Kell

Well, the plot thickens.

The car is now with BMW as they supplied the pump last year. But they can't find the fault either. THey're using some system where by the guys at Brackley can check the car remotely for problems. Popped in today for a progress report and had one the guys tell us that the car as a whole has electrical problems. Wonderful.

So, still not fixed and likely to get far worse before it gets better.

Knew I should have bought another Audi.

Kell

Car's now been with BMW for another week. They couldn't find the fault, and so connected it to the BMW tech guys in Brackley.

Upshot is that they've now sourced the problem to the connectors. The problem being that the connectors are only available as part of the wiring loom. Which is £1,300. And a 17 hour job to replace.

I reckon BMW must charge about £100 an hour - so that's a bill of £3,000 we're facing.

Not a happy bunny.

mmitev

What about cleaning/repairing or replacing the connectors with used ones from a breaker? Did the workshop say anything about such possibilities?

And which connectors are these - the ones that go into the compressor, or the ones at the sensors?

These cars are getting older and such cases will become more frequent.. there must be some sort of alternative solutions, otherwise the scrapyards will be full of cars with "failed connectors" and someone will probably sue BMW for this..?

Kell

Not really sure yet. Still waiting to hear back from the tech guy whether or not the connectors are available separately. Not sure which ones they are, but as my car is only 4 1/2 years' old and was only 6 months out of warranty at the first failure, I'm more than a little peed off.

bigbadbull

Are the connectors Corroding, or are they just worn out?

If they are Corroding there could be other issues.

Kell

Can't say for definite, but the indie guys reckoned there was no evidence of leaking when they had the car.

Kell

Well, I still don't have my car back.

At the moment, BMW are still trying to find out whether the connectors are available separately or they HAVE to be bought as part of a full wiring loom. Apparently it takes 5 working days to even get a response from BMW head Office let alone then have to order the parts if they are available.

While we toyed with the idea of getting something second hand from a car that's being broken, there'd be no warranty if we went that route, and given the problems we've had with this car, the wife wants that feeling of security.

In fact, what she wants right now is just to sell it.

petri

Hi,

Me too just had this "common" problem. After 65k kilometres and 5 years, the hose went bad and it ruined the compressor. New compressor needed (total worth of 1000? fix).
Dealers should fix that hose as a standard service procedure for these early models having this rubber hose.
A bit pissed about this sudden expense. Additionally I have to wait that this replacement part ordered... to get it fixed,
just my luck.

Kell

Here's how it's looking right about now:

bigbadbull

That is how mine looked with 10 bags of rock in the back end this weekend coming home from Home Depot.

Just turned it on and me and the wife watched the back end rise up... kinda funny. I had the dealer check out the pump and lines when I had all the wiring replaced. It already had the braided one on in.

You find about any thing about the wiring yet?