12-12-12 might as well have been 13-13-13 for me…

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.

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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…

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A “skate”, I think “sled is better”…

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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.

Permanent fix for the spline issue is in!

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.