[smith.james0]

After owning a 1994 325 coupe for 5 years, and then a 328 convertible for 8 years, it's time to move on. After a week of looking through Autotrader I found a e93 320i just down the road in BlueBell BMW in Crewe. The car had only just arrived, it had not been washed or valeted, but it look good anyway. It was well spec'd PDC front and back, lighting package, cruise, red leather, 44,000 miles etc, and it would come with a BMW 12 month warranty, plus they would service it and MOT......BMW said they would give it a clean, so I dragged the wife and kids to look at it in the rain (I know....)
Looking at it in the rain highlight the roof leaked on each side from the C-pillars, something BMW they would fix before I bought it. I agreed to buy it and so the fun started
Between me putting a deposit down and taking receipt of the car, BMW refurbished the wheels, put new disks and pads on the front, serviced it, MOT it, adjusted the roof and lubricated the seals.



So I picked the car up in the snow on the 26th Feb, and straight away I noticed some issues....

Stop-started didn't work

With the ignition on there is a loud constant tone through the speakers, with or without the stereo on.

Ashtray between the rear seats will not close.


When the roof is put up the N/S rear window does not go all the way up, you have to use that window switch to raise it. This was an known issue before I purchased the car, in-between looking at it a purchasing it the roof was adjusted and reset.


On Sunday morning the battery light came on, when I put the key in the ignition.


The under leg support will not clip back.


The ‘Max’ heater control on the air con didn’t work, but after the battery light came on it’s working

The Start button in the car kept switching on and off with the fuel when the car was locked.

So on the 5th March the car went back to BMW to have these issues addressed, initially it was for a day, but then they said they needed more time as there was two BMW recalls to be done (Seams strange they didn't do this before I got it :roll: ) So they had it for three days while I had this...





I picked the car up on the Thursday morning on the way into work, BMW said that a software fault was causing the fuel pump to turning on and off all night, which flattens the battery, in turn stopping everything else from working properly (roof, stop-start, heater) and that the stereo needed a software update too, but on the way home I noticed that.... the stop start didn't work, so after spending quite sometime on the phone to BMW that day, I said I would see how it was on the way home, and it worked! But quite quickly I noticed other things...

The stereo makes some really strange noises when you put a CD in, and does so even after the ignition has been turned off.

The stereo hums when the lights are on (you have to turn the volume up loud to hear it)

Stop-start is hit and miss

A/C just blows luke warm air when you select the coldest temp

The one time I had the roof down, the n/s rear window did not go up.

The under leg support will not clip back.

So... it's back to BMW (15th March) and I have this... 320d x-drive



16th March BMW phoned to say they needed to order some parts, a pipe for the air con as one was cracked and a mechanism for the seat. I asked if they fixed the stereo, the reply was "it's working fine", so I asked if they had tested it with a CD, the answer was no, so they asked me to send the videos to them!

17th March late afternoon BMW called to say the air con is fixed, but the part they ordered for the seat was the wrong one!, so they need to get one from Germany, which will be 4 - 5 days. And they said they were sending my videos of the stereo noises to BMW UK! I picked the car up, but it will be going back late next week sometime.

[Dormermike]

Nice looking car but if that's got the n43 engine I'd be taking all these issues as an omen and ditching it (reject) before you get timing chain or injector-hpfp-coil pack faults and an even bigger world of pain.

Goes to show AUC "multi point check" is bollocks too.

[smith.james0]

So a some time has passed since my initial post, the car has spent quite a bit of time back at BMW for one thing or another (I will up date my first post).

This is my current issue..........

At the end of May I noticed that the car had developed a ‘misfire’ which was very intermittent. This ‘misfire’ felt more like when a car is over fuelled (Remembering manual choke days!), but I could not pin point it to a particular engine speed or gear. Not long after when pulling out of a side road the car ‘misfired’ horrendously and all manor of warning lights came on, and the car went into limp mode.
BMW Assist recovered the car and BMW in Crewe diagnosed that all four coil packs needed replacing, which they did, they also noted when I picked the car up that “Advise long journey required to clear nox cat due to sulphurisation” which I did.

Sometime went by with no issues or problems, the car was driven to France and back without issue (460 miles each way), but soon after returning I noticed the ‘misfire’ had returned, this time I could pin point it to 1700 - 1800 rpm in 4th gear. Specifically if I accelerated in 3rd slowly changing into 4th at 2500rpm, with light throttle, the car would ‘misfire’ on cue, which could be quite pronounced / violent. I also noticed that the exhaust pipe was sooty and black.

I contacted BMW to arrange for the car to be looked at, when I dropped the car off I went for a drive with one of the technicians, I drove the car and the technician agreed there was ‘something there’ and they would look into it; their conclusion was that the nox cat was full of sulphur (Remember above) and that it was down to driving style, as the cat was not getting hot enough to burn the sulphur off. I explained that the car does 30 miles a day to and from work on a mixture of road and it normal get a longer run at the weekend if we go out, and only a week after taking the car to France and back this problem started. But I was told that long trips on the motorway do not heat the cat up sufficiently hot enough to burn the sulphur off, I should try driving at “70 mph in 4th or 5th to get it hot”.

BMW performed a “de-sulphurisation road test 30min” after this the reading was still high so they carried out a “additional de-sulphurisation road test” which brought the reading down to within specification, over the phone I was told that the car “drove like a new car”.

I collected my car and straight away I noticed the fault was still present, immediately I returned to the dealer and took one of there engineers for a drive and they confirm that they could feel the ‘misfire’ and I left the car with them.

Two days later I was told by BMW that, there are no fault codes and they cannot replicate it so there is nothing they can do; even though three of there engineers have all felt it after it had been ‘fixed’. I was advised that it could be sludge in the oil thats causing the vanos to work incorrectly (next service due in 10,000 miles), but the engineer was quite open that they just do not know what it is.

After a couple of days of normal driving (with the fault still present) I used a phone app to read the fault codes, three faults were present all of which relate to the nox sensor (002AF4, 002AF2, 002AF6) and had occurred after only 55 miles of the car leaving the dealer, after a conversation with BMW they agreed to have the car back to investigate this, although this time they said that these faults could be that the engine is not getting up to temperature. Again I explained that the car does a reasonable drive to work and that the fault occurred after 1.5 trips to work.

Over the last couple of days I have had a ‘spirited’ drive through the Peak District, and a round trip to York back (142 miles), after reading the fault codes I now have 7 faults, 5 relate to the nox sensor (002AF4 twice, 002AF2 twice, 002AF6 twice, 2AF9 three times, 30E5 Once), DeNox catalyst (0030EA twice), Uneven running (3104 Three times).

I pick up the car on Friday BMW have change the oil and filter and replaced the nox sensor, and again I have noticed that the 'misfire' is still present.


Apart from sell it, can anyone offer any advice?

[Bmw330]

Unfortunately I’ve also had two bad experiences buying an AUC car from BMW, both times I’ve had issues, I don’t believe they actually fix anything prior to sale, only reset the fault codes, and give it a quick tidy up.

Luckily the AUC fixes virtually any problems but it is a major inconvenience to keep taking it back and especially when they can’t find the problem!

I think you get a month or 1000 miles to take it back, I actually returned my first AUC car for an issue they couldn’t resolve, it was a right pain though and I was told they had three attempts to fix it before I could get my money back. We’re your issues reported before the month/1000miles were out?

The main dealers also appear to struggle finding problems when the computer doesn’t tell them the solution!

[smith.james0]

Originally Posted by Bmw330

We’re your issues reported before the month/1000miles were out?

The list of problems started on the first day! Although this 'misfire' I first noticed after 4 months.

Originally Posted by Bmw330

The main dealers also appear to struggle finding problems when the computer doesn’t tell them the solution!

I have met my old boss in the dealer today, his idrive system reboots every 20min while driving, BMW say there is no fault with his idrive system and 'could he video it'!

My dads F30 is back at the dealer as the wheel arch liner doesn't fit properly, BMW said no fault it's supposed to be like that, to which my dad pointed out it's not like that on the other side - BMW conceded and are ordering a new one!

[Bmw330]

They never seem willing to try and rectify anything if a code doesn’t come up, not sure if that’s because they have to submit to claim to bmw Uk with justification or just because they don’t get paid as much for warranty work.

Maybe just a case of getting the dealer principle involved if they can’t sort it, or even take it to another dealer.