BMWs phone home

TallTom

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Just when you thought it was expensive enough, I learned today that my girlfriends BMW uses a special power steering fluid. It put up a service warning for power steering fluid. I went out to check it, and she gets a call from BMW saying that if she did anything herself it would void the warranty. Jesus H Christopher the car has some way of knowing when you are doing something to it. But they cover anything like this under warranty. Scares the crap out of me what happens when it isn't in warranty anymore.

I don't know if there are any other Bimmer owners here but The Heck With That plan. This car has so many computers it always flags some issue. I think they are crap from the time I have observed driving it.
 
We have owned two BMW vehicles, and now a bike. Best plan you can have is never own one unless you have a warranty. They are great cars and fun to drive, but lordy are they expensive to work on. Keep your warranty bro, you will be glad you did.
 
When I bought my 2004 Audi S4 new and took it in for maintenance after returning to the States a salesman approached me and asked if I was interested in looking at something. I told him that I had an S4 in service for some maintenance and he asked if I wanted to trade it in. I laughed a bit and told him no, he said to come and see him when the service warranty runs out because the bills will change my mind.

I didn't laugh at that one and ended up trading in the S4 on a Jeep Grand Cherokee free and clear. It was an amazing car and a lot of fun to drive, but I was not going to pay $1000 for brakes, etc...
 
She got a flat tire on the run flat tire. Light comes on, to tell you tire fault, power is reduced, and you have to take it into the BMW dealership. Left rear tire had picked up a sidewall gash. No problem says BMW. It will be $2800 for a new set of tires. But why these only have 14K on them? Well the traction control system won't work properly if the tread depth is different on the tires. One new tire would cause the traction control to fault, and power to be reduced and speed to be limited.

I'm sorry. The car is heavy, no matter how powerful it is, you KNOW you are driving a big heavy car.

But I think these are built to purposely be expensive. They did a turbo recall for some sort of waste gate "rattle" on the left side. Under boost the wastegate would "flutter" causing the boost to "flutter" in that bank. Causing the computer to go absolutely nuts. Causing it to fault anytime you went into boost. BMW fixed it under warranty. She asked, why not change them both. Answer, because it is a $6000 repair that BMW won't let them do until the "rattle" makes itself known. They did however, as part of the recall, extend the warranty out to like 100K miles.
 
I went out to check it, and she gets a call from BMW saying that if she did anything herself it would void the warranty.

I'd just play their game. Since driving the car with a low fluid level IS neglect and reason to void a warranty, insist they send out a tow truck and deliver a rental car. That roadside assistance plan is part of their 4 year warranty.

Out of warranty...things like brake pads would be done in my own garage for $100 bucks vs. $1,000. For tires, the car would have gone to any of a dozen local tire places and had the correct size tires installed for 1/3 the price.
If they claim it will void the warranty, I'd have them put it in writing and then sue the hell out of them over the Magnuson-Moss Act. I'm sure that any tire manufacturer that was chosen would also love a piece of that action too.

At 14K miles, 1 tire vs. all 4 would be a gray area as no AWD/ABS/TC system is going to be that sensitive. Towards the end of the typical 50K mile lifespan, the tires are going to vary a lot more than that. It's nothing more than typical scamming dealer BS to increase sales. On the other hand, if you did end up with a system control issue, you can bet they'll blame it on one tire having an extra 2mm of tread on it.
 
I'd just play their game. Since driving the car with a low fluid level IS neglect and reason to void a warranty, insist they send out a tow truck and deliver a rental car. That roadside assistance plan is part of their 4 year warranty.

Yep to what you said. I will add that the Power Steering system faulted after I had taken it out in "sport" mode and had been winding her out some. Perhaps the temp got high. IDK. It apparently actually has a P/S filter as well. She also has 2 other system faults. One is for a left side driving light. BMW told her it was a wiring harness fault and that they would need the car a week. The other is for the seat power bolster system. It automatically adjust to your body as you speed up or slow down. That faulted after she spilled some drink in that seat. Of course that is out of warranty and of course BMW wants a fortune for that. Seats that can't get wet are a stupid idea.

She has told them, get her a temporary replacement vehicle and fix it all and that it should all be under warranty. The P/S fault is a yellow warning, not a red stop driving fault. They offered her a 3 series replacement and she reminded them that the warranty states EQUAL car as temporary. That has sort of got them to a little bit of an impasse point.

IDK, but I just don't see what the appeal is to these things if all they do is act finicky at the slightest thing.
 
Don't even worry about it, just let them handle everything under warranty! If she plans to keep it long term get the extended service plan/warranty and don't worry about a thing except tires... :thumbsup:

We have had great luck with the cars and would buy one again and again and again. Even outside warranty if you do your own work they really aren't that expensive. Depending on the model and options very easy to work on if you source your parts from the right place. The dealer will completely DESTROY you on prices and repair costs if you have them fix anything outside warranty (500%+). If you aren't comfortable doing the repairs then you probably should sell it when you near the end of the warranty... :whistle:
 
At 14K miles, 1 tire vs. all 4 would be a gray area as no AWD/ABS/TC system is going to be that sensitive. Towards the end of the typical 50K mile lifespan, the tires are going to vary a lot more than that. It's nothing more than typical scamming dealer BS to increase sales. On the other hand, if you did end up with a system control issue, you can bet they'll blame it on one tire having an extra 2mm of tread on it.

I don't know what kind of tires are on that car or the normal lifespan, but it's within reason that a high performance tire will get 12-25k miles, so 14k might be pushing it already. You typically don't get 50k unless it's a cheapie tire (harder rubber)
 
I do all my own work on my M which is now out of warranty. I have had to buy an extra tool or two and preplan maintenance items to shop online for best prices, but usually upgrade to a/m when something needs replaced, or buy used. I love my little hotrod roadster, but for a DD, I'd get the extended warranty and sell before it expired. While at work, I've seen dozens of older models that keep going for years after falling into neglect from lack of maintenance, so they are pretty durable, I think. A lot of thought, technology, and neat ideas go into these cars that is pretty much invisible unless something goes wrong. I agree with earlier posts about playing their game on in warranty stuff, but defer to common sense for everything else. BMW dealers' BS is legendary.
 
Oh and the I-Drive.......can go suck canal water!!!!!

So let me ask this for those that keep them and work on them yourself. How in God's name do you talk to and eliminate the faults when they are set? For instance, in the case of the seat fault. You would take the seat apart yourself? It has about 28 adjustments and associated motor and electronics.
 
Haven't dealt with that one, but pretty much what we do here on our bike forum. Join bimmerfest and chances are someone else has had a similar problem. There is usually a way to bypass with a jumper or resistor, or trick the computer if you can't find a cheap used part to correct it. Not every scanner has the ability to reset BMW stuff though. There is likely a model that doesn't have your seat option, so I bet there is an easy way to get rid of the fault if not to fix the problem. What is the vehicle anyway?
 
One of my seat motors has conked out....there is no telling how much...
 
One of my seat motors has conked out....there is no telling how much...

She is quoted $1200 for the seat fix. She is arguing that the seat suffered nothing that a car shouldn't be designed to see. It has cup holders for a reason. A sudden stop shouldn't run $1200 in seat repairs.
 
At 14K miles, 1 tire vs. all 4 would be a gray area as no AWD/ABS/TC system is going to be that sensitive. Towards the end of the typical 50K mile lifespan, the tires are going to vary a lot more than that. It's nothing more than typical scamming dealer BS to increase sales. On the other hand, if you did end up with a system control issue, you can bet they'll blame it on one tire having an extra 2mm of tread on it.

Only problem is most (if not all) new BMW models come with run flat tires, which are great if your wife/family is driving them for safety reasons but HORRIBLE for every other reason. Under normal wear, you are lucky to get more than 12k-miles out of a set. That's normally one of the first things people replace. I wish BMW would just go back to regular tires and a full size spare like in Germany...

Oh and the I-Drive.......can go suck canal water!!!!!

So let me ask this for those that keep them and work on them yourself. How in God's name do you talk to and eliminate the faults when they are set? For instance, in the case of the seat fault. You would take the seat apart yourself? It has about 28 adjustments and associated motor and electronics.

Don't get me wrong, I HATE the iDrive crap also. That's one thing I wish BMW would have never done or at least forced you to do now since every US spec car comes with it standard... :banghead:

As far as service lights, depends on your model but really it's EASY:

She is quoted $1200 for the seat fix. She is arguing that the seat suffered nothing that a car shouldn't be designed to see. It has cup holders for a reason. A sudden stop shouldn't run $1200 in seat repairs.

I thought you said it was under warranty? She shouldn't be paying a dime, tell them to fix it at no charge and give her a free loaner vehicle while she waits.

What year/model/engine/etc.. BMW does she have?
 
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My 128 I bought with an extended warranty, I didnt pay for it, it had been sold to the 2nd owner as CPO so I get the 100K mile extension woohoo! So far the car has had no issues at all. I DID have a flat and the RFT's didtheir thing. I called BMW to come pick up the car and me and they did so at NO charge...of course at the Stealership they quoted me 500 bucks for 1 tire, which to get my car out I reluctantly paid thensmoked all the RFT's of their remaining life and went to NON RFT's on my 128 and it is AWESOME without them.

The 135 is still kinda new for a 12 and I don't see voiding the warranty anytime soon so Im not so worried about it but I will be dumping the RFT's on that one too when it's time, and yeah I-drive sucks ballz far as Im concerned. I would find a local mechanic that KNOWS Beemers and will NOT rip you off. I am lucky that I have one and even though my 128 is still under warranty I take it for him for oil chnages, brakes etc. BMW quoted me 1300 per axle to do my brakes on the 128 my mechanic charged me 600 bucks all the way around including turning the rotors. GREAT cars, very expensive don't buy into the stealership crap like any other vehicle.
Later good luck
 
I thought you said it was under warranty? She shouldn't be paying a dime, tell them to fix it at no charge and give her a free loaner vehicle while she waits.

What year/model/engine/etc.. BMW does she have?

No they said it wasn't going to be under warranty because she spilled a drink on it. She is saying it should be under warranty. It's a 2012 750il Twin Turbo.
 
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