Bang, then shut down, drivetrain malfunction error.....

Right in the middle of SF rush hour traffic! Car won't start and won't come out of park, so I can't push it out of traffic!

BMW assist gives tow truck driver wrong address, then a flatbed shows up. I explain they can't drag the car onto it because it's stuck in park. Finally the right truck shows up and it's no sitting at a dealer I have now relationship with. CRAP. Spent 1 1/2 hours directing traffic around my car.

Started with a bang....
Sounded like the REX backfired, it was running at the time.

Sparky said:

Right in the middle of SF rush hour traffic! Car won't start and won't come out of park, so I can't push it out of traffic!

BMW assist gives tow truck driver wrong address, then a flatbed shows up. I explain they can't drag the car onto it because it's stuck in park. Finally the right truck shows up and it's no sitting at a dealer I have no relationship with. CRAP. Spent 1 1/2 hours directing traffic around my car.

Started with a bang....
Sounded like the REX backfired, it was running at the time.

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Get back to us once you know what it is. My guess is a broken motor mount. Sorry for your troubles!

Sorry to hear that Sparky. Being very publicly let down by your car (and BMW) in that way sucks.

It does sound like the motor mount. Did you have any creaking sounds coming from the back of the car going around corners prior?

Like Tom says, please let us known the verdict once they've diagnosed.

If it was the motor mount bolt, it was totally different from what I've read here. No previous sounds, smooth road, bumper to bumper traffic (slow). Had the car flatbedded to my dealer, and got a loaner yesterday. My dealer is probably to highest volume i3 dealer on the planet. They did comment that they haven't seen this lockup before (won't go into neutral). I have been servicing Bimmers there for 30 years so I have a lot of confidence in them.

Update. Just heard from my service advisor. Had to order a new 12v battery because mine was dead and would no longer take a charge (after 5 hours on a charger). Guess the flashers and numerous attempts to get into neutral did it in.

No progress on failure mode yet. Probably will know more on Monday after new battery gets installed.

I know it wasn't the 12v battery that caused the problem, because of the audible bang. Conjecture, maybe it WAS a 12vdc failure and cut off the REX ignition (it may have been running) and the bang was unturned exhaust out the exhaust. What do you think?

Question: if you leave an iPod plugged into the 12v socket with the car turned off, and the EVSE is not plugged in, do you drain the 12v battery over time? Or are all socket turn off after a delay?

The manual says the 12vdc sockets are powered while in READY state. My guess is that they are also kept on for awhile after you turn the car off, similar to the way the radio runs for awhile after you shut the car down. This is not definitive, I've not actually tried it, and the documentation often isn't really explicit in all cases. There is a max load of 140W, but that's over 10A, and I'm sure your iPhone can't draw that much!

Sparky said:

Question: if you leave an iPod plugged into the 12v socket with the car turned off, and the EVSE is not plugged in, do you drain the 12v battery over time? Or are all socket turn off after a delay?

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They shut off after a few minutes.

Thanks guys, I'll share more on Monday, if I have a root cause.

I had this happen to me in the parking lot with 800 miles on the odometer.

To get it into neutral hold your key on the steering column near the gear selector for 2 seconds and you are able to select neutral. When in neutral use tow hook to pull the car onto flatbed. But before they start winching your car up, be sure to turn off the pedestrian warning by holding down the button until the light goes off.

From the manual:

Tow-starting and towing
For tow-starting or towing, switch off the
Intelligent Safety systems; otherwise malfunc‐
tions of the individual braking systems might
lead to accidents.

I have to go find out what they actually did to fix it. I just remember the service adviser saying something about the control unit.

Eikon said:

I had this happen to me in the parking lot with 800 miles on the odometer.

To get it into neutral hold your key on the steering column near the gear selector for 2 seconds and you are able to select neutral. When in neutral use tow hook to pull the car onto flatbed. But before they start winching your car up, be sure to turn off the pedestrian warning by holding down the button until the light goes off.

From the manual:

Tow-starting and towing
For tow-starting or towing, switch off the
Intelligent Safety systems; otherwise malfunc‐
tions of the individual braking systems might
lead to accidents.


I have to go find out what they actually did to fix it. I just remember the service adviser saying something about the control unit.

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Wow, where did you find that little gem (holding key near gear selector)? Great tip. I didn't have to worry about turning off Pedestrian warning, they used gojaks on all four wheels to pull it onto flatbed.

I wish I'd seen this before they dragged my i3 onto the flat bed truck. Mine died on a hilly, blind curve - I couldn't even get it off the road so I spent 2.5 hours flagging down cars to slow down 100 yards below my car till the flatbed arrived. Yesterday was Sunday so they towed it to my dealer (Hansel BMW in Santa Rosa) and I'm waiting to hear from them this morning. I tried shutting off and turning on multiple times but all I got was the "Drivetrain Malfunction" notice. It can't be a coincidence that this has happened to so many people - it's a flaw that has to be fixed. It's only a matter of time before this happens to someone and it results in a catastrophic accident. Does anyone know where to report this other than to BMW so that there's some record of it? National Traffic Safety Board?

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

SugarMan1 said:

I wish I'd seen this before they dragged my i3 onto the flat bed truck.

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I guess that the advantage of reading the manual.

When I was in the USArmy, we technicians (I fixed radars and missile launchers) had a saying - RTFM! You can work out what that means by yourself...some things in life do not have manuals, but, even though it may not be complete, the i3's does cover a surprising amount of info.

Unfortunately, in my case, I RTFM. It does not mention the key trick to get to neutral. Instead, under towing, it states, "3. Engage selector position neutral, if there are electrical defects, a change in selector Position may not be possible"!

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Thanks Sparky. I did think the other responses were a bit harsh but I get it, we should all familiarize ourselves with the manual. You're right, it does say not to tow but there's nowhere in the manual that addresses getting the car in neutral with the key trick. In any case, my issue wasn't so much with that as it was with the car simply dying and getting the "Drivetrain Malfunction" error notice. It seems this has happened to multiple owners and this clearly can result in a terrible accident under the right (or wrong) conditions. When I spoke with service today, they were still looking into it but stated that they'd never heard of the problem occurring before. I suggested they simply google "drivetrain malfunction on BMW i3" and they'll find plenty of examples.

That's funny, my dealer says they're the world volume leader in i3's and they haven't seen this malfunction either!

Sparky said:

That's funny, my dealer says they're the world volume leader in i3's and they haven't seen this malfunction either!

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If your dealer claims to be the world volume leader, you can treat that as fact. Car dealers do not lie.

Likewise, there can be little doubt that your dealer has ever seen this malfunction, as you were no doubt speaking to the official spokesperson for your dealer who certainly is briefed daily on all rare vehicle malfunctions seen throughout their entire service department, and has perfect recall of all those briefings.

All sarcasm aside, it is important to ALWAYS be skeptical of information from any kind of retail establishment, especially from any employee or owner of any car dealer. Plenty of them are very knowledgable and consistently truthful, but good luck recognizing which ones they are, as the dishonest ones are highly practiced and extremely good at deception.

Update:

While the root cause is still underdetermined, the BMW engineers have asked the service tech to replace the MAIN battery pack, and pending further tests, the EME and the electric motor!

It may take over a month to get the car back if some of the parts have to come from Germany.

This may put the car square in the sights of the California Lemon law, and I'll have to decide what to do. I really love the car.

I'll provide a further update when the root cause is identified. I'm an engineer and won't be satisfied with a fix until a root cause is identified.

i3Alan said:

Sparky said:

That's funny, my dealer says they're the world volume leader in i3's and they haven't seen this malfunction either!

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If your dealer claims to be the world volume leader, you can treat that as fact. Car dealers do not lie.

Likewise, there can be little doubt that your dealer has ever seen this malfunction, as you were no doubt speaking to the official spokesperson for your dealer who certainly is briefed daily on all rare vehicle malfunctions seen throughout their entire service department, and has perfect recall of all those briefings.

All sarcasm aside, it is important to ALWAYS be skeptical of information from any kind of retail establishment, especially from any employee or owner of any car dealer. Plenty of them are very knowledgable and consistently truthful, but good luck recognizing which ones they are, as the dishonest ones are highly practiced and extremely good at deception.

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When I read your post I got pissed. I'm a big boy and don't appreciate condescending comments on forums.