[Ollie_Chic]

Hi guys,

I've had the i8 for 18 months and just last week I noticed that whenever the engine kicks in when in Comfort or ECO Pro mode it won't turn off again when slowing down, stopping, reversing etc.

As you know on such modes the engine tends to kick in and turn off according to demand, but now it simply stays on.

Upon pressing the E-mode button, engine does turn off (manual e-mode).
This is happening even when batteries are fully charged so it's not because engine needs to charge them.

Would you have any thoughts as to what the issue might be? I was wondering maybe it's the current colder temperatures but it's like 14 degrees celsius here so hardly freezing cold. ...and I did give the engine enough time to warm up before starting to become concerned.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

[i8_2018]

That sounds wrong, I have not seen that behavior and its very cold here.

[Aye-eight]

The engine tends to kick in and stay on for a few minutes if you don’t drive the car for a couple of days - a little over a week, in my experience. But after that, it behaves normally. I assume this is to make sure oil circulates through the engine at least occasionally.

[Ollie_Chic]

Originally Posted by Aye-eight

The engine tends to kick in and stay on for a few minutes if you don’t drive the car for a couple of days - a little over a week, in my experience. But after that, it behaves normally. I assume this is to make sure oil circulates through the engine at least occasionally.

I use my i8 as a daily. Problem is that the engine simply won't turn off on its own, even if I had to do city driving for say 20 minutes. I guess I'm gonna have to speak to BMW to have this checked.

[ChiTownM]

Originally Posted by Ollie_Chic

I use my i8 as a daily. Problem is that the engine simply won't turn off on its own, even if I had to do city driving for say 20 minutes. I guess I'm gonna have to speak to BMW to have this checked.

I had the same issue after a previous software update. It was subsequently fixed with another software update. That was maybe a year ago or so.

[Ollie_Chic]

Originally Posted by ChiTownM

I had the same issue after a previous software update. It was subsequently fixed with another software update. That was maybe a year ago or so.

Thanks a lot for the feedback mate. I had an update in September and the issue only came up last week Nevertheless, it does sound like a software matter. Hope it gets resolved easily.

[orion1977]

Keep us posted.

[JasH]

I have this same issue. Started after a software update about 3 months ago. I notified my dealer a few days ago, and will see what they say.

[NGR]

I think JasH is right.

I just went in for an oil change and they did a software update as well (he used the word 'recall') - a quick read through bulletin and it mentioned battery temp monitoring not being up to scratch and shutting down the e-drive. I haven't had this problem myself but it could explain why the ice won't shut down due to a lack of e-drive.

[JasH]

Thanks, my dealer has still not provided any factual update. I will ask if they are aware of this recall.

[Ollie_Chic]

I just collected the i8 back from dealership today. They said the computer logged no errors so they carried out a software update. The software update solved the issue and all is back to normal. Car is out of warranty and kinda sucks that I was charged €180 for something so simple. Anyway, at least it's working fine.

[JasH]

My car is at the dealer and they said the same: no errors logged. They will apply a full software update and see what happens.

Under warranty though.

[JasH]

Software update 100% cured the problem. Collected i8 yesterday, and it is auto enabling e-drive as normal now

[Iain123]

Anybody get to the bottom of this? It’s just started to happen with my 2015 daily driver. (And it’s not been near a dealer for a couple of months)
I thought it might be related to the 12v battery not getting charged enough now it’s getting near winter? Does the 12v system get charged by the electric motor, by the wall charger or just by the ICE I wonder?

Thanks
Iain

[Iain123]

I’ve been living with the problem for a couple of weeks and was almost ready to try disconnecting the 12V battery for a bit to see of it would reset whatever has got confused. However, it seems to have fixed itself……

I’d already tried cycling through all the driving modes and toggling the battery hold function on/off but nothing worked. Yesterday on the 16 mile drive home I drove all the way in ecoPro to eek a few extra miles out of the battery. (this is unusual for me). Drove 10 motorway miles on petrol and the last 5 slow town miles on the remaining battery as I do normally. (having to force edrive with the button). Unusually for me, the battery ran out before home and the car reverted to petrol. Stationary at a set of lights before home with the engine now running, I tried to force edrive to switch it off but got the usual error message that there was not enough high voltage battery so it refused and left the ICE running. Half a mile later, pulling into my driveway on petrol and just about to switch off, when the engine died on its own accord for the first time in 2 weeks.

So was it running the battery dry or ecoPro mode or just the wind direction -who knows? But its reset whatever had gone t1ts up as its now back to normal.

[NGR]

Sounds like software getting confused to me.

What range has the dash been reporting (gives an idea of what the computer thinks the hv battery is doing)?
Also, the Auto-e-Drive menu will report the battery % charge.

Do you ever plug it in?

[Iain123]

Plugged in every night. Reported range varies and was from 16miles (when it was warmer/brighter in the summer) to now about 14miles (driving with lights, heater, etc) - so all fairly normal I guess.

Yep software bug - I was curious if cycling the power on the 12volt would fix.

Does anybody know why sometimes the car refuses to go into eDrive with the button? (well mine does - sometimes it take a couple of eDrive button pushes before to allows eDrive?) Doesn't seem speed or power demand dependant.

[NGR]

Originally Posted by Iain123

Plugged in every night. Reported range varies and was from 16miles (when it was warmer/brighter in the summer) to now about 14miles (driving with lights, heater, etc) - so all fairly normal I guess.

Yep software bug - I was curious if cycling the power on the 12volt would fix.

Does anybody know why sometimes the car refuses to go into eDrive with the button? (well mine does - sometimes it take a couple of eDrive button pushes before to allows eDrive?) Doesn't seem speed or power demand dependant.

Range sounds fine, maybe a wonky sensor causing confusion in the software? Pulling the fault codes may offer some insight.

Mine occasionally won't let me go into e-Drive, usually when I'm climbing the hill on my way home. I believe it will refuse if the computer expects too much power demand or maybe the ICE needs to keep running for cooling purposes if you've just been thrashing it.

[BanjoPaterson]

Just out of curiosity - I had a software update a few weeks ago and now my battery icon looks like 3xbatteries instead of a single one.

I will get a snapshot of my software version to post, but it would be interesting to see what software versions people have. I suspect, though, they may be different by region (I'm in Australia)... thoughts?

[Coastali8]

Originally Posted by BanjoPaterson

Just out of curiosity - I had a software update a few weeks ago and now my battery icon looks like 3xbatteries instead of a single one.

I will get a snapshot of my software version to post, but it would be interesting to see what software versions people have. I suspect, though, they may be different by region (I'm in Australia)... thoughts?

Besides getting a different battery icon... what else changed?
I’m wondering why bother with the software update. My car works just fine the way it is. Sounds like the software update can create unnecessary problems.

[NGR]

Originally Posted by Coastal i8

Besides getting a different battery icon... what else changed?
I’m wondering why bother with the software update. My car works just fine the way it is. Sounds like the software update can create unnecessary problems.

Quite a few have had the software update - my dealer did it without telling me quite some time ago (6 months?).

No problems since and no noticeable difference apart from the battery icon (that's how I noticed it had been updated).