Drivetrain malfunction warning

Originally Posted by solstice

Yeah, the Ms are a class by themselves even if they share the numerics. I like the 3-series a lot but the cost cutting compared to a five can be felt in the materials. it's always been that way and it's why I'm not considering the F30 other than if a 4 door M3 will be available. I don't want much gadgets but I want high end materials or at least a high end feel. Only the M3 has that in the 3 series.

Regarding reliability the M3 is my 6th beemer and it's been rock solid and so were all the others except the E60 and F10. Too complex engine & suspension techology.
My wife wants an X5 but we can't have an unreliable SUV so it's leaning towards a 4-runner or Landcruiser.

How is an M3 more high end inside than a regular 3 series... Last time I checked the dash, door panels, trim, etc are made from the same molds in the same plant for both M3 and 3 series. Only difference? Nappa leather. Love how marketing and pricing can make people "feel" different.

Originally Posted by jimefam

Funny I had a 2006 4runner which I recently got rid of it,it had 160k miles and for all I know the hood could have been welded shut as all I ever needed to do was oil changes.

Same thing with our 11 year old Pathfinder that has been our offroader, ski mobile, moving truck, school bus and commuter. Zero issues and runs as new.

Originally Posted by AlBoston

How is an M3 more high end inside than a regular 3 series... Last time I checked the dash, door panels, trim, etc are made from the same molds in the same plant for both M3 and 3 series. Only difference? Nappa leather. Love how marketing and pricing can make people "feel" different.

Have you ever been in an M3? Pretty much everything you are in regular contact with is different. The seats are miles better than a regular three ( and an F10 ). The DCT shifter is nothing like a regular three shifter. The steering wheel is different and I don't think you can get carbon fiber trim in the regular three or Novillo leather. It might not be much to you or anyone else but to me it's enough to give it the premium feel. And I don't equal premium with lavish. I think a 911 and a Ferrari feels premium even if they are sparsely equipped.

Yeah I have. My brother just got a 2011 M3 conv. Nice car! The interior was nice but I also think the 335 interior is nice when well equipped.

Originally Posted by jimefam

Funny I had a 2006 4runner which I recently got rid of it,it had 160k miles and for all I know the hood could have been welded shut as all I ever needed to do was oil changes.

I was not referring to the powertrain, which is fine. Moreover the rest of the vehicle.

http://www.bmwusanews.com/newsreleas...?&id=481&mid=1

Seems that it is the HPFP - see link. I had exactly this error yesterday. Low on Gas showing 43 miles left. engine light came on and a loss of power. I shut the engine off and started again - error was gone.

Jack

Originally Posted by tropheusjack

http://www.bmwusanews.com/newsreleas...?&id=481&mid=1

Seems that it is the HPFP - see link. I had exactly this error yesterday. Low on Gas showing 43 miles left. engine light came on and a loss of power. I shut the engine off and started again - error was gone.

Jack

The link you supplied applies to 2010 and earlier BMW's, not the F10. Wrong forum?

Originally Posted by solstice

You mean from those dark ages when it took a couple of years before something broke?

LMAO

Originally Posted by jimefam

Funny I had a 2006 4runner which I recently got rid of it,it had 160k miles and for all I know the hood could have been welded shut as all I ever needed to do was oil changes.

Wow... 4-runner's that good?? I have an '03 MDX and while I kept convincing myself this car was bullet proof... well, not really... It was almost as bad as my E46. In "only" 120k miles I had to replace these and more: rear differential temp sensor, tranny temp sensor, both control arms (due to broken rubber boot on ball-joint), my dashboard lights are dying (speedo, etc), heated seats (they take long time to work and one bottom heater broke completely), gas consumption is high compared to my friend with an Acadia, seizing brake calipers, brake-pads guide rails, rear AC malfunction (very common), and worst of all - the bottom of the radiator cracked and mixed coolant with tranny fluid (also very common on MDX), and you name it... Spent a lot of time under that car. I still think it's very reliable but these things did brake which sounds a lot different from your account of the 4-runner...

...

Update: Fuel Sensor was replaced after the original incident at 1000 miles. Haven't seen any warning lights since. I do have a somewhat rough idle when I first start the car, although it does go away (remember this is in a warm climate).

I had the car checked again when I did the oil change at 2000 miles but they said the computer had reported no errors. I'm now at 2,500 miles and still no warning lights. Fingers crossed it stays this way.

This thread reminded my why I hated my E60 so much...the drive train message should have just scrolled along the bottom of the nav screen like the FoxNews ticker...

Originally Posted by FastMarkA

This thread reminded my why I hated my E60 so much...the drive train message should have just scrolled along the bottom of the nav screen like the FoxNews ticker...

I remember yours was a sorry tale!

Originally Posted by yogi799

Wow... 4-runner's that good?? I have an '03 MDX and while I kept convincing myself this car was bullet proof... well, not really... It was almost as bad as my E46. In "only" 120k miles I had to replace these and more: rear differential temp sensor, tranny temp sensor, both control arms (due to broken rubber boot on ball-joint), my dashboard lights are dying (speedo, etc), heated seats (they take long time to work and one bottom heater broke completely), gas consumption is high compared to my friend with an Acadia, seizing brake calipers, brake-pads guide rails, rear AC malfunction (very common), and worst of all - the bottom of the radiator cracked and mixed coolant with tranny fluid (also very common on MDX), and you name it... Spent a lot of time under that car. I still think it's very reliable but these things did brake which sounds a lot different from your account of the 4-runner...

...

I really have never had an issue with any car I've owned, which is probably why you'll see me on here dismissing the warranty so casually. Being 26 I haven't had too many cars but out of the 5 I've bought new only 1 has had to have any repairs done to it(my work truck, a 2010 f150 had it's driveshaft replaced) but considering the miles and abuse I put on my cars I've been lucky. My first car was an 89 240sx I bought with 140k on it and I pulled that engine out at 300k(motor was still running strong) to turn it into a race car with no mechanical issues during that time.

Originally Posted by yogi799

Wow... 4-runner's that good?? I have an '03 MDX and while I kept convincing myself this car was bullet proof... well, not really... It was almost as bad as my E46. In "only" 120k miles I had to replace these and more: rear differential temp sensor, tranny temp sensor, both control arms (due to broken rubber boot on ball-joint), my dashboard lights are dying (speedo, etc), heated seats (they take long time to work and one bottom heater broke completely), gas consumption is high compared to my friend with an Acadia, seizing brake calipers, brake-pads guide rails, rear AC malfunction (very common), and worst of all - the bottom of the radiator cracked and mixed coolant with tranny fluid (also very common on MDX), and you name it... Spent a lot of time under that car. I still think it's very reliable but these things did brake which sounds a lot different from your account of the 4-runner...

...

Wow, that is surprising. Our 2001 Pathfinder has been fault free and the 4-runners are known to be extremely reliable and so are the Tacoma trucks they are built on. They are simple straight forward vehicles, maybe the MDX was early in adopting high tech and is more vulnerable.

Who knows, I know this car (MDX) will not die on me on a long trip, but it sucks that so many things did cause me a grief (well, not just me, tonne of identical issues on MDX forum, hence lots of free solutions :-) ). It's not even 10 yrs old and it also wasn't the first MY (came out in '01, mine was '03). The first two MYs had chronic dying transmissions issues

Originally Posted by FastMarkA

This thread reminded my why I hated my E60 so much...the drive train message should have just scrolled along the bottom of the nav screen like the FoxNews ticker...

Really that bad?

Originally Posted by AutoUnion

Really that bad?

If I remember correctly Mark went through 4 or 5 HPFP failures!

Do you know if Audi's supercharged engines have these issues as well?

Originally Posted by Stealth.Pilot

If I remember correctly Mark went through 4 or 5 HPFP failures!

Do you know if Audi's supercharged engines have these issues as well?

Damn, that's awful. I'm glad I didn't get a petrol powered X5.

Nope, no issues to report on any 3.0T equipped Audis. Even the Audi 2.0T is basically trouble-free in its newest version

BMW just seems to have trouble with forced induction in general.

At 170 miles on the odometer several lights went on indicating issues with seat belts, traction control, steering etc a message also popped up to take the car to a BMW dealer for service. The car perfromance was dimished and steering became heavy. After shutting and restarting the car everything went back to normal. Upon a visit to the dealer they downloaded my alarms to a remote device which diplayed the issues that I had with the car on the computer screen. The technician then advised me that the car programming was in the "shipping Mode" and they deleted some programs to return it to the "Normal mode". This is the strangest explanation that I ever heard.

Also the navigation system only prounounced making right and left turns but no street names. This seems odd for a $1900 option. Does any one care to comment on this?

Originally Posted by AutoUnion

Damn, that's awful. I'm glad I didn't get a petrol powered X5.

Nope, no issues to report on any 3.0T equipped Audis. Even the Audi 2.0T is basically trouble-free in its newest version

BMW just seems to have trouble with forced induction in general.

No issues so far, just like the current generation BMW motors (N55 & N63), but I seem to remember Audi having a carbon build-up issue not too long ago.

Audi-FSI-Engine-Carbon-Build-up-Megathread

Just had the drivetrain malfunction light after being in the car for a few minutes, with a full tank of gas, significant loss of power. After restart it worked fine but still makes me uneasy. Gonna bring it in and will ask about fuel sensors and hpfp's.

I thought i escaped theses issues after trading in my e92

Hello All.. first time poster.

Just had a similar drive train malfunction. The check control won't recall the message, but it contained bits like "drive train malfunction" "no output" "drive moderately". The car would move, but with virtually no power. The engine ran uncharacteristically rough when first started. Fortunately I was in a parking lot. After restarting the engine, all seemed to be fine.

I've read above about low fuel and low battery as possible factors. Fuel tank was full (had just filled up) and the car was driven 11 hrs. straight on the highway only 4 days ago (not likely a low battery).

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been experiencing the shift lever interlock problem where you can't rock the lever to the left to go into DS from D (as in http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=588783) so my first thought was that the two problems were related.

I'm waiting for a call back from a Service Advisor. Comments on this thread imply that it's not a serious issue with the drive train, but I'd like to hear it from the SA.

Does anybody know of a reference somewhere on the web of all the undocumented check control messages? It would be really helpful if one could call up the messages that I certainly hope are logged. Same thing happened to me with the low battery warning message (from not driving the car enough), couldn't call it back up.

Originally Posted by OnceHadATii

I've read above about low fuel and low battery as possible factors. Fuel tank was full (had just filled up) and the car was driven 11 hrs. straight on the highway only 4 days ago (not likely a low battery).

Just for your information, highway driving will NOT charge up your battery. With the new "Regeneration" charging system, your battery is charged ONLY when your foot is off the gas pedal or when you are braking. Last year I drove from Dallas to Oklahoma City (4 hours highway driving) and when shutting the car down, had a "low battery" warning light. Took it to the dealer and they reprogrammed the car's computer which reset the charging system so it would charge the battery more. It solved the problem and have never gotten the message again. The new charging system in these cars is supposed to increase gas mileage somewhat, but is poor engineering, in my opinion. If you don't drive your car frequently, you need to keep a Battery Maintainer (trickler charger) on it periodically. BMW sells them in the Parts Department but you can get them at Amazon for about half the price.

FYI - the system will charge - even on the highway - if the state of charge falls below 80%. If it fails to do this, then there is a problem that needs attention. Because it is difficult to accurately track the state of charge of a lead-acid battery, a software update or reset may get the system back on track.

Regards -

Originally Posted by tropheusjack

http://www.bmwusanews.com/newsreleas...?&id=481&mid=1

Seems that it is the HPFP - see link. I had exactly this error yesterday. Low on Gas showing 43 miles left. engine light came on and a loss of power. I shut the engine off and started again - error was gone.

Jack

That is exactly what I experienced when I started this thread. It wasn't HPFP. It was a faulty fuel sensor. They replaced the fuel sensor, and I have been trouble free since (4300 miles and counting).

What did your problem turn out to be? I assume you fixed it by now.