Godot no more!… Back from Oxnard! Woohoo

Back from Oxnard! Woohoo by dennis_p
Back from Oxnard! Woohoo, a photo by dennis_p on Flickr.

I’m back in the race for the top mileage again! Just in time for Christmas.

No further word except for a failed high voltage sensor!

Gave my dealer and BMW USA my piece of mind and suggestions on how to improve the process. Basically training and communication.

As well as my displeasure with the towing procedure!

Waiting for Godot… Day Nine!

Exclamation point at the end of the title because I was notified that I would get delivery yesterday. However, as is the case in the Beckett namesake that I’ve temporarily named my ActiveE after, I’m still waiting…

As was predicted by Electronut #1, Tom Moloughney, in the initial Oxnard bound post, “It could be something as minor as a bad sensor so keep the faith!”. The man is a “BMW EV Whisperer”. The only note from the guys at Oxnard that was communicated to my dealer was a failed sensor in the High Voltage system caused the issues.

I really appreciate our EV community and hope that the initial feel lasts as more and more people, hopefully, switch over to EV from ICE and some of the common courtesies become general practice. Even to Noobs (i.e. Plug Sharing, moving your vehicle from public chargers when the car is done charging, etc.)

Some are hoping for a White Christmas, others for their two front teeth… I’ll be glad when I can renounce the name Godot for my ActiveE!

Waiting for Godot… Day Eight…

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.

Waiting for Godot… Oxnard Watch Day Seven…

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.

Waiting for Godot, Day Three

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.

Pumas turn to Oxnard…

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

Waiting on Pumas… Day Two…

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!

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.