[a9sublime]

Ok so let's get everyone on board with where I am at.

In April I bring my car in for the Takata airbag fix. Since I bought this car from a dealer over 70 miles away I figured I'd just go to the one nearby, 11 miles away..

After two days in my complimentary loaner I am back to pickup my vehicle. It runs fine, I drive home. We have more than a few vehicles at my place so I don't take this thing out daily, it's like twice a month plus I work from home.

So as you can imagine I missed the fact there's been an airbag code going on apparently since then.

I figured no big deal, they just forgot to clear it maybe. So I make plans for myself to look into it. Before I get the chance to do that this passed week, my car starts overheating.

Now keep in mind, when I was getting my car serviced they told me that they were topping off my fluids as well.. actually the SA kept making it a point to reiterate that he's doing that for me like it's a big deal, which I of course gave a large smile and an as appreciative as possible gesturing as that's just courtesy right.

So continuing on some more- I've troubleshooted and after water pump codes, my coolant level being so low that I had to refill the reservoir nearly (lost count around) 3 times, trying to find leaks etc... it was the darned intake vanos ( took them both out and gave a cleaning with some formula 88 and an air compressor ) ..

So currently the car runs Great again, took for a nice little drive and no codes.. cept that airbag.

Now that everyone here is caught up with me

Is it possible the dealer mechanics did something to my car? Like flushed my radiator and put Just enough to run a few times before possibly causing further issues? Granted this is NOT how I like to think of people but with my lack of knowledge on cars, rather inexperience, and then this specific issue which shows me (I think?) that they did Not top my coolant and then the airbag light.. I'm very skeptical now.

Do I take it to the dealer and ask them to verify the Takata airbags are removed? Do I take it to a mechanic? Do I sue if they didn't take the airbags out (petty, but risking my life like that..)??

I'm pretty hands on, maybe I'm capable of checking the airbags myself?

Do I tell the SA about the coolant? I already had to call, cancel and suggest we reschedule sometime in the future for my blower motor wiring harness fix with them due to me wanting to figure this coolant issue out myself.

So yea.. skeptical and now fearful to return to the dealership for their help as I think they are out to ruin my car. Please reassure me IF reassuring is warranted here

Thanks

[Emilime75]

I'm a little lost...what does the Vanos(I assume you mean solenoid?) have to do with low coolant?

And if the SA made it a point of telling you they're topping off your coolant, maybe it was low when you brought it in?

What do you mean by "So as you can imagine I missed the fact there's been an airbag code going on apparently since then."?

[a9sublime]

I'll try to clarify, I tried to summarize.
The dirty solenoid was causing a speed variation in my water pump which was giving my car a few codes and apparent issues. Sparing your the long troubleshoot that I did thinking it was the water pump..Water pump is fine, no leaks and yet the coolant was low enough for me to have to refill the reservoir at least 3 additional times after a few runs and a month later? I've had this car longer than that and it never did this so am I to believe this car Really ran out of that much coolant over a short period of time? That is what I'm wondering when I realize I have no leak and yet the SA says they filled me up.

I hope that clears up things about the coolant..

Now the airbag isn't throwing me any actual codes per se. none I notice.. but it is showing the red air bag light on my dash, like it was deployed and I didn't notice that when I was leaving in April when they changed the recalled Takata airbags in my car, but that's because of my ignorance I'm sure not because it wasn't there. No one else touches the car except me about twice or so a month avg.. EDIT UPDATE: I verified now that the airbags were changed because the front leather section that goes in the steering wheel is fresh. You can tell the difference clearly and I see now they definitely changed the airbags. I really am my own worst enemy or best friend :shrug: my bad. Still. Coolant thing worries me. But maybe it's as you suggested, the radiator wasn't full and they just topped off the reservoir?

I'll give them the chance to give me the blower motor harness recall fix as well. They say they've already got the part in so it's just one afternoon

[opjose]

There is no way that you would need to add that much coolant in so short of time if everything was ok.

Also the red airbag light indicates the car has indeed thrown a code. It should be read with BMW specific tools and the cause fixed. It is likely that your airbags are not working at all now!

Swapping out the airbags does not cause the light to appear.

[a9sublime]

Originally Posted by opjose

There is no way that you would need to add that much coolant in so short of time if everything was ok.

Also the red airbag light indicates the car has indeed thrown a code. It should be read with BMW specific tools and the cause fixed. It is likely that your airbags are not working at all now!

Swapping out the airbags does not cause the light to appear.

I have the icarsoft i910 which I've been using for code diagnostics. It can't see anything for the airbag at the moment, but the light comes on while driving, not during startup and idle. I also get the seat belt light and passenger air bag light, now that I'm really looking at these... maybe someone bumped the car while it was on their lot for service? It's just so strange I've had the car awhile and only After I've taken it to the dealership do all these issues start happening... the cars been a dream otherwise.

EDIT: Checked the seat belt tensioners. They are not collapsed so from what I'm reading they are good..

[opjose]

Did you check the Mat occupancy sensors?

[a9sublime]

Originally Posted by opjose

Did you check the Mat occupancy sensors?

Just re did diagnostics with the i910 and my silly self didn't check the right area - in the crash sensor module I am getting 93b2 so I'm checking and don't see that to be blown on he battery also I can drive fine so I don't think that's the issue but maybe the wire is faulting from what I'm reading.

Also, I just looked at what the occupancy sensor would be.. Checking out will update