January 12, 2019 car was parked unoccupied on street for 2+hours after driving it 20 miles. vehicle spontaneously caught fire and burned to the ground, total loss. engine replaced by bmw one year prior under warranty for timing chain guide failure. complete service performed by bmw in october 2018. approximately 66,000 miles on vehicle.
For the past 3 months, i keep getting this message on the dashboard: drivetrain malfunction: drive moderately. maximum drivetrain output available. consult service center. i had the turbo, vacuum hose, replaced last month. now it is doing the same thing over and over again. why is this happening?? please advise!!
On july 9th i was driving down the highway 495 south in massachusetts when all of the suddenly my car lost power totally shut down and went into neutral. i had a very extremely hard to moving over to the side of the highway, when all of the sudden the car started smoking and blew up on the side of the highway. i barely made it out of the car. i have video of the car engulfed in flames
Earlier this year while driving my 2013 bmw x3 on the highway it broke down with little warning. fortunately i was able to get to an exit ramp before my car completely failed. after having it flat bedded to a mechanic who had to push the vehicle into the shop they verified that the vehicle would crank over and not start. it was relatively clear from the sound the engine was making during the starter engagement that the camshaft timing was off. the valve cover was removed and the mechanic verified that the timing was indeed off. the timing chain had jumped time on both the intake and exhaust camshafts. the timing was off due to excessive slack in the timing chain due to a failed chain tensioner. this should not happen on a 2013 bmw with mainly highway miles. i was told i need a new engine that will cost upwards of $15,000 or buy a slightly used one for approximately $9,000. i've reached out tot he dealer and bmw na with no relief. similar issues have been identified in the x5 and other bmw cars which were recalled but for some reason no recall was sent out on the n20 engine for the x3. from a quick internet search there are many x3 owners that have the same or similar problems. something needs to be done to get relief for these owners. unfortunately this once proud vehicle maker that no longer backs the longevity of the luxury car they build.
My car has approx 78000 miles on it. i am the original owner. car has been maintained routinely at bmw dealers at all the recommended time marks by the manufacture. recently, my car stalled while i was driving on the freeway, and had to be towed to the bmw dealership. after 1 week of running diagnostic tests, i was informed that the timing chain has broken, and pieces from the chain flew into the engine and completely ruined it.
Had been driving for approx. 5 minutes in residential area. check engine light, low oil pressure warning & black smoke thru dashboard. could see flames under the hood. within 5-6 minutes car was fully engulfed in flames. nothing left except for the frame. total loss, almost no warning.
The battery of the vehicle drains even when it is not running. the battery gets so drained that it cannot be recharged and needs to be replaced.initially the service man kept telling me that i had left something on and that is why the battery drained. but someone told me off the record that it is possible that the computer system did not shut down properly and that was draining the battery and since i was not driving a long distance (i drive approx 25 miles total each day), that was not enough time for battery to recharge. the car makes weird noises when the engine has been turned off for hours and it is parked in the garage indicating something is still running. things that i was told to do to ensure that this does not happen again is to lock the car when in the garage, to not run it in eco mode which turns off the engine if stopped for a long duration (let's say at a traffic light), since i am not driving it long distance.eco mode is one of the selling points for this car for fuel efficiency and now i am being asked to turn that off. my car is only 2 years old and i had to already change the battery. because of this issue the vehicle automatically went into park on two separate occasions when i was stopped at a red light, which is very risky and may cause an accident. there are multiple complaints about this on the internet. i request you to please investigate this issue. i have asked the dealership for system report when the car was towed in because it would not start (even though it had been jump started the previous night), but so far i have not received anything.