[itiongo]

Hey guys, my X7 died on the road today. I picked up my daughter from school and on the drive home, a "Drivetrain Malfunction" message popped up. The message said to continue driving but there will be a lost of performance. Ten seconds later the car started choking. Felt like the car was driving on empty and the gas is completely drained. Then when I stopped at a stop sign, the engine shut off. The X7 failed to restart. The "Drivetrain Malfunction" message still displays when I try to start it, but feels like no gas is getting through to the engine. Dead in the middle of the road.

I used the "SOS" button to call BMW Roadside Assistance. Great response and customer service. However, the closest BMW dealership was 84 miles away (same distance for the tow company), and it took 4 hours before the tow company was able to dispatch a tow truck to agree and make the trip to pickup my X7.

I've owned several cars, all luxury cars, for the last 25 years. Not once did any car die in the middle of the road for me. This is my first stranded experience.

My biggest concern, while this was playing in my head, was how in the hell do you put the X7 into neutral when the engine doesn't fire up? I've never even thought about it till the X7 decided to die on me.

The tow company has no clue either, so we'll have to see what happens when they arrive with the flat bed. I called the city police department to prevent any local tows from towing my X7. The officer came out and tag the car and put up cones so I could leave the scene.

I'll give an update once BMW tells me what's wrong with my X7. My money is on the fuel pump.

[Bigjoe17]

I had a similar experience except luckily in a parking lot. The car wouldn't start and it said drivetrain malfunction and it ended up being the fuel pump.

I had the same problem with not being able to get it into neutral because the engine wouldn't start so the tow truck driver hammered sliders under the tires and dragged it up onto the flat bed. It was painful to watch for sure.

Turns out there is a transmission release underneath the car hidden behind some panels. So dumb

I found the details in this thread:
https://g07.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1730239

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by itiongo

Hey guys, my X7 died on the road today. I picked up my daughter from school and on the drive home, a "Drivetrain Malfunction" message popped up. The message said to continue driving but there will be a lost of performance. Ten seconds later the car started choking. Felt like the car was driving on empty and the gas is completely drained. Then when I stopped at a stop sign, the engine shut off. The X7 failed to restart. The "Drivetrain Malfunction" message still displays when I try to start it, but feels like no gas is getting through to the engine. Dead in the middle of the road.

I used the "SOS" button to call BMW Roadside Assistance. Great response and customer service. However, the closest BMW dealership was 84 miles away (same distance for the tow company), and it took 4 hours before the tow company was able to dispatch a tow truck to agree and make the trip to pickup my X7.

I've owned several cars, all luxury cars, for the last 25 years. Not once did any car die in the middle of the road for me. This is my first stranded experience.

My biggest concern, while this was playing in my head, was how in the hell do you put the X7 into neutral when the engine doesn't fire up? I've never even thought about it till the X7 decided to die on me.

The tow company has no clue either, so we'll have to see what happens when they arrive with the flat bed. I called the city police department to prevent any local tows from towing my X7. The officer came out and tag the car and put up cones so I could leave the scene.

I'll give an update once BMW tells me what's wrong with my X7. My money is on the fuel pump.

Sorry to hear this. 40i, 50i, or M50i?

[PinkNinja400Guy]

Originally Posted by Wild Blue

Sorry to hear this. 40i, 50i, or M50i?

His seems to be a '22 M50. Looks like there was some advance feedback of the fuel pump going bad, excessive noise when priming. https://g07.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1898614

Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have a dealer near him so he kept using his car instead of getting the fuel pump replaced (see post #9 in that thread about the same issue on a '20 M50). Fortunately, this doesn't look like something that most (M)50 owners need to be super concerned about, just keep an ear out for it so you can get your car preemptively fixed if it happens.

[itiongo]

Originally Posted by Wild Blue

Sorry to hear this. 40i, 50i, or M50i?

2020 M50i.

[itiongo]

Originally Posted by PinkNinja400Guy

His seems to be a '22 M50. Looks like there was some advance feedback of the fuel pump going bad, excessive noise when priming. https://g07.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1898614

Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have a dealer near him so he kept using his car instead of getting the fuel pump replaced (see post #9 in that thread about the same issue on a '20 M50). Fortunately, this doesn't look like something that most (M)50 owners need to be super concerned about, just keep an ear out for it so you can get your car preemptively fixed if it happens.

You are correct. I reached out to BMW when I first noticed this issue. They said to not worry, since I had just purchased the vehicle, as it was CPO'ed. I knew it was a BS answer, but didn't put much thought into it. I was also warned from another member of this issue, as his X7 died on him as well. It wasn't a shocker when the X7 died on me.

I'm not irritated about this incident either. BMW roadside assistance did their job. I have another daily car I can use while BMW repairs the X7, but will probably ask for a loaner so I can make the transition of picking up my X7 easier.

[itiongo]

Originally Posted by Bigjoe17

I had a similar experience except luckily in a parking lot. The car wouldn't start and it said drivetrain malfunction and it ended up being the fuel pump.

I had the same problem with not being able to get it into neutral because the engine wouldn't start so the tow truck driver hammered sliders under the tires and dragged it up onto the flat bed. It was painful to watch for sure.

Turns out there is a transmission release underneath the car hidden behind some panels. So dumb

I found the details in this thread:
https://g07.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1730239

My X7 was also dragged with the sliders. The tow guy didn't want to spend several hours trying to figure out how to put it in neutral, so I okayed him to drag it. It was a oversized tow truck, so the X7 was dragged onto the bed quite easily.

[itiongo]

Update, it took BMW 3 days to diagnose the issue. Turns out, the fuel pump is dead.... Okay.... They do, however, have on record that I did call a few months back complaining about the possibility of the fuel pump going bad. I'll get the vehicle back next week. I'm going to have to do a dragy run when I get it back to see if there's any performance loss, or gain.

[THinthedesert]

Exact same thing happened to me on my 2020 X5M50i, the driver of the flatbed had to use sliders to move it. It was a bad fuel pump at about 30K miles. Hard to blame BMW, it's a mechanical devise probably made by others, and none of them last forever. I'd guess if it was an airplane, there'd be at least one redundant unit just in case.

https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1913913

I was told once you made be able to get it into neutral by doing the following:

1) foot on brake
2) one hand hold down start button and let it spin the engine
3) at the same time other hand to move gear selector into neutral.

Not sure it works but if it ever happens again, that's what I'll try.

[itiongo]

Originally Posted by THinthedesert

Exact same thing happened to me on my 2020 X5M50i, the driver of the flatbed had to use sliders to move it. It was a bad fuel pump at about 30K miles. Hard to blame BMW, it's a mechanical devise probably made by others, and none of them last forever. I'd guess if it was an airplane, there'd be at least one redundant unit just in case.

https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1913913

I was told once you made be able to get it into neutral by doing the following:

1) foot on brake
2) one hand hold down start button and let it spin the engine
3) at the same time other hand to move gear selector into neutral.

Not sure it works but if it ever happens again, that's what I'll try.

I tried this technique. Didn't work. It's also the first thing the tow guy tried.

I'm also a little over 30k miles.

[gsobol]

Found this on the X5 forum.

Quote from jad03060"Basically, you go into ready state, release auto hold and the emergency brake if activated, go into neutral while pressing the brake and hit the start stop button. It will stay in neutral for 35-minutes, then automatically switch itself to park unless you manually do it yourself."

Unless the computer is bricked, or battery is dead, or there is a mechanical issue, etc, etc ....

Don't you miss the good 'ole days, where you could just do stuff with your car without the computers getting in the way

Link to original post: Putting X5 in neutral when not responding

[itiongo]

BMW returned my X7 yesterday. It feels smoother and more responsive with the fuel pump replaced. I will do a Dragy run (a before and after) and check the results of the replaced fuel pump.

[itiongo]

Okay, it's been a while, but I finally have updates for the new fuel pump.

I wanted to give the fuel pump a 1,000 mile break in before doing a dragy run.

Here are the results:





I managed to get a 4.54 0-60 and 12.9 1/4mile with the old fuel pump. However, I had winter tires for these times.


Here's the MPG for a trip that consist of 90% highway, with ECO PRO.



I usually get 22MPG with the old Fuel pump.

[Allen Aquino]

Originally Posted by itiongo

Hey guys, my X7 died on the road today. I picked up my daughter from school and on the drive home, a "Drivetrain Malfunction" message popped up. The message said to continue driving but there will be a lost of performance. Ten seconds later the car started choking. Felt like the car was driving on empty and the gas is completely drained. Then when I stopped at a stop sign, the engine shut off. The X7 failed to restart. The "Drivetrain Malfunction" message still displays when I try to start it, but feels like no gas is getting through to the engine. Dead in the middle of the road.

I used the "SOS" button to call BMW Roadside Assistance. Great response and customer service. However, the closest BMW dealership was 84 miles away (same distance for the tow company), and it took 4 hours before the tow company was able to dispatch a tow truck to agree and make the trip to pickup my X7.

I've owned several cars, all luxury cars, for the last 25 years. Not once did any car die in the middle of the road for me. This is my first stranded experience.

My biggest concern, while this was playing in my head, was how in the hell do you put the X7 into neutral when the engine doesn't fire up? I've never even thought about it till the X7 decided to die on me.

The tow company has no clue either, so we'll have to see what happens when they arrive with the flat bed. I called the city police department to prevent any local tows from towing my X7. The officer came out and tag the car and put up cones so I could leave the scene.

I'll give an update once BMW tells me what's wrong with my X7. My money is on the fuel pump.

So sorry to hear that bud….But hope you have done all the necessary that's needed to be done