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M140 drivetrain warning light

9K views 22 replies 11 participants last post by  PocketRocketALB 
#1 ·
So I had my M140i Shadow Edition for less than 2 weeks when the yellow drivetrain warning light stayed on. After going in to the dealer and apparently being fixed, (a new vanos sensor fitted), exactly a week later the same thing occurred. It's now sat in the dealers. They've lent me a LCI1 M140, which helped point out that mine has been down on power. On my second visit they pointed out that the first time round they had to "manually" set the new vanos sensor. All I know so far this time is that they're having to get a tool in to clamp the crank and manually check the timing. They appear to be scratching their heads as to what's going on and what they need to do to fix it. All rather worrying to me. The car is now 3 weeks old and I haven't even run it in fully yet.

Is this a common issue? Anyone had anything similar?
 
#6 ·
I had exactly the same issue on mine, down on power (until I restarted the car when it was hot) and it was exactly the same issue being the vanos sensor, admittedly BMW replaced the sensor they said and its been fine for 1500 miles since, it also put on the EML intermittently for me also. I did make a thread on mine when it happened on here a few months ago.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for your instantaneous feedback. I am keeping the dealer in the loop - they have not put a foot wrong and have instantly agreed to supply/order me an exact replica of my highly specced M140i on the new plate in September, on very good £££s terms. Can't fault the dealer and hope the same goes for M140i V2! Hope BMW Regensburg can get to the bottom of this.
 
#8 ·
I've had the same happen on my M140 SE too. The yellow drivetrain light came up, car started chugging furiously and had loss of power.
I had a BMW tech come out this morning and he diagnosed it as a crankshaft sensor issue, its since been recovered to my dealer.
My car is only 3 weeks old and hasn't even covered 500 miles. Pretty poor that this happens to new cars like this.
 
#9 ·
Mine had covered 137.2 miles on the first occasion and 217 miles second time! Then I handed it in for a full refund under the Sale of Goods Act 2015. Silver lining is that the repurchase has a higher manufacturer's discount on PCP - up from £2,250 to £4,000. Also, shopping around got me an overall (bigger) discount north of 23%.
 
#10 ·
UPDATE: Just had a call from BMW to say that it is the Crankshaft sensor that is the issue. Apparently BMW realized that this is affecting lots of cars and only in the last few days they have started to produce a new improved crankshaft sensor which will apparently fix the problem. I'm currently waiting for my dealer to get the new part as the service advisor told me they are still being made in Germany at the moment. Be interesting to hear if others are being told the same story.
 
#12 ·
I have just had exactly the same fault on my 700 mile m140i .
Car was probably doing about 3 mils an hour, juddered for 5 seconds then went into limp mode and displayed the drive train warning.
Called BMW emergency service and they are going to recover the car .
For those interested, the fault code is p0366 - powertrain Crankshaft position sensor A circuit Range/Performance.
I will keep you all up to date :)

John
 
#13 ·
Well done for managing nearly 500 miles more than me! I'm afraid that I sent mine back to the dealership on a low loader and got a full refund. I can't praise the dealership highly enough and they turned me round so well that I have re-ordered the exact same car with the addition of a rear parking camera for delivery in September. It is beginning to emerge from these posts that there is a factory problem with this batch of M140is regarding the crankshaft sensor. After my first breakdown the dealership identified the problem as a cam sensor and replaced it. I didn't want to take any more chances after the second time the warning light came on. I have confidence that the dealership will standby by me on my second vehicle but, should there be a repeat, it will be returned to the dea.ership once more, and that will be the end of my BMW relationship (never bought one before). Pity in some ways that I exchanged it for my old faithful E500 estate - not an engine warning light in 116,000 miles!
 
#15 ·
ozwoo said:
UPDATE: Just had a call from BMW to say that it is the Crankshaft sensor that is the issue. Apparently BMW realized that this is affecting lots of cars and only in the last few days they have started to produce a new improved crankshaft sensor which will apparently fix the problem. I'm currently waiting for my dealer to get the new part as the service advisor told me they are still being made in Germany at the moment. Be interesting to hear if others are being told the same story.
I had a 330e Shadow Edition delivered 3 weeks ago..... The car is now sat in the dealership awaiting a crankshaft sensor. No ETA on the part.
Fault first happened on the second day of having it... Took the car In and the key fob was checked. Worringly told it must of cleared its self and continue motoring. Next time it happened (Last Wednesday) saw me kangarooing down the Fastlane of the M5 loosing speed rapidly!!!!
A colleague also took delivery of and identical 330e and guess what his was towed the day after mine for the same reason.
 
#16 ·
Reporting back .
As mentioned above, my car went in yesterday lunchtime. I had a call this morning saying that they had taken the car out again this morning, and it misbehaved again . They replaced the sensor as part of a QE ( quality enhancement). I guess this means that BMW are aware of the issue , and have issued guidance to replace .
I got the car back this evening and it seems to be behaving.
I cant fault the service from bmw emergency and the service department - flawless. They even made it up to me with some goodwill which was totally unexpected.

Regards
John
 
#18 ·
SE, 4 weeks old, less than 400 miles. Had the drivetrain issue about an hour ago (I was about to park), judder and loss of power. Power issue and warning light were gone after I came back to the car. Drove to the dealer and got an appointment for next Monday. They'll also look into the noisy door rubbers and an issue I've been having twice already where the collision warning system made the car come to a sudden stop (false-positive).

I'm a bit worried since I'll be crossing Germany on Wednesday.
 
#19 ·
My new Version 2 (revised?) M140i is scheduled for collection on Sept 3 and, in discussion with the (excellent) dealership, it appears that the fault has been diagnosed and rectified at the factory. It would, by deduction, appear that a faulty batch of sensors were installed across the range. Yours, mine and others mentioned in this post have presumably been victims of this bad batch. The good news is that BMW is sitting up and listening (I hope). It remains to be seen if we any of us get repeat problems. In which case, keep up the dialogue!

Andrew
 
#20 ·
Same thing happened to mine. Drivetrain warning light and diagnosed by roadside assist as a crankshaft position sensor fault. Faulty sensor replaced and it's been 2 weeks without issue. Car is an m140i feb 2018 build and had 3,800 km when it happened.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#21 ·
It is surprising that BMW Intelligence let the problem roll on for 6+ months without rectifying. Mine must have been built in late May/early June (delivery 14 June), as a specific factory order, and yours must have been around Jan/Feb. It is certainly boiling down to the crankshaft sensor, it seems.
 
#22 ·
MaZo said:
SE, 4 weeks old, less than 400 miles. Had the drivetrain issue about an hour ago (I was about to park), judder and loss of power. Power issue and warning light were gone after I came back to the car. Drove to the dealer and got an appointment for next Monday. They'll also look into the noisy door rubbers and an issue I've been having twice already where the collision warning system made the car come to a sudden stop (false-positive).

I'm a bit worried since I'll be crossing Germany on Wednesday.
Picked up my car from the garage earlier to find out they have indeed replaced a faulty crankshaft sensor as part of a quality enhancement (error also came up when the mechanic read the car key).
 
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