[AU335]

Just got a call back from the dealership about the loud metallic ticking noise occuring when engine decellerates (wastegate actuator) and this is what they said......

First off, I had never been to the dealership that i took my car to. I took it there b/c it is the closest one to me at the time where i am living. So i have no relations/contacts with them in the first place, which doesnt help. The SA calls me back, finally, and i ask him if there were any updates. He says "Yeh i have all the updates"....

Me: Hey, so are there in updates on my car?
SA: yeh i have all the updates....
Me: Okay... well what are they?
SA: well, they arent good.
Me: Okay...so whats the problem?
SA: Have you done all the work to the car?
Me: Umm... there isnt any work done to the car, but yes it is my car.
SA: Is is used, or new?
ME: New, im the first and only owner.
SA: Oh, well we looked at your car and noticed you had modified the exhaust.
Me: modified the exhaust? what are you talking about?
SA: Did you not take off the Secondary Cat
ME: Um, yeah i had someone take it off. Why?
SA: Well the noise is coming from cylinder 4,5,6 Turbo and it is because you have modified the exhaust and removed the 2nd Cat. The turbo is shot and is shredding up inside.
Me: So wait, is it the wastegate actuator?
SA: Its the turbo, and when you modified the exhaust it damaged your turbo.
Me: I dont understand, that doesnt make sense. I 2nd cat is not the problem, removed or not. There is no way that is why the noise is happening.
SA: Well because you have modified the exhaust, we cant fix the turbo. The turbo is going to cost $2k and with everything else needed, the total would be around $8k....


I then go on to explain to him about why the removal of the 2nd cat would be in no way responible for the wastegate issue. I asked him about the turbo being shredded, and he said that the techs did not take anything apart..... Then how would they know the turbo is falling apart inside I then tell them not to touch anything and i will pick it up in the morning..

I also told them that BMWNA had released a service bulletin speaking of this issue and that this has become a common problem with many 335i's and b/c 2nd cats were removed gives you no reason to void my turbo/exhaust warranty

Now, im off to my Home dealership where i bought the car from and have many friends in service and the head tech. Hopefully they wont give me this same BS!! I just hope they dont flag my VIN b/c of this...

UPDATE (3/10/08) !!!

Just got off the phone with BMW of Columbus and talked with the SA. He said a BWM Rep was actually there and he would discuss the situation with him and get back to me. He just called me back and told me that the BMW Rep (Regional-Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, ect) said that after modifications done to that area, warranty WOULD be voided!! However, i told him that i still had my 2nd cats with me and that if i put them back on the car, would he be able to honor the warranty and get everything back to normal and fixed... He said "Sure, just call me when you get them back on and we can schedule you in".

So the moral of the story for me is.... THANK GOD I KEPT MY 2nd CATS!!!! I am about to head over to the exhaust shop and get them to put them back on. Still doesnt make sense to me, all of this BS with 2nd cats being removed, but i advise others to not go into service (other than regular service) with them removed... thats just me though.

[ArmyBimmerDude]

[cn555ic]

Complete bullshit i tell you! Holy SHIT he quoted you 8 Kbulge:

[karliejai]

uh oh... please keep us updated!

[O-cha]

Welcome to the REALITY of trying to get warranty work done. I've said it 1000 times the people that tell you the dealer will roll over and fix it even though you have mods are comepletely FOS, 90% of the time they will tell you to go F yourself.

Even when the modification is not directly related to the failure, and in your case it is. (vs a headlight failing and modifying your exhaust)

[Hunter399]

damn....

[Numb3rs]

What is the point of removing the secondary cats? Something doesn't make sense to me.

[cn555ic]

Less striction of the exhaust more power and better exhaust note!

[M3SWEETNESS]

Wow, I've never heard of such a Bullshit excuse in my life. I owned a SRT-4 that had seriously 17k in mods and I still had warranty on the thing. I hope you have better luck at the other dealer. You might print out the service bulletin that BMWNA released and slap it on his desk and tell him to go F himself. Sorry for your bad luck.....

[e90AW335i]

Damn, I am really sorry bro. I hope it gets worked out soon....

[RRGOO7]

goddam thats terrible!....total bullshit

[Dascamel]

What business wouldn't want to deny warrenty work if they could... I'm sure they would rather fix it for the full price instead. In the end 99% of time, the decision will be based soley on the economics of the situation. I wonder what the bonus structure setup is for the employees in the service department.

[TeeJay3580]

WOW,glad i worked at my dealership and know everyone...

[David 12]

Good luck at your regular dealer!

Lesson learned - It is always best to bring your car back to stock for warranty repairs!

[jerrygarcia]

ouch..

[Gen_E92]

wow sorry to hear this man...if the warranty doesn't work out, time for turbo upgrade

[BoostedBMW]

We all know that is complete BS, but the sad truth is that 99% of the tards that work as SA's for BMW will see any type of modification done to the car, no matter how unrelated they may be, and they will immediately blame the problem on them.

It has been documented that this is a problem on 100% bone stock cars, but trying to get that through the thick skull of an ignorant SA is sometimes impossible. I really hope that you get your work done under warranty because that is a complete bunch of crap.

[cn555ic]

Wow you have issues with the second cat delete, Supramano brought his car with almost every mod possible into the dealership for the same problem of the wastegates...he doesn't stand a fighting chance at all...I am getting a little scared myself if this was to happen to me in the future, but knowing this I will have no choice but to return it 100% back to stock....This post has made my decision for me as for DP's and that a "NO GO"....DP's are way too much trouble to uninstall or cost to much to pay someone to do it for me...If I were to go back to stock it would have to be just my exhaust getting done by a shop, everything else I can do, but a real PITA!! Oh man what we do for some performance enhancement!!! Another day another dollar!!

[E82tt6]

Threaten to sue based on the Magnusson/Moss act if the home dealership won't take care of you. That'll usually slap em into shape.

[Malek@MRF]

They can't void your warranty for the 2nd cat delete. Throw the laws government has implemented to protect consumers in their face and they will fix your car.

8k for a turbo? LOL. Im sorry bro, I feel for you, but don't bend over backwards for them.

[remydlc]

i dotn think they VOIDED your warranty. He might had told you that the work is not going to be covered under the warranty. He just can't void your warranty like that. And if he did, it may void the warranty on the whole car for that matter.

[Kitz]

"SA: Its the turbo, and when you modified the exhaust it damaged your turbo."

What bs was that? where do he learned that from? How can removing secondary cat damaged the turbo..
He's just trying to make money out of you man.. go to another dealer..