[nestorps23]

Hello!

I have been a long time lurker!, and on the last week of July 2019 I finally got my hands back to a BMW i8 2015. I got it shipped from CA with 23800 miles and 3 months of manufacturer warranty and a CPO. I was out of town so I got to drive the car on the first week of august.

After 150 enjoyable miles, the drivetrain warning light show up with availability to keep driving. I restarted the car and the warning disappeared so my initial tough was; since the car was shipped with little to no gas, air or a misfire triggered the warning, no big deal so I left town again for a couple of weeks, I keep driving the car for two weekends and everything worked fine until it did not, while driving on sport mode the warning light came up again so I called my local BMW here in TX. They offered a loaner and I took it, everything went smooth and I had the results from the diagnostics 6 hours after I left the car in the dealership. Bad A/C valve that helps the battery stay cooled.

Everything covered by the warranty, they told me the valve was out of inventory so we had to wait for the valve to be available, no mention of where the valve was coming from. Next day the valve was in and the car ready.

I got my car back and boom, 30 miles after driving it same warning light about the drivetrain, I restarted the car and again the warning was gone. I got schedule for the following week Oct 7, I did notice my A/C system was cooling way faster than when I got the car – first suspicion about the CA dealership knowing about this issue and did not disclose it - with only 10 days more left in the original warranty, I do have a CPO warranty as well.
That same Monday I dropped off the car, no news, and more drive test needed to be done. Next day Oct. 8 BMW service representative text me and mentions the A/C valve had to be replaced, without mentioning is the same valve I asked about it and she infact confirmed it was the same valve – strange again – but now the foreman wants to do a more intensive drive test and take the car home for a round 52 mile drive to make sure there won’t be any further problems and that the car would be protected inside the foreman’s garage….

When I inquired about this being the same valve, she mentioned that now they had to rework the compressor of the A/C system to make sure there is nothing in the lines, and that in the first visit they did not programmed the compressor with the NEW valve. The car was ready by Wednesday Oct 9 I picked up the car before I had to run some errands while I was sitting in the car on Parking, running the engine, A/C and radio the drivetrain warning came up again… after 19 miles drove out of the dealership. I restarted the car and it was gone once again, two minutes after sitting in the car in the same position the warning light came up again but now with a yellow friend in my board, the engine light.

I immediately called BMW and had them receive my car the same day I got it back from them, this is inadmissible, THIRD time in it was right before service department was done for the day so they said the might not have any loaners ready for me but they actually managed to let me have one since I was still in the system from my last visit.

On the way to the BMW dealership, and since all the work done so far has been A/C related I turned the A/C off and change the drive style to eco mode from sport and voilà engine light is gone.

I usually drive in sport mode, and that maybe something to look into, because I got all that after 19 miles driving in sport mode with the A/C on but not even running at Max A/C.

Next day early in the morning BMW service rep reaches out on text message saying that she is really sorry and that she will get it in the shop first thing I explained the issue.

No word all day until next day a noon, I looked at the connect app all day, and the car had not either move at all or any of the doors open or the hood – the diagnostic came back without even touching the car –strange again? -- they HAVE TO ORDER THE VALVE AGAIN!!!! Now is named cooling valve, (not sure if they think I won’t inquire more because they change the way they refer to it…) now saying the part is coming from Germany and they have to keep the car until Oct. 22. With all this it will be 21 days total with the car out of service. I do understand there is 2 valves in the A/C battery cooling system of the i8, but until I don’t get to see the EOM numbers and the report I can confirm 100% if it is the same valve or the other one.
I would like to hear your comments about this situation…

I have high hopes I will get the car back before that time and that everything will be fine; but if not this will be the 4th time to visit the dealership for the SAME issue, I thought they are just trying to manage time expectations with me also to me it sounds they tried to fix the problem with the same initial valve without having to trigger the warranty with no success now they had to get BMW involved and get the warranty approved. Never had to deal with car warranty coming out from the manufacturer before so here I am looking for guidance and to understand if this is the “common denominator” in this type of cases.


Thanks!