2014 X5 50i - Drivetrain Malfunction ???

[skoold2003]

Originally Posted by thompsw

I had this warning yesterday on my 2015 X5 5.0i. A couple of times over the past year I’ve noticed what felt like a clutch slip under hard acceleration, automatic transmission downshift. It happened again yesterday only this time I got the error message. Rough rolling at moderate speed so I stopped, turned the car off, waited a few seconds and then started up again. The message popped up when the car was restarted but went away a few seconds later, presumably because no issue was detected by the sensor.

Do I have a ticking time bomb or an annoyance ?

Dave.

It sounds like injectors. Mine did it only on cold start. They're covered under extended warranty though.

[ptm1nh]

Might wanna hook up an OBD reader to read the code. Mine was because of bad fuel injectors and spark plugs mishaps causing engine misfire in a cylinder chamber (or something like that).

[Mikayel123]

I have my car for over a year now, it is 2016 BMW X5 f15 50i with 64000miles on it. Last week while I was driving I had the drivetrain malfunction, the car was shaking crazy. I went and changed all 8 spark plugs and ignition coils (Bosch brand), but even after that when I'm driving at high speed the car is shaking again and showing the same drivetrain malfunction. I went to my mechanic the only error code that shows is the misfires of 6,7,8 cylinders. I put a brand new coils and plugs and it's been a few days since the mechanics can't solve the problem. I was wondering to know is there anyone who is familiar with this problem and knows how to deal with it.
Thank you in advance!

[skoold2003]

Originally Posted by Mikayel123

I have my car for over a year now, it is 2016 BMW X5 f15 50i with 64000miles on it. Last week while I was driving I had the drivetrain malfunction, the car was shaking crazy. I went and changed all 8 spark plugs and ignition coils (Bosch brand), but even after that when I'm driving at high speed the car is shaking again and showing the same drivetrain malfunction. I went to my mechanic the only error code that shows is the misfires of 6,7,8 cylinders. I put a brand new coils and plugs and it's been a few days since the mechanics can't solve the problem. I was wondering to know is there anyone who is familiar with this problem and knows how to deal with it.
Thank you in advance!

Scroll up two posts..

[VTBMWer]

Our 2015 F15 35i recently had the drivetrain malfunction message and lost significant power under uphill acceleration. The dealer scanned the vehicle and key within a few hours and said they found nothing. They called it a known "glitch" in the computer they have seen before. Our son drove it late the same day and got the same message.

Looking around I saw that it can be caused by fuel delivery issues. We've had some early morning stalls on first start up so at 114,000 miles, I'm wondering if it might be time to replace the fuel pump. Has anyone tried this as a fix? Does the 2015 fuel pump have a built in filter as I only see filters mentioned for the 35d and not our 35i.

[Jessica4365]

Reviving an old post here.
2014 X5 50i. 48k miles
Two weeks ago while driving I felt a jolt under acceleration from a stop. It first made me think it was something with the transmission but there was definitely a loss of power. A few minutes later I got the dreaded Drive train malfunction and check engine light. Limped it home and had to towed to the dealership and told it was a misfire. I had just had all coils and spark plugs replaced in November. They said the air fuel ratio was off and so they ended up replacing some crank case hoses. Didn't seem that confident that was the fix.

Fast forward 4 days after picking up and I felt it again going down the freeway. I was sort of coasting with my foot off the pedal and as soon as I went to accelerate again, I felt the jolt and within minutes I was back to the light being on. Fortunately, I was one exit away from the dealership and limped it in. Misfire fault for cylinder 6. Said they dug into it and didn't find any issues.

I can tell this issue is still present and slightly felt a jolt this morning while driving. Now it's definitely a ticking time bomb until it happens again.
Should I try and be proactive and get fuel injectors and/or fuel pump changed out?

[1norseman]

At 48k miles, the injectors should not be bad yet, but that doesn't mean they can't be. After what I went through, I recommend anyone to swap them out when over 100K.

Do you know if it was #6 misfiring the first time the dealership looked at it?

If so, maybe see if dealership can swap #6 injector with another cylinder, and see if problem still exists in #6?
See if they can do a smoke test, and make sure there are no leaks in the air intake system messing with air/fuel mix sensors. Some of the plastic parts can crack over time and cause air leaks.

If you find an injector is bad, definitely replace all of them, just to be on the safe side.
But before you do, try to see if they can (bore)scope cylinders with misfires, to make sure there is no scoring.

If a fuel injector goes bad and can't regulate the gas and the computer senses it, it will not send a spark signal to the cylinder, but the injector also might not shut down and still spray gas into the cylinder. If this happens, sooner or later you will get scoring, due to the unburned gas washing out the lubricating oil... Result is need of a new long block...$$$$$

[Jessica4365]

Originally Posted by 1norseman

At 48k miles, the injectors should not be bad yet, but that doesn't mean they can't be. After what I went through, I recommend anyone to swap them out when over 100K.

Do you know if it was #6 misfiring the first time the dealership looked at it?

If so, maybe see if dealership can swap #6 injector with another cylinder, and see if problem still exists in #6?
See if they can do a smoke test, and make sure there are no leaks in the air intake system messing with air/fuel mix sensors. Some of the plastic parts can crack over time and cause air leaks.

If you find an injector is bad, definitely replace all of them, just to be on the safe side.
But before you do, try to see if they can (bore)scope cylinders with misfires, to make sure there is no scoring.

If a fuel injector goes bad and can't regulate the gas and the computer senses it, it will not send a spark signal to the cylinder, but the injector also might not shut down and still spray gas into the cylinder. If this happens, sooner or later you will get scoring, due to the unburned gas washing out the lubricating oil... Result is need of a new long block...$$$$$

Yikes, thanks for the reply. It's actually at the dealership now due to this being the 4th time the issue has happened. They've had it about two weeks now. I had it looked at at an independent shop after BMW couldn't figure out the issue the first time. The new shop said it was fuel injectors and after a ridiculous quote, I called BMW to ask their opinion and price. My advisor then told me that the injectors are covered under warranty through BMW North America for 150k miles or 10 years. I have another year until I hit 10 years so they sent in a request to BMW NA to replace one, or hopefully all injectors. They mentioned not being able to know which injector is faulty until they get in there.
Each time it throws the drivetrain malfunction, it's usually cylinder 6. They've swapped it with another cylinder and it's fine so whatever seems to be happening keeps giving the same fault code. After BMW was just able to reproduce the issue on their own again, they said the logical issue is that it is the injectors. The advisor said they have multiple cylinder misfire faults for one particular bank. Gosh, I sure hope it's not something else more serious. Trying to clear this issue and rid of this problem child as soon as possible. HA.