Epic F80 electrical/mechanical failure: has anyone seen anything like this before?

waygorked · 07-13-2018, 09:34 AM

A few months ago my 2015 F80 (still only 17K miles) started demonstrating strange electrical faults. When driving across rough surfaces like railroad crossings I would suddenly get warning messages start flashing. One day it would be a collision warning, the next it would be ABS failure, then TPMS would show 4 sudden flat tires, and so on. I took it to BMW Portland and was told to get ready to be without my car for a long time, as they had no clue and were going to send it back to Germany. Hours later they called back and told me to pick it up, as they found some corrosion in a wiring loom they were positive was the issue.

Yesterday I was pulling out of a bank parking lot, crossing 2 lanes of busy traffic, when my car suddenly sputtered and died. The initial warning was something like "fuel delivery failure," although I'm not sure of the exact phrase as I was trying not to get hit at the time. I coasted backwards into the lot, then was unable to put the DCT in park. I would shift it into drive, it would drop spontaneously back into neutral, and another message saying something like "catastrophic engine failure" kept popping up. I had it towed to the dealership, then we were unable to get it off the truck, as somehow it had become stuck in park and couldn't be put in neutral.

This seems like some form of cascading electrical failure. Has anyone experienced anything similar?

Brasko · 07-13-2018, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waygorked

A few months ago my 2015 F80 (still only 17K miles) started demonstrating strange electrical faults. When driving across rough surfaces like railroad crossings I would suddenly get warning messages start flashing. One day it would be a collision warning, the next it would be ABS failure, then TPMS would show 4 sudden flat tires, and so on. I took it to BMW Portland and was told to get ready to be without my car for a long time, as they had no clue and were going to send it back to Germany. Hours later they called back and told me to pick it up, as they found some corrosion in a wiring loom they were positive was the issue.

Yesterday I was pulling out of a bank parking lot, crossing 2 lanes of busy traffic, when my car suddenly sputtered and died. The initial warning was something like "fuel delivery failure," although I'm not sure of the exact phrase as I was trying not to get hit at the time. I coasted backwards into the lot, then was unable to put the DCT in park. I would shift it into drive, it would drop spontaneously back into neutral, and another message saying something like "catastrophic engine failure" kept popping up. I had it towed to the dealership, then we were unable to get it off the truck, as somehow it had become stuck in park and couldn't be put in neutral.

This seems like some form of cascading electrical failure. Has anyone experienced anything similar?

I'd suggest snapping a pic or 5 of the warning messages to help diagnose the issue. Would also try a different dealership like Kuni BMW. I've had a great experience with them. Highly doubt BMW (and the dealership) is going to send back your car. Sounds suspicious.

paliknight · 07-13-2018, 11:33 AM

Agree with post above me. Dealership sounds like it has a few idiots working on your car.

Keep us posted.

nicknaz · 07-13-2018, 02:45 PM

do you use your car very regularly?

One quick thing to check is the charge of the battery. I was told when I had an e89 z4 that it would pop up random warnings if it was low on battery charge.

Another thing to check is whether your wiring harnesses have gotten damaged somehow

smithf80 · 07-13-2018, 04:25 PM

They were going to ship the car back? I've never heard of that being the case. Usually they bring engineers in, not send cars out.

Hachima · 07-14-2018, 04:00 AM

Usually it goes to a PUMA case (remote session with BMW). Then they will fly out an engineer to the dealership if it still can't be resolved (They did this for me and sent them to Kuni BMW)

Maybe if anything they meant sending a part to Germany? In an extreme case where BMW buys back the car they will often offer the dealership to let BMW NA take possession or let them auction it off.

This sounds like some miscommunication if anything and I suspect they were opening a PUMA case. I'd also say I've had good experiences with my 4 BMWs with Kuni BMW and it would be worth a second opinion if you don't make progress with Portland BMW. I've never worked with Portland BMW so don't have any opinions one way or the other with their service.

Poiseuille · 07-14-2018, 07:01 AM

Let me assure you that I hate to say this, but this sounds like rodent activity. I sincerely hope it's not.

shortseller · 07-14-2018, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poiseuille

Let me assure you that I hate to say this, but this sounds like rodent activity. I sincerely hope it's not.

That was my second thought, battery being the first. Either will be expensive to correct.

waygorked · 07-14-2018, 09:09 AM

I'm sure they meant sending someone out rather than sending the car back.

The car is a daily driver. Once it died, the battery was still fine. I was unable to get it to stay in drive or park, and thus unable to turn the car off. By the time we got to the dealership, it had somehow found it's way into park, the battery was discharged, and we couldn't put it into neutral. They had to put it on skids and drag it into the shop.

My first clinic was down the street from Kuni, and I still have PTSD from the experience. I avoid that part of Beaverton on principle. The guys downtown did a great job with my E92, but if they can't pull this off I'll certainly jump ship.

Rodents? I can't see it. I park inside, and whatever this issue is has been progressing for over a year now.

shortseller · 07-14-2018, 10:08 AM

It’s all just speculation till you get the fix. Good luck! Cutting across an intersection with a possible power loss is pretty darn scary!

marvinp · 07-14-2018, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waygorked

Rodents? I can't see it. I park inside, and whatever this issue is has been progressing for over a year now.

My father in law parks inside his garage and recently had a mouse or mice chew up cables in his car. He also found droppings in the spot where he parked the car in the garage. So something to consider checking.

Nikolas · 07-14-2018, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marvinp

Quote:

Originally Posted by waygorked

Rodents? I can't see it. I park inside, and whatever this issue is has been progressing for over a year now.

My father in law parks inside his garage and recently had a mouse or mice chew up cables in his car. He also found droppings in the spot where he parked the car in the garage. So something to consider checking.

This happened to one of our minis also. It was parked outside and a mouse made a nest in the rear wheel well and chewed through a bunch of wires that triggered a CEL.

hinckley · 07-14-2018, 01:43 PM

OP, the rodent thing may sound crazy, but it's not an uncommon occurrence. I too experienced it some years ago, and Speaker Ryan more recently - https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/13/polit...rnd/index.html

Aaaaaaaaa · 07-14-2018, 01:45 PM

Happened to Obsessed Garage guy's GT3. Kinda ironic that garage queens are so pampered only to fall victim to a small rodent.

Nikolas · 07-14-2018, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hinckley

OP, the rodent thing may sound crazy, but it's not an uncommon occurrence. I too experienced it some years ago, and speaker Ryan more recently - https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/13/polit...rnd/index.html

I once opened the hood on my Subaru STI and leaned over to inspect a vacuum tube for the turbo gauge that stopped working. I felt fur hitting my chin. Looked down and it was a rabbit!

hinckley · 07-14-2018, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikolas

I once opened the hood on my Subaru STI and leaned over to inspect a vacuum tube for the turbo gauge that stopped working. I felt fur hitting my chin. Looked down and it was a rabbit!

Ya, it happened to me on a Saab 900. All the lights lit up but I could drive the car to the shop. The Saab tech told me that some mice had gotten into a wiring harness and I chuckled explaining that the rats in my city neighborhood ate mice for Sunday brunch.

waygorked · 07-18-2018, 02:18 PM

So the tech has found a fault in the control module for the fuel pump, which makes sense given the fuel delivery failure. For those of you with far more knowledge than I, is there a way to relate that to the other intermittent electrical failures I was experiencing prior to the pump failing? I really don't wanna take my car back from the dealership unless they can verify that the other issues won't keep happening.

Spritztour · 07-24-2018, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waygorked

A few months ago my 2015 F80 (still only 17K miles) started demonstrating strange electrical faults. When driving across rough surfaces like railroad crossings I would suddenly get warning messages start flashing. One day it would be a collision warning, the next it would be ABS failure, then TPMS would show 4 sudden flat tires, and so on. I took it to BMW Portland and was told to get ready to be without my car for a long time, as they had no clue and were going to send it back to Germany. Hours later they called back and told me to pick it up, as they found some corrosion in a wiring loom they were positive was the issue.

Yesterday I was pulling out of a bank parking lot, crossing 2 lanes of busy traffic, when my car suddenly sputtered and died. The initial warning was something like "fuel delivery failure," although I'm not sure of the exact phrase as I was trying not to get hit at the time. I coasted backwards into the lot, then was unable to put the DCT in park. I would shift it into drive, it would drop spontaneously back into neutral, and another message saying something like "catastrophic engine failure" kept popping up. I had it towed to the dealership, then we were unable to get it off the truck, as somehow it had become stuck in park and couldn't be put in neutral.

This seems like some form of cascading electrical failure. Has anyone experienced anything similar?

Sounds like your car was flooded at one point. Only water damage could generate that many failures in such a short time.

robbo mcs · 07-25-2018, 04:32 AM

Check and clean your earth points. That is a potential cause of multiple electrical gremlins.

Rotzy · 07-25-2018, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robbo mcs

Check and clean your earth points. That is a potential cause of multiple electrical gremlins.

Agreed. A bad ground wire could cause numerous electrical problems. This was the first thing I thought about when the OP posted.

07-13-2018, 09:34 AM	#1
waygorked Enlisted Member 15 Rep 36 Posts Drives: '07 335i JB4 Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Oregon iTrader: (0)	Epic F80 electrical/mechanical failure: has anyone seen anything like this before? A few months ago my 2015 F80 (still only 17K miles) started demonstrating strange electrical faults. When driving across rough surfaces like railroad crossings I would suddenly get warning messages start flashing. One day it would be a collision warning, the next it would be ABS failure, then TPMS would show 4 sudden flat tires, and so on. I took it to BMW Portland and was told to get ready to be without my car for a long time, as they had no clue and were going to send it back to Germany. Hours later they called back and told me to pick it up, as they found some corrosion in a wiring loom they were positive was the issue. Yesterday I was pulling out of a bank parking lot, crossing 2 lanes of busy traffic, when my car suddenly sputtered and died. The initial warning was something like "fuel delivery failure," although I'm not sure of the exact phrase as I was trying not to get hit at the time. I coasted backwards into the lot, then was unable to put the DCT in park. I would shift it into drive, it would drop spontaneously back into neutral, and another message saying something like "catastrophic engine failure" kept popping up. I had it towed to the dealership, then we were unable to get it off the truck, as somehow it had become stuck in park and couldn't be put in neutral. This seems like some form of cascading electrical failure. Has anyone experienced anything similar? Last edited by waygorked; 07-13-2018 at 10:04 AM..
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07-13-2018, 11:33 AM	#3
paliknight fuck this field 2192 Rep 2,605 Posts Drives: 18 F80 CS/18 F80 ZCP/19 M2C Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: everywhere iTrader: (1)	Agree with post above me. Dealership sounds like it has a few idiots working on your car. Keep us posted. __________________ BMW family... for now.
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07-13-2018, 02:45 PM	#4
nicknaz Lieutenant General 3187 Rep 10,509 Posts Drives: C6Z Join Date: May 2008 Location: NorCal iTrader: (0)	do you use your car very regularly? One quick thing to check is the charge of the battery. I was told when I had an e89 z4 that it would pop up random warnings if it was low on battery charge. Another thing to check is whether your wiring harnesses have gotten damaged somehow
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07-13-2018, 04:25 PM	#5
smithf80 Major General 2808 Rep 5,316 Posts Drives: G80 M3 6MT Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Long Island, NY iTrader: (1) Garage List 2022 G20 330i [9.00] 2018 F80 M3 [9.75]	They were going to ship the car back? I've never heard of that being the case. Usually they bring engineers in, not send cars out. __________________ Scott, Partner Insight Automotive Consulting Click HERE for all discounted BMW New Car Pricing Click HERE for all BMW In Stock Inventory Specials Call/Text: 516-416-5481 Email: scott@insightautoconsulting.com
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07-14-2018, 04:00 AM	#6
Hachima Second Lieutenant 155 Rep 272 Posts Drives: 2018 M3 ZCP Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: USA iTrader: (0) Garage List 2018 BMW M3 ZCP [0.00] 2023 BMW M5C [0.00] 2022 BMW X3M [0.00] 2016 BMW 340Xi [0.00]	Usually it goes to a PUMA case (remote session with BMW). Then they will fly out an engineer to the dealership if it still can't be resolved (They did this for me and sent them to Kuni BMW) Maybe if anything they meant sending a part to Germany? In an extreme case where BMW buys back the car they will often offer the dealership to let BMW NA take possession or let them auction it off. This sounds like some miscommunication if anything and I suspect they were opening a PUMA case. I'd also say I've had good experiences with my 4 BMWs with Kuni BMW and it would be worth a second opinion if you don't make progress with Portland BMW. I've never worked with Portland BMW so don't have any opinions one way or the other with their service.
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07-14-2018, 07:01 AM	#7
Poiseuille Brigadier General 5393 Rep 3,737 Posts Drives: 2016 M4 DCT Tanzanite/Amaro Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Princeton iTrader: (0) Garage List [0.00] [10.00]	Let me assure you that I hate to say this, but this sounds like rodent activity. I sincerely hope it's not.
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07-14-2018, 09:09 AM	#9
waygorked Enlisted Member 15 Rep 36 Posts Drives: '07 335i JB4 Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Oregon iTrader: (0)	I'm sure they meant sending someone out rather than sending the car back. The car is a daily driver. Once it died, the battery was still fine. I was unable to get it to stay in drive or park, and thus unable to turn the car off. By the time we got to the dealership, it had somehow found it's way into park, the battery was discharged, and we couldn't put it into neutral. They had to put it on skids and drag it into the shop. My first clinic was down the street from Kuni, and I still have PTSD from the experience. I avoid that part of Beaverton on principle. The guys downtown did a great job with my E92, but if they can't pull this off I'll certainly jump ship. Rodents? I can't see it. I park inside, and whatever this issue is has been progressing for over a year now.
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07-14-2018, 10:08 AM	#10
shortseller Brigadier General 1003 Rep 3,396 Posts Drives: ‘18 ABM F80ZCP/dct Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: NOVA iTrader: (0)	It’s all just speculation till you get the fix. Good luck! Cutting across an intersection with a possible power loss is pretty darn scary!
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07-14-2018, 01:43 PM	#13
hinckley Brigadier General 3493 Rep 3,213 Posts Drives: '24 M4C Conv Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: South Florida iTrader: (1)	OP, the rodent thing may sound crazy, but it's not an uncommon occurrence. I too experienced it some years ago, and Speaker Ryan more recently - https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/13/polit...rnd/index.html __________________ CURRENT: '24 M4C Conv RETIRED : '23 M8C Conv \| '20 X4 M40i \| '18 M4 6MT \| '13 M5 6MT \| '08 550i 6MT \| '04 545i 6MT \| '98 540i 6MT \| '94 530i 5MT \| '84 528e 5MT Other retirees from Chevrolet, Buick, Subaru, Honda, Acura, Merkur(!), Volvo, Saab, Audi and Porsche
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07-14-2018, 01:45 PM	#14
Aaaaaaaaa Banned 7559 Rep 5,056 Posts Drives: The other M3 Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: So Cal iTrader: (0)	Happened to Obsessed Garage guy's GT3. Kinda ironic that garage queens are so pampered only to fall victim to a small rodent.
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07-18-2018, 02:18 PM	#17
waygorked Enlisted Member 15 Rep 36 Posts Drives: '07 335i JB4 Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Oregon iTrader: (0)	So the tech has found a fault in the control module for the fuel pump, which makes sense given the fuel delivery failure. For those of you with far more knowledge than I, is there a way to relate that to the other intermittent electrical failures I was experiencing prior to the pump failing? I really don't wanna take my car back from the dealership unless they can verify that the other issues won't keep happening.
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07-25-2018, 04:32 AM	#19
robbo mcs First Lieutenant 143 Rep 320 Posts Drives: F82 M4 and others Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Sydney iTrader: (0)	Check and clean your earth points. That is a potential cause of multiple electrical gremlins.
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