Hi, I have a 2014 BMW 328i, 74K miles, automatic. A warning came up stating "Drivetrain: Stop carefully" and to stop the engine and engage the handbrake. What could be the cause of this and how should I fix it. I took out the battery and Autozone said it was a bad battery, could that be the cause of this or is there something else. There were also no codes or check engine lights on the dash. Thanks in advance.
I’m a bit rusty on my BMW knowledge, but I’ll try to help.
If you haven’t already, have it scanned by a high level scan tool and not what regular mechanics have.
Regular scan tools often can not access transmission information and that’s usually the thing to cause the “Drivetrain faliure: stop safely” message.
(I am not familiar with that can and I’m if you can check what systems have codes stored. On a Volvo you can enter diagnosis mode and see if it has “TCM DTC SET”)
does your car go into neutral or can you still accelerate and change gears?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=n4e_kaY4E0I
Maybe there is a menu similar to this.
With this error, the car will power on, but it will not start the engine when I try to start it as normal. I am going to see if there are any trouble codes from the video after I install a new battery when I get the chance.