All good, except...

Z

Z4M_Trinity

Member
Well I've had my Coupe for 5 months now, and I absolutely love it and wouldn't change it for the world! (Well, not at least until I buy another M :P).

But I have got a few issues (posting them mainly to see if anyone else has had them/any advice)...

1. Emissions light has been on for about 3 months. At first it was intermittent and now it's permanent. I went to a dealership and they told me in the later versions of the car there are two hoses for air intake, and one is not used. They blocked this one off and said that is their first port of call for the problem. It didn't work...I'm pretty sure they knew it wouldn't (long story - lets just say I've had some bad experience with that dealership). Various things has halted me getting this fixed.

2. Seat panel(s) are broken/collapsed. The bottom seat panels (especially on the right hand side, under my right ass cheek!!) creak and give way under my weight (I'm not a fat heffer, they just do!). Started about a month ago and got steadily worse...seems to just be on the base of the back panel on the bottom of the seat, but VERY annoying. Probably the one problem that drives me up the wall the most!

3. Gearbox 1st-2nd shifting. I've seen this problem on here before - basically - after accelerating, usually to quite high revs, in 1st, I go to shift into 2nd - foot fully down on the clutch - and it's almost like I haven't pressed the clutch at all, and the gearbox grinds away as if I haven't...have to wait a half a second, let the revs die, and try again. Only happens in this instance. I have read that some of you managed to get the gearbox/clutch changed under warranty, with varying results.

4. Windscreen Wiper motor squeaking. Seems to only be on the return stroke, and it's definitely not the blade on the windscreen, the actual motor seems to make a noise when returning to it's idle point. Annoying!!

I have a service coming up (Insp 1.) and going to try and get them to fix all this then!! If anyone has any experience in any of these, or any advice/suggestions I'd be welcome to them.

Many thanks for taking the time to read! :).
 
I don't have an M, but I know from posts regarding manual Zs of all kinds on here that 3 sounds like it's caused by something called a Clutch Delay Valve that is fitted to 'protect' the gearbox/engine from the clutch just being dumped - easy mod if you are handy round cars, or something you can get an Indy to do for you I think. I have an auto so don't have a CDV apparently. Do a search for clutch delay valve and you should find loads :thumbsup:

As for 4, I had this - on mine it wasn't the motor, I just sprayed 3-in-1 oil on every joint i could find on the wiper from the connection on the car body to the tip of the blade (so the flexible mounts on the metal of the wiper too) and it went away.

Hope these help and you fix the rest :thumbsup:
 
Bing, thanks for the reply...

Yeah, I've heard of the CDV. I have heard, however that this will void the warranty. Something -- going by the other problems I have -- I get the feeling I might need!

Thanks for the advice about the wiper, I will try it!! :).
 
#1, that's the first time i've heard of anything like that! What do you mean by "two hoses for air intake, and one is not used." Sounds like they're trying to pull a fast one on you. Did they tell you what the fault code is? If there's an engine light ON on the dash there's a fault code to go with it. If you haven't experienced anything wrong with the car, other than the light being ON i would suggest it's faulty O2/lambda sensor. Mine ran fine for more than a month with a faulty sensor but it eventually started running very rich and rough and i'm guessing contributed to my catalytic converters being destroyed...

Does #3 happen when you're really gunning it? I.e. high revs, fast shift? If so it's a somewhat common issue. Not many things you can do to fix it other than changing the whole gearbox, some success has been reported by installing slightly stiffer transmission mounts and/or replacing the transmission fluid. Mine does it too and i've replaced my transmission mounts with Rogue Engineering ones and it's helped but it very occasionally still does it.
 
#2 I had the same problem with mine and in the end they replaced the leather on the seat back. IIRC BMW paid for it out of goodwill because trim wasn't covered under my AUC warranty. I'm sure I did a thread on it at the time. I'm typing this on my iPhone but I'll try and find it later.
 
Z4M_Trinity said:
Bing, thanks for the reply...

Yeah, I've heard of the CDV. I have heard, however that this will void the warranty. Something -- going by the other problems I have -- I get the feeling I might need!

Thanks for the advice about the wiper, I will try it!! :).
Click to expand...

They would have to prove that the lack of a cdv was the cause of the problem to void a warranty claim. Its also unlikely they would know its been modified (except by driving it maybe)
 
Cheers for the replies...

ga41 - I agree completely. I kinda knew they were having me on when they went to get the car from the back, and it took them a while...saw the service representative run back to his desk and talk to someone quickly before going back to the workshop. My guess is he just went back and reset the computer or something! I'm pretty sure it's a faulty sensor too, so I'm hoping it gets sorted when I go to a decent dealership.

As for #3 - Yeah it's when I'm gunning it. Good to know I'm not the only one, like I said I thought I'd seen people with this before. I'll ask when I get the service done, see if there's anything they can do.


guvnor - It's actually not the seat back, it's the base. I'm pretty sure it's whatever is under the leather. Never heard of it before tbh, I would had thought they were made slightly better! I just hope it's covered under warranty.


hutch - Fair enough, might have a look into it! Thanks :).
 
If you're still under warranty pressure them to replace the gearbox, have no idea if they will but it can't hurt to try.
 
Sounds like you don't trust the dealership in question. Maybe worth taking it somewhere else for a second opinion. 8)
 
Adelphi2 said:
Sounds like you don't trust the dealership in question. Maybe worth taking it somewhere else for a second opinion. 8)
Click to expand...

x2 :thumbsup:

You could get a trusted indy's opinion to provide ammo, though of course they probably can't do the work under warranty. Not sure though - never had a warranty.
 
I've just called and booked into a different dealership. Been there with my last car and they were great, so looking forward to seeing what they come up with :).

My guess is they may need the car for another day after I take it in, as they will probably need to order parts for the seat (?).
 
I've had 3 and 4 on mine, point 3 I got a new clutch under warranty, and iirc they said I had some corossion on a spline or something which was also fixed. Please note that this is not due to having a CDV fitted. That was nearly 3 years ago, no problems since. There's a thread on here 3 pages long talking about the issue should still be on page 1 of the M board.

Point 4, is also a common fault, its actually the wiper arm that is squeaking, not the motor but I put some wd40 on mine 3 years ago and it hasn't come back.

Point 1 - is likely to be one of the o2 sensors, again very common.

Point 2 - Never heard of this.
 
Cool, I'll have a chat to them about the clutch etc. And I'll try and find some WD40 for the wiper, would be good to try and get one of these fixed by myself! :).

Will be nice to have the car back to the way it was when I bought it, and really start enjoying it again! :D.
 
I've had 3 o2 sensors for the record. Post cat first, then less than a month later the precat sensor went...Nothing for 2yrs then about 2months ago one of them went again, i forgot to ask which.

I've had alot of issues with mine, i was about to cancel the warranty but then i've started having brake issues...hopefully that's rectified following yesterdays mend.
 
I've got the same issues with the seat & wiper, intermittently since I bought the car 5 years ago. They tried to fix the seat a few times but I stopped short of making them swap it, I agree it's very annoying especially if it creaks or clicks when pressing on, it's a distraction for sure.

It'll be an O2 sensor on #1 too, hopefully the new dealer will sort that in a day. You should notice a big performance increase if it's been on for 3months, with all this cold air at the moment it will feel a lot sharper 8)
 
Oh god, I hope they are actually able to fix it. It's almost unbearable!

As for the O2 sensor, excellent I'm looking forward to the performace increase!! :)
 
#1 O2 sensor - had one replaced for free (no warranty)

#2 I have my seat at the rear most end of its travel and the seat leather squeaks on the bulk head. When it annoys me enough I nudge it forward a little. Doesn't sound like your problem is that simple though.

#3 I have this problem too. From what I've read, it's a "characteristic" of the gearbox. I'm going to remove my CDV next week, but I don't expect any significant change. I suspect the synchro can't keep up at high revs under the high torque of first gear.

#4 Yep, I have this too, exactly as you describe... Although mine only seems to squeak when it's raining :D Actually, it stopped a while ago without my attempting to fix it.

I wonder when are you going to experience the next common problem of rear spring failure...
 
Yeah #2 - I have the seat far back as well and had that problem, but it's not that.

Oh dear, that doesn't sounds like fun, rear spring? How do I know I've got that? Just feels weird handling wise or noises also?
 
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