Drivetrain malfunction on...need advise

[Katsumoto]

Hi guys ,need your help.Yes i have researched and found a lot of good topics for this warning but my situation is a little different and i need some advise .. I started a road trip from Chicago (where i live ) to Breckenridge,CO for couple of days and when i arrived in Denver was about 35F degree so i decide to stopped and wash the car out . The weather in Iowa and Nebraska was cold and the day before i headed to was snowing so car was really salty.So i stopped at the car wash when i was done i hit the road again but i got stuck in very bad traffic about 30 miles west of Denver... It was colder ,about 15 F and i was almost at complete stop on the highway ..15 min later going a bit faster and when i reached 60MPH boom ... drivetrain malfunction popped .. 2 days already in Breckenridge and i still have this message .. The weather here is not very pleasant and its cold - 10F-15F at night ... Today i drove to Vail,CO and car is driving fine shifting ok but with this message i dont have the full power of it.I have to leave tomorrow and question is how long i can drive with this message ? Is it ok to drive till i get back in Chicago and then bring the car to dealer ? i was thinking to unplug the negative cable and reset the ECU but not sure if this is a good idea in this cold weather . Car seems to be fine with 80mph going down the hill and back to Chicago there is no hills just straight line highway . Driving normally and not aggressive i should be running ok with 80MPH but is that will be ok ? Let me know your thoughts please .Thank you all and HAPPY NEW 2019

[admranger]

Go to an auto parts store and get the codes read. There may be ice on one of the wheel speed sensors or perhaps the steering angle sensor that is causing odd readings and the computer doesn't know what to do with them.

Another thing to check is the health of your battery. In my experience, you can get some really odd "failures" show up that go away with a fresh battery.

GL!

[DuSh]

Originally Posted by admranger

Go to an auto parts store and get the codes read. There may be ice on one of the wheel speed sensors or perhaps the steering angle sensor that is causing odd readings and the computer doesn't know what to do with them.

Another thing to check is the health of your battery. In my experience, you can get some really odd "failures" show up that go away with a fresh battery.

GL!

Wheel sensors getting iced is a real possibility with winter washing.

[Katsumoto]

I thought so too. The big question is should i drive carefully back to Chicago

[turboawd]

Originally Posted by Katsumoto

I thought so too. The big question is should i drive carefully back to Chicago

If it drives fine, I would.

[DBV1]

That is a bummer. Do many owners of X5's get these warnings? I used to get on an older BMW 5 Series, which was scary, but never on the newer BMW's.

[alphaod]

I got one when my fuel pressure sensor malfunctioned, I reset it drove another 25k miles only came up again this time I went to the dealer they replaced the sensor.

Could be anything really. Honestly it’s all nothing.

[Violator]

I’d drive it normally until I couldn’t any more.
I don’t think it’ll hurt to try the battery cable ‘trick’ and see what happens.

As previously stated, these warnings pop-up for numerous things, some serious, most not serious.

[KRS_SN]

mine did the same and it was an egr valve n cooler for which there is a recall. Pretty soon (as in 4 days and under 100 miles) car went into permanent limp mode). My advice is get it checked asap.

[Rotzy]

Originally Posted by DBV1

That is a bummer. Do many owners of X5's get these warnings? I used to get on an older BMW 5 Series, which was scary, but never on the newer BMW's.

"Drivetrain Malfunction" is a generic warning message for a slew of issues, from very minor to major. That is why your search has pulled up no definitive answer as to what is wrong with your vehicle, and why we aren't really able to help you right now. Take a few minutes and stop by an auto parts store to have the codes read. If you tell us what the codes are, we can tell you if it needs to be looked at immediately or if it can wait until you get back home.

[duercos]

Do you have a chip installed by any chance?

[Katsumoto]

no chip installed ... i am in Omaha already ...car runs fine ...i havent pushed her but driving on cruise control with 90mph and no issues but this warning ... in the morning while i was driving in Colorado mountains i was running with maximum of 60mph but as soon as i hit the straight line jumped easy on 90 ... havent drove over ... so far everything is running ok

[Violator]

Sounds good, safe travels home.
Please let us know what you find out.

[Katsumoto]

Hey guys, so i am back in Chicago now and the warning message got away.I slept in Omaha , was cold all night about 5F. In the morning i start driving back and about 11am i was in Iowa...the weather was about 30F ... Stopped for Starbucks for about 10 minutes and then fueled up the tank , jumped on the highway and car was pretty back to normal... i havent push too hard but seems to be pretty normal ... few minutes later while i was setting the GPS destination address for ETA , traffic etc..... the warning was no longer in the messages and car was driving just fine so definitely is the cold weather

[Rotzy]

Even if the message went away, there will still be stored codes. Something happened that caused the Drivetrain Malfunction message to appear and you should have it checked out at some point. The fact that the message didn't go away after the first restart indicates that the issue was present for some time.

Now, you mentioned you noticed the message was gone after a fuel stop. It is possible it was as simple as a loose gas cap. Still, the only way to know is to read the codes.

[DuSh]

Hey man, if you still have BPC cable - you can use it to check error codes on laptop. If you don't have it - it's a good idea to buy bimmercode or carly - comes very handy for quick scans and simple coding.