tonyb635

I would avoid this dealer in the future, they sound to me like a bunch of creeps. Think about it, they are paid for the work they do, so basically they are turning work away. Ok, I understand they begin work, noticed the situation, then go no further and bill the customer for this time for the JB+ being installed. My guess is that they failed to determine the actual problem, replaced the HPFP and will be paid under warranty for this and now realize they actually got it wrong. So they have to re-bill and maybe they don't get paid fully for missing and trying to catch up on a second round of repairs. If they were being paid for the second round maybe they would not have said this BS. I really can't
believe that dealers are this honest to turn good money away... There may be a few out there, but I seriously doubt it.
I had both failures, HPFP and Low press fuel sensor. From my side the indications were identical and the car behave the same. The codes were different in the end. Funny part was the LPFS one of the codes said plausible fuel pump...

advancedlogic

In order for you to be 'flagged' and denied warranty coverage, the dealer has to demonstratively prove that the aftermarket part has caused or contributed to the damage or problems experienced. They cannot deny you warranty coverage simply because you have one.

That said, you are using a device whose function is to increase performance beyond normal specs. If that device is faulty/or if the increased demands caused the problem (and they can reasonably prove this), you are SOL. As others have said, remove the device, reset, and see if the trouble returns. Your goal here is to eliminate the device from the equation. If the trouble returns, the dealer needs to determine the failure part. If there is abnormal wear on the part due to being used beyond specs, you can be denied. However, if its simply a faulty part that may have failed because of age or defect, they have the responsibility to repair.

They may need a refresher on the Magnuson-Moss (Warranty) Act. Kindly refer them to the following:

Auto Warranties & Routine Maintenance | Consumer Information

While this particular dealer may be in their right to deny for their own reasons, I dont think that can transfer to BMWUSA without being able to demonstrate cause. Remove and take it up the hill to Center, Century West, Bob Smith, Valencia, or one of the other myriad of dealers in the LA/OC region.

Sublime

Santa Monica BMW is pure junk. I don't like to be negative but I've walked into that place 3 times and left upset 3 times. Once with sales, once with parts and once with service. I go to Century West now - they aren't amazingly better (my car has been in the shop for almost 10 days now) but they also aren't uptight either. I'm willing to bet my SA Doug would take care of it and not give a crap what mods you've done in the past.

gwizzzzz

Thanks for all the advice. UPDATE: check engine disappeared again after two days without misfires. It came back on again once and turned itself off within seconds. I'm not sure if my car is adjusting to driving without the JB+, but right now everything seems ok. Still gonna get it check out next Tuesday. If my car is still ok by next week, without the check engine light, should I still make an appointment? Or does that just bring unwanted attention/service to my account?

advancedlogic

There is something going on with your car - take it to another dealer asap. When the check engine light illuminates, the code and sensor-provided freeze-frame data (speed, sensor data, temperature, etc) is stored. Even if the light went off, there is an event stored on the OBDII level. The car's modules go even further and store more detailed fault data (which is what your dealer pulls up). Take it in to another dealer, tell them you had a check engine light event that has since gone away, explain the misfire if it happened, and let them sort it out!

Remember - Santa Monica wouldn't touch it because the device was still on the car. That's fair - it could be causal and they have no way of diagnosing it. By removing it, that is no longer the case, the mechanics can run the usual diaagnostics and system checks without skewed data, and they should be able to determine the failure point. A faulty crank shaft sensor, for example, wouldn't be caused by a JB. They'd have to fix it.

Mike_K

Sounds like you're only flagged at that dealer if that's how he said it. They might have notes in the system for service and comments they gave you though that doesn't necessarily mean you're black listed. Honestly, I don't see what a dealer has to gain by denying warranty coverage. It pisses off the customer for one and it's not as if the dealer wouldn't get paid. Now if you're popping engines and you roll in with full bolt-ons and a tune that's one thing but just the basic tune... meh. I don't get why they'd go out of their way not to do the work, inconvenience you and cost themselves money in the first place. If someone with dealership experience wants to explain why they do it I'm all ears.

The problem with the JB+ is that even if you take it out I don't believe it has the capability to clear the codes. You need the JB4 to do that.

Most likely you have a bad injector (or injectors), a coil or plugs. I just had the same issue and 3 injectors were replaced. It would misfire when cold and then after a couple minutes it would drive fine.

You might consider the upgrade to a JB4 though so you have the ability to delete codes in the future.

gwizzzzz

UPDATE: leaking injectors and faulty spark plug were the culprits, just as everyone said. After getting a lot help from Tonyb365, I got my codes cleared from a local BMW repair shop and waited for the check engine light to reappear before service. I brought it to South Bay BMW with no mention of my previous visits. Car fixed, no questions asked. I guess they did not flag the car. I will clear my codes and remove all tunes before servicing the car. Lesson learned. Now for that JB4...

balbs

When I first got my car, it was first serviced by the dealer. After the warranty ran out I started taking it to a reputable independent. Now the crazy part. He pulled up the full history of the car even from different dealerships. He was able to see all the notes on each service.

Booyaazaa

Very nice. Glad to see it worked out for you.

Gene