Electrical System Problems of BMW 3 Series - part 2

Electronic steering wheel lock malfunctions without notice and renders the car incapable of starting. A yellow steering wheel icon (or red in some instances) appears in the informational panel on the dashboard. The accompanying error code is cc-id 187. This condition when it occurs, will not energize (disables) the ignition system and prevents the car from being started. Drivers will become stranded wherever they happen to be once the car is turned off as the error notification appears only when the car is switched off or back on. There are literally hundreds of similar and identical cases on the internet when performing a google search on this issue.

See all problems of the 2006 BMW 3 Series 🔎.

Noticed a very slight tapping when the car was first cranked--but no engine warning lights. After driving it for a few miles, a warning light indicating "charging malfunction" flashed on, and the battery symbol appeared. Because I was the passenger, I googled "BMW 328i charging malfunction" and the first result that came up read "BMW/ January 2013/ recall campaign no. 12v-550: engine belt idler pulley bolt" for mys 2009-2012 BMW x5 xdrive 35s savs. Before I could inform driver, he complained that he had lost power steering. As we were literally yards from our destination, we parked, and returned to the car two hours later. When we recranked the car, same warnings. We decided to drive to local BMW service station. At a stop light a few miles further, many warning lights turned on simultaneously, the windshield wipers turned on, but the panel said it was still drivable and needed service soon. When the light changed, the panel went off, and the car was stopped dead in the middle of a major road. Pushed it to the side of the road to find the bolt broken and the pulley and belt loose. Upon having it towed to BMW repair, we were told the a/c compressor w/clutch, belt tensioner and belt, and oil filter housing gasket needed to be replaced to the tune of about $5090. (car had been given a clean bill of health during last oil change, and the a/c was working well earlier that morning. ) wondering why the ebip bolt was recalled in so many other BMW models that year but not in ours. Information contained in their recall notification exactly matched the description of our problem.

See all problems of the 2009 BMW 3 Series 🔎.

No star no light no power only light for steering lock.

See all problems of the 2007 BMW 3 Series 🔎.

He tenido varios problemas con el carro, corriendo al voltear se me apago dos veces y fue muy peligroso porque los carros que iban atras casi me pegan y claro se molestaron mucho al sacar la vuelta rapido para no golpear mi carro, lo lleve al mecanico y tardo mucho para hallar el problema, la flecha derecha (blinking light) esta quebrada lo hace muy rapido y al checar me dijeron que se tiene que reparar todo incluido el foco DE atras, problema con los cables DE bateria eso si me lo arreglaron gratis porque tiene recall, pero luego la bateria empezo a fallar y hubo que cambiarla, el volante esta muy duro y al voltear tengo que hacerlo con mucho cuidado para no pegarle al del otro carril, el mecanico no ha podido componer ese problema, a veces se hacelera solo cuando estoy haciendo un alto y no se ni porque lo hace, y tampoco se cuando va a pasar.

The power door lock on passenger side cannot be unlocked either via remote or inside button. Worse, often when this happens, the door cannot be opened even by pulling on the handle from the inside! a passenger cannot get out of the car via the door. Furthermore, repeatedly attempts to have this fixed all fail within a short time.

See all problems of the 2004 BMW 3 Series 🔎.

Coupe of time the vehicle lost power as the result srs & airbag light now stay on.

Recalled passenger air bag was replaced by dealer last week, but the dashboard light indicates the passenger air bag is turned off. The dealer says this was an existing problem and refuses to fix without charging several hundred dollars to "diagnose. " I maintain this is directly elated to the recalled air bag and should be fixed without charge.

See all problems of the 2001 BMW 3 Series 🔎.

A recall has been issued for this problem for cars produced from 9/1/01 to 02/01/05. [recall campaign 11v-438: repair ground cable for rear light lamps (side panel)]. I have the exact same problem although my car was produced approximately 14 months prior to the vehicles affected by the recall. Situation one or more of the following lights does not function in the rear lamp assembly, mounted on the rear quarter panel (rear parking light, rear turn signal, and rear brake light). Cause a poor ground connection at the rear lamp assembly (connectors x338 left side – pin # 2 and x339 right side – pin # 3) causes a malfunction of the rear tail lamps.

Passenger side rear turn signal ceased to function.

See all problems of the 2010 BMW 3 Series 🔎.

Takata recall. The front passenger seat sensor in my 2006 BMW is defective making the passenger airbags turned off during the event of a crash when car is on or running airbag and seatbelt light turn on. Many other 2006 Bmws like mine are affected with this issue. A recall has been done for Bmws for models 2007 and newer but not for the 2006 model year. A recall needs to be done for this year make to insure the safety of people and passengers riding in this car. I use this car as a daily driver with my 5 year old daughter. Please update new info ASAP.

I was not able to unlock my car with my car key. I was able to hear the click sound on pressing the unlock button on the key but nothing was happening. After numerous attempts for about 10 minutes car got unlocked. Now I'm having this problem on/off basis. I took the car to the local BMW dealer. After diagnose they said I have a failed general module which will cost me around $1000. This is way too much for car for it's total value of around $7000. This is scary since I'm not able to trust the locking system on my car. Sometime I'm not able to lock at all and at sometime I'm not able to unlock anything.

Upon returning to seattle, wa, since I flew down to berkley, CA to purchase my vehicle, I noticed excessive headlamp shake when going over any bumps on the highway, especially expansion joints. Both left and right headlamps shake equally as bad, and I consider that a safety hazard while driving. It is very distracting and searching many online forums, people have been having many issues with the adaptive headlamp bracket arms being broken. Cpo warranty does not cover headlamps according to BMW, and they are not willing to pay for both replacements.

Car has automatic door locks, uses a fob. Parked the car, locked the doors with the fob. When I tried to unlock the doors with the fob, it only clicks - did not unlock. Used the key to unlock the drivers door, but found that once locked, no doors will unlock, not even manually from inside the car. The only door that will lock or unlock is the driver's door, and then only with the key from the outside. The post that pops up and down to indicate that the door is locked is impossible to pull up, and pulling the inside door handle does nothing. This is obviously very dangerous. At the very least, they should redesign the locks so that they can be opened from inside manually in case of an electrical failure!!!!.

The heating element on my 2004 BMW x3 caught on fire while I was driving. I don't use it often, but had noticed a hot smell when I did use it and that it would be too warm in the lumbar and hip region. The fire actually burned about a dime size hole in the driver side left seat panel (under the thigh). After reading of many others having the same or worse experiences, I am glad I immediately shut if off, although it still burned all the way through the leather. Please advise me of next steps I should take. I have shut off the heater and will no longer use it. With so many complaints, I would think this would result in a recall. Thanks for your advice.

Apparently, the electronic key is defective, leading to an engine shutdown. Fortunately, I was able to steer off the highway without power and restart the engine. Prior to the incident, the car would intermittently fail to start. I notified BMW customer relations after the incident. I was told that these keys have a non-replaceable rechargeable battery, that may "wear out", and therefore not hold a charge! they informed me that as my vehicle was out of warranty, they would not provide me with a replacement key unless I purchased a new one ($250), I pointed out that nowhere in the owner's manual is it stated that keys need replacement, nor the hazard of driving with a "worn out" key. The representative (allison, emp. #84150) stated "there is nothing BMW can do in this case. ".

Passenger doors would not unlock. All passengers needed to exit through the drivers door. This would be a safety issue if in an accident and passengers could not open door to exit vehicle.

All doors lock up but only the driver side has a manual override. Passengers cannot exit the vehicle in case of crash or fire.

Passenger doors would not unlock. All passengers could not get out of the car. Pulling on the door handles did not open or unlock the doors. Interior unlock buttons did not work. Unlock button on the key fob did not work. This is very common issue and can be very dangerous. 4 passengers had to crawl out the driver door.

See all problems of the 2003 BMW 3 Series 🔎.

The left passenger door lock has ceased to operate on my 2007 BMW 328i. It does not unlock with either the key fob or the main unlock switch. This is very dangerous if there were any kind of emergency involving this door needing to be opened.

The doors to the vehicle locked automatically and could not be opened from inside the vehicle. I had to open the driver side window and use the key from the ignition fob to open the driver door from outside. All other doors remained locked and could not be opened from inside or outside. I consider this a safety issue because vehicle occupants could be trapped in the car with no way to exit besides crawling through a window. I believe BMW should issue a safety recall to remedy this defect.

Black mold formed on rear seats, dashboard intermittently worked (1/2 of dashboard active, 1 fuse powers the dash), 6" of water pooled in rear back passenger footwell (location of main electrical unit); water was dripping on my foot when resting on petal of my 42000 mile, $50,000, 2008 BMW 328xi coupe. I contacted BMW of na who advised me not to use the car because it was dangerous. After several attempts to work with BMW of na & BMW dealership (place of purchase) a vapor barrier leak was found but more was believed to be at cause. The dash needed to be removed, for $1800. I refused to pay; requested BMW of na to pay. Request denied. The dealer said BMW of na would only pay vapor barrier repair costs. I asked for no repairs; towed the car home. Finally reaching linda vitale, exec. Customer services of BMW na, NJ, she told me the dealer did do the repairs. This was against my expressed wishes. I wanted the car investigated elsewhere too. In a later conversation, ms. Vitale claimed the reason for the water was from a leak from a 3rd party windshield instillation. Note: mold, water, and electrical problems existed previous to 3rd party windshield installment. Ms. Vitale, proven wrong, due to dates, stated, in a subsequent recorded conversation, per the dealer, the water entered the car because the doors were dismantled and incorrectly put back. Note:amica has proof that the doors were never removed. Amica totaled the car due to black mold contamination, health risks; risk of injury to me and others due to mold, the electrical compromised, and possible power cut to engine while in motion. A paid loan but having no car, BMW of na wished only to compensate me with $1000 towards a new BMW. I found many forums, on the internet, regarding 2002-2015 BMW's w/the same problems & owners sustaining same loss of property with no ethical or sustainable compensation from BMW of na.

See all problems of the 2008 BMW 3 Series 🔎.

Using key fob to unlock doors, sometimes only driver door unlocks. Sometimes no doors unlock/lock. Interior master lock switch sometimes works sometimes does not. Replaced switch twice. Been in car and unable to unlock any doors to get out of vehicle using electric systems and even manual ie. Door handles. In a non stressful situation, got out by rolling down window and inserting key in driver door to unlock. For panic situations bought a window shatter tool to break windows to get out.

See all problems of the 2002 BMW 3 Series 🔎.

Noticed the passenger side blinker started to blink quickly. The brakes and tail lights use a bulb while the blinker has approximately 15 leds. Therefore the entire light assembly has to be replaced. Several of the leds do not light up and the ones that do are dim. Two weeks later the driver side blinker did the same thing. This concerns me as another driver may not be aware that I am turning until it is to late.

Traveling south on 75,driver door bag deployed for no reason. Applied brakes and ran off side off road to keep from having a car rear end me and then right tire blew out due to drop off. Car shut down by itself. Air bags did not completely deploy. Over head strap hit head and neck area causing soreness and headache. Door air bag caused fragments to hit hand and tore off skin. I thought car was on fire due to smoke smell of wires burning,removed strap off neck and got out of car. If traffic had been heavy there would have been a major wreck. If I had been on 2 lane highway I would have hit head on another vehicle. Monday called BMW and they said someone would call me back. I called every day for a week and was told to leave msg with case mgr which I did. 10 days later case mgr called and said bags are not suppose to fully deflate and she would have car towed to nearest dealer for engineer to look at and once they have car it could be another 2-3 weeks before he looks at car and not to expect any repairs. She also said she does not find any recalls for this car. I told her I found info on internet. Now I am out of car and waiting on BMW to look into. BMW case #nj34146. Nhtsa campaign number 13v172000. + USA today may 7,2013. . Read more...

2009 BMW 328i, the directional light at times blinks rapidly and a warning of light problem illuminates. The directional blinks fast and light is dull on exterior tail and front lamps. At times works normally and then begins to blink rapidly with a bell warning and electrical warning light sign displays. This problem has known to BMW as the service dealers received a bulletin. Will not cover if out of warranty but seems to be a common issue enumerated by many customers.

While driving on highway heater setting on warm, smoke filled the cabine ,smoke was coming from center console and left side og glove box from underneath. Had to stop the vehicle in the middle of the highway and escape the smoke filled cabine the smoke turn to a flame from under/thru glove box the car proceeded to total burn from this incident I reviewed the schematics to identify the only heating dissipating element located under there is the fsr blower motor control smoke appeared suddenly.

See all problems of the 2000 BMW 3 Series 🔎.

I have a 2009 Bmw328xi, which I bought brand new and paid a lot of money for. I only have 59,000 miles. On August 3, 2013 the car temperature light went on, first yellow and not even two seconds later red. With out warning the car didn't move. So I shut off the engine immediately. Thinking the car is over heating. Instead, after getting it towed found out the water pump and electric thermostat went. I am very unhappy that a 4 and half year old car shouldn't have such problems. I've had many high end cars in the past for 11 years and never had a problem in such a short life of a car.

The general module 5 (gm5) is electronic hardware that amongst other functions primarily controls the locking and unlocking of the BMW e46's. This module has decided to stop working in my vehicle making it impossible to unlock the vehicle from any of the possible options (key fob button, central locking button, or door double locking handle). This is an extreme safety hazard because in the case of an accident the passengers will not be able to quickly escape the vehicle due to inability of the doors to unlock. After thorough research I have found that this is a very widespread problem with this make and model vehicle, yet nothing has been done by the manufacturer to address this exteremely hazardous flaw. There is no way to manually override the gm5 to unlock the doors so without it passengers are essentially trapped in the vehicle. The module also controls the windshield wipers, power windows, and trunk release. Having these features inoperable on top of the inability to unlock for any given amout of time is unnacceptable and should be addressed by the manufacturer as a recall and replacement.

Ac unit went from blowing cold to hot air with no warning . . A burning smell was also noticed at the same time. My car had just come out BMW service for an oil change . Burnt connectors , wires and ac blower replaced (at owners expense ) shortly after I (owner ) received a recall letter regarding cable wire to battery were not properly insulted and BMW would replace them at no cost to owner. . Was advised by BMW service this had nothing to do with the burned up connecting wires to the ac blower. . Only had my car 1/12yr under warranty when I purchased it of course not when this problem happen which was costly.

My wife was attempting to exit car when she noticed that she was not able to open any of car doors - all the locks would not operate ! also, the door handles would not open the doors from the inside the vehicle. This issue is safety issue that needs to be looked at ASAP. I was able to see on line that number of like and kind complaints with the 2007 328 xi models . . .

Driver's side door will not open, either with the inside door latch or the outside latch. The lock plunger goes up and down normally with either the key, the key remote, or the inside door lock/unlock button, but in no case can either door latch open the driver's side door. All other doors operate normally. This makes entering or exiting the car difficult, necessitating either climbing in/out through the window or by climbing across the console from the passenger seat. If there were an emergency, it would be impossible to exit the vehicle quickly. No event appeared to cause this to happen. I entered the vehicle, drove it, exited the vehicle a few times during the morning before driving, parking, stopping the vehicle, and then having the door stick shut.

Doors will not unlock using the key fob or central locking button. Locked doors will not open from interior of vehicle, no way to unlock the rear doors and front passenger door when they are locked. Only way to exit vehicle is through driver's door if manually unlocked with key. Passenger doors will not open and gas door will not open.

I think BMW needs to look into a recall for the tail lights on the 3 - series models from 09 and up. The circuit board for the led signal lights malfunctions and some of the led's stop working. When those few stop working, it affects the entire circuit and the rest are very dim/not visible. This also causes the warning indicator on the dash to come up advising that you have a burnt out bulb . I have already had my drivers side replaced a couple of months ago and now the passenger side is having issues. There are also several others reporting the same issue online. There are many units for sale on ebay and in the item description they indicate that a few of the led's aren't working. An led circuit board that is only a few years old should not have these issues and consumers shouldn't have to pay for it. This needs to be investigates since it affects safety since the signal lights/hazardous lights don't function properly. This CO-incides with the recall that BMW recently did for a similar issue in other models. It's the exact same problem!.

Reference NHTSA campaign: 13v044000 my vehicle has been experiencing issues as exactly outlined in this recall notice such as the starting rough, not starting, battery indicator lamp lit, and other electrical issues. I have experienced a loss of power & degraded performance while driving although it has not resulted in a crash because I was able to safely pull my car over. I spoke with BMW customer relations and they said my VIN was not specified by this recall and to file a complaint with the NHTSA to get this resolved. I have researched many other 2007 3-series owners having similar issues and would expect this to be covered by the recall.

Electrical ground contact resistance in rear tail lamp has rendered tail lamp non functional and caused warning lamp illumination. Problem appears to be identical to campaign 11v438000.