was only a 24-month Owner's Choice deal, and the buy-out price was astronomically higher than the car's value.) Hope your service center figures out how to fix yours soon!

Thanks