Late yesterday afternoon, I received good news. Oxnard called back and said that Godot was on his way back to the dealership. They did not mention what was wrong nor what they did to fix the problem, nor what the problem was.
The only thing they told my dealership is that they wanted them to do an alignment on the wheels… (must have been an effect of the “tow” that BMW Assist did).
Either way, I’ll believe it when I see it.
So, today would be the anniversary of the first appearance of this aggressive Transmission Error that would not clear.
Yesterday, I got my first update since Oxnard received the car. And the update was – “Oxnard did not communicate anything yet.” Additionally, my Service Advisor tells me that they really operate in a vacuum there and in the past they would only hear when the work was done. I thanked him for calling and told him that this behavior is obviously not BMW level, but understand technical people and suggested that BMW needed to learn to communicate more.
I am hoping to have my car back before Christmas, but doubt it.
So, I asked my Service Advisor to give me a daily update…
Today’s update… Nothing. So, I know that Godot left for Oxnard Thursday Afternoon, so I assume it made it from Signal Hill to Oxnard within a few hours, so it should at least be checked in today.
SOS, no real update and I’m running on ICE. The loaner 328 Sedan has issues of its own and the iDrive keeps,resetting while I use the vehicle, so need to get that swapped out Monday morning.
Here’s to some good thoughts and Karma.
Still day two, but got a call back after I published my last post and I wanted to get this out as soon as I got word…
My ActiveE, who I am temporarily naming Godot is now Oxnard bound.
Oxnard is the regional center for the ActiveE and is often a point of escalation for ActiveE faults. So I am hoping for a quicker turn around.
I guess it’s time to get reacquainted with my 25 cent per mile vehicle… Also known as my ICE X5! I was planning on driving that a few times this month to get up to the mountain for some skiing, so that might actually start happening
So… Just heard back from my Service Advisor.
I forgot to mention that the car would not take a charge overnight 12-11-12 (or 11-12-12 for my German and International readers) as well as being stuck in Transmission Error mode. Nor would it take a charge with subsequent attempts.
So, yesterday afternoon, after the car was towed to the dealership, the low level electric (12V battery) died and they had to replace the 12V battery. There was hope that these issues would be cleared by that battery replacement. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I got the call and was told that we’re now waiting on BMW Corporate to get back to my guys (one of the drawbacks to being in the West Coast in this program is that the guys in Corporate could be NJ for US and Germany for International, so I don’t know who they’re waiting on.)
So, the dealership tried to plug the car in for a charge again after replacing the 12V battery and that was not working either. So, we’re now waiting for Puma response…
If you’re interested in seeing these updates as I publish, subscribe to the blog. I plan on updating as often as I get updates for this… I just hope that this does not turn into a Samuel Beckett play. Otherwise, I will have to break from my normal behavior and give my car a name, I’m just hoping that it would not have to be Godot!
I guess the words “spoke too soon” should’ve applied to my “completed” 20k service last week.
I was lucky enough to pick up my vehicle last Friday after the dealership completed my 20k service at 21,021, it was a particularly slow weekend for me, driving wise, as we pretty much stayed close to home. So, it was a little perturbing when I received the dreaded “Transmission Error” last night.
I’ve only had a few of these in the past, however, this has been the first one since my dealership moved my car from being serviced by the one technician that they’ve had on the ActiveE with a second tech who just started working on my car. Not to say that I blame the guy… But that’s just suspect for me.
So, I figured not to panic, I started the list of things to do when this error pops up…
1) I took the key out and waited a few minutes started the whole process and the car did not start.
2) So, I figured to try it again and waited an hour… No effect.
3) I decided to go to sleep, plug the car in and try it the next morning… Tried it, still the same error.
4) Tried the reset switch by the battery
5) Finally had to call for a tow truck…
A “skate”, I think “sled is better”…
So, what did we learn since the first tow 9 months ago…
Well, not much. Apparently disengaging the low level electric and putting the car in neutral does not seem to be much of a priority anymore.
Well, for those interested, I was able to get a copy of the guide for tow-truck drivers from the guy who picked up my car (and proceeded to mark up my front drive way with rubber drag marks for my car…)
Skates are now “recommended”, however, skates are not what I thought they would look like, Sleds would have been a better name.
Ugh… Now, I wait… And hopefully it’s not too long. I am still hoping to try to catch up to Tom M! or at least stay ahead of Todd C. Hard to do when I’m driving an ICE 328 Sedan.
So, got my Active E on Friday and didn’t really put any miles on it this weekend.
We had our annual holiday party with our friends at our house, so, didn’t really do much driving. I did let a couple of friends test drive the car to get them ready to EVolve into the EV lifestyle. Consistent with the theme of my blog, we discussed this as PURELY an economic decision on top of the PERFORMANCE of a BMW Electric vehicle and it’s scheduled successors in the BMWi family.
Glad to say that it looks like it’s performing as it did prior to the week long service in the shop. Apparently a new technician worked on my vehicle this past week and I have to say that I can tell. The original technician was very meticulous and the vehicle felt restored to me as before. However upon inspection of my vehicle this weekend, I noticed a spare plastic piece that seems to be lose and I can’t figure out where it came from. Additionally the carpet covered pieces in the trunk don’t seem to be flush against each other as opposed to how my original technician delivers the vehicle to me.
I have not had time to check launch control. However, I did notice that I finished my commute to work about 3-4% state of charge LESS than I normally do. The weather is a nice Southern California 65-70 today, HOWEVER, a lot of people seem to be off as I was going closer to 75-80 on parts of my commute that would normally be slower (have to keep up with the rest of traffic.) So, that’s probably it.
So, what was the permanent fix? Basically a plug that fits in the E-motor to keep the lubricant back to the junction between the motor and the gears so that it does not get spun off by the torque of the motor. I don’t have a picture, but should I run across one, I’d make sure to post.
I did it…
I was hoping to wait until April, but this darn price increase forced me to commit earlier than I wanted to.
What was it that I did…
I put my deposit down for one of these –
What can I say? I really like BMWs, but the styling of the i3 leaves much to be desired.
The i3 4 door is ok, it just doesn’t look like other BMWs.
The newly unveiled i3 Coupe looks even better, but I do want the four door functionality!
I was hoping to put down the deposit by April to take delivery of the Model S by the time the ActiveE lease ends and I am forced to give back the car, but Tesla’s price increase and the inevitability of it all got me off the fence.
This isn’t to say that I won’t be getting an i3, but it does mean that the deal has to be that much better to get me to one as well. A deposit on a Model S at this time
The car went into the shop on Monday, December 3rd to finalize the work from the 20,000 mile service. 21,021 miles… Not bad. Waited a few weeks for the part to (hopefully) fix the spline design issue that’s been reported.I’m hoping that the charging issue that folks have been reporting on Chargepoint/Coulomb chargers don’t affect this vehicle as I have a Coulomb charger at home. Fingers crossed. Still waiting on my dealership to tell me to pick up the car… Though it looks like Thursday, Dec. 6th… as of right now.
