[DPritchett]

My car is in Indianapolis, while I'm home in Lynchburg. Here is my story:

I left last Sunday (8/4) to go to Anderson, IN. About 350 miles into my trip, on Hwy 35 in southern Ohio, I stopped for something to eat. When I got back on the highway, the DSC warning came on, followed in close order by the drive train malfunction and a cruise control malfunction warnings. Power was limited - little throttle response - but I was able to maintain speed on the highway.

Photos of the first two warnings are attached.

After a quick NAV search, I saw there was a dealer in Dayton,which was on my route - I would be needing gas, so I drove there - if the car wouldn't restart, at least I'd be close to a dealer. But after refueling, it started right up, and the warnings were gone. I drove the remaining 103 miles to Anderson with no problems.

The next morning, both warnings were back. I decided to go to the nearest local dealer (Dreyer & Reinbold BMW in Indianapolis, about 30 miles away). They gave me a loaner (actually a rental Chevy Impala from their affiliated Enterprise Rental location) and kept the car to troubleshoot.

>> as an aside, their service department and the SA I dealt with throughout, Kevin Montgomery, were great. They were courteous, kept me informed, offered up free loaners before I even thought that far ahead, etc. Things could still go south, but so far they would really deserve all those 10's on the survey!

Anyway, they checked the car - here is what the service order says - verified complaint. Hooked to ISID and read faults. Various accelerator pedal sensor plausibility faults (103308, D3564C, CF2CE1, D02D01). They replaced the accelerator pedal, cleared the faults, did a test drive, and said it was fixed.

Alas, while driving back to Anderson, after about 20 miles, both faults came back, along with the reduced power. I parked in front of my wife's sisters apartment (where we were staying), and since we had things to do, didn't try my car again until that evening. The faults were still present, and now I was in limp mode - couldn't get up to more than 10mph and the car was bucking badly. I parked it and called roadside assistance. They called a tow company that loaded it up and took it to Dreyer & Reinbold. I called the SA and sent an email (this was about 11pm), and when I got there the next morning, the had already initiated a PuMA case and had a rental arranged for me to get back home.

They are indicating that the DME needs to be replaced

http://www.bmw.com/com/en/insights/t...ectronics.html

and that they typically take 7-10 days. When the car is repaired, BMW will do what is called a reunite - they will pay to get the car to me here at home so I don't have to make a return trip to Indiana to pick it up.

I'm posting for info purpose, and for the therapeutic value of telling my story. And yes it absolutely sucks to have your expensive new BMW breakdown hundreds of miles from home! On a positive note, if that has to happen, in the parking lot of your sister-in-laws apartment complex 30 miles from a BMW dealer is not a bad place. I could have been stopped in West Virginia or southern Ohio a hundred miles or more from anywhere.

I will update as things develop. In the meantime, please feel free to offer sympathy, advice and so forth.

[Nolonyc]

Wow the same thing happened to me this morning. I just put in an order for a MY14 F10 and on the way home from the dealership that alarm popped up. I felt like the car lost some power, but I was able to continue driving it. I left the car alone for 4 or 5 hours. I turned it on and the alarm was gone. I drove it again this afternoon and no alarm. Not sure what happened?

[DPritchett]

Just posting two updates

** Update 8/12/13 **

As they say, good news and bad news. The good news: somehow the dealer was able to get the DME overnighted, so they installed it and reprogrammed, finishing last Friday. After a lengthy test drive, no codes returned.

The bad news - there is a distance limit of 350 miles to that Reunite program, so I'm "officially" 256 miles over that limit. If it's delivered here, I'd have to pay the additional cost. My local SA here in Lynchburg tells me its usually a flat fee and then so much per mile, and that customers he's dealt with in the past usually just decide to go get it themselves. The SA in Indianapolis says he thinks its around $185 plus mileage. I gave some consideration to having them drop it somewhere in between, but instead have decided just to drive back up there in a rental and bring it back myself. With gas/one day rental / overnite stay in a motel that will cost me around $200.

BTW - I've looked at a number of threads from people reporting similar issues - in my case, I've always used Top Tier fuels and was only at 1/4 tank when I stopped for gas (I usually fill up once a week ~ about half a tank), so we can probably eliminate those as potential causes. I'll be interested to see what details the service order has.

** UPDATE #2 -- 8/19/2013 **

My car is repaired and back at home. Here is the exact language from the Service Order:

" *ENG REPAIR DIAG
Customer states the DSC light and drivetrain malfunction light have returned. Car is in Limp mode and lurches.
Faulty DME.
Hooked to ISID and read faults. 200808 (DME, internal fault). Followed test plan. It stated to replace the DME. Created TC Case #54553544. Was told to replace the DME.
Replaced DME. Hooked to ISSS and programmed with ISTA/P 50.2.002. New Ilevel F010-13-07-504. Hooked back up ISID and calibrated both front seats.

The part is listed as Basic Control Unit D, FP Number 12-14-8-604-113.

I've sent off my various rental car and other receipts to the Roadside Assistance BMW Claims and initiated contact with Customer Relations at BMWNA.

[DPritchett]

You should still probably get it checked ... my warnings went away and I drove over a hundred miles normally before they returned.