i3 CEL software update

BMW i3 Forum

Help Support BMW i3 Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
H

harttim1

Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2014
Messages
10
I have had my i3 REx for about a week now - great car - enjoying everything about it...well almost! As many US REx customers have reported I have the CEL issue. I dropped the vehicle off at my dealer in Los Angeles and I am now going into day 3 of the software update process. I guess I am not sure of all they are doing but I have heard that this update takes only two (2) hours. They are telling me they did their "part" now the BMW engineers in New Jersey need to do theirs. Seems like a very inefficient process and has me a little concerned that these software updates could become painful and I am sure we will have some along the way. Also, a little confused about the software update as the dealer was pretty vague about it - perhaps it is old news but I have seen some people have the CEL issue only to have it re-occur following their visit to the dealer. Does anyone know if I am getting THE "fix" or just something temporary. Thanks.
 
harttim1 said:
I have had my i3 REx for about a week now - great car - enjoying everything about it...well almost! As many US REx customers have reported I have the CEL issue. I dropped the vehicle off at my dealer in Los Angeles and I am now going into day 3 of the software update process. I guess I am not sure of all they are doing but I have heard that this update takes only two (2) hours. They are telling me they did their "part" now the BMW engineers in New Jersey need to do theirs. Seems like a very inefficient process and has me a little concerned that these software updates could become painful and I am sure we will have some along the way. Also, a little confused about the software update as the dealer was pretty vague about it - perhaps it is old news but I have seen some people have the CEL issue only to have it re-occur following their visit to the dealer. Does anyone know if I am getting THE "fix" or just something temporary. Thanks.
Click to expand...

It fixes it, but it is a temporary (patch) solution. The permanent fix will be in the next version of i3 software.
 
Same problem here....CEL on after about 600 miles, usually when running Rex. Had the "update" last week and went without CEL until today. Local dealer looked at it for 2 hours but no fix found. Will need to bring back Friday for an all-day NJ internet conference.
The common thread?...new, unique vehicle with atypical firmware installed. I can't blame the US techs, they are being faced with a problem they were not trained for. Why BMW Leipzig put out at least 600 vehicles to the U.S. before they realized this issue existed is the problem.
 
Last week I had my update done here at my dealership in Michigan and everything went very smoothly. They had my car for 3 days while I was traveling but were completely done after 2 days. It was their first I3 software update that they had performed and when I dropped off the car they were very well prepared in advance.

For now the CEL is off as expected. Hope it stays that way.
 
All of the i3's are getting an update which addresses not only the CEL but the a/c issue. Mine went in yesterday, and should have been finished, but they called and said they were having trouble accessing the BMW corporate server to finish it off. SOrt of expected to hear from them this morning, but haven't yet. If everything works as planned, the update is said to take 3-4 hours, but throw in maybe an overloaded server and who knows how that may disrupt the operation!

Update: got the car back that afternoon. The only thing I've noticed is that the update MIGHT have tweaked the max range calculation, as I saw (initially) 91miles of range - the most I'd seen before was in the order of 71-75. It's too early to say for sure, it may have been a remnant of the reprogramming.
 

Similar threads

C
Dashboard update - odd messages
Replies
2
Views
304
Colinh
C
O
2019 BMW I3s - NAV system not showing charger availability - red, green or orange colors
Replies
0
Views
270
odbcman
O
Azure Blue
New Member Alert!!! Bailey I3 is on the Road!!!
Replies
0
Views
252
Azure Blue
Azure Blue
E
Drivetrain error.
Replies
7
Views
2K
oldeagle1
O
T
Software for BMW I3 (I01)
Replies
3
Views
2K
frictioncircle
F

Latest posts

Back
Top