BMW Z4 3.0Si (2006/E85) - 50,000 miles

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domz43.0si

New member
I took my car into BMW Evere (Brussels) to fix an intermittent warning light in my dashboard - the 'engine' warning light. I explained to the service person that bizarrely enough it seemed to be coupled with the outside ambient temp. In the summer months, the light would never come on and only showed itself in the winter. I also communicated that the engine sounded fine and that the performance envelope seemed fully accessible. BMW EVERE called the next day to say that they needed to replace the distributor/timing chain and tensioner and would order the part (yikes!!!). I stated my surprise as a) I had no heard any additional mechanical noises and b) was this coupled with the warning light only coming on below 7C. I gave my go ahead to have the work done.

Went to pick the car and service manager indicated that in fact the timing/distributor chain was fine and that they only had to replace the crankshaft sensor (relief now!!!). HOWEVER, the bill came €1,131.87 :headbang: :headbang:

The question is why have I had to pay for nearly 7.6 hours of labour? Was the bill at €1,131.87 not exorbitant to just replace a crankshaft sensor? Having checked forums with this particular issue, there seems to be two causes - either the camshaft or crankshaft sensors. Timing/distributor chain issues are not normally present in this engine family, right? To finish the long story, the light came on again this morning..... :cry: :cry: :cry:

At a loss what to do now!!
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Get it back to the dealer ASAP and tell them that despite the horrendous bill they haven't fixed the problem.

Id be looking for about £1k off that and the problem readdressed. They are obviously clutching at straws and at their rates you expect expertise, not guessing games.

Try and negotiate reasonably first, then start mentioning adverse publicity.

Goof luck.
 
I contacted the Belgian BMW sales company and together with the concessionaire, their response was no goodwill or commercial gesture at all as the car is now over 5 years old even though it has a BMWFSH. Their arrogance as well is insulting - yes bring the car back to us and if we diagnose faulty parts fitted by us, we will cover the cost otherwise we will continue searching and this could cost me another €1k.

How can we hurt BMW the most with adverse publicity - I've written to the local car mags here and offered a letter for printing.

BTW, I also suffered ''swirl flap failure' on a E60 530d, also BMWFSH and it was just 2 months outside their Premium Select Warranty (offered on their second hand cars). That cost me €3k with BMW stumping up the remaining €4k. Honestly, I've run BMWs now for 30 years and their post 2005 cars are rubbish when it comes to durability... :headbang: :headbang:
 
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