[T_Filbert]

Hello BMW enthusiasts.

Since this is my first post here, let me give some background.

Last year my 94 year old grandma decided it was time to stop living independently and move into assisted living; this also meant giving up driving herself around.

My wife and I decided to buy her 2015 328i off her, since she wanted less than the dealer would have paid her if she sold it back to them, and it only had 16,000 miles on it; 6,000 of which came from the first year as it was a dealer demo.

(Yes, I am aware of the timing chain woes and lawsuit, but with so few miles on it, I can't do much right now but keep an ear out for signs of it failing)

This past week the check engine light came on, but no other warnings or indicators on the dash.

Through some google searches, I figured out how to access the "hidden menu" on the odometer screen, and accessed the DTCs. However, the code doesn't tell me much... I found a BMW fault code lookup at www.bmwfault.codes...but the information I got back literally tells me nothing. Some sort of signal failure.

But no clue what signal. between what components, or how to fix it. --And I tend to do my own maintenance on our vehicles, unless it's just a complicated or messy job that I don't feel like doing.

Can you guys tell me anything more about these codes?

1) E12C1D 1 line of text below that, to the left is a number 028222 and to the right 155234726.

2) B7F67E again, line of text below that I have 000000 and 208889794 respectively.

Sounds like 1 is a signal issue of some kind, and the 2nd says "Restart Motherboard, reset by monitoring circuit"


Any help?

[im_an_alien]

C'mon guy, why not let grandma sell back to the dealer and make more $$lol...or at least match it... someone more knowledgeable will chime in about those codes..

[T_Filbert]

Yea, Grandma doesn't need the money. She's rich

Not really. The real reason was because at the time, we had a 14 year old who would be driving soon. He will be getting the wife's 200k+ mile Toyota, and she was going to buy a new car. This was a heck of a deal, way better than buying a new car and taking 6 years to pay for it. My wife's annual bonus had just come in so we had the cash available... one of those "the right deal at the right time" kinda things.

My now 15 year old gets his temps in 4 months

[T_Filbert]

dang... I'ma have to go to the stealership to figure out what's wrong or how to fix it?

[drdino]

Both of these are kombi DTCs; get a bluetooth reader and then using Bimmerlink/Carly/Torque check for any powertrain codes. These 2 won't throw an EML.

[T_Filbert]

This being my first BMW... What's a Kombi DTC? (mostly...what's Kombi. I know what DTC means) and what's an EML? Emergency Maintenance Light?

[drdino]

Sorry, should have clarified! Kombi is the instrument cluster, EML is the Engine Malfunction Lamp, aka CEL (Check Engine Light).

[T_Filbert]

Ok. The Check engine light is on, which prompted me to look for a DTC.

So the instrument cluster has triggered a couple codes, but those won't turn on the check engine light?

Is there a way to display the engine codes that have triggered the CEL/EML? or can that only be done with a scan tool? (some of my other vehicles I can do a "key on - key off" routine and the odometer will flash the P-codes) That's what I was trying to find, and I was expecting to get a Pxxxx type code to display instead of this "hex code"

[drdino]

Does the check engine light remain on after you crank the engine? Do you get any malfunction messages on the idrive screen? Does the engine feel any different when you are driving?

The best way to diagnose the vehicle is to get it hooked up to a code reader. Autozone etc should be able to give you a free readout if you don't have a reader/obd dongle.

P-codes are Powertrain errors, these 2 are not, they are stored by the cluster. They might be historic ones or they might be consequential to whatever is triggering your MIL.

[T_Filbert]

There are no messages on the idrive screen. The light stays on all the time, never flashes. Car runs and drives like normal.

It's unfortunate that with as much technology the car has, that they didn't incorporate a way to read the P codes that trigger the EML without a scan tool aka "going to the dealer" (or auto zone, or....)

I just assumed that the "dash cluster codes" were what triggered the check engine light since that's what came up under the DTC in the hidden menu on the odometer. I have a datalogger at home that I use for tuning the toy vehicles. I'll see if it can pull any codes.

[T_Filbert]

Quick Update.

I used my LM-2 data logger (old skool) to read the P code. P0456, evap leak.

Checked the gas cap, cleared the code. We'll see if it comes back or not.

Thanks for the assist. Those "dash cluster codes" threw me for a loop, trying to use the car by itself to tell me what was wrong.

[drdino]

👍