Might be buying an M - Service History Question

P

peddy

Veteran
 London
Hi,

I've almost gone through purchasing an M, but I am a little concerned over the service history:

Run in @ 1k in May 06
Oil @ 24k in March 08
Insp 1 @ 38k in April 2010

Current Mileage is 51k, and since being over 3 years since the last service it's definitely missed the 2 year limit for an oil change, but my main concern is the 24k miles until the first oil service! Is that in anyway possible to be so high? :?
 
whooooa ! would you want the same oil in any car you owned to be in there for 24,000 miles :o let alone a M machine :?
 
First off, good to hear about the potential purchase Peddy :thumbsup:

Interesting, this time vs use question. If it help's, mine is on similar miles at 45k and has the following history:

- Running In Check at 1017 miles
- Oil at 10k (10 months after Running In Check)
- Insp 1 at 23k (2.5 years after Oil)
- Oil again at 33k (2 years after Insp 1)
- Insp 2 at 45k (2 years after Oil)

24k miles and 2 years for first oil service for yours does at least on paper, look to be a lot of miles but I guess it also depends on how hard it's been driven etc etc etc.
 
inkey$ said:
First off, good to hear about the potential purchase Peddy :thumbsup:

Interesting, this time vs use question. If it help's, mine is on similar miles at 45k and has the following history:

- Running In Check at 1017 miles
- Oil at 10k (10 months after Running In Check)
- Insp 1 at 23k (2.5 years after Oil)
- Oil again at 33k (2 years after Insp 1)
- Insp 2 at 45k (2 years after Oil)


24k miles and 2 years for first oil service for yours does at least on paper, look to be a lot of miles but I guess it also depends on how hard it's been driven etc etc etc.
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I could turn a blind eye to a low mileage garage minter that had gone maybe 2/3 years without oil change but not done too many miles ,
however a car such as a M covering 24k with no record of oil & filter in that time would worry me :(
& just how could you know "how hard" it had been driven ?
Unless its reflected in the ask then why chance it ?
 
Sounds like he's just waited for the service light. hopefully it's been topped in between but should really have had additional oil changes. I'd at least ask the seller to pay for a dealer Inspection 2 in that case.

Andi.
 
You would still have to ignore the brake fluid change light for a year ...
 
As inkey$, I would have expected inspection 1 about 24k and an oil change before that.

Inspection 2 should be about 50k with an oil change between them. What effect missing the service periods has, who can say??
 
Exactly right, mine had the oil service and then the Inp I at 23k.
 
mr wilks said:
just how could you know "how hard" it had been driven ? Unless its reflected in the ask then why chance it ?
Click to expand...
Probably the sentence to take away from all this Peddy.
 
As above I would say it's missed at least one service based on mileage.

Also bear in mind when you come to sell you will have the same questions asked, so could be hard to move on.
 
If it's the one I think it is, blue roadster?, then it's pretty cheap.
Doubt you'd get them to insp2 at that price though

Bought a Polo 16v for an ex- absolutely a different car. But it had gone over on a service, and needed piston rings. Got rid quick( no not the car, the girlfriend ):rofl:
If the oil is so old can't do its job any more, things will wear.
I'd pass. You may have access to tools/Spares if things go wrong.
 
it's also possible that the owner did an oil change/service privately and not at a dealership. I had oil changes done before the onboard systems told me to. I also had no stamps in the book for the dealer services on some of mine in the past. I would have the thing inspected and compression tested....
 
yes it's the blue one. at £9k do you think it's worth it? I'd also need to spend some money fixing the dent and window regulator too but that shouldn't be too much I guess.

mcbeee, what's compression testing exactly?
 
At £9k I'd expect it not to be perfect.

But I'd be worried about a 3.5 year gap in checking valve clearances as much as missing oil/filter changes. My service book doesn't have the interim oil or brake fluid changes I do, but in most cases I've got the receipts/invoices from BMW/ECP/Opie for the stuff I've bought.

I'd be wary of asking for an I2 anyway, as you'll not be sure they've actually done anything other than get the book stamped, so would rather negotiate £500 off and take it to a specialist for an inspection II (and general check) independently.
 
peddy said:
what's compression testing exactly?
Click to expand...
It's where you check the pressures produced by each cylinder to make sure the valves are sealing properly by attaching what looks like an expensive tyre pressure gauge to the spark plug opening. You turn over the car and check the max reading on the gauge.

Instructions here.

You want to see that they're all producing the specified pressure, and then check that the pressures across cylinders are not at wildly different ends of the tolerance.

 
If it was me i'd pass as any money saved on the initial price will almost certainly be reflected in a lower selling price if/when you do come to sell not to mention it being more difficult to sell.

I haven't seen the car or the ad but if it needs an Inspection II and it is going to cost £10k+ to get to a reasonable standard i would recommend getting an extra £2k together and buying a 50/60k miler with FSH in good condition which should be possible.

ETA it may be worth ringing the BMW telephone line to see if the engine has been replaced at any point or if anything shows up on their records.
 
FR08MEE said:
If it was me i'd pass as any money saved on the initial price will almost certainly be reflected in a lower selling price if/when you do come to sell not to mention it being more difficult to sell.

I haven't seen the car or the ad but if it needs an Inspection II and it is going to cost £10k+ to get to a reasonable standard i would recommend getting an extra £2k together and buying a 50/60k miler with FSH in good condition which should be possible.

ETA it may be worth ringing the BMW telephone line to see if the engine has been replaced at any point or if anything shows up on their records.
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They ont tell you waht wrk was done, only date and name of dealer visited. You would then need to ring round the deslers.
 
srhutch said:
FR08MEE said:
If it was me i'd pass as any money saved on the initial price will almost certainly be reflected in a lower selling price if/when you do come to sell not to mention it being more difficult to sell.

I haven't seen the car or the ad but if it needs an Inspection II and it is going to cost £10k+ to get to a reasonable standard i would recommend getting an extra £2k together and buying a 50/60k miler with FSH in good condition which should be possible.

ETA it may be worth ringing the BMW telephone line to see if the engine has been replaced at any point or if anything shows up on their records.
Click to expand...

They ont tell you waht wrk was done, only date and name of dealer visited. You would then need to ring round the deslers.
Click to expand...

Agreed, but it's worth a shot to see if anything unusal crops up. Ring BMW get the detials of where it was taken and at what mileage and then ring the delaers and ask for specific details :)
 
I literally just did the same thing with my MR. Previous owner had a book full of stamps but not receipts or details for work carried out prior to late last year.

I just spent 20 mins phoning the stamped dealerships and getting hold of any and all work carried out with associated dates (luckily not much beyond new wipers, tyres, health checks and an O2 sensor!). Logging all of this on a sheet to add to what service history the car does have is as good as it's going to get but it's better than nothing and crucially the book is stamped.
 
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