Have I bought a money pit?
- Thread starter Stigbew
- Start date
lets see if we can restart it if you come round eh,
we will start with my nice fat jump leads
we will start with my nice fat jump leads
I had the dreaded EPS light on after my battery gave up the fight. I had it scanned and it read that the EPS motor ECU was not talking to the car. I removed the motor (bit of a fiddle) and sent it off to ECU testing. £300 and 4 days later my PS was working again.
You can still drive the car, just need Popeye arms at low speeds.
Good luck
You can still drive the car, just need Popeye arms at low speeds.
Good luck
firebobby said:I had the dreaded EPS light on after my battery gave up the fight. I had it scanned and it read that the EPS motor ECU was not talking to the car. I removed the motor (bit of a fiddle) and sent it off to ECU testing. £300 and 4 days later my PS was working again.
You can still drive the car, just need Popeye arms at low speeds.
Good luck
That seems to be worst case scenario, ECU testing come well recommended and my dad actually got some work done by them years ago.
I have still been driving it, parallel parking has become a gym session!
well we jumped it and poked it and carly'd it and found almost nothing except a reference to his alarm and according to carly he only had 2 faults (mine has 13) but it refused to see anything wrong with the none working power steering, to be honest im rather suspicious of the new shiney carly2 being related to a chocolate teapot in its new guise, maybe spending too much time trying to block non paying members.
Here is the big update!
Took it to an indy called Autotechnik today, they charged £78 for the diagnosis.
(www.auto-technik.co.uk)
...and the EPS motor is dead
, this was worst case scenario but I was prepared for this and have researched ECU Testing who will repair and refurbish my motor for £378 inc VAT + Postage. This means I need to remove the steering rack and motor which I don't know how to do but hopefully someone can point me in the direction of a good tutorial. For the indy to replace the motor they wanted... drum roll please...
£3102.04!!! Almost laughed when I heard that one. :x
As for the rest of the car the outlook wasn't much better, rear coil totally sheared (which didn't appear on the MOT less than 3 weeks ago hmmm) and I will detail the other problems and quotes below.
EPS module/steering column replacement £3102.04
Real coil springs £169.26
Auxiliary belt (worn) £75.52
NSF Tyre perished £121.86
OSF p bush and alignment £171.34
Oil filter housing gasket and engine clean and recheck £187.57
Rear discs and pads £231.88
Futher investigation into parking sensor fault £78.00
All including parts/labour/VAT
Obviously left kindly saying no thank you to all of the above but it is quite the list for me to be getting on with. They sent me a video of the car which I understand is becoming pretty standard nowadays which you can view here
(https://app.myservicetrust.co.uk/video/bd890c801abdff2cb516246a1386f000)
So £4137.47 in quoted repairs on a car I paid significantly less than that on. Any help or advice will be greatly received!
Took it to an indy called Autotechnik today, they charged £78 for the diagnosis.
(www.auto-technik.co.uk)
...and the EPS motor is dead
, this was worst case scenario but I was prepared for this and have researched ECU Testing who will repair and refurbish my motor for £378 inc VAT + Postage. This means I need to remove the steering rack and motor which I don't know how to do but hopefully someone can point me in the direction of a good tutorial. For the indy to replace the motor they wanted... drum roll please...£3102.04!!! Almost laughed when I heard that one. :x
As for the rest of the car the outlook wasn't much better, rear coil totally sheared (which didn't appear on the MOT less than 3 weeks ago hmmm) and I will detail the other problems and quotes below.
EPS module/steering column replacement £3102.04
Real coil springs £169.26
Auxiliary belt (worn) £75.52
NSF Tyre perished £121.86
OSF p bush and alignment £171.34
Oil filter housing gasket and engine clean and recheck £187.57
Rear discs and pads £231.88
Futher investigation into parking sensor fault £78.00
All including parts/labour/VAT
Obviously left kindly saying no thank you to all of the above but it is quite the list for me to be getting on with. They sent me a video of the car which I understand is becoming pretty standard nowadays which you can view here
(https://app.myservicetrust.co.uk/video/bd890c801abdff2cb516246a1386f000)
So £4137.47 in quoted repairs on a car I paid significantly less than that on. Any help or advice will be greatly received!
A
Anonymous
Guest
Well, there are several angles to this...
On the one hand you have been unlucky in having a number of issues all at once.
I can’t help feeling somebody off loaded this onto someone with a lack of knowledge about the type
Clearly as you highlighted on the steering , you can reduce the prices on much of the work with better sourcing and using a trusted garage to simply swap bits
Most of the failures you have are seen on the E85 especially a 14 year old one, probably multiple owners, dubious service history and I guess a highish mileage.
If buying old cheap high mileage cars was a lot better than new (ish) cars we would all be on a winner..
I have to say I only learnt many things long after I bought my car..I was lucky/bought from a bmw main dealer/newer car/later model/lower mileage
It’s not quite tough love but a sad example of going into with the eyes not fully open...as I say I have done the same thing..but I’ve been luckier, in part by paying a lot lot lot more cash than you did..initially...
On the one hand you have been unlucky in having a number of issues all at once.
I can’t help feeling somebody off loaded this onto someone with a lack of knowledge about the type
Clearly as you highlighted on the steering , you can reduce the prices on much of the work with better sourcing and using a trusted garage to simply swap bits
Most of the failures you have are seen on the E85 especially a 14 year old one, probably multiple owners, dubious service history and I guess a highish mileage.
If buying old cheap high mileage cars was a lot better than new (ish) cars we would all be on a winner..
I have to say I only learnt many things long after I bought my car..I was lucky/bought from a bmw main dealer/newer car/later model/lower mileage
It’s not quite tough love but a sad example of going into with the eyes not fully open...as I say I have done the same thing..but I’ve been luckier, in part by paying a lot lot lot more cash than you did..initially...
ok one thing at a time eh..
springs ...ask here.. someone may have some lying around it wqill get you out of a pickle for now.
tyres we talked about..
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUMMER-TYRE-Falken-AZENIS-FK510-225-40-ZR18-92Y-XL-with-MFS-BSW/153408956559?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
springs ...ask here.. someone may have some lying around it wqill get you out of a pickle for now.
tyres we talked about..
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUMMER-TYRE-Falken-AZENIS-FK510-225-40-ZR18-92Y-XL-with-MFS-BSW/153408956559?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
£378 for the ecu repair is steep, it will be the ECU that needs repair, not the motor. You can remove the motor with out taking the column out.Stigbew said:Here is the big update!
Took it to an indy called Autotechnik today, they charged £78 for the diagnosis.
(www.auto-technik.co.uk)
...and the EPS motor is dead
£3102.04!!! Almost laughed when I heard that one. :x
As for the rest of the car the outlook wasn't much better, rear coil totally sheared (which didn't appear on the MOT less than 3 weeks ago hmmm) and I will detail the other problems and quotes below.
EPS module/steering column replacement £3102.04
Real coil springs £169.26
Auxiliary belt (worn) £75.52
NSF Tyre perished £121.86
OSF p bush and alignment £171.34
Oil filter housing gasket and engine clean and recheck £187.57
Rear discs and pads £231.88
Futher investigation into parking sensor fault £78.00
All including parts/labour/VAT
Obviously left kindly saying no thank you to all of the above but it is quite the list for me to be getting on with. They sent me a video of the car which I understand is becoming pretty standard nowadays which you can view here
(https://app.myservicetrust.co.uk/video/bd890c801abdff2cb516246a1386f000)
So £4137.47 in quoted repairs on a car I paid significantly less than that on. Any help or advice will be greatly received!
https://www.ecutesting.com/product-catalogue/bmw/z4/power-steering-eps-electric-power-steering/eps010011/
Rear coils are a piece of pi55 to change and are pretty cheap to buy.
So much of that can be done DIY, depending how handy you are.
firebobby said:£378 for the ecu repair is steep, it will be the ECU that needs repair, not the motor. You can remove the motor with out taking the column out.Stigbew said:Here is the big update!
Took it to an indy called Autotechnik today, they charged £78 for the diagnosis.
(www.auto-technik.co.uk)
...and the EPS motor is dead
£3102.04!!! Almost laughed when I heard that one. :x
As for the rest of the car the outlook wasn't much better, rear coil totally sheared (which didn't appear on the MOT less than 3 weeks ago hmmm) and I will detail the other problems and quotes below.
EPS module/steering column replacement £3102.04
Real coil springs £169.26
Auxiliary belt (worn) £75.52
NSF Tyre perished £121.86
OSF p bush and alignment £171.34
Oil filter housing gasket and engine clean and recheck £187.57
Rear discs and pads £231.88
Futher investigation into parking sensor fault £78.00
All including parts/labour/VAT
Obviously left kindly saying no thank you to all of the above but it is quite the list for me to be getting on with. They sent me a video of the car which I understand is becoming pretty standard nowadays which you can view here
(https://app.myservicetrust.co.uk/video/bd890c801abdff2cb516246a1386f000)
So £4137.47 in quoted repairs on a car I paid significantly less than that on. Any help or advice will be greatly received!
https://www.ecutesting.com/product-catalogue/bmw/z4/power-steering-eps-electric-power-steering/eps010011/
Rear coils are a piece of pi55 to change and are pretty cheap to buy.
So much of that can be done DIY, depending how handy you are.
I'm confused, the link you sent to ECU testing is the same one I'm planning to use, the £378 is just the £305 rebuild including the VAT and postage?
As for being handy I'm always enthusiastic to learn, will attempt pretty much anything that isn't engine or electrical, so hopefully can do all the other jobs myself. I see the hardest being investigating the oil leak depending on where it is.
Update: Took me and my dad about 6 hours, of blood, sweat and swearing but the eps module is out and packaged up ready to be sent off. Ended up being much harder than I thought mostly down to poor access for tools, ended up removing the drivers seat to get enough space and even then was still tricky but glad it's done. Also ordered a new set of coils and taken the old ones off in anticipation of fitting the new ones tomorrow or monday. Thanks for all the advice, couldn't have done it without the forum! 
And a great dad by the sounds of it, I had the ultimate hairdressers car too for a while too, back in the day.
Well this is a resounding endorsement of ECU testing, fantastic service, could not recommend highly enough.
A few things to note, if you go on their website or ring up they will quote £305 plus VAT plus postage. If you go onto their eBay site however you can get it for £300 all in, quite the saving. They are located in Derbyshire which isn’t far from me so I asked if I could drop the module in rather than pay to post it to them, they were more than accommodating of this. Professional looking premises on an industrial site with helpful staff. Got text message alerts with updates about where my unit was in the process. I dropped it off 10am Monday and at 10:30 Tuesday I got a call saying it had been posted by DHL recorded delivery, 12 o’clock today it arrives and after installing it works perfectly.
I was quoted £3102.04 for an Indy to do the work but got the whole job done for £300 using ECU testing and a guide posted on this forum. If anyone has this power steering fault feel free to get in contact and I’ll give any assistance I can.
Can’t wait to drive the car up to Edinburgh (320 miles) this weekend!!!
A few things to note, if you go on their website or ring up they will quote £305 plus VAT plus postage. If you go onto their eBay site however you can get it for £300 all in, quite the saving. They are located in Derbyshire which isn’t far from me so I asked if I could drop the module in rather than pay to post it to them, they were more than accommodating of this. Professional looking premises on an industrial site with helpful staff. Got text message alerts with updates about where my unit was in the process. I dropped it off 10am Monday and at 10:30 Tuesday I got a call saying it had been posted by DHL recorded delivery, 12 o’clock today it arrives and after installing it works perfectly.
I was quoted £3102.04 for an Indy to do the work but got the whole job done for £300 using ECU testing and a guide posted on this forum. If anyone has this power steering fault feel free to get in contact and I’ll give any assistance I can.
Can’t wait to drive the car up to Edinburgh (320 miles) this weekend!!!
