C's Bimmer

Emissions Warning comes on 3 months ago. Take it my local mechanic. Plugs it into his computer and tells me it's an O2 Sensor. Specifically, he tells me it's Sensor 1 in Bank 1. It's under warranty, as it's pretty much brand new, so I'll take it to my dealership and have them fix it. An O2 sensor swap will take around 1 1/2 hours, so I figure half a day without the car. No problem, right?! Hahahaha! Who was I kidding?!?!?!

Take my car, which is bone stock(performance wise) back then, into my dealer to have it replaced. I tell my SA that it's Sensor 1 in Bank 1. He tells me local mechanics don't know for sure, even if their computers give that as a reading. Car spends 2 days at the dealership and before I know it, I end up with a software update. I'm told it wasn't the sensor. However, in the process, the new software update has made my iDrive slower and changed around a few other things on the car that I'm not happy with. That's an entirely different story and complaint, which I won't get into.

After a day or so, the Emissions Light returns. What a shock! I take it back a few weeks later for another whole day. The dealer comes back and tells me everything is fine. In fact, their local BMW NA tech was there that day and he signed off on the car. They reset the system to have the Emissions Warning turned off. After leaving the dealership, my Emissions Light comes RIGHT back on again!! I'm furious! I decide to just deal with it.

Fast forward a month later and I decide to call my SA and tell them I'm talking to the GM, as I'm beside myself at this point. I can't deal with all the issues. I get a call back immediately to come in and have it fixed. I take my car in yesterday and tell my SA again that it's the O2 sensor, still from 3 months ago. He now sees that I have an aftermarket exhaust. My car spends the night. I go back in today at 2pm and my SA tells me they can't replace what's broken. I ask him what's broken. He tells me an O2 sensor. I ask him which sensor in which bank. He tells me, "SENSOR 1 in BANK 1". Are you kidding me?!?!?! My local mechanic was right the whole time! Needless to say, they didn't fix it and they never listened to me.

The sensor is only $300, but it's principle at this point. I'm calling and writing a letter to the GM and the Director of Service at this dealership. We shall see what happens...

Gene

dam, sorry to read/hear C...definitely glad you are notifying BMW NA....when you first mentioned the tech noticing the aftermarket exhaust I thought he was going to blame the error on that...hope things get resolved for you C


***another example of us knowing more than the techs/SA

nigxdoof

That sucks buddy. I wish I can help. The people at Hassel BMW is great and you can try them out if you want.

Good luck man. If anything, You can have my car with no errors and I'll take your car with the errors. =)


You'll love my hot OEM 138 wheels.

C's Bimmer

We'll see what they say early next week when they learn I might not be buying my wifes X5 4.8 from them. It's all about admitting their fault on this. They were wrong when I first brought my car in and the car was stock. It's been in 2 more times since then and now on the 3rd time, I have a full, aftermarket exhaust system which they are saying is the cause of the problem. They're so arrogant. Had they just went along and said it was an O2 sensor the first time I brought it in (like my local mechanic said it was), this would have never happened. Just admit you were wrong, fix it and everyone is happy. And I'll buy my X5 from you.

Or, don't and I'll just buy the O2 sensor from Garry Romani, have my local mechanic do the swap and buy my new X5 from Habberstad. If they don't care, then that's all that needs to be said about Rallye BMW. We shall see...

swajames

Absymal... Good luck C - keep us posted.