[photos_by_ronnie]

Just went in for my break-in service at 978 miles, and everything seemed to go smoothly. Then at 1,002 miles after passing someone at partial throttle, about 80%, I got a dash light and a message in the iDrive.

Drive Manflunction: Drive Moderately. Maximum drivetrain output not available. Consult service center.

And the car drives like CRAP. It feels like the power has been reduced to less than 50%, I can barely get it up to 75 MPH. And at one point while I was slowing down to turn into a parking lot, it misshifted while downshifting into 2nd, the car is a DCT.

Unfortunately I was taking it on a road trip so I've already put another 500 miles on it, and run into this problem 4 times already at WOT. It doesn't always go into limp mode at WOT, maybe about 20% of the time, but always at 120 mph+. I checked the service receipt, and the paperwork lists my car as a M235i which doesn't inspire confidence...but it seems they probably used the correct diff oil, part #83-22-1-470-080.

Any ideas? I still have another 400 miles to go before I reach a BMW dealership so they can check it out.

[DrKevM5]

Let it sit for 30 min and restart. It'll reset fine. Happened to me three times last weekend at the Glen at the same speeds. Any engine mods?

[shemeld_135]

This happened to me with my 135i.. I had a jb4 on. I just turned car off and sat for a bit and restarted and went away. Hope it's nothing serious for ya!

[gmzanatta]

Why did you do the break in so soon?

[photos_by_ronnie]

Originally Posted by DrKevM5

Let it sit for 30 min and restart. It'll reset fine. Happened to me three times last weekend at the Glen at the same speeds. Any engine mods?

Right, turning the car off and starting it again fixes the problem. But it sounds like you aren't bothered by this. I think it's absurd that a brand new $50k+ "Motorsport" car is incapable of handling 10 seconds of WOT...I used to beat the living crap out of the two 5.0 Mustangs I had, and they never flinched.

[photos_by_ronnie]

Originally Posted by gmzanatta

Why did you do the break in so soon?

I had almost 1,000 miles on the car, and I needed it for a 1,000 mile road trip. The break-in period is +/- 300 miles of 1,200.

[ried]

Depends on the environment in which it's happening. Extreme temperatures can cause limp mode to come on to protect the internals if things are moving out of operating range.

You must have been whipping the thing pretty hard? Repeated runs to 120+ MPH can do that under the right circumstances.

[DrKevM5]

Originally Posted by photos_by_ronnie

Right, turning the car off and starting it again fixes the problem. But it sounds like you aren't bothered by this. I think it's absurd that a brand new $50k+ "Motorsport" car is incapable of handling 10 seconds of WOT...I used to beat the living crap out of the two 5.0 Mustangs I had, and they never flinched.

Never intimated I wasn't bothered. That's why I asked if there were any mods. I had a JB+, and I believe at high revs for a moderate amount of time there are fueling issues. That's why I'm changing to Dinan Stage 1. It adjusts the timing and I believe the signal to the fuel system to account for the added boost at high revs. No brainer, as I'm planning on adding their big turbo when it come available. You get what you pay for.

[zenmaster]

Originally Posted by DrKevM5

I had a JB+, and I believe at high revs for a moderate amount of time there are fueling issues.

What code came up? The JB+ should just change the MAF sensor reading which should be well withing fueling requirements of the moderately increased boost. Basically the same thing as driving at high elevation.
EDIT: I take that back, of course there would be more flow at lower elevation with higher boost. duh

[photos_by_ronnie]

Originally Posted by ried

Depends on the environment in which it's happening. Extreme temperatures can cause limp mode to come on to protect the internals if things are moving out of operating range.

You must have been whipping the thing pretty hard? Repeated runs to 120+ MPH can do that under the right circumstances.

No, I promise the car was NOT even close to being driven hard. I have driven a lot of cars hard, but I have yet to drive my M2 hard. And the first time this happened I didn't even have it floored, it was 80% throttle and around 90-100 mph when it happened. I used to drive my Mustangs at 130-155 for several minutes, sometimes almost an hour at a time without even the slightest bit of heat issues and definitely no limp mode.

Only "mod" on the car is a cat less downpipe, but that shouldn't affect the drivetrain. Keep in mind, this is not a check engine light, this comes up as a different light with the idrive saying "drivetrain malfunction".

[ried]

Originally Posted by photos_by_ronnie

No, I promise the car was NOT even close to being driven hard.

Strange. These things are made to cruise at 120+ on the autobahn all day long, and I suspect that the repeated runs to 120+ were what stressed the drivetrain. Clearly yours is not operating as designed, so I would take it to the dealer and have them examine the fault codes to learn exactly what's happening.

[DrKevM5]

Originally Posted by zenmaster

What code came up? The JB+ should just change the MAF sensor reading which should be well withing fueling requirements of the moderately increased boost. Basically the same thing as driving at high elevation.

Ran three different track events (Watkins Glen, Mosport, and Lime Rock) never had limp mode activated. Added JB+ and I have issues at high speed. Not knocking the product, but I think for serious or extended high speed use, it's limited in what parameters it can adjust. You then need to go to a more advanced tune.

[pruettfan]

Originally Posted by photos_by_ronnie

No, I promise the car was NOT even close to being driven hard. I have driven a lot of cars hard, but I have yet to drive my M2 hard. And the first time this happened I didn't even have it floored, it was 80% throttle and around 90-100 mph when it happened. I used to drive my Mustangs at 130-155 for several minutes, sometimes almost an hour at a time without even the slightest bit of heat issues and definitely no limp mode.

Only "mod" on the car is a cat less downpipe, but that shouldn't affect the drivetrain. Keep in mind, this is not a check engine light, this comes up as a different light with the idrive saying "drivetrain malfunction".

The drivetrain malfunction lights can be triggered by several things. The car goes into limp mode to protect it so when it goes into that mode its doing what its supposed to. You will need to let your dealership determine what sensor is triggering this code otherwise it will just continue to come up. I had an issue with a wheel bearing on my 06 330i that only got triggered at over 85, took the dealer a couple of times to figure it out but once they did it never happened again over the remaining 165,000 miles I drove the car.

Not entirely sure that downpipe isn't the issue. Again drivetrain can be engine, transmission, or diff so if the math doesn't add up between those sensors the car is going to do what it thinks it needs to in order to protect itself. Better to have that happen than something critical take place and you lose a component at 120.

[Em-Two]

This same thing happened to me in a 335 while I was 1000 miles from home.

Restarting the car fixed the problem but I took it to dealer anyway. Turns out it was an exhaust gate issue with the turbo and about 8k for BMW to fix. I'd take it in just to be sure. You don't want to end up shelling out 8k one mile after your warranty expires.

[Zippster]

Originally Posted by Em-Two

This same thing happened to me in a 335 while I was 1000 miles from home.

Restarting the car fixed the problem but I took it to dealer anyway. Turns out it was an exhaust gate issue with the turbo and about 8k for BMW to fix. I'd take it in just to be sure. You don't want to end up shelling out 8k one mile after your warranty expires.

really! I heard somewhere on this site that some motors cost 15K and an exhaust gate issue was 8k. Holly smokes.

[WFS]

Just checking two things:

Did you have low fuel, as in fuel starvation can cause limp.

Did you drop tyre pressures and not reset the sensors as scar causes limp too

If it's not those you'll need to head to the dealer.

[photos_by_ronnie]

Originally Posted by WFS

Just checking two things:

Did you have low fuel, as in fuel starvation can cause limp.

Did you drop tyre pressures and not reset the sensors as scar causes limp too

If it's not those you'll need to head to the dealer.

Nope, it's happened several times, none of those times as the fuel been low or the tire pressures abnormal.

[photos_by_ronnie]

Originally Posted by Zippster

really! I heard somewhere on this site that some motors cost 15K and an exhaust gate issue was 8k. Holly smokes.

That's most likely the 'wastegate issue' issue on the N54 engine twin turbos found in a lot of 335i cars, my 2009 included. Hardly a serious issue, nor a $8k repair at a reasonable euro shop. My 335i has had the wastegate issue for 20,000 miles and it's still running like a champ

[photos_by_ronnie]

Okay so it literally just happened again. This time at 50% throttle at 4,500 rpms, shifting from 6th to 7th. Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure it always happens in either 6th gear or 7th gear, and possibly occurs during the shift.

[SoFlo_BD]

Originally Posted by photos_by_ronnie

Okay so it literally just happened again. This time at 50% throttle at 4,500 rpms, shifting from 6th to 7th. Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure it always happens in either 6th gear or 7th gear, and possibly occurs during the shift.

Are you in manual mode shifting or in D mode?

[photos_by_ronnie]

Originally Posted by BD_F87

Are you in manual mode shifting or in D mode?

I'm in Drive, letting it shift by itself. Also in comfort mode. Literally just casually passing someone on the interstate.

I just happen to have a OBDII code scanner with me, and it's showing zero codes when I scan it.

[SoCalRob]

Originally Posted by photos_by_ronnie

Okay so it literally just happened again. This time at 50% throttle at 4,500 rpms, shifting from 6th to 7th. Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure it always happens in either 6th gear or 7th gear, and possibly occurs during the shift.

If it were my car, I'd get it to the dealer as soon as possible, and avoid any unnecessary driving in the meantime. -scr