[nthanos330i]

Originally Posted by tcphoto

You don't have a PPI, don't DIY and you've worked at a Mercedes Benz dealership? A person with no budget for potentially high repairs should not own one of these cars. What kind of mechanic replaces plugs and coils without spending a few minutes investigating? The plugs probably needed changing but why replace parts if they're not broke?

Full course load + no garage + living on campus + no tools = no DIY. If I was at home, I would not be paying someone to do these things. The circumstances just necessitate it.

[GoRomeo]

Thanks for sharing your story. This will definitely help others who come here for advise.

[nthanos330i]

Originally Posted by GoRomeo

Thanks for sharing your story. This will definitely help others who come here for advise.

Thanks, that' all I was trying to do. A fellow 330i owner I see

[BravoJohny33]

Originally Posted by nthanos330i

I chose to do them all. It's common to do a full ignition service at certain mileage. Since my car obviously did not have the plugs and coils replaced at the suggested mileage by BMW, I thought it best to do them all and not have a problem on one of the many long drives I do a year.

There is ZERO reason to replace coil packs that have no problem. Spark plugs are every 100k on the 328i. I think BMW reduced it to 75k tho.

[GoRomeo]

Originally Posted by nthanos330i

Thanks, that' all I was trying to do. A fellow 330i owner I see

Yeap... since 2006. Still running strong...

[Emilime75]

Originally Posted by BravoJohny33

You forget that mechanics charge 350 to change spark plugs and then 300+ to change coil packets even though if they are doing spark plugs they already did the labor for the coil packs. But nope mechanics will charge you an hour labor just to pop the coil packs out. Nope 1600 sounds about right these days at a mechanic. Every thing is rocket science on a car. Only educated well trained people can replace spark plugs and coil packs. That is why they are paid 200 an hour +

Wait, what? Who makes $200/hour? If that's what you pay, you're a fool. On top of that, a shop shouldn't be charging book time for each item individually...so if they're doing plugs and coils, it should be book time for whatever takes longer, plus an x amount of dollars extra since a good portion of the labor is shared between the 2. Not, book time says 3 hours for coils, and 3 hours for plugs, so the customer pays for 6 hours of labor.

[xForceGhost]

Man, that's the worst feeling in the world when you take the car for something semi-small and then as you get into it everything seems to snowball! At the end of the day, I think you made out more on the reasonable side than what it could have been cost wise, but $1600 is $1600! I know from first hand experience how a busted VCG can turn expensive in hurry. Green fluid along with mix & matched coils sounds like a nightmare scenario, especially when you just went in for a belt.

Anyways, awesome car bro. Continue treating it like family as the mileage climbs and you'll love every second of it!

[TemjinX2]

i know there people on this forum that make people think the n52 is are reliable as a corolla, but its still a german car and requires extra maintence compared to a japanese car.

i would never recommend a used german car for a college student unless they have some rich parents.

considering you live in socal, with probably most active and helpful european car communities. I would suggest first dumping the e90 and get a reliable japanese car until your out of college.

if not, maybe go to some e90/e92 meets and get know members of socal e92/e90 community.

people there will know which shops know what their doing and charge decent prices. if you shopped around a bit, you could of have gotten lower price.

when i had my mercedes, i lived in a apt with no garage in socal. There few members of the mercedes community that offered to help me and allowed me to use their garage for price of some pizza and beers on some diy stuff. I was able to literally save thousands of dollars from being able to diy, instead of taking it to a shop.

[nthanos330i]

Originally Posted by xForceGhost

Man, that's the worst feeling in the world when you take the car for something semi-small and then as you get into it everything seems to snowball! At the end of the day, I think you made out more on the reasonable side than what it could have been cost wise, but $1600 is $1600! I know from first hand experience how a busted VCG can turn expensive in hurry. Green fluid along with mix & matched coils sounds like a nightmare scenario, especially when you just went in for a belt.

Anyways, awesome car bro. Continue treating it like family as the mileage climbs and you'll love every second of it!

I plan too! I always say if you take care of these cars, they take care of you. It's all about maintenance, so although unfortunate things like this happen, it's best to just take care of it!

[xForceGhost]

Originally Posted by nthanos330i

I plan too! I always say if you take care of these cars, they take care of you. It's all about maintenance, so although unfortunate things like this happen, it's best to just take care of it!

You learn as you go. That's part of the whole experience, for me at least. I came up playing with big turbos on VR6 Volkswagens in high school so by the time I got into BMW thankfully I already had a good sense about what's needed to maintain a German motor. Keep up with the maintenance and enjoy your mods!!

[BravoJohny33]

Originally Posted by Emilime75

Wait, what? Who makes $200/hour? If that's what you pay, you're a fool. On top of that, a shop shouldn't be charging book time for each item individually...so if they're doing plugs and coils, it should be book time for whatever takes longer, plus an x amount of dollars extra since a good portion of the labor is shared between the 2. Not, book time says 3 hours for coils, and 3 hours for plugs, so the customer pays for 6 hours of labor.

None of the shops charge 200 an hour but the shops around here advertise 130 an hour. Now.. Factor in part mark up, shop supplies and fees. Plus factor in they do charge per job and not per hour. You say they shouldn't be charging book time for each item if they already did most of the work to get to the part while do other work but they do.

I have been to just about every BMW shop in town and have seen part mark up 2 to 3 times the cost of what I can get the parts for from ECS. How else can you explain 300+ dollar battery installs, 100 dollar air filters. One shop wanted to charge me 30 dollars for brake grease for brake job. I shit you not and I have the quote still because I like to look at it and laugh.

[nthanos330i]

Originally Posted by TemjinX2

i know there people on this forum that make people think the n52 is are reliable as a corolla, but its still a german car and requires extra maintence compared to a japanese car.

i would never recommend a used german car for a college student unless they have some rich parents.

considering you live in socal, with probably most active and helpful european car communities. I would suggest first dumping the e90 and get a reliable japanese car until your out of college.

if not, maybe go to some e90/e92 meets and get know members of socal e92/e90 community.

people there will know which shops know what their doing and charge decent prices. if you shopped around a bit, you could of have gotten lower price.

when i had my mercedes, i lived in a apt with no garage in socal. There few members of the mercedes community that offered to help me and allowed me to use their garage for price of some pizza and beers on some diy stuff. I was able to literally save thousands of dollars from being able to diy, instead of taking it to a shop.

My E90 overall has been a good car and this is really the first issue I've had in my ownership. My E32 treated me well too, it's all about upkeep. In fact I still have the E32 with almost 190k on the clock and still going strong. I save so that I can afford to drive a BMW, it puts a smile on my face every time I get behind the wheel. And I totally agree about the car community down here, it is really great. And I probably could have found a shop that would have done the work for less, and if I was at home I would have done it myself. However, with that said, sometimes it's beneficial to pay a little more at a good shop rather than pay the price for an inexperienced one. I once saw a whole engine ruined at Mercedes because an inexperienced indy clogged an oil passage with make your own gasket. It could have been avoided by using the Mercedes part. I like my mechanic here and I trust him, he even said I could wait to do the valve cover gasket myself, but I figured when everything was all apart, best just to do it then and not foul up any new coils or plugs I was already paying to have replaced.

[nthanos330i]

Originally Posted by xForceGhost

You learn as you go. That's part of the whole experience, for me at least. I came up playing with big turbos on VR6 Volkswagens in high school so by the time I got into BMW thankfully I already had a good sense about what's needed to maintain a German motor. Keep up with the maintenance and enjoy your mods!!

I plan too! VR6s are great. My mom has a CC VR6 4 Motion executive and that thing rips. I had quad exhaust installed for her birthday so it looks pretty cool too

[xForceGhost]

Nice! I still love those cars, my neighbor has a Stage 2 MK7 GTI that's pretty fun. The first car I ever modded was my 97 VR6 Jetta.

[labrador]

I too think $1600 is expensive for this amount of work. I also swapped out the eccentric shaft sensor (around $240 itself), and even with it that’s like $1000 for OP’s labor charge.

Sure, some shop sees the roundel and the price jumps.

Originally Posted by Emilime75

Unless I missed something, that seems very expensive for what you got. I just bought a bunch of new parts for mine(N54). Among the list are new plugs, coils, tensioner, both idler pullies, belt, coolant...those were right around $300 for genuine BMW parts. Also bought an aluminum hose fitting to replace the plastic one that often breaks on the N54, $25. If I was to add the hoses, I'd still be below $500 in parts.

Are 330i parts a lot more expensive than the 335i? What is the shop's hourly rate? This stuff shouldn't take more than 2-3 hours to do.

[nthanos330i]

Originally Posted by labrador

I too think $1600 is expensive for this amount of work. I also swapped out the eccentric shaft sensor (around $240 itself), and even with it that's like $1000 for OP's labor charge.

Sure, some shop sees the roundel and the price jumps.

My shop is BMW specific, and when I was shopping around, they were the most economical, skilled, and professional at the same time. I think it really comes down to the fact that I trust them, they've picked me up from campus to come get my car and they've also thrown in some small fixes for free when the car has been in. For example, they found a vacuum leak this time that they're fixing just to be nice.

I think it's good to support a business that treats you well, and doesn't nickel and dime you.

[MysticRob]

Originally Posted by nthanos330i

There was obvious discoloring inside of the radiator hoses caused by improper coolant. I had seen similar damage when I worked at Mercedes... My mechanic noticed the brittle hose, and was going to throw one on that he had to be nice, however the fitting snapped as the coolant had caused the plastic to become brittle.

I'm no BMW coolant hose engineer or expert, but why are you blaming the incorrect coolant for causing hose discoloring and brittle plastic? The car is 12 years old with 130k miles, so you can expect all manner of the hoses' plastic bits to become brittle using the correct coolant, let alone the wrong coolant. I'm running blue coolant, and the coolant overflow hose on mine blew. While replacing that the plastic barb on the upper coolant hose broke off because it was brittle. Tons of owners running the proper coolant had the same issue I did. There are lots of threads on that.

Not sure what type of discoloring you could be describing to black hoses either. To my knowledge, no coolant is going to discolor hoses, correct or incorrect in any cooling system. A hose is a hose, unless the ingenius BMW engineers, for some reason known only to them, have managed to create special hoses that somehow react and discolor in the event they contact the wrong type of coolant.

[nthanos330i]

Originally Posted by MysticRob

I'm no BMW coolant hose engineer or expert, but why are you blaming the incorrect coolant for causing hose dis-coloring and brittle plastic? The car is 12 years old with 130k miles, so you can expect all manner of the hoses' plastic bits to become brittle using the correct coolant, let alone the wrong coolant. I'm running blue coolant, and the coolant overflow hose on mine blew. While replacing that the plastic barb on the upper coolant hose broke off because it was brittle. Tons of owners running the proper coolant had the same issue I did. There are lots of threads on that.

Not sure what type of discoloring you could be describing to black hoses either. To my knowledge, no coolant is going to do that, correct or incorrect in any cooling system. A hose is a hose, unless the ingenius BMW engineers, for some reason known only to them, have managed to create special hoses that somehow react and discolor in the event they contact the wrong type of coolant.

Hoses were brown inside. I also know things get brittle with age, and that was a factor, but the improper coolant definitely played a role. Rubbers and plastics in these cars are sensitive, the improper washer fluid wrecked the seals in my washer fluid pump. It's just important to use the right stuff that the manufacturer recommends.

[MysticRob]

Originally Posted by nthanos330i

Hoses were brown inside. I also know things get brittle with age, and that was a factor, but the improper coolant definitely played a role. Rubbers and plastics in these cars are sensitive, the improper washer fluid wrecked the seals in my washer fluid pump. It's just important to use the right stuff that the manufacturer recommends.

Say what now? That sounds more like you're just making things up to confirm your own experience. How could you possibly know the coolant played a role in the same problems we all have? You've owned it for 16k miles and have no idea how long before you bought it that coolant was in there, right? Could've been in there from 16k or 116k, you have no idea. And it still sounds like typical wear and tear to me.

"Rubbers and plastics in these care are sensitive". Again, 12 years old, 130,000 miles. Not sensitive. Old. I think you're blowing this way out of proportion. No idea what washer fluid you used, but at this point I'm betting the seals in your washer fluid pump were just old and started to leak due to age, just like everything else tends to do after more than a decade. Did you have the seals scientifically tested and confirmed to leak if subjected to the type of washer fluid you used? If not, again, sounds like you're just making things up because leakage is a common problem across all manufacturers.

[nthanos330i]

Originally Posted by MysticRob

Say what now? That sounds more like you're just making things up to confirm your own experience. How could you possibly know the coolant played a role in the same problems we all have? You've owned it for 16k miles and have no idea how long before you bought it that coolant was in there, right? Could've been in there from 16k or 116k, you have no idea. And it still sounds like typical wear and tear to me.

"Rubbers and plastics in these care are sensitive". Again, 12 years old, 130,000 miles. Not sensitive. Old. I think you're blowing this way out of proportion. No idea what washer fluid you used, but at this point I'm betting the seals in your washer fluid pump were just old and started to leak due to age, just like everything else tends to do after more than a decade. Did you have the seals scientifically tested and confirmed to leak if subjected to the type of washer fluid you used? If not, again, sounds like you're just making things up because leakage is a common problem across all manufacturers.

I read it somewhere on this forum in a thread where other people were dealing with washer fluid leaking from their pumps. It happened a week after I bought the car, and I replaced it. Your right, it could have been age, but there is also a reason that the manufacturer recommends certain coolant, oil, etc. it's all made to work with the car and the components the car is made out of. I wouldn't say I'm "making things up." My E32 is 27 years old and still has the original pump in fine working order, I always just used distilled water or blue washer fluid like BMW recommends, and so did my neighbor who I bought the car from. I think the wrong fluid when combined with age can lead to issues, but your right, it could have just been age; that doesn't change the fact that the wrong coolant was in the car and could have been the culprit as well though. I don't get why everyone thinks I'm in denial that the car is 12 years old. I know that it is.

[tlow98]

Also, just to clear up the coolant debacle there is this information I posted elsewhere on here several times:

OK, so the color of the coolant doesn't really tell you much. There are three different types of coolants:
IAT
OAT
HOAT

Most european brands use HOAT - Hybrid Organic Acid Technology. This includes BMW, Porsche, mercedes, audi, vw. Many of the coolants used by these brands are different colors but since 2002 are effectively the same coolant. They might be green, blue, orange, green, green, green...whatever. It's the chemical make up that matters and that's stated on the bottle. They all start out clear and then dyes are added.

Yes, it's easier if you have the blue as that's the color of the one BMW specifically uses, but as long as it's a HOAT coolant it doesn't matter what color it is.

The blue color will give you a warm fuzzy if you don't know the maintenance history, but there's no need to always pay BMW prices for what's effectively the correct color of kool-aide.