v_therussian

Some of you no doubt saw the threads about my "AWD Malfunction" error message and subsequently "transfer case module" fault code that was found after hooking up the diagnostic machine to my 530Xi.

Here's how it went down:

1. My car got side-swiped a while back, so I made an appointment for the adjuster to come to the body shop and took the car there Dec. 12th.

2. Adjuster came, gave a check to the shop. The shop said they should have the car done by Dec. 19th.
this is where the fun starts:

3. I called the shop on the 18th and the owner's son told me that he is very sorry but they have just started to work on the car and it will not be ready for the holidays. I asked how far did they get - can they put it back and give it to me to drive, because I needed it for the holidays. He said "no problem, come by and pick it up".

4. I come to pick it up and I find the "AWD Malfunction" message on the iDrive I made sure the owner noted the issue - actually, he was even nice enough to try and take the car to his brother's shop and see if maybe it could've been resolved on the spot. Of course, it wasn't.

5. I've done some research and eliminated electrical as the route cause of this issue - had the code cleared, the battery recharged and tested and next morning it was clear of the error until the instant I put the car in gear.

Now, one of my tires has been a Conti, as opposed to the RFTs on the rest, so at first I thought that the "transfer case module" fault is due to the tire discrepancy (yet to test whether the transfer case has any leaks in it, but no leaks were ever noticed where I park - and I do check regularly, as on of my idiosyncrasies). OR is it possible that someone at the body shop, where the car was for about a week, decided to have some fun with my car?

The one thing against the body shop so far is that the owner's son at some point before the error codes came up told me he drove the car to their storage facility (about a third of a mile from the shop) and the owner assured me that he drove it to the facility himself. And, they drove the car a total of approximately 2 miles - not two thirds of a mile (yes, I am anal enough that I actually noted it).

And IF it is the shop's fault, how do I go about getting them to pay for the damages? Just FYI a transfer case is about 2300 (PLUS labor), the transfer case module is about 400 and then another 200 and change for the other module (again, PLUS labor). This is not even counting that there can be damage to the clutch, flywheel, gears, shafts... basically, a word clusterf*ck comes to mind, if you know what I mean. But what would you guys do if you were in my shoes?

Thanks in advance for your help.

PS I forgot to mention that of course the car was completely error-free (not sure about the fault codes, it really has been a while since I've had it hook up to a diagnostic machine), there were no issues with the car what-so-ever prior to the bodyshop visit. Also worth noting: the car seems to drive absolutely normal now too - I found no noises, no problems at all. I've had some rattles in the suspension when the car's cold - still there, but I have had those checked out about 2 months ago and it is nothing to worry about - just some older rubber pieces in the suspension need to warm up before they start muffling the rattles. So basically, so far, the ONLY problem I can find is the stubborn error message and the fault code that keep coming up.

I'm taking the car back to the mechanic in the morning and will have him work on diagnosing the issue again. Just want to know how screwed you guys think I am.

redEYEjedi

Sorry to hear about your problems while trying to get the car fixed.

If I were in your shoes, first I would speak with your insurance adjuster to see if there is anything they can do to help protect you since technically this problem stemmed from your repair visit covered under insurance.

Next I would check the fine print on any paperwork from the body shop, especially if you had signed anything, since that should document the shop's liability as well as any rights or restrictions you may have.

Lastly, before you officially go pointing any fingers, concrete evidence of negligence or fault by the shop would greatly help your case.

GL with the headache.

v_therussian

Thanks for the kind words and the advice.

I did think about checking with the insurance company, guess I'll be looking into that. I don't really have very high hopes for that though.

melimel

sounds fishy to me vlad.. obviously someones lying. if the owner or even the son just drove the car from point a to point b, why would that be a problem and it wouldnt be showing up on your car. I dont know how your going to handle it, nor do i know the best way. I know this is so off topic and may have nothing to do with your car, but when they recovered joes pathfinder after being stolen, althouugh it drove fine. the electronics were all fu*ked up. traction, 4 wheel drive and all these messages were coming up. the steering wheel was also very crooked, and it needed an alignment badly. anyway, when he took it back to nissan, they said that the alignment was so badly off that it was setting off all the electronics.. when they fixed that it was fine. i know its not the same, but maybe its similar ???

v_therussian

Thanks Mel. I just got a call from Alan at Bay Diagnostic, he says car needs a new "VTG actuator". I can't find the part on realoem, but I have to conclude that it is the number 13 in the blow-up below:

(MRSP 770.98 - contacting Garry right now)
Interestingly, it is the most expensive part in the transfer case either my car has an expensive taste or... well, I don't know... does anyone know how I can tell a bad VTG actuator from a good one?

I'm definitely getting new tires and doing the alignment immediately after.

Thanks Mel, you gave me enough information to at least bring this up with the body shop. It is a very strange situation that this would come up when the car was in his custody though. Hey, if you wanna coach me on how to interview him and maybe find out some truth, let me know

PAKOGERTE

sorry to hear you're going through this, you have my sympathy.

I unfortunately cannot help since my mechanical expertise is quite limited.

I would check first with Insurance also, and I guess i would contact another certified mechanic/shop to try and get things properly diagnosed and fixed, making those who caused malfunctions to pay for damages.

oh and btw, you're not anal about the distance driven by shop owners son, i always mark milage when i take my car to the shop. You should not have to pay for a joyride, especially when quite possibly it is the cause of your troubles.

08white

sorry to hear that

first of all, i will tell people which shop, so i hope all members on this forum can avoid the same situation with that shop

second, i will try complaint to BBB, may not help much, but at least you complaint

third, yes you can try with insurance company,

hope other people can provide more helpful advises
such headache

v_therussian

See, this is exactly why I'm kind of keeping the shop secret for now - I'm not sure that they did joyride the car - just wondering what people think based on my story. How can I really know? I mean, anything short of asking for video surveillance footage of their storage lot or a testimony from someone in the shop would be questionable.

Then another factor: the car is 60k miles old, things do break on cars. I don't want to give a good shop a bad name, just because I'm paranoid. I'll have an extensive discussion with the owner tomorrow morning again, and probably a few times after that. Pending the outcome of those discussions and this whole situation I'll form my final opinion and see if they are worth warning people about or not. I have dealt with them years ago on two occasions, when I had a Honda - back then my experience with them was nothing but positive - extremely good body work, impeccable paint and customer support. A little expensive - that was my only gripe back then. So it could be just some freak occurrence. These guys do not really seem like the joy-riding types - definitely not the owner. And, to the credit of the owner, he did ask me to keep him updated on this situation - in other words, he is doing everything he can at this point to maintain his good name. Or am I being too nice here?

08white

sounds like the owner is nice, but you never know if his son take your car out for a date? haha, J/K

well, it is really hard to say, it is normal for a shop to test drive a car for mechanic problem, but for body shop, no reason to drive the car besides move the car in and out

C's Bimmer

you should have written more. not enough info.