BEV (no REX) Drivetrain Malfunction Error

[KGilbertinKC]

So i'm new to the forum. I've been driving a 2014 i3 BEV for 12+ months--beautiful performance, showed it off all the time. At month 12 (May 2016) i got the software update. Several weeks later, i started getting drivetrain errors (Drivetrain Malfunction--stop car and call dealership). I could just stop and restart it for a bit, then it just died on me. Dealership says error code is "rotor position fault." They ordered a part from Germany. Great. 2 months later, here we are again.

Has anyone else had the rotor position fault? BMW Germany and my dealership don't seem to have it solved yet.

p.s. I've reviewed the other topics re Drivetrain Errors, and they seem to be all (or most) related to REX issues. I don't have the REX, so wanted to start a new thread.

thanks!

 

[bwilson4web]

How many miles or kilometers?

Typical drives? Like hills, speeds, temperatures, e.t.c. Anything that might give us a clue as to how the car has been operated.

Thanks,
Bob Wilson

 

[KGilbertinKC]

About 10,000 miles, maybe a little more, during the first year. Its odometer is currently around 18,000 mi. Mostly highway driving (probably obvious, given the annual miles), so i would normally drive 17 miles at a time. I drove it also to local stops, such as grocery, farmers markets, shopping, all within 5 miles, so it got plenty of back road travel as well. It doesn't corner well at speed, as i'm sure everyone here knows, so there wasn't much "performance" driving happening in it! (see below, though)

I'm in Kansas City, and the weather has pretty volatile swings. It was pretty rainy and cool this spring (which is unusual) and pretty hot and dry since mid-June. However, many of the error codes popped up as I was backing out of my garage, and there's no way rain/moisture could have affected this most recent incident. All of them happened at very low speeds, and MOST may have been while backing, although not all. The one that stopped the car in its tracks, so to speak, in May was as my 17-yr-old son was driving it back home. He was at a stop sign on a hill, and when the fault occurred it was persistent. I wasn't in the car with him, and he likes performance, so he might not have been treating it so nice. He tells me he's had it running at its highest speed (apparently capped at/around 95 mph), and I know he's tested its performance from a stop and around roundabouts. I don't think he has driven it like that since getting stranded, though.

Hills: very few big steep ones, but long slow grades aren't uncommon, and several small "hills" we have to stop on, like from my garage to the street and at the occasional stop sign/light.

Interesting note: after the software update I got about a 20% boost in miles per charge, so i'm assuming there were battery management updates.

Lotta variables there, but i'll appreciate any previous experience and/or theories!