Disappointed after spending ££££

[Popey]

Ive always been pleased with Darren Wood and over the years I have sent a lot of money with them including a vanos rebuild.

This time my car was in for inspection II and to investigate my battery going flat, lazy start, lumpy when cold, cutting out when revs drop. I now have my car back but issues are on going.

They diagnosed my battery issue as an alternator which made sense so it was replaced by a genuine BMW part (provided by me). I picked my car with a clean bill of health. However the battery was soon going flat so I called them up and they said it must be the battery, bring it back we will replace it (under warranty as they changed it 3 years ago). So I drive all the way back and they say the battery is ok, its a faulty alternator. They changed the battery anyway just to be sure. I was disappointed this wasn't picked up before they handed the car back to me. Anyway they hand me the keys and say as its a genuine part it can be changed under parts warranty at a BMW dealer. If it wasn't a warranty job I would be off to the Zed Shed.

Fortunately I work for BMW so off I go thinking this will be an easy fix. So I talk to the master technician who says the alternator is fine. He did a test for a drain but found nothing. The car is now on a system to record battery activity over a 72 hour period, after 24 hours i looked today and nothing to report. Looks like my fault is intermittent and going to a pain to find and I will already be looking at a bill

My thoughts now are was my original alternator ever really faulty (I still have it if it can bench tested?). I have lost some confidence in Darren Wood now and I don't think I will be going back.

For those of you thinking why not just take it to my place of work in the first place, simple answer is I like to keep something separate from work and also I have always been happy with DW.

[mr wilks]

Ive always been pleased with Darren Wood and over the years I have sent a lot of money with them including a vanos rebuild.

This time my car was in for inspection II and to investigate my battery going flat, lazy start, lumpy when cold, cutting out when revs drop. I now have my car back but issues are on going.

They diagnosed my battery issue as an alternator which made sense so it was replaced by a genuine BMW part (provided by me). I picked my car with a clean bill of health. However the battery was soon going flat so I called them up and they said it must be the battery, bring it back we will replace it (under warranty as they changed it 3 years ago). So I drive all the way back and they say the battery is ok, its a faulty alternator. They changed the battery anyway just to be sure. I was disappointed this wasn't picked up before they handed the car back to me. Anyway they hand me the keys and say as its a genuine part it can be changed under parts warranty at a BMW dealer. If it wasn't a warranty job I would be off to the Zed Shed.

Fortunately I work for BMW so off I go thinking this will be an easy fix. So I talk to the master technician who says the alternator is fine. He did a test for a drain but found nothing. The car is now on a system to record battery activity over a 72 hour period, after 24 hours i looked today and nothing to report. Looks like my fault is intermittent and going to a pain to find and I will already be looking at a bill

My thoughts now are was my original alternator ever really faulty (I still have it if it can bench tested?). I have lost some confidence in Darren Wood now and I don't think I will be going back.

For those of you thinking why not just take it to my place of work in the first place, simple answer is I like to keep something separate from work and also I have always been happy with DW.

The indy i use is in Grt Harwood so not far from your workplace , id definitely recommend him , never charges for any diagnostic work & i believe Bowker use him on occasion when they can't fix something themselves

[ian in lancs]

Any experience of https://www.facebook.com/ZedShedNW/ ?

[Z4M-2006]

I’m sure they wouldn’t have changed the alternator for no reason..you may have a wiring issue that was showing low charge rate or the rectifier in the alternator was showing poor charge rate ..

Chances are the battery was ok, but they changed it anyway to make sure and show goodwill

With the ongoing tests it sounds like you have a pig of a fault.. intermittent are the worse you can get for diagnosing the problem .
It could still be your alternator, I have fitted “ new” parts that are faulty, The problem being is that you have to catch the fault when it’s doing it...
All the testing in the world won’t show a problem that isn’t there .

To summarise, you probably had a 10 yr old + alternator that was showing poor performance, so as a first port of call for the electrical system that had to be corrected, it hasn’t cured the fault unfortunately.

This is the problem when customers supply there own parts, if you hadn’t and DW suplied a alternator that’s suspected of faults the your car would still be in there hands and deeper investigation would be taking place.

Now the diagnostic trail is fragmented..

I have worked many times myself with BMW “ warranty “ parts and they are nothing but arseholes.. trying every possible angle to avoid replacement or payment for labour times ..

Hopefully with you working at BMW they just might replace the alternator as a matter of due course to eliminate that being the intermittent fault..