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

Originally Posted by 1973BMW

Before I begin, please note that this is not my second post. I have a new screen name because my last one, which I have used over the last 2 years won't let me on any longer. No idea why. Maybe the password is an issue for some reason. It was "bikerboy".

However, that is not the issue. The issue is the DRIVETRAIN MALFUNCTION. I had my car in 3 times last week!...and that's not the first time for this issue. It's probably the 5th or 6th. My service guy appears disgusted that after 20 years of dealing with me and my cars, it has come down to this. He tells me that BMW is having fuel injector issues on all cars that have V8's. 5, 6 and 7.

You know what.....if they are, then recall them and put in new ones instead of having us drive our cars on freeways, possibly hundreds of miles from home, and you get a DRIVETRAIN MALFUNCTION light going on and your car begins to run like ****. I hope you all realize that the scenario I just wrote is very possible for any of you. The solution then would be to call a tow truck in the middle of nowhere and have it towed to the dealer, hundreds of miles away. Great!

THIS IS MY LAST BMW. I have been driving them since 1973. I'm done. If I have a client meeting 100 miles away, or have to be in court (I'm a lawyer) half way up the state and my car does this again (which is likely) I'm in serious trouble.

Unfortunately I have 1 year left on my lease. If I'd have bought the car, it'd be up for sale on Monday morning. Not sure what I can do now. Those of you who have these cars and love them....good luck. I've been their biggest fan for 40 years. A 1973 BMW 2002 was my first new car. I haven't abandoned them, they've abandoned me. Literally.

Sorry to hear about your issues. Does your car have Dinan Stage 2?

I had the same issue with my car. Went 3 time for the drivetrain malfunction. It was solved by changing out all the injectors and spark plugs. Never had the issue again and I was dinan stage 4. 2012 550xi Stage 4 Tune.

Yes, I have Dinan Stage 2. I had this issue a year ago and they said it was the fuel pump. That was when I had Dinan Stage 1. Obviously its not the fuel pump. It's the injectors. They know it and now I know it. Yet, they still send me out and say, let's see what happens.

This is a $70,000 car. Let's see what happens? The more I think about this, the more it upsets me. I drove my wife's 2013 Vovlo XC70 all weekend. Had to pick someone up from the airport. No way I'm taking this piece of unreliability they call "The Ultimate Driving Machine". I'd rather take a Volvo.

I have an acquaintance who specializes in "Lemon Law". This happens one more time and I'll be consulting her. Detroit Auto Show is in 2 weeks. Time to start looking at other car displays.

Yeah that changed my low pressure fuel pump and low pressure fuel sensor then what fixed it was the changing of injectors and spark plugs. I understand man. Its all a pain in the ass especially on cars that cost this much.

Originally Posted by 1973BMW

To you, Wine Country, they had your car for a week to find out it was 8 fuel injectors? That's what I'm talking about. They KNOW it's the fuel injectors. They knew the minute you drove it in and told them the issue. It's outrageous that they treat customers who pay serious money for these cars like they're dolts. They looked you in the eye and lied to you. Do you think my service rep is the only one who knows the problem is appearing on all V8's? They ALL know. Memos have gone around to all dealers. More so then the problems with my car bothering me is the fact that they're treating me (and you) like someone they can scam. I'm done with them. They are certainly not the only game in town.

BMW should have taken better care of you.

Sigh, I'm now part of the drivetrain malfunction club (I've got a 550i w/ Dinan S2 and 13k miles). I got my warning last Friday when I pulled out of my driveway and I immediately took it into the dealer. They didn't get to look at the car until Monday but when they did, they knew it was the fuel injectors and went ahead and replaced all eight of them. However, during the re-programming, they realized that my DMV (spelling??) was bad and had to be replaced. The DMV (spelling??) is apparently the brain of the car and has to be ordered from Germany so now it doesn't look like I'll get the car back until next week. I'll keep you guys posted.

I too am a memeber of the Drivetrain malfunction. I was trying to pull out of the garage today and I got the error message. The car shuddered and cut off.
It was ok when I re-started it. I'll call my rep tomorrow and drop the car off in the evening when there's no traffic on the road :-/
FYI: 5,224 miles

Ill Tell u
this is horrible press for Dinan
They should be concerned.
It scared me away from getting there tune.
Just sayin

I am with 5seriesHB.

I too considered getting a Dinan tune on my F07. But after reading this thread, I decided against it. I mean, why in the hell would I pay over $3k to have my car possibly start throwing out malfunction codes and ruining fuel injectors?

And I overstand that the probability is higher that I won't have a problem... but I am not willing to take the risk. Too many people experiencing this problem after Dinan Stage 2tune.

I will pass.

By the way everyting someone comes on here me tioning this malfunction
I feel horrible for them
Because I do know how much everyone loves there car and for this to happen it sucks!

I'm not saying but I'm just saying that I never had a fuel system or injector problem in the one N54 motor where I used a 100:1 "2 cycle oil" additive. Lol

I'm heading to the store to pick up some Lucas right now! lulzzz

Originally Posted by djsilo

I too am a memeber of the Drivetrain malfunction. I was trying to pull out of the garage today and I got the error message. The car shuddered and cut off.
It was ok when I re-started it. I'll call my rep tomorrow and drop the car off in the evening when there's no traffic on the road :-/
FYI: 5,224 miles

Now that's embarassing - pulling out of the garage! At least my car had the good sense to throw the code half-way down the dragstrip.

Seriously, I traded in my car at 33kmi with the original injectors. The dealer's fix for my car was software only. Hopefully your problem will be as insignificant.

Just an update from me...
Have had the car back for approx a month now and no errors. I have not had the injectors or fuel pump changed as some have said that corrects it.

I have a revised version of the Stage2 that specifically changes the initial boost (if I heard the dinan guys right) to smooth out power delivery from stand still. They apparently did this for xdrive cars but maybe they should consider making it standard coding for all the cars....

I dont know much about the actually tune parameters, but it was explained to me as a "less violent" power curve... based on the explanation and the results so far - I suspect that initial power is causing the malfunction in the non revised version of the tunes, and the revised tune appears to be working for me...

I'm not going to commit to fully resolved status - as I don't think 30 days of winter driver is enough to call it solved...

just wanted to offer some hope....

Update: I'm going to get the car towed to my service center tonight, but I spoke to my service rep (Dinan rep as well) that I've known for a couple years and he told me I probably will have to change my injectors and spark plugs. He will also update the BMW Software and the Dinan Stage 2 update. But what was interesting is that he recently changed the fuel injectors on another 550 last week that did NOT have Dinan mods. He said the injectors are known to be faulty (but they only change them once the error message comes on).

I had my Dinan 2 flash done at purchase with 12 miles on the car. Currently at 2300 and no issues what so ever, keeping my fingers crossed. Interesting that Dinan now lists an extended aftermarket warranty on their site (I wonder how many Dinan points that adds towards your badge ).

My buddy had this issue on his 2011 550 rear wheel drive and 2012 550xi. Both were stock without dinan and both were lemoned(returned)

So apparently it was just a software error. They loaded new BMW software on and then the new Dinan Stage 2 software. They physically inspected the injectors and said that there was no leak or clog. They even said the error codes my car threw weren't the ones typically associated with the injector problem. So I will see how this goes, and I'm trying to be optimistic.

FWIW, I had the error message come up on my 2013 550xi Stage 2 (installed at delivery) once when I was pulling out of a stop sign quickly (at ~3k miles). The car briefly cut power, but did not go off. I pulled over and turned off the car and turned it back on again and the error message was gone and it did not happen again.

I did not call my dealer as I was familiar with this thread... I suspect that it is just a software thing and that it will be addressed when I bring in the car for its first service.

Got the car back after BMW software update and the updated version of Dinan Stage 2 for the 550 xdrive. Everything felt ok. I drove about 60 miles without problem. The Dinan stage 2 update seems to have smoother gear shifts.