Page 1 of 1

Help appreciated. Alignment & DTC problem following pothole

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 9:21 am
by Tamman69
Hi All

Ok despite my best dodging and weaving on the roads of this accursed country I have finally succumbed to a crater (massive potholes!), at least it took a year. The jarring thump is not something you want to experience...

I now have an alignment problem, at the very least. The car is drifting to the left, the front left wheel is visibly slightly pointing to the left when all others are straight.

In addition I have some lovely warning lights on the Dash. They are yellow and to my eye correspond with the following part of the handbook.

Image

The noteable consequence, so far, of these is that the 2 second 'hill start' brake hold is no longer working.

Would appreciate any advice as to what you guys think has gone wrong, before I take it to the garage and get the expensive lowdown from the ONLY dealer in the country...

Re: Help appreciated. Alignment & DTC problem following poth

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:08 am
by cj10jeeper
Wel you have clearly bent something on the suspension and if enough to be visible then the car should NOT be driven and needs towing/trailer to the garage. At best you'll destroy the tyre scrubbing off tread, worst cause and accident if something finally breaks.

As to what causing the warning. I'd put my money on a punctured RFT tyre and possibly knocking an ABS sensor off the wheel, but speculation.

Re: Help appreciated. Alignment & DTC problem following poth

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:11 am
by sk93
also - remember you should be able to claim all of this back from the council - so get it looked at and fixed by a good BMW Dealer!

Re: Help appreciated. Alignment & DTC problem following poth

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:16 am
by cj10jeeper
sk93 wrote:also - remember you should be able to claim all of this back from the council - so get it looked at and fixed by a good BMW Dealer!
I'm not by any means convinced Tamman is in the UK :poke:

Re: Help appreciated. Alignment & DTC problem following poth

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:18 am
by pvr
cj10jeeper wrote:
sk93 wrote:also - remember you should be able to claim all of this back from the council - so get it looked at and fixed by a good BMW Dealer!
I'm not by any means convinced Tamman is in the UK :poke:
British Empire is vast :P

Re: Help appreciated. Alignment & DTC problem following poth

Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:36 am
by Tamman69
British Empire WAS vast :P The Empire on which the sun never set (though the Irish will tell you this is because you can't trust an Englishman in the dark), but I digress.

No, I'm working out in the Balkans these days, approaching the local council here would cause much merriment I suspect - pothole dodging and Tank track groove avoiding is the national sport. The Z4 is utterly inappropriate here, everyone else with any sense drives a 4x4. But on every other day it brings me a lot of joy. Nice to see a Lichfield moderator though cj10, I was born in unruly Tamworth next door.

Agreed I will be trying not to drive it anywhere, though limping to the BMW dealer may be compulsory, it was driveable home with a slightly cockeyed steering wheel positioning. Don't think it is the runflat, I've already dealt with that warning system on another irritating incident in Corfu...

It's beginning to feel expensive.

Re: Help appreciated. Alignment & DTC problem following poth

Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 4:09 pm
by Tamman69
Update:

Limped in to BMW today and got the news at home.

Replacement wishbone required. €159. Total job cost including labour and alignment €272. I can't really argue and it could have been worse I suspect. Having said that this is the first step in making sure all is well.

Part will take 10 - 15 days to get here in the outer rim... No fun for a couple of weeks then. : (

Re: Help appreciated. Alignment & DTC problem following poth

Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 4:50 pm
by cj10jeeper
Well that's not too bad given a single damaged rim and tyre would have cost more than that

Delays on part is not good