Fuel door won't open

[ted99]

I push the button, and no message on the screen. I pull the mechanical cord in the Frunk (green tab) and nothing happens. Check Engine light is on. I have to make an appointment with BMW dealer with loaner, because in all of my four previous services I've never gotten the car back in less than 4 days. Two week wait for next loaner appt. This car is not ready for prime time.

 

[philly10]

Have you properly give the cord a good yank? Read a post recently with the same issue and once the guy gave it a good pull it opened. Worth a try.

 

[ted99]

Thanks. I pulled as hard as I was willing to do, without breaking the plastic cord. Jerked it too. The cord seems to be rather flimsy, not like a piece of SS braided wire. If I were in the middle of nowhere and absolutely had to get it open, I'd give it a really strong yank. As it is, I'll let the dealer deal with it. For ordinary operation, the door should open with a push after activating the fuel release button. If that doesn't work, the door should open with a normal pull of the green cord. Since neither is happening, and it's not an emergency, I'll let the dealer sort it out under warranty.

 

[philly10]

Thanks. I pulled as hard as I was willing to do, without breaking the plastic cord. Jerked it too. The cord seems to be rather flimsy, not like a piece of SS braided wire. If I were in the middle of nowhere and absolutely had to get it open, I'd give it a really strong yank. As it is, I'll let the dealer deal with it. For ordinary operation, the door should open with a push after activating the fuel release button. If that doesn't work, the door should open with a normal pull of the green cord. Since neither is happening, and it's not an emergency, I'll let the dealer sort it out under warranty.

Don't blame you pal, I'd be exactly the same.

 

[ted99]

So, after 10 day wait for service appt, took the car in this morning. Fuel door solenoid needs to be replaced. Dealer says BMW has to authorize the repair, then send part. Unknown when the part will arrive, or repair completed. Service manager says car was dissassembled to get to part, so stays at dealer. I've begun a countdown on the 30 days in shop to trigger the TX "Lemon Laws".

 

[epirali]

So, after 10 day wait for service appt, took the car in this morning. Fuel door solenoid needs to be replaced. Dealer says BMW has to authorize the repair, then send part. Unknown when the part will arrive, or repair completed. Service manager says car was dissassembled to get to part, so stays at dealer. I've begun a countdown on the 30 days in shop to trigger the TX "Lemon Laws".

Please keep us posted. I wonder why as time is going on the repairs on the i3 are not getting faster/easier. I understand initially when the car came out it was new, but there are many of them on the road at this point.

 

[WoodlandHills]

Is pre-authorization from BMWNA a standard procedure for warranty repairs at the dealer? If the fuel door solenoid on a 328 broke would it be the same process? The i3 is our first BMW and I don't know their procedures. It seems odd that something as cheap and as important would be waiting for permission to repair..... It's not like you are wanting a replacement motor or 4 new tires......

 

[ted99]

Yes--precisely why I am wondering if the dealerships are ready for i3 prime time. Dealership has sold several i8's, including on first release, so it's not like it's not a top tier dealer. Seems extraordinary that such a simple part needed authorization, and wasn't in stock. Service manager said they were having to check with BMW for almost all i3 repairs. Don't know if this is the truth, or if this is peculiar to this dealer.

 

[jadnashuanh]

I think that part of the issue with the i3 is that BMW is trying to accumulate as much real-time info as possible to become more accurate on what is failing and why. Paperwork from a dealership may be less than ideal in trying to accumulate that information, as they might replace parts that did not solve the problem, or did not diagnose it properly, or just did not recognize that it was a problem in the first place. Having someone that sees issues from all over the country (and maybe the world) on a daily basis (hopefully) means that they can get to the problem quicker and more reliably. Even though the dealership may have i3 trained people, they may not actually see that many come in for service, and thus, may not recognize the root cause of an issue as easily as someone that does this literally all day, every day. While their ICE vehicles do change some year-to-year, much of it is so similar to previous iterations, that the tech will have built up years of experience on dealing with issues...that just isn't the case with an i3.

Given all of that, at least so far, my repair issues have been resolved fairly quickly and without problems. It may be that being maybe a day away by truck form NJ means parts could get here quicker than say someone living in California, I cannot say, as I do not know where they have their parts warehouses in the USA.

 

[WoodlandHills]

It would be nice to think that there is a central clearinghouse for all i3 data where it can be analyzed and solutions communicated to the techs at the dealership level. But, honestly, have you seen any hint at all that such is happening? I have not.
All I have seen is repeated demonstrations of the lack of communication between the dealers and BMWNA...... In either direction.

 

[ted99]

Josh--I sure hope you are correct. In my first year of ownership, I've had the car in the shop for a total of 20 days, about equally divided between waiting for an i3 tech to be available, getting a diagnosis, and waiting for parts. I don't know if BMWNA is still advertising the availability of "loaner" cars for long trips, but that program is a bust in Houston. So far as I know, no Houston dealership is offering it. Perhaps it's on purpose as I just leased a 528i so as to have one reliable and available car. I was having a chat with the parts manager and he remarked that the cars for which there is very little demand for parts is the 528i. He says they seem to be bulletproof (except for tire/wheel replacement because of the run-flats. He says everyone should buy the tire/wheel replacement package on delivery).

 

[ted99]

Got the car back on Monday. Problem fixed. 10 days in the shop. No apparent issues--just waiting for the BMW rep to authorize the repair ("total failure of the door solenoid"), part to be sent, and Dealer tech to do the job. Some SW update was done as the A/C works better and the regen braking is more agressive (which i like). Partial fill of the tank, which was how I discovered the problem in the first place when I got the "unable to do maintenance run because of low fuel level" warning.