BMW Rant
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BMW Rant
This is going to be a long one.
My mom has a 2008 BMW 535i with almost 30k miles that we bought brand new from BMW of Concord. About 6 months ago it started hesitating from a stop and would kind of "jump" like it wasn't getting enough fuel at the same time or something. I started doing some research and I found out that the TSB (technical service bulletin) for this model lists the high pressure pump as a concern/ After doing some more research I found out that BMW has been replacing a lot of those on this model.
About a month ago, my parents went to the grocery store and while leaving the parking lot, the check engine light came on and the engine shut off. It turned back on and my parents drove it home, and since it is under warranty we had it towed from Vacaville to Concord. It turns out that the high pressure pump broke, but when we got the car back it was still hesitating. We spoke with BMW of Concord and they said nothing was wrong with it. Also, the said "We do not have loaner cars until next week, sorry". According to their policy, people who schedule maintenance in advance get priority, so those who's engines are failing are SOL.
Fast forward to Wednesday night. I got home from class and my mom told me that she was driving the car and the dash lit up with a whole bunch of lights and it said something like "engine not running on full power". She drove it home since she had me nephews and she was down the street. She said that it felt horrible. I was irate when I heard about this, as the car had been at BMW a month before. BMW wanted her to drive the car to Concord! Yeah right. We get free towing under warranty anyways, but that is the worst advice I have ever heard. On top of that, They told her ONCE AGAIN that there were no loaner cars. As we are waiting for the tow truck, I called Concord BMW and asked to speak to the service manager but she was already gone. I left a message explaining that they need to fix the car, and if they are incapable of doing that we'll take it to someone who can and for her to call me back in the morning. She called me in the morning and basically told me that they cannot be "preemptive" about known failing parts because "you cannot see wear marks on things like high pressure pumps", even though they are failing left and right. She gave me the typical stealership runaround, but I wasn't having it. I told her that there are other known issues that should have been fixed the first time the car was having issues instead of letting it break down again. They called later on and said they would need to spend an estimated 14 hours on the car to fix the problems.
My dad went there yesterday and got a loaner car. Needless to say, he had some things to say to them as well and they do not like us at all, because we will not put up with them giving us the runaround.
Today we got the car back and this is what the paperwork states:
"Road tested and found the engine running normally and no warning lights were on. Performed a short test, 2 faults were stored: 2a82 Vanos intake stiff, Mechanically jammed and 3100 Boost Pressure control - Deactivation. Both faults occurred one time at mileage 28633/ AS per SIB 11 02 08 checked the oil filter cap for missing insert. The cap was intact. Will need to remove camshafts and inspect the bearing ledges. There is a known issue of the camshaft hook ring seals wearing grooves in the bearing ledges causing a drop in oil pressure to the Vanos units. Remove both camshafts to inspect the bearing ledges. Found grooves present on both the intake and exhaust bearing ledges. Replaced the four camshaft hook ring seals and both bearing ledges. Installed a new valve cover gasket, new Teflon fuel injector seals." (It goes on to list the defect codes.)
SO anyways. From what I have read on Bimmer forums, a lot of people have had this problem and had the same exact parts replaced. They have not had problems since the replacements.
BMW needs to step up and recall the parts since A LOT of bims are having the same exact issue. Concord BMW needs to not be shady and try to give people the runaround. We will not be getting work done by them again, as we have no faith in their customer service anymore.
My mom has a 2008 BMW 535i with almost 30k miles that we bought brand new from BMW of Concord. About 6 months ago it started hesitating from a stop and would kind of "jump" like it wasn't getting enough fuel at the same time or something. I started doing some research and I found out that the TSB (technical service bulletin) for this model lists the high pressure pump as a concern/ After doing some more research I found out that BMW has been replacing a lot of those on this model.
About a month ago, my parents went to the grocery store and while leaving the parking lot, the check engine light came on and the engine shut off. It turned back on and my parents drove it home, and since it is under warranty we had it towed from Vacaville to Concord. It turns out that the high pressure pump broke, but when we got the car back it was still hesitating. We spoke with BMW of Concord and they said nothing was wrong with it. Also, the said "We do not have loaner cars until next week, sorry". According to their policy, people who schedule maintenance in advance get priority, so those who's engines are failing are SOL.
Fast forward to Wednesday night. I got home from class and my mom told me that she was driving the car and the dash lit up with a whole bunch of lights and it said something like "engine not running on full power". She drove it home since she had me nephews and she was down the street. She said that it felt horrible. I was irate when I heard about this, as the car had been at BMW a month before. BMW wanted her to drive the car to Concord! Yeah right. We get free towing under warranty anyways, but that is the worst advice I have ever heard. On top of that, They told her ONCE AGAIN that there were no loaner cars. As we are waiting for the tow truck, I called Concord BMW and asked to speak to the service manager but she was already gone. I left a message explaining that they need to fix the car, and if they are incapable of doing that we'll take it to someone who can and for her to call me back in the morning. She called me in the morning and basically told me that they cannot be "preemptive" about known failing parts because "you cannot see wear marks on things like high pressure pumps", even though they are failing left and right. She gave me the typical stealership runaround, but I wasn't having it. I told her that there are other known issues that should have been fixed the first time the car was having issues instead of letting it break down again. They called later on and said they would need to spend an estimated 14 hours on the car to fix the problems.
My dad went there yesterday and got a loaner car. Needless to say, he had some things to say to them as well and they do not like us at all, because we will not put up with them giving us the runaround.
Today we got the car back and this is what the paperwork states:
"Road tested and found the engine running normally and no warning lights were on. Performed a short test, 2 faults were stored: 2a82 Vanos intake stiff, Mechanically jammed and 3100 Boost Pressure control - Deactivation. Both faults occurred one time at mileage 28633/ AS per SIB 11 02 08 checked the oil filter cap for missing insert. The cap was intact. Will need to remove camshafts and inspect the bearing ledges. There is a known issue of the camshaft hook ring seals wearing grooves in the bearing ledges causing a drop in oil pressure to the Vanos units. Remove both camshafts to inspect the bearing ledges. Found grooves present on both the intake and exhaust bearing ledges. Replaced the four camshaft hook ring seals and both bearing ledges. Installed a new valve cover gasket, new Teflon fuel injector seals." (It goes on to list the defect codes.)
SO anyways. From what I have read on Bimmer forums, a lot of people have had this problem and had the same exact parts replaced. They have not had problems since the replacements.
BMW needs to step up and recall the parts since A LOT of bims are having the same exact issue. Concord BMW needs to not be shady and try to give people the runaround. We will not be getting work done by them again, as we have no faith in their customer service anymore.
maybe try a different dealership next time? for the few times I had to bring my car into Fremont dealership, they always fix everything I asked and no questions asked, just do it.
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That whole "no loaner car" thing is BS. Every dealership out there has an agreement with a rental car company to supplement their loaners. Most warranty claims require the dealership to supply another car.
I would like to say that BMW is special in this situation, but they aren't. Recalls can cost ten's of millions of dollars. No car company will do them unless they have to.
Subaru didn't do a recall on the turbo feed line filter - and that could taco a motor in short order
I would like to say that BMW is special in this situation, but they aren't. Recalls can cost ten's of millions of dollars. No car company will do them unless they have to.
Subaru didn't do a recall on the turbo feed line filter - and that could taco a motor in short order
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Regarding the no loaner car, they always have loaner cars. That was BS.
Regarding the cam bearing ledges and seals. If the car came in with a CEL they short test it. Probably found a 2A15 fault code. proceeded with low-fp and high fp tests. High fp test failed thus the HPP was replaced. Then they road test it again after the adaptations are cleared. If it drives and works well they CANNOT just go looking for bulletins and start replacing "common" failure parts. The ledges and seals set a completely different fault. I mean come on, why would a dealership turn away money from BMWNA. It sucks the way Concord handle your situation with the loaner car but come on Im sure they have a Enterprise rent-a-car on site they can give you a voucher for.
For a part to go into recall is not as simple as "well a bunch of these parts are failing, we should send out letters to all owners and have them replaced." It just does not work like that. They have to do research and make sure the number of affected vehicles is worth the trouble.
In any case I'm glad they ended up fixing the car. I agree don't take crap from anyone but don't push too hard or it can bite you in the butt later.
Regarding the cam bearing ledges and seals. If the car came in with a CEL they short test it. Probably found a 2A15 fault code. proceeded with low-fp and high fp tests. High fp test failed thus the HPP was replaced. Then they road test it again after the adaptations are cleared. If it drives and works well they CANNOT just go looking for bulletins and start replacing "common" failure parts. The ledges and seals set a completely different fault. I mean come on, why would a dealership turn away money from BMWNA. It sucks the way Concord handle your situation with the loaner car but come on Im sure they have a Enterprise rent-a-car on site they can give you a voucher for.
For a part to go into recall is not as simple as "well a bunch of these parts are failing, we should send out letters to all owners and have them replaced." It just does not work like that. They have to do research and make sure the number of affected vehicles is worth the trouble.
In any case I'm glad they ended up fixing the car. I agree don't take crap from anyone but don't push too hard or it can bite you in the butt later.
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The loaner car thing is because the bonus paid out to the service managers is based on NET profits, if they have to give out more loaners, then they get less profit, hence lower bonuses.
The other issue that comes up sometimes, are the TSB and warranty repairs - again the corporate only pays about 66% of the labor that customers do, so if they can NOT do a recall/TSB/warranty work on the corporate, and instead charge it to the customer, the dealerships make more money, more profit equals larger bonues for service managers.
Need to realize that service mgr job is a sales job.
The other issue that comes up sometimes, are the TSB and warranty repairs - again the corporate only pays about 66% of the labor that customers do, so if they can NOT do a recall/TSB/warranty work on the corporate, and instead charge it to the customer, the dealerships make more money, more profit equals larger bonues for service managers.
Need to realize that service mgr job is a sales job.
