car shut down itself while at traffic light

[msimon18]

Z4 2010 Mike,

Will do. I am going in on the 14th to get this and two other smaller issues looked at. I am hoping something shows up on the computer so they can fix it. History tells me that if the computer does not register an issue they do NOTHING !!

[msimon18]

Ok - finally took the car in to get a few things fixed.

- cup holder - fixed (replaced as the spring and tab keep falling off)
- 6FL iPhone cable - replaced (obvious issues with broken wire that you could wiggle andmake it work)
- satll in Sport Mode at lights - uh ... computer did not throw a code so we don't know what to do !!

According to them there are no service bulletins and no sw updates to fix this issue. They adjusted the air in the tires ...........

Very frustrating. Unless it is completely broken like the cup holder or 6FL cable they can NEVER fix anything and then only by REPLACING something !!!!! Even then you have to come back because they NEFVER have the parts on hand !!!!

[mikeinaustin]

yes i never had any error codes either, as far as i know, no-one has. some say bmw has a software fix, however, when my dealer contacted bmw last week, bmw said they had not released a software fix for this issue.

msimon18, did your dealer contact bmw as well?

[msimon18]

mikeinaustin,

yes, at least they said they did. No service bulletins and "we have not seen it before".....
The latter is the one comment that kills me based on a seat belt warning light issue (2007 335i) that I had and 'no one else had even cvomplained about' which ended up costing them a 250,000 car recall last year !! Yeah right, no one else complained about it ......

[Enkur]

This has also happened to me twice now. I dont remember what mode I was in. The first time I came to a stop sign and it immediately died. Turned off the car and it restarted right away. Second time I was on the highway doing 60 and stopping very quickly due to traffic ahead and it died while braking. I caused more traffic backup because I was all confused as to whats happening. I was pushing on the accelerator and nothing was happening only to realize that the engine has died. Again as somebody mentioned there are no check engine lights or nothing of that sort.
Its been about a month since this happened. I will drive in sport mode for a while and see what happens.

[Vintage]

mikeinaustin and enkur: maybe it is just a problem if you own a Z4 30i and drive in Austin, TX? seriously, I hope BMW figures this out for you guys - it is ridiculous

[mikeinaustin]

Originally Posted by Enkur

This has also happened to me twice now. I dont remember what mode I was in. The first time I came to a stop sign and it immediately died. Turned off the car and it restarted right away. Second time I was on the highway doing 60 and stopping very quickly due to traffic ahead and it died while braking. I caused more traffic backup because I was all confused as to whats happening. I was pushing on the accelerator and nothing was happening only to realize that the engine has died. Again as somebody mentioned there are no check engine lights or nothing of that sort.
Its been about a month since this happened. I will drive in sport mode for a while and see what happens.

as the temperatures have gotten hotter, it has occurred more often. i am referring to outside ambiant air temperature not engine temperature. engine temperature always looks good. have you taken it to the local bmw shop? i have had their head mechanic look at it and he found nothing wrong. he says he has contacted bmw and they are not aware of any such issue with the car. i would appreciate it if you would report this stalling as well so the local bmw dealer is aware it is more than a 1 car issue. if you do not mind, send an email to TTucker@penskeautomotive.com (service advisor) and describe your e89 z4 3.0 automatic stalling issue (send him your vin if you have it). he is the one i have been dealing with. you might have your own service advisor, but i am not sure they bother talking about issues with one another, so it would be good for one adviser to hear about this issue from two different e89 owners.

[Enkur]

Yeah now that I found this thread I want to report it to BMW as well. I will schedule an appointment and have them look at it. I'll also send email to the service advisor you mentioned. Will keep you updated on what they say about this issue.

[riccis]

I reset the adaptive transmission partly in response to the issue. It's only happened to me once so I can't claim to have a reference point to really see if resetting the adaptive transmission makes any difference.

For those of you who have experienced the issue more frequently than me, you may want to try and see if it makes any difference for you. Just a thought.

[msimon18]

Folks,

Besides ENKUR does anyone else remember it happening when you STOP FAST ?? I think I can relate to it happening that way. Seems that when I STOP FAST it stalls. I thought it was only in SPORT mode but it happened twice today in NORMAL mode.....

Let's see if we can all relate it to the same thing....

[mikeinaustin]

it has happened to me in slow stop and go traffic and also very slowly going through a drive in food place (though that was on a fairly steep downhill decline). that is not to say that a fast stop won't increase the odds, i don't know. i do know that sport mode greatly increases the odds as does hotter outside air temperature. what was the temperature in florida today?

[mikeinaustin]

Originally Posted by Enkur

Yeah now that I found this thread I want to report it to BMW as well. I will schedule an appointment and have them look at it. I'll also send email to the service advisor you mentioned. Will keep you updated on what they say about this issue.

might be best if you schedule your appt through thad.

[laphil]

Count me in as someone who is suffering from this mess.

3.0 stalls (mostly in hot weather.) I also have the loud fuel pump and the whirring in hot weather associated with the engine rev. The pitch goes up as the engine revs up.

So the service writer (yes, Steve, you) at Valencia BMW in California tells me, "It's a machine and machines make noises." On a later date a mechanic got in the car and went for a drive with me. He said with regards to the loud whirring, "Yeah don't worry about that, when you're on the freeway the no-flats will drown that out."

I'm in a love/hate relationship with my car. I love to drive it, but hate the loud whirring and stalling. Way too many issues for a car at this price point. Neither my S2000 nor my Boxster ever had these kind of quality issues. Needless to say I am seriously disappointed in Valencia BMW.

Any documented references with BMW USA would be really helpful, or if you have had a good experience with a dealership in the Los Angeles area who has acknowledged and helped with these issues, a referral would be greatly appreciated.

[msimon18]

mikeinaustin,

The temp here has been around 100 with very high humidity for the last week so there may, in fact, be something to the higher temperature relationship to this stalling issue. Actual temperature in the instrument cluster read 107 yesterday !!

Over the next week I am going to try to actually capture time, temp and fast or normal stop conditions for the stall conditions and then make an appointment with BMW of Ocala to actually discuss the issue with the technician and / or the regional specialist.

I too am disappointed in this issue as well as the whining of the air conditioner. Even on the hiway it is louder than the run flats and annoying when I am trying to listen to my $2,000.00 optional audio system !!!

More to come !!!

[Enkur]

Ok so this morning my car stalled. This time I drove around in the sport mode to see if I could replicate the problem. It happened just as I slowed down to enter a gas station. I was low on fuel (not sure if that is a factor, I definitely didn't run out gas as it started back up right away). I am calling the BMW dealer today and see whats the story here.

[mikeinaustin]

it stalled on my wife today - twice! temperature was upper 90's. so i went home picked up the z4 and took it to the bmw dealer. i test drove it with their shop foreman. we reproduced the issue. unfortunately, no error codes, etc. opening a puma case with bmw to see if they have anything for it. my wife had filled up the car today so it was completely full when we reproduced the issue. it really is air temperature related (in the sense it happens much more often in hot weather than in cold, though it will still happen ocassionally in cold weather).

enkur, have your service advisor ask for david (shop foreman) to look at your issue and have him enter a puma ticket for you as well. there is always an outside chance we have different problems, but i would guess there is a 99.9% we have the exact same isssue.

[Z4-2023 Mike]

So now this happened in Normal mode, not sport. Again air temps in the 80F range. Came to a halt in traffic from 60mph to 0 and it stalled. As others I fumbled with what was happening and caused more traffic woes, but it did restart fine and on I went. Very embarrassing for such a car. I think there is a systemic issue here that BMW needs to address.

[Roadstergal]

Originally Posted by Z4-2010 Mike

So now this happened in Normal mode, not sport. Again air temps in the 80F range. Came to a halt in traffic from 60mph to 0 and it stalled. As others I fumbled with what was happening and caused more traffic woes, but it did restart fine and on I went. Very embarrassing for such a car. I think there is a systemic issue here that BMW needs to address.

I feel for you. It is embarrassing for such a car and Bmw should be ashamed. This car seems to have more problems than the first generation ever had.

[msimon18]

Mikein austin,

Cna you share the PUMA case number ??

[Silver-Bolt]

Is there a common denominator with everyone that is having this issue? All auto trans, manual, 3.0, 35i, etc?

[msimon18]

I think the common thread is a quick or other than normal stop.

That said mine is a 3.0 / 6 speed auto.

[mikeinaustin]

1) 3.0 automatic
2) the hotter the weather (90's or higher), the greater the likelyhood
3) sport mode increases your odds as well

happens when you slow down to a near stop. so coming to stop sign/light, turning into someplace, traffic on the highway slows way down in front of you, etc.

when i duplicated the issue with the shop foreman, we were slowly approaching a string of cars at the light when it died.