Is your air con cold?

[Muhv]

Yes - mine is BEV with heatpump, as well. No replacement car is offered

May-be because dealer knows my stable :roll:

 

[Buskraut]

OK, today I joined the dead A/C club after 1 week and 220 miles. BEV w/ heat pump.

Fortunately I'm traveling most of the summer so the i3 gets some quality garage time.

This is uncool

 

[erikpanda]

Quick update: got a call yesterday from the dealer who is offering an i3 replacement car later this month until the s/w update is there. That sounded to me like a very fair deal and a good attitude from them to deal with the situation.
I think it is not unexpected that there are some s/w glitches - at least, it is not EV specific but probably because the i3 is so innovative and very much s/w controlled.
BTW, I do love my i3 overall and all of the 2300 km so far have been a real pleasure.
Hope the s/w update comes soon for all of the affected folks.

 

[MikeS]

OK, today I joined the dead A/C club after 1 week and 220 miles. BEV w/ heat pump.

)

Buskraut - does w/ heat pump me with to without heat pump?

Tyring to establish if this Air Con fault is limited to BEVs with a heat pump.

 

[MikeS]

Just picked this up from another forum:

On affected vehicles, an IHKA (AC Control module) software error may cause
either an A/C system malfunction (no cooling of passenger compartment on BEV vehicles), or an erroneous display of the Check Engine light with any fault codes stored (REX vehicles).

Recently, BMW has became aware of some intermittent, software related
deficiencies of Model Year 2014 BMW i3 vehicles. Specifically, CEL lamp may
be illuminated on i3 REX vehicles and A/C system may be inoperative on i3
BEV cars. Both product situations have been communicated via Service
Bulletins (SI B12 10 14 and SI B64 02 14), and the IRAP reprogramming
solution has been implemented.

They expect this to become available in the second week of August.

 

[stumbledotcom]

Just received a phone call from BMW NA letting me know that the AC software update is available. Rep advised me to schedule an appointment with my dealer. Update expected to take three to four hours. My i3 is a US-spec BEV so it has the heat pump. Have not had issues with the AC for what it's worth.

 

[bxb40]

So it is a case of choose your pain: a lamp lit for no reason, or losing actual cooling. I'll take the lamp as I ordered the Rex.
Are the fixes temporary or permanent? For the CEL the fix was temporary (by disabling the light for all warnings ).

 

[designreality]

I have been running my i3 now for a further 200 miles and everything is fine after the software update, finally I can start enjoying the car and can confirm it looks like BMW has a solution that's working.

 

[jadnashuanh]

I got the impression that the CEL and the a/c issue s/w fix was a patch...a full update (which may include other enhancements, but who knows) is tentatively planned in the August timeframe...the patches should quell disgruntled customers issues. Time will tell. I got that same phone call from BMWUSA yesterday, and my appointment is 21 July...everything currently is working fine, and I hope it stays that way both until and after the s/w update!

 

[s1myr]

Hi. Is anyone still having issues with this?

My i3 had the aircon problem. About 4 weeks ago they kept it in for four days and BMW advised the dealer to load latest software version and the aircon started to work OK.

Now we've hit the hot weather again this week it's not working again.

Just wondering if anyone else is having on-going problems with the aircon.

 

[jadnashuanh]

The vehicles sold in North America sometimes exhibit that symptom (mine hasn't). They have a software fix for it, and mine is going in on Monday to have it applied. Since I've not had the problem, I may never know if the fix worked. I do not know what, if any, other tweaks there may be in that s/w update. This may or may not be a NA unique issue, or at least this fix, as at least some of the base software differs by market.

 

[s1myr]

I had the new software loaded a few weeks ago which seemed to fix the aircon but it's stopped working again.

 

[jadnashuanh]

I had the new software loaded a few weeks ago which seemed to fix the aircon but it's stopped working again.

BUmmer...hope they can isolate the issue, which may be s/w or could be hardware. IT will be interesting to find out which, as one is likely to be easier to implement than the other. Where I live, especially in the last week or so, the heat and humidity have been oppressive, and a failed a/c unit would be a major pain.

 

[hili3]

I had the some problem after having the car for 10 days. The a/c was not cold and blowing hot air. The car was in the shop for one day. After software update, the a/c is ok so far.

 

[DerfSdrawd]

I got the impression that the CEL and the a/c issue s/w fix was a patch...a full update (which may include other enhancements, but who knows) is tentatively planned in the August timeframe...the patches should quell disgruntled customers issues. Time will tell. I got that same phone call from BMWUSA yesterday, and my appointment is 21 July...everything currently is working fine, and I hope it stays that way both until and after the s/w update!

This is also what I have been told (yesterday) by BMWi. The solution to my previously inoperative air con was just a patch not an update and as others have reported below, after a few days the air con stopped working again. Its still not working and I cant be arsed with the whole replacement car cycle because its so time consuming.

I believe the aircon problem is a software glitch caused by conflicting sensors between the aircon and heat pump. The actual software update is due in August. Maybe it will be like Apple and after the update the car will be able to do lots of cool new things. But just keeping the occupants cool would be nice. Even dear old Blighty is at 30C right now

 

[andyslade]

We have had the i3 for about four weeks now, and the aircon was working on delivery. However, a few days ago we noticed that it was only blowing air from the outside -no cooling. It is now in the garage for a checkup. As we are on holiday fro a few days the garage will have the car for a few days, although from the comments on this forum I am not confident that we will get a permanent fix. We have the heat pump option.

 

[andyslade]

Got the car back after the holiday. Aircon working OK, but dealer was not 100% confident that it will stay that way. He will be letting us know when the S/W update comes - let's hope that fixes the problem permanently. My experience of German developed S/W is not good!

 

[Buskraut]

My AC died at ~200mi and I was (coincidentally?) notified by BMW to take my i3 in for a software update.

I had the software update completed last week, and so far the AC seems fine. My service advisor said that many i3's have been brought in for the same problem, and that the software update is 100% effective. I guess time will tell.

 

[stumbledotcom]

My i3 BEV has not exhibited the AC issue yet. I need to schedule the software update but have been dragging my feet.

Living in SF I have access to the Active E DriveNow car-share fleet. Recently they announced a service expansion (more vehicles in the fleet now that Active E drivers have gotten their i3s) with neighborhood parking. Meaning the cars are left on city streets rather than just in dedicated parking lots. Last Friday I was flying out of SFO so I decided to use DriveNow instead of a cab. When I was ready to leave, a car happened to be parked on my block. Very convenient. But when I got in and started driving, I realized that the AC wasn't working. Only blew hot air. In convenient particularly since it was a rare warm day with temperatures in the high 80s.

It's probably coincidental but I can't help wondering if Active E's had the same sort of AC bug?

 

[Mezzadm]

My air con has also failed and car booked in for 2nd September!

Car is a BEV with heat pump option 3000 miles up.

The fan speed has never changed even when on auto in comfort since the day I took delivery. Wondering if it is a software issue.