ronmexico

Well I got my car back yesterday and it's FINALLY FIXED!!!!

I can tell a MAJOR difference in the car. Smoother idle, better acceleration, and no more CEL.

Screw BMW SA.

advancedlogic

For the benefit of future members, can you outline the problem and the steps taken?

ronmexico

Sure.

-Engine misfire started on the highway @ ~75000 miles

-Indy shop replaced all 8 coils & plugs

-Indy shop also replaced 2 motors on the variable intake

-The wanted to rule out a blown cylinder head, so they performed a compression test on all of the cylinders on the DRIVER'S side (the bank that was misfiring). Compression was fine.

-Car continued to idle rough and misfire on only one row of banks. Many tests were performed and the coils/plugs were ruled out as a problem. Shop suspected ECU at first but continued to troubleshoot until they were certain.

-Upon further diagnosis, they opened the valve covers and inspected the operation of the engine with visual inspection. They noticed the valve cover gaskets were slightly worn, and opted to replace them.

-The engine was still running rough, and turning out ECU codes (I will need to update what the exact codes were - I don't have them right now). They reccomended taking it to BMW for further diagnosis.


-I found out via this thread that there is an 80,000 Deferal warranty on all emissions and related components. Although I saked my local BMW Center in SA to diagnose the catalytic converter and the associated codes, they did not, and charged me for service & parts I didn;t need.

-They attribyted my problem(s) to improper coils and plugs, and a bad battery.

-Upon $~1600 spent at the dealer, the problem still existed.

-Took car back to indy shop and watched them pull the plugs. Nothing wrong with any of them. Watched them pull the Engine Code on their AutoLogic scanner.

-Called BMW North America and started a case. After about 2 weeks, I finally heard back and got assigned the Service Manager at my dealer.

-Service Manager passed me to a different Service Advisor - who continued to do a really poor job of communicating and fixing my car. After a lot of headache they finally admitted that the driver side catalytic converter was bad, and would be rplaced under warranty. This extended diag and labor was "free"

All total the event set me back 5,480 . A lot of money to chase a problem. About 1600 of that was spent at the BMW center, on 4hours of diag, a battery, and 2 coils. None of which was needed, and all but 2 hours of diagnosis was agreed to. All in all, it was a terrible experience and I'm glad to have it over.


Now I get to figure out if I should sue my local dealer in small claims court. I'm going to write a letter to BMW NA and see if I can get some re-imbursement there, but I'm doubtful. I should also point out that here in SA, we have one dealer. So I don't really have much of an option to take it somerwhere else.

I want to start taking it to BMW of North Austin, but it's about a 75mile drive. In this case, that's not too practical because the car wasn't drivable.

I'm just SO GLAD to have it back & working. I missed it so much!!!!

advancedlogic

Holy crap! In the end, a faulty cat which you requested be checked! Small claims lawsuit indeed! Glad you got her back, but sorry to hear of such dealer contempt and incompetance!

ronmexico

I really would have been in a much worse situation w/o the help of this thread, and members like you. Thank you for the info and encouragement during the process.


I'll update the thread if/when I get the final resolution taken care of.


It's also time for some pics. Haven't done much photo posting of the car in a while...

BTW I LOVE the stance on your 545 . How is the ride quality being that low in the older v8? Looks AMAZING!!!