Drivetrain Malfunction '18 F80 with <3K miles

[moonluv810]

Hello,

I tried to search, but couldn't find any info particularly on the codes that my car threw out.

Car is a '18 F80 with 2.7K miles on the clock. 100% bone stock.

It started yesterday (Saturday) morning. I drove our daughter to a swim meet early in the morning ~6.30, about 10 miles drive. The car started and drove fine. We got there, parked the car, and everything was normal. Got back to the car around noon and the car would not start. Idrive showed "Drivetrain Malfunction". I tried to restart several times. The car would start for 5 seconds or so, stumbled and then died. I waited for about 10 minutes or so and decided to give it another try. The car started and I decided to drive home (about 8 miles drive). We got home and everything seemed normal during the drive.

Fast forward to the evening, we went out for a dinner at a place close to our home. On the way home, only 5 miles away from home, in the middle of road, the car sputtered and Idrive showed "Drivetrain Malfunction" message again. The car literally died in the middle of the road at 9PM. I turned on the hazard and decided to call Road Side Assistance.

We were on-hold for a good 10-15 minutes. Not wanting to wait any longer, I decided to give another try and it started again. Drove for about 3 miles (only 2 miles away from home) and the same thing happened: died in the middle of the road. I just realized that I had an OBD reader in glovebox. Decided to pull out the code and I got P3400 (Cylinder Deactivation System) and P061B (Manufacturer Defined). I decided to erase the codes and restarted the car. After several tries, the car ran again and I was able to get our family home safe.

Nevertheless, I was pretty pissed and upset. It's a freaking brand-new $80K car and it died in the middle of the road, not even a limp mode.

Unfortunately, dealer is closed and I was only able to make an appointment online for Tuesday.

Would appreciate any insights on what might have happened.
Do you suggest getting it tow to the dealer or just drive it?

What frustrates me the most, it's our daughter's birthday today and we have quite a few things planned and next week will be quite a busy week at work. It doesn't look like dealer has a loaner until next month.

Rant over....

[F80-F15]

Similar thing happened to me on my new X5. It took two trips to the dealership for them to figure out why it was going to limp mode. Turns out they didn't bolt the turbo properly during manufacturing.

Not sure if this is the case for you, but good news is that once it's fixed it'll be fine.

[moonluv810]

I'm really hopeful it's not anything big.

Bad gas came across my mind. But the last fill I had was over 100 miles ago and the car was fine until yesterday. And I always use Shell 91, there are two stations between work and home and I've been using for forever.

[Aaaaaaaaa]

I'd try to guilt trip the dealer into giving you a loaner immediately especially if you bought the car there. You are correct, unacceptable for a car of this caliber and that new.

[Hachima]

With the frequency and nature of the problems you are seeing I'd lean towards having it towed. There is no cost to you anyway.

I've been in similar situations 10+ times where sometimes the car would go into limp mode and sometimes it completely died and then wouldn't start for 5+ minutes and a few where it never restarted at all.

One time was on a weekend while I was picking up a cake for my daughter's birthday party that was in a few hours. In that case I drove the car in and I was able to get a loaner for that case even though it was the weekend (the car had been towed in 2 times previously).

Each dealer is different but mine is usually always 2+ weeks out to get service done with a loaner for a not critical service appointment but each time my car was towed in I was able to get a loaner the same day. It seems like they had a pool of loaners for convenience and another pool for emergency repair needed situations.

[boss2k]

Sorry OP it's completely unacceptable for a brand new car and I would be pissed as well

However when u got the error message you shudnt have taken the car out in the evening and shud have driven straight to dealership next week

[Silenus]

Hit the BMW assist.

It's not bad gas, you would have different faults and symptoms. Parts go bad, it happens. They'll fix it.

[moonluv810]

Originally Posted by boss2k

However when u got the error message you shudnt have taken the car out in the evening and shud have driven straight to dealership next week

Fully agreed, learnt a lesson.

I just set up a tow service for first thing in the morning tomorrow.
Dealership is closed but I was able to schedule an appointment online for the earliest available slot on Tuesday.
I decided to bring the car in tomorrow and push to get a loaner and service ASAP.

[Throttleblip]

It happened to me. Maybe this helps:

[barnsdale]

Same thing happened on my 135i - just needed a coolant top up.

Sure enough not long after that the water pump and thermostat went, story of the N55 engine life lol.

Post up what ends up fixing this issue, curious to know.

[Silenus]

Originally Posted by Throttleblip

It happened to me. Maybe this helps:

That's not helpful at all, as "adding" a little coolant does not fix a drivetrain malfunction! That's a bad diagnosis.

[Throttleblip]

Originally Posted by Silenus

That's not helpful at all, as "adding" a little coolant does not fix a drivetrain malfunction! That's a bad diagnosis.

Well that is exactly what the dealer found to be the problem with my car and that solved the Drivetrain Malfunction (I never got the message again and never again went to limp mode).

By the way, my post was not intended for you, it was for the OP.

[Hachima]

Drivetrain Malfunction is a generic error for many things. In my case it was related to fuel based errors. They replaced HPFP, LPFP, fuel tank, censors and more and the issue was still not resolved.

[moonshine89]

Originally Posted by Hachima

Drivetrain Malfunction is a generic error for many things. In my case it was related to fuel based errors. They replaced HPFP, LPFP, fuel tank, censors and more and the issue was still not resolved.

Sorry bro! That sucks! I had something similar happen to me and it ended up being a spun crank hub. Definitely get it towed. Did it make any funny noises on start up? Lots of clicking? Did it have a rough idle? Any spirited driving?

[Hachima]

Originally Posted by moonshine89

Sorry bro! That sucks! I had something similar happen to me and it ended up being a spun crank hub. Definitely get it towed. Did it make any funny noises on start up? Lots of clicking? Did it have a rough idle? Any spirited driving?

There weren't any signs like that. Sometimes it would happen after just .5 miles of non spirited driving. Sometimes it would happen in the middle of a 200+ mile drive but not associated with any particular behavior at the time.

I'd say the scariest time was when it was inside a freeway tunnel, for that particular time it was more of a limp mode. Not like a consistent reduced power like some but more of spurts of power where I could accelerate for a while then lose acceleration completely. I luckly made it out of the tunnel (would have been a mess w/ no where to pull over) and the car completely died right as I made it off an exit to somewhere I could pull over.

I'm not sure if there was ever a final resolution but one of the final hypothesis was the fuel pump was pulling fuel from just one side of the tank and wouldn't switch like its suppose to and would result in a situation similar to running out of gas. I think under normal scenarios fuel levels on both sides are suppose to stay even from sloshing around but there is a system to try and even it out and that was failing/kicking in when it shouldn't have.

[moonluv810]

A quick update...

I had the car towed to the dealership first thing this morning. They don't have any open slot today, but will try to get on it ASAP.

The SA was able to pull the fault codes out of the key, which I thought was pretty cool. He said the key has and retains some info, but the deep dive would still need to be done out of the OBD port. He said my car threw out 34 codes. His first guess was low battery was the culprit. I'm really hopeful he's right.

Will share any updates.

[boss2k]

Originally Posted by moonluv810

A quick update...

I had the car towed to the dealership first thing this morning. They don't have any open slot today, but will try to get on it ASAP.

The SA was able to pull the fault codes out of the key, which I thought was pretty cool. He said the key has and retains some info, but the deep dive would still need to be done out of the OBD port. He said my car threw out 34 codes. His first guess was low battery was the culprit. I'm really hopeful he's right.

Will share any updates.

How can low battery be the culprit, your car is brand new and not like more than 2 yrs old

[moonluv810]

Originally Posted by boss2k

How can low battery be the culprit, your car is brand new and not like more than 2 yrs old

I'm just going by what SA shared with me.

Could it be a defective battery? Who knows.
I did remotely turn on the ventilation in the car about 30 mins prior to getting back to the car on Saturday.

[wdskukm3]

A bad lithium ion battery could cause all kind of things to go wrong. Hopefully that is the case since it will be a easy fix.

[Alpine300zhp]

Originally Posted by wdskukm3

A bad lithium ion battery could cause all kind of things to go wrong. Hopefully that is the case since it will be a easy fix.

Agreed.

[wdskukm3]

I had the drive train malfunction error once before because my car has been sitting for 2-3 weeks without a trickle charger attached to it. As soon as I started the car all kind of errors popped up along with this drivetrain error code. I cleared the code and kept a lithium ion trickle charger on the battery. With in a day of charging the codes were gone and it never came back. Been months already. So I'm thinking most likely it could be your battery.

[doug_999]

Originally Posted by boss2k

How can low battery be the culprit, your car is brand new and not like more than 2 yrs old

Could have sat at the dealer for a few months?

Ps, OP, a call to BMW should get you a loaner or rental.