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Uh oh! Drivetrain malfunction on Dinan Stage 2 550xii :(

35K views 147 replies 35 participants last post by  wesleyan92 
#1 ·
Happened on my way to airport for 2 week business trip. Warning came on while doing 55 on NJ Turnpike and car started shuddering a little bit. Was able to drive to the airport parking. Am going to dealership in 2 weeks when I return. Feels like the problem is with the front wheel's drivetrain. Shutting down and restarting did not clear up the problem. Stay tuned sports fans... My dealership already set up a loaner and will be alerting Dinan on Monday. I really do like my dealer's responsiveness and customer support. My folks there responded to emails on a Sunday.
 

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#49 ·
SDG- I know it hasn't been that long since the dealer looked at it but just wondered if things were still running correctly?

I'm leaning toward the Stage 2 tune but I don't really have a Dinan/BMW dealership close (maybe 45 miles or so to the closest one). My 550 has 26K on it already and I know if I get it I should do it sooner rather than later in terms of the warranty.

I would assume if I purchased an extended warranty through BMW as I am likely to keep the car longer than most, once the Dinan warranty expires I would be SOL on a lot of the powertrain items? Not real clear on how that would work.

Steve
 
#50 ·
SDG- I know it hasn't been that long since the dealer looked at it but just wondered if things were still running correctly?

I'm leaning toward the Stage 2 tune but I don't really have a Dinan/BMW dealership close (maybe 45 miles or so to the closest one). My 550 has 26K on it already and I know if I get it I should do it sooner rather than later in terms of the warranty.

I would assume if I purchased an extended warranty through BMW as I am likely to keep the car longer than most, once the Dinan warranty expires I would be SOL on a lot of the powertrain items? Not real clear on how that would work.

Steve
The interpretation of warranty coverage seems to come down to individual dealers. There is a fellow Fester who had Dinan and an extended warranty on his 7 Series. He had a turbo fail at 62kmi and it was covered fully by the extended warranty. Other dealers say an extended warranty doesn't cover the drivetrain if you have Dinan. If I decide to keep my car, I will sit down with a CA and my SA and get agreement on what is covered before I decide on buying an extended warranty.
 
#51 ·
Well guess what happened this
Morning??? The same drivetrain malfunction/power reduction warning. Now the car shudders like crazy-like a funny car. I knew the dealer had no clue the last time. Could it be the HPFP???
 
#70 ·
Guess what??? Just got my error messages last week. I got both a fuel system malfunction and a drive train malfunction at the same time. While I sat there in the car parked, it started to studder with the rpm needle bouncing up and down, finally the car died. then the check engine light came on. Shut down car and called SA, he said that it probably is not related to Dinan ( I just got dinan S2 about three weeks ago). Went back to work, started car at night drove home with check engine light on, performance seem normal. Got home, shut car down and restarted, check engine light gone. Now this was a week ago, the problem had not come back and car feels strong. Regardless, car going in tomorrow for diagnosing.

Beside that, the car is amazing when dinan S2, now needs some new springs.



 
#52 ·
Sorry to hear that the dealer missed the real problem. I thought the HPFP failures were leaving guys stuck on the side of the road. :dunno:
 
#53 ·
I don't know if it is the HPFP. The car is shuddering like crazy even when idling. Feels like a funny car. If this keeps up and they can't figure it out, I'll be asking them to remove the flash and giving me my money back. I love the extra power but I certainly need a working car as I only have one
 
#54 ·
If it keeps happening you will be eligible for the lemon law.

I have no idea what it is. If I were to speculate, I would say either fuel pump, fuel sensor or ECU. I had a similar issue with my 2001 330Cic and it turned out to be the ECU.
 
#57 ·
The extended warranty is now closer to 2k than 4K when building an F10 online. My car's Stage 4 is almost done. Waiting for the dealer to call me so I can test it out :)
 
#61 ·
Sorry for the Off Topic, but Stage 4 Intercoolers? Please share everything you know. :yikes:
 
#69 ·
Mine started before the Stage II flash and continued after. BMW removed the software and put it back on... no correlation. Eventually, they changed the injectors and the fuel pump and that appeared to resolve the problem. Not sure though because I sold the car and it was shipped overseas.
 
#73 ·
My 550i has been flashed with Stg 2 for over a year and I've repeatedly had chassis stabilization + flat tire errors pretty much since day 1. Spoke with Dinan tech support (Dan) about it when I upgraded from Stg 1 to 2 and he mentioned this was an issue for a small number of early cars, and that the Stg 2 flash would address the issue. It seemed to for a while, but has since returned. I've had the car checked several time for issues following errors and dealer has never been able to find any codes. I've no longer got the time or the patience to take the car in when it errors, it's an exercise in frustration.

On the highway the other day it not only threw chassis+flat errors, but also reduced power (this is when engine mgmt system cuts boost to zero and operates on 4 cylinders). All of these errors can be cleared by restarting car, but often re-appear when you accelerate. This definitely is the last BMW I'll have flashed with Dinan, if I should ever contemplate another BMW it would be an M.
 
#74 ·
reduced power (this is when engine mgmt system cuts boost to zero and operates on 4 cylinders).
I don't think it is that bad, since only time I threw that code was at the dragstrip and I still managed to get two runs in at 13 seconds flat and that was with the light coming on during each run. :yikes:
 
#77 ·
Update: the dealer has had my car for two days and still cannot figure out the source of the problem. Stay tuned sports fans
 
#79 ·
Well the car has been at the dealer for 4 days. Still no answer as to the cause of the problem. Grrrrrrrr
 
#80 · (Edited)
Well sports fans, this morning I got my car back after six days. The verdict on the problem was permanent fuel injector malfunctions on all cylinders. As a result, they replaced all of my fuel injectors. We will see if this was in fact the cause of the problem. I'm not so sure. I certainly hope it was.

It sure is great to get back in the 550xi after six days in a runflat tired 535. Besides the runflat tires which seem to ruin the ride I certainly noticed a very strong throttle lag delay. The car I had was an early build 2011. Also I didn't really appreciate the extent of the traction advantage of the 4 Wheel Drive until I drove this rearwheel drive 535. On a number of occasions when accelerating both from a light and up some steep hills, the traction control light in the 535 came on cutting power. Basically that has never happened to me on the 550xi.
 
#81 · (Edited)
Well sports fans, this morning I got my car back after six days. The verdict on the problem was permanent fuel injector malfunctions on all cylinders. As a result, they replaced all of my fuel injectors. We will see if this was in fact the cause of the problem. I'm not so sure. I certainly hope it was.
Great to hear you got your car back. Were the fuel injectors replaced on BMW or Dinan's dime? I could see the argument that the tune runs the fuel injectors at higher cycle duty thus causing the failure.
 
#84 ·
I don't know who paid. But I sure am glad I got my tune from a BMW dealer who is also a dinan dealer
 
#85 ·
I don't know who paid. But I sure am glad I got my tune from a BMW dealer who is also a dinan dealer
BMW dealers that are Dinan dealers are obligated by their Dinan franchise agreement to help any Dinan customer regardless of which Dinan dealer tuned the car.
 
#83 ·
They tested the fuel pump and claim that it's output was normal. I would guess that the Dinan tune has the entire engine working harder than normal. I forget how blindingly fast the car was until I got back in
 
#86 ·
The injectors being swapped out has nothing to do with Dinan. That's an issue some F10's have and there are actually updated fuel injectors that are out now if you have an issue with your current setup. My friend has a stock 2012 550xi and he had all his swapped out.
 
#88 ·
Interesting, do you know it those updated fuel injectors were also changed on the factory line at some point during the 2012 run?

Obviously after your friends. Do you know what month his 2012 was produced?
 
#94 ·
Scary thread. This is guilt by association only but there appears to be a suspiciously high rate of issues.
 
#95 ·
I have no proof of a link between this problem and the Dinan tune. I hope there is no link because I love the tune's power
 
#104 ·
My Car made it into the shop since I wrote the first post; They said they were aware of the malfunction, and had a software patch that come out in August to address it; They applied the patch, and all seemed fine.. They added back the Dinan S2, and an SOS warning came on;

Looks like they will continue to work on this this week for me; Not sure if I should be happy there was a new software patch out for that problem or not now....

Anyone else heard of this patch released "this month" for this drive train malfunction of getting the SOS warning after a Dinan S2 flash?
 
#105 ·
Dealer never mentioned it to me. They replaced all my injectors
 
#106 ·
Well, go the car back, and the Dinan was somehow installed without the error codes this AM; They didnt say what it was, or what fixed it;

As the for reprogram, They note said Canbus has Drive Train/Cluster errors and performed measures as result. The car seems fine; I can dig up specific wording if anyone cares at this point

I got the suspension done also this week; first drive was very nice with this done

Not sure what caused all the issues on my car, but no injector or parts replacement, just a software update (which now seems to have broke bluetooth for me) and all else seems to run as expected;

I will report back if any errors come back
 
#107 ·
Well, go the car back, and the Dinan was somehow installed without the error codes this AM; They didnt say what it was, or what fixed it;

Not sure what caused all the issues on my car, but no injector or parts replacement, just a software update (which now seems to have broke bluetooth for me) and all else seems to run as expected;

I will report back if any errors come back
Thanks for the update.
 
#109 ·
Chassis stabilization malfunction

Hello All

First post and first time BMW owner.
Love this car but problems!

Following 4weeks in the shop due to failure of the main computer I have started to get this error whenever I get on the gas. A restart always clears it. Simultaneously get loss of tire pressure monitoring system. Car defaults back to Comfort setting and brake HOLD no longer operates.

Has it been confirmed that a software patch corrects this?
 
#111 ·
Well, Last weekend, the error has returned. So far just once. I have notified the dealer and they are investigating options currently. I am a little surprised it has returned, but none the less its back...

As with the last time this happened, it was during acceleration - firm, but not floored... Gas tank was ore than half full (some have posted it happens neat empty for them). There was no power loss and the car drove normal, but did loose the ability to enter into sport mode, use cruise control (active or standard).

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Any one had a fix that has lasted for this issue? I read some other posts here for fuel pumps and injectors being replaced to resolve a similar issue (they all seemed to suffer power loss with this error, which I do not get)
 
#113 · (Edited)
Well; they are not ready to replace those parts just yet;

They had a few cars here and they replaced the mass air flow sensors at the behest of Dinan I'm told with no positive improvement in the issue; From talking to a few people outside the boards there seems to be a small number of X drive cars that have had this issue and there is a line of investigation open in a few places.

I'm hopeful for some updated information by weeks end. I'll park the issue for the time being and update once real progress (good or bad) has been mad.

It may be interesting to see how many people have suffered this drive train error have a combination of Xdrive, Dinan, and power loss... there may be some interesting correlation in that data set...

p.s. is there an easy way to add a "poll" to this thread to attempt to collect that data, or should a new thread be started?

I think the following would be the questions...

Have you experienced the "Drive Train Malfunction" error
1) NO
2) Yes, I have 2WD, Dinan and No Power loss
3) Yes, I have 2WD, Dinan with Power Loss
4) Yes, I have Xdrive, Dinan and no Power Loss
5) Yes, I have Xdrive, Dinan with Power Loss
6) Yes, I have 2WD, and No power loss
7) Yes, I have 2WD, with Power Loss
8) Yes, I have Xdrive and no power loss
9) Yes, I have xdrive with power loss

I suspect if the poll asked those questions (and maybe we could skip "NO" as an option) we could find a common thread between the issues)
 
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