Help! Warning Lights and a tow from the AA

W

wattsie

Member
Guys... I need some help!

I have as you may be aware, had my Z4 (3.0i 2003) for just 10 days, so when it lost power on the motorway today i was very unhappy!

Mr AA man came a towed me back home, but for some reason i had in my head the warranty would involve a pick up. Turns out it had to be dropped off at the garage I got it from!

So the problem is:

I have the EML light on
I have the Engine light on
I have the Dynamic Stability Control light on
I have the handbrake light on (when the handbrake is disengaged)

The car starts then all these light stay lit, all in orange. pressing the accelerator makes it rev to about 1200 revs' then drop to tick over, and 1200 and tick over etc. I can move the at about 2 miles an hour.

Any idea's whats wrong? I know the garage will (hopefully) sort it out, but just wondering if its a known problem etc?? a

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, as I want to miss as little of this beautiful top down weather as possible!

Wattsie
 
Sorry to hear that, hopefully it won't be too difficult to sort, can't think what to suggest without more info - you need to get it scanned for codes ASAP which I assume selling/warranty dealer will do first... Good luck.
 
if it all happened at once it sounds like a single problem. maybe electrical. i would be driving it 2 mph strait back to the dealer though. would be better people to ask but is one of the main fuses linked to all these systems???

this is why every one should have inpa to read the faults
 
OK, so after a disastrous start we seem to be getting somewhere........

The car independent car transporter I ordered turned up to take the car back to the warranty garage, but it wouldn't go up the ramps properly because of the low ground clearance! Luckily the driver didn't charge me anything as he didn't move the car, which I thought was very nice of him!

So i phoned the garage to confirm if they replaced electrical stuff under warranty.... no they don't and they would charge £70 for a diagnostic if the problem wasn't covered under warranty. I bit the bullet and towed it, with help from dad, to an indy garage that has tuned / fettled and fixed every car I have had so far.

They hooked it up to a diagnostic machine (£25), and after 20 minutes of leaving the car at the garage they told me it was an issue with the throttle body and some small gears in the throttle actuator. Common problem I was lead to believe with late Z3's early Z4's and all X5's! Looks like this is causing the surging engine speed, which threw the engine off when it broke, probably messing the emissions up for a second, which explains the other lights. The mechanic said that you can hear the gears grinding butu if you open the throttle by hand it runs fine....

The garage have re-set the EML and engine lights, and the throttle body is on its way to them today to be fitted tomorrow morning for a "reasonable' £220+£50 labour + VAT.

Hopefully this will fix the problem and the batmobile (a mate christened it this and it seems to have stuck) will be back with me tomorrow, and despite being £350 worse off I will be relieved to have it fixed! But its not a good start forking out just days after buying the blasted thing!

Watch this space for the results...

Wattsie
 
Throttle body = electrical?

Either way, the sale of goods act is your friend. A big fault this early should be covered. Try waving it under their noses and see what happens. Citizens advice or a lawyer might help. You might even find you have legal expenses within your car insurance. Don't just roll over and accept it on a car you've only had 10 days.

From the which website - "if you have bought the car from a dealer, the car must be of satisfactory quality. Satisfactory quality is defined as what a ‘reasonable person’ would regard as acceptable, taking into account factors such as price paid, fitness for purpose specified, appearance and finish, safety and durability. If it becomes apparent that the car was not of the quality you were led to expect, you are quite within your rights to go back to the dealer, even after some weeks or even months of use. If it was the case that you were invited to carry out a thorough inspection of the car before purchase, and then you go back to complain about something which that inspection should have revealed, you will have no legal rights in that regard"
 
Hi Stuart....

I completely agree that its not electrical... I assumed it was an electrical fault and thats why I rang the garage to confirm the warranty didn't cover electrical, which allowed me to go to my local trusted garage. This meant I didn't have to arrange another transporter, didn't have to transport the car 50 miles, didn't have to pay the warrant claim fee and didn't have to pay for a non warranty diagnostic.(this alone added up to £210) On top of that if it was non warranty, god knows how much the part and labour would be above my little garage!

Sadly the warranty part of the contract that I signed at purchase states a pretty comprehensive list of stuff that will get sorted under warranty, but also states very plainly, that if its not on the list then its not under warranty. Unfortunately throttle bodies and assemblies are not on the list. I have read similar reports on this garage about its limited warranty issues.

I can't say I'm happy with the service, but I did sign the contract, accepting these terms! I have also given the car hell in the past 10 days, and done nearly 2000 miles. Maybe I was just unlucky and got the car at the wrong time.. the moment when these tiny gears decided in to ingest their own teeth.....it had been perfect before the incident so no inspection would have picked this up beforehand.

Rest assured I will be going back to talk to them, but as my garage is in the process of fixing the car, it may be a little late....as long as its fixed Im happy!

On the upside, once its back under its own power, Ill be going back under warranty for the central locking not working properly!

Wattsie
 
Why are you paying ANYTHING for this work? :o :o :o

As has been said, Trading Standards will confirm to you if you ring them that you normally have six months warranty (regardless of what the dealer thinks or says!), especially for faults which are likely to have been developing at the time of sale.

Theres NO QUESTION but that the dealer is fully liable, end of story.

Leave the car with them and give them a week to fix it or refund you in full, or you will pursue through court with the assistance of Trading Standards (although I think they've changed their name slightly).

Problem could be an extremely expensive ECU issue or something relatively simple electronically.

Sorry you've had such a bad start.

Good luck.
 
Right,

I agree that all the above is correct and true, but there is a little bit more to the story, as the car I part-ex'd had a lot wrong with it that I didn't tell the garbage about, i was driving it on a wing and a prayer on part-ex day. I' wouldn't be surprised if its blown up by now!

I am fully expecting the garage to ring up and tell me the focus had died and I had lied to the part-ex crew... so the less contact with the garage the better, for now.

Anyhow, I've managed to get the Z back, a friend at the local garage has replaced a gear in the throttle body which stripped, rather than the whole body, and all is good as new, all or very little cash, it would have cost twice this to just get the batmobile to the warrant garage!

So I'm happy..... I can understand everyones opinions and i completely agree, but this is just easier all round! If i was looking at more than a few quid, then I'd of been straight back!

Ill put this little blip down to luck i guess, its not dampened my love of Z!

So the most important part of the story is the bat mobile is back, I'm smiling, not very lightened in the pocket and not had to bother traipsing to the old garage.

Hopefully this will be the end of the issue with the garage and I can just concentrate on having fun in the sun!

Wattsie
 
Well a reasonable outcome thank goodness. But don't feel guilty....they are supposed to be the experts so if they took a turkey off you it was for a good reason, probably the cost of your replacement I suspect if they had half a clue about the state of your old car, so I won't ask what you paid.... :) :thumbsup:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom