We were driving home on Sunday from a trip of about 10-20 miles and just as we got to our street a full-screen idrive warning came up about the braking system having problems. It said something about needing to take care and avoid heavy braking. One minute later as I got in the garage, I tried to call up the message again so I could take a photo and it was gone. The check-control reported no problems at all, and the service menu said everything was green and OK. That trip was a very mild drive too, no heavy braking/cornering/accelerating.

Then on Monday morning, took the car out of the garage (in reverse), popped it into D and drove about 50 yards and then another new-to-me warning came up about engine problems. It went into some kind of limp-mode which felt like I had about 20 horsepower. I used them all to get to a safe place to break down and turned the engine off and on again. No problems, all the power was back and I never saw it again. One thing I did notice that I'd done, which I normally don't do, is when I'd started it in the garage, I'd put the key in and turned it to start the engine as fast as possible. I wonder whether some component of the engine didn't fully initialize before I got going.

That's two phantom warnings in the space of 24 hours. I'm getting a bit worried now with me being out of warranty.

Anyone have any words of wisdom that will console me?

 

I am no expert but just putting my 2p worth in....

The two warnings are unrelated and both seemed to disappear from the idrive, therefore you might want to check your battery.

I do not know how old you car is but mine threw up all sorts of strange warnings as the battery was on its way out.

Worth checking out for an easy fix.

 

It's a good point. The car will be 6 years old next month and AFAIK it's still on the original battery. I was planning on going to BMW tomorrow to book a test drive of the F10 for next week so I'll get 'em to check the battery at the same time. Considering I do low mileage and mostly short trips, I'm not helping the battery much (especially with DRLs on for the last 6 winter months too).

 

+1. I actually had the same occurence but with the DSC turning off. I then turned the car off and then back on and it went away very strange.....oh, and while this happened, my binker would not stop when I made a turn...it would just stay on.

 

Got my battery checked today. It was at 86% efficiency which they said was low enough to cause problems on really cold days. Guess what, the Sunday and Monday when these warning messages appeared it was -10°c (about 15°f I think), so it all ties together. Getting a new one next week when the Summer tyres go on. Yes it's a bit early but I'll take my chances. Working from home it's not like I won't be able to get to work if the snow gets too wild.