iDrive Failed First Day Driving 2013 BMW 335i

Originally Posted by itswendy

I sat in the car after I shut it off, and it still made the sound, if that means anything.

The CIC will stay on for about 2-3 minutes after closing the door/locking the car. If longer than that then you have another problem.

OK, Thank you, Technic. Just a general update: the system worked half of Saturday and most of Sunday. It then turned itself off and on for about 10 minutes. I had to re-schedule this morning's dealer visit, will post an update when I go.

Originally Posted by itswendy

OK, Thank you, Technic. Just a general update: the system worked half of Saturday and most of Sunday. It then turned itself off and on for about 10 minutes. I had to re-schedule this morning's dealer visit, will post an update when I go.

My standard suggestion is to take photos or even a video of this type of random issue so the dealer tech can have a clear and definitive idea of what's going on right there. That will expedite the diagnosis, and labor/parts can be performed/ordered right away if required.

Otherwise your car will sit there for quite some time until the issue shows up -unless there is an error logged in your ECU.

Great idea!

Like some others said, it kind of sounds like it might be a failed/defective hard drive. Those things can fail at any time (including right after you start using them). If that is the case, it's not really BMW's fault.

I know, it's just my luck! Two bimmers ago, I got one where the car failed to turn off after the key was removed from the ignition (first day of owning ) I have not been to dealer yet, due to medical issue. I expect to bring it in next week. My husband has driven me in it, and there is NO iDrive at all. Nothing. It worked for about 36 hours after my first report of a problem.... the saga continues.

UPDATE: The car with the failed iDrive (2013 BMW 335i) on first day of driving brand new, is now at the dealer (there was a delay getting it there due to surgery). Dealer email to me at end of day: "We would like to keep the car overnight to continue to diagnose the concern". I will update you all after resolution. Thank you for your comments, suggestions, and interest in this issue! My disappointment is vast, so I hope their fix is permanent.

Wendy

Originally Posted by itswendy

UPDATE: The car with the failed iDrive (2013 BMW 335i) on first day of driving brand new, is now at the dealer (there was a delay getting it there due to surgery). Dealer email to me at end of day: "We would like to keep the car overnight to continue to diagnose the concern". I will update you all after resolution. Thank you for your comments, suggestions, and interest in this issue! My disappointment is vast, so I hope their fix is permanent.

Wendy

They better have given you one hell of a nice loaner while you wait.

BJ

Nope, they gave me a banged up 2010 328

Maybe they are trying to make sure you appreciate your car even more by giving you an an old hanged up an inferior model as a loaner. Had the put you in a loaded brand new 5 series you might have told them to lemon your car and compensate you with the 5!

Seriously, I hope it gets fixed quickly!

Strange as it may seem, the reason I got the 2013 was because they gave me a 2012 as a loaner when I brought my 2010 in for service.

UPDATE: Day 2 at the dealer. They are still diagnosing the "iDrive" on the brand new 2013 BMW 335i that failed the first day of driving . I told them again I was very unhappy and wanted at a minimum a new iDrive, not a repaired iDrive, or a brand new car. I've lost confidence. I was told the techs are communicating with "BMW" about the iDrive problem and have not figured it out. The service rep ASKED me to call BMW of North America to help with the problem (I am not making this up), and that they could perhaps offer me "compensation". I called BMW of North America who opened my "case" and said it would be resolved in a week. I told her, "Ma'am, I am not picking the car up until the iDrive is replaced or the car is replaced and BMW corporate has resolved this problem in a way satisfactory to me." I do not have high confidence in them replacing the iDrive properly and that even working. I told the rep to inform the Service Manager and company president I wanted a replacement vehicle. I am now researching Florida laws about problem cars such as this. The minute I mentioned that to BMW of North America, they said "We cannot help you if you obtain legal counsel". Again, I am not making this up.

The lemon law states that you have to give them 3 trys to fix the car, if they fail, then you have a case. As it stand now, if they fix it after a week, I would ask them for some sort of compensation, such as one month car payment.

I read that. My thinking - if I bought a new computer and it had a failed hard drive on DAY 1, believe me, they wouldn't be fixing the hard drive. They'd be giving me a replacement. I'll see how this utterly convenient situation plays out.... One month payment seems really low to me for this. No matter what, I will not have confidence in that vehicle again, even with a new iDrive. Sorry for sounding upset, but I am.

I do not understand how much work would it be to just replace the iDrive CIC and let you find out if that solved your problem. If the problem persists then there is a problem with the actual wiring/MOST cables in the car; if the problem goes away then it was the HDD acting up.

Simple.

Of course, using a customer as guinea pig is never nice. However, that is much, much better than this Mickey Mouse show of talking: of diagnosing, about calling BMWNA, about legal counseling, about "if you do this we will do that". And the car is still sitting there for days waiting for something to happen on its own.

This is absurd.

Originally Posted by itswendy

UPDATE: Day 2 at the dealer. They are still diagnosing the "iDrive" on the brand new 2013 BMW 335i that failed the first day of driving . I told them again I was very unhappy and wanted at a minimum a new iDrive, not a repaired iDrive, or a brand new car. I've lost confidence. I was told the techs are communicating with "BMW" about the iDrive problem and have not figured it out. The service rep ASKED me to call BMW of North America to help with the problem (I am not making this up), and that they could perhaps offer me "compensation". I called BMW of North America who opened my "case" and said it would be resolved in a week. I told her, "Ma'am, I am not picking the car up until the iDrive is replaced or the car is replaced and BMW corporate has resolved this problem in a way satisfactory to me." I do not have high confidence in them replacing the iDrive properly and that even working. I told the rep to inform the Service Manager and company president I wanted a replacement vehicle. I am now researching Florida laws about problem cars such as this. The minute I mentioned that to BMW of North America, they said "We cannot help you if you obtain legal counsel". Again, I am not making this up.

I don't think you know what you are talking about when you say you want a new Idrive. You are talking about a screen and software or possibly an electrical issue. If the dealer can fix one of these then it's fixed. It's not rocket science. Because the dealer can't find the problem it tells me either they or BMW USA have not seen this yet. It seems to me that they can delete the program and reinstall the software. It's probably not as cut and dried as this but it's likely not a mechanical issue.

Originally Posted by Technic

I do not understand how much work would it be to just replace the iDrive CIC and let you find out if that solved your problem. If the problem persists then there is a problem with the actual wiring/MOST cables in the car; if the problem goes away then it was the HDD acting up.

Simple.

Of course, using a customer as guinea pig is never nice. However, that is much, much better than this Mickey Mouse show of talking: of diagnosing, about calling BMWNA, about legal counseling, about "if you do this we will do that". And the car is still sitting there for days waiting for something to happen on its own.

This is absurd.

Thank you, Technic, I agree. It's absurd.
Michael Schott - you could be right. I am not a mechanic nor a car engineer. I am just the end-user. They did however, comment to me, that they will put in a new iDrive (call from the dealership service rep, which I did not state would satisfy my comfort level with the car). Maybe they mean "software". It it's wires, etc., that worries me more. It's been there two day, they told me it won't be resolved until next week. Again worrisome.

Originally Posted by itswendy

Thank you, Technic, I agree. It's absurd.
Michael Schott - you could be right. I am not a mechanic nor a car engineer. I am just the end-user. They did however, comment to me, that they will put in a new iDrive (call from the dealership service rep, which I did not state would satisfy my comfort level with the car). Maybe they mean "software". It it's wires, etc., that worries me more. It's been there two day, they told me it won't be resolved until next week. Again worrisome.

The dealer wants to physically see the fault or wants to see that whatever they have done so far have fixed the problem.

Originally Posted by Technic

Otherwise your car will sit there for quite some time until the issue shows up -unless there is an error logged in your ECU.

Originally Posted by Technic

The dealer wants to physically see the fault or wants to see that whatever they have done so far have fixed the problem.

It's ongoing, if that's what you mean. The iDrive worked about 5 hours of driving out of two weeks total drive time. It's mostly been parked for a month due to surgery. The clicking/searching sound (which i did record) in the console was continual, car on or off, and was such when brought to dealer.

Originally Posted by itswendy

Yesterday, after waiting two months to get my brand new custom built 2013 BMW 335i, the iDrive failed the FIRST day. The screen went black, no phone, no voice commands, no manual radio, nothing. It turned back on once the next day, then on and off on, now, day two. There is a "searching" sound even when the car is off, sort of like a cd player, coming from the dashboard. So, on Monday, after driving this brand new car for five days, it's going back to the dealer to be fixed. My monumental dissapointment with BMW notwithstanding, does anyone have a weekend fix I can do myself?

UPDATE: The brand new 2013 BMW 335i with the failed iDrive is still at dealer for repair. They emailed me this morning stating they are replacing the iDrive and the car should be ready tomorrow afternoon. Still no word from BMW North America, whom the dealer had asked me to call.

I hope that fixes your 335i. Good luck.

Originally Posted by itswendy

UPDATE: The brand new 2013 BMW 335i with the failed iDrive is still at dealer for repair. They emailed me this morning stating they are replacing the iDrive and the car should be ready tomorrow afternoon. Still no word from BMW North America, whom the dealer had asked me to call.

They should provide an invoice that shows exactly what parts were replaced and what services work was done.

As Technic indicated, it should be possible to replace a single component that is having trouble, such as the COMBOX, etc, and have you on your way.

The entire i-drive system consists of multiple "things" as well as the wiring and software that makes it all work.

The worst case scenario is that there is bad wiring in the car somewhere, which can be very tedious to troubleshoot, but which can be fixed also.

I hope your car gets fixed. I have never had i-drive lock up or reboot on me and consider it to actually be pretty good. I use it typically 90-120 minutes a day on the days that I commute.

I just got the car back, eight days later. The receipt says, in summary: CIC headunit shorted (1381) FC s010A media oriented system transport ring break stored, performed test plan etc., test plan stated to replace cic head unit diagcode D6510_HU00000_90_001 etc. Created PUMA case, explained etc. PUMA said to create a TX XASE, created TC Case, replaced CIC headunit, performed programming/encoding with enabling codes, after prog concluding work notes stated to interrogate fault memory, interrogated fault memory and cleared faults. Verified correct. etc.

All I was told was that the iDrive was replaced. I noticed my Sirius pre-sets were gone, my map points were gone, but my phone Bluetooth records were still paird and in the car. We'll see how it goes.

Originally Posted by itswendy

I just got the car back, eight days later. The receipt says, in summary: CIC headunit shorted (1381) FC s010A media oriented system transport ring break stored, performed test plan etc., test plan stated to replace cic head unit diagcode D6510_HU00000_90_001 etc. Created PUMA case, explained etc. PUMA said to create a TX XASE, created TC Case, replaced CIC headunit, performed programming/encoding with enabling codes, after prog concluding work notes stated to interrogate fault memory, interrogated fault memory and cleared faults. Verified correct. etc.

All I was told was that the iDrive was replaced. I noticed my Sirius pre-sets were gone, my map points were gone, but my phone Bluetooth records were still paird and in the car. We'll see how it goes.

I hope this has fixed the problem permanently. Sounds like a comprehensive change. Your home contacts are not stored with the car by the way. They come from the phone via bluetooth. To test, drive your car without the phone. No contacts.

Originally Posted by itswendy

I just got the car back, eight days later. The receipt says, in summary: CIC headunit shorted (1381) FC s010A media oriented system transport ring break stored, performed test plan etc., test plan stated to replace cic head unit diagcode D6510_HU00000_90_001 etc. Created PUMA case, explained etc. PUMA said to create a TX XASE, created TC Case, replaced CIC headunit, performed programming/encoding with enabling codes, after prog concluding work notes stated to interrogate fault memory, interrogated fault memory and cleared faults. Verified correct. etc.

All I was told was that the iDrive was replaced. I noticed my Sirius pre-sets were gone, my map points were gone, but my phone Bluetooth records were still paird and in the car. We'll see how it goes.

Glad you have your car back. I am confident (ever the optimistic basket case) that you will now be able to really enjoy your car! Best of luck!