[Taoster]

2013 BMW X3 n20. Both times I got the drivetrain malfunction warning I damn near pooped myself thinking my baby was gonna blow due to the timing chain. Both times occurred on the freeway and both times I was going to take it to the dealership but after letting the car rest a few hours and restarting it the drivetrain malfunction warning went away. It is a sigh of relief yet I'm very confused as to what this problem can be and if it will lead to a bigger problem if I don't take care of it. Anyone have any clue as what it can be?

[Opie55]

Glitches are always possible, but you should have that looked at. What I'm not sure about is how much info can be gleaned from the legacy code that will be stored - i.e., can they only tell that you got a malfunction warning on a certain date, or can they still see more info about it.

[P1Fanatic]

Yeah get it checked. It can be a multitude of things. Mine was an EGR valve fault so not even transmission. Was replaced over a year ago and never seen the fault since.

[hawkbmw505]

I have a timing chain tensioner failure, and then an injector down tube failure.

[easyphunk]

I had the same situation with my F25 (N20 engine): drivetrain malfunction message, on highway speeds. I took it to the dealership. When they opened the engine there were so many plastic pieces of the chain guard at the bottom of the engine that it was pure luck it didn't blow up. I replaced the timing chain, oil pump chain and tensioner. Running smooth and error-less for ~15k kilometres now.

My best advice is to take the car for a check. Have in mind the engine has to be opened.

[Taoster]

Originally Posted by easyphunk

I had the same situation with my F25 (N20 engine): drivetrain malfunction message, on highway speeds. I took it to the dealership. When they opened the engine there were so many plastic pieces of the chain guard at the bottom of the engine that it was pure luck it didn't blow up. I replaced the timing chain, oil pump chain and tensioner. Running smooth and error-less for ~15k kilometres now.

My best advice is to take the car for a check. Have in mind the engine has to be opened.

Did the drivetrain malfunction go away or did you take it into the dealership right away?

[easyphunk]

The error message disappeared from the screen after I restarted the engine, and I just drove to my destination. I took it for a fix a few days later.

[najnad]

I had similar issues on an X3 35i N55 engine. Last time it turned out to be a bad spark plug. Another time it seemed like it was just bad gas. As others have said, lots of things on the engine and drivetrain can cause the error to pop up and clear. Best to get it checked out.

[rockit2]

mine did it too it turned out to be a sensor

[interceptor428]

Originally Posted by easyphunk

I had the same situation with my F25 (N20 engine): drivetrain malfunction message, on highway speeds. I took it to the dealership. When they opened the engine there were so many plastic pieces of the chain guard at the bottom of the engine that it was pure luck it didn't blow up. I replaced the timing chain, oil pump chain and tensioner. Running smooth and error-less for ~15k kilometres now.

My best advice is to take the car for a check. Have in mind the engine has to be opened.

Did you qualify for the extended warranty or did you pay out of pocket. If paid out of pocket what was the cost?