[ShereKhan]

My Si is in for an oil service and a valve clearance service.

Dealer just called me and told me

- DSC Failure is due to faulty ECU
Currently awaiting good will from BMW to replace as car is out of warranty (by 24 days)
- There is a blockage in my catylst.
They are waiting for lease company to authorise removal for inspection.
The cat is not in stock - it will take 3 weeks to get one.
- They noticed a pin hole in my air con pipe while doing service.
The technician touched the pinhole and it fractured the pipe.
The pipe takes 3 weeks to arrive from Germany as its not in stock.

I have to collect my car and return my loan car as BMW or the garage won't let me have a loan car while I wait for parts to arrive and for my lease co to authorise.

My lease company won't give me a replacement car as I didn't go thorough them to get the service (never have done) so they aren't interested.

I can see a big bill arriving on my fleet managers desk.

I really am thinking twice about asking for a price for a new Alpina D3 on our co scheme. As i'm sure the fleet manager is going to flip if I do.

I'm also wondering whether I should just avoid BMWs altogether!
As some of you know I've also had a new engine on my car.

Can anyone tell me if DSC is linking to the "safe" operation of ABS. As there is a strange clause in our co car policy about ABS working and essential.

If the cat has failed then the car is technically an MOT failure. So I shouldn't be driving it.

Anyone had air con/catylst failure at this sort of age (3yrs 80k miles)?

[toxicnerve]

Originally Posted by ShereKhan

My Si is in for an oil service and a valve clearance service.

Dealer just called me and told me

- DSC Failure is due to faulty ECU
Currently awaiting good will from BMW to replace as car is out of warranty (by 24 days)
- There is a blockage in my catylst.
They are waiting for lease company to authorise removal for inspection.
The cat is not in stock - it will take 3 weeks to get one.
- They noticed a pin hole in my air con pipe while doing service.
The technician touched the pinhole and it fractured the pipe.
The pipe takes 3 weeks to arrive from Germany as its not in stock.

I have to collect my car and return my loan car as BMW or the garage won't let me have a loan car while I wait for parts to arrive and for my lease co to authorise.

My lease company won't give me a replacement car as I didn't go thorough them to get the service (never have done) so they aren't interested.

I can see a big bill arriving on my fleet managers desk.

I really am thinking twice about asking for a price for a new Alpina D3 on our co scheme. As i'm sure the fleet manager is going to flip if I do.

I'm also wondering whether I should just avoid BMWs altogether!
As some of you know I've also had a new engine on my car.

Can anyone tell me if DSC is linking to the "safe" operation of ABS. As there is a strange clause in our co car policy about ABS working and essential.

If the cat has failed then the car is technically an MOT failure. So I shouldn't be driving it.

Anyone had air con/catylst failure at this sort of age (3yrs 80k miles)?

Once again I, a prospective BMW customer, find myself reading of someones bad experiences with what could be considered a relatively new vehicle.

In my opinion 3 years is not "old" for a car by any stretch of the imagination and I would be intending to the keep any car I buy for significantly longer than that.

Having said that...80,000 miles is fairly high I guess, you're doing in just shy of 27,000 miles a year but I would not consider it ludicrous the failures/issues you talking of seem a bit premature in my opinion, but that's just an opinion and it's not based on any facts. I just think these sorts of failures at anything below 100,000 miles are a bit worrying? Perhaps a cat change and an air-con hose dying at 80,000 miles isn't too premature??? ECU failure is the most worrying and likely the most expensive too...it's a bit of electronics, what's there to go wrong? As long as it has the correct power and is kept dry etc what reason does it have to fail unless the components used in building it are of low quality and short lifespan??

Sorry for your troubles dude, I hope you get it sorted.

[E92Fan]

Faulty ECU should be dealt with by BMW - there have been a few so shouldn't be a problem

Blocked cat - how have they diagnosed that?! They haven't taken the exhaust down, as they've told you they need permission to do that. So how do they know? Are they taking the values from the lambda probes?? Could it actually be a lambda probe failure and not a blocked cat?

Engineer fractured the aircon hose - feasibly that hose could have been repaired. It's a minor thing anyway, though annoying it's out of stock.

If there is a fault with the DSC, the ABS system will still function. Unless the whole braking circuit has failed (very unlikely) in which case the dealership won't let you drive your car.

Build quality/QIC has moved on considerably from when your car was built (same as mine). A lot of these problems have now been ironed out, and certainly the new-model cars are much less prone to these annoying faults and failures.

[toxicnerve]

Originally Posted by E92Fan

Build quality/QIC has moved on considerably from when your car was built (same as mine). A lot of these problems have now been ironed out, and certainly the new-model cars are much less prone to these annoying faults and failures.

That's comforting to hear...yet also little comfort at the same time if that makes sense...

Hearing about problems in earlier builds does not inspire confidence in newer builds regardless of an improved QA protocol etc...but I guess it's pot luck. Sometimes you get a duffer and the next time you might end up with somehting that lasts 200,000 miles with only regular servicing items!!

[ShereKhan]

Originally Posted by E92Fan

Faulty ECU should be dealt with by BMW - there have been a few so shouldn't be a problem

Blocked cat - how have they diagnosed that?! They haven't taken the exhaust down, as they've told you they need permission to do that. So how do they know? Are they taking the values from the lambda probes?? Could it actually be a lambda probe failure and not a blocked cat?

Thanks Tony for all the info above

Not sure how they have diagnosed cat, but got told its info being read back.
from on board system.

I know my exhaust has known to rattle sometimes at low speed. Esp when going round car parks you could hear it happen. It did get looked at some time ago but no fault was found.

I asked if they had done an emissions test (which they haven't) as the rear tail pipe is very sooty and has been for some time (6mths or so after the engine rebuild). It passed the MOT last month with the cat.

I'm dropping their loan car back tomorrow so will find out and report back what they say/found.

They did say the DSC bits are in stock. The air con is a steel pipe not hose. I suspect its been duff for some time. I've noticed on other cars i've driven the air con is miles better. Not spent much time in the sun this year - been working away not seing much daylight this summer.

My main concern was the DSC affecting ABS as my co car policy insists that I must drive a car with ABS and it could leave me rendered in a little black hole if I had a mishap! The air con I can live with and can also wait - unless we have a heatwave on its way.....

The cat (if emissions are ok) and if I need to wait for it then thats ok too. As I don't pay for the fuel (apart from private miles) so if MPG is bad then bad it stays. OBC was reporting 27.1 which is the official data figure.

If however the cat is actually duff then technically I may be driving a uninsured car if the MOT is invalid....

Toxicnerve my car may have lots of probs but I have enjoyed driving it every minute. This is my 1st BMW and I would have chosen it again if it existed.
I think my car was just a lemon/friday car.

[gIzzE]

Someone who works for BMW said on the 1 series forum that BMW are replacing hundreds of DSC/ABS faults at the moment and the fact they had 1600 modules in stock puts into perspective that this should be a recall!!

[toxicnerve]

Originally Posted by ShereKhan

If however the cat is actually duff then technically I may be driving a uninsured car if the MOT is invalid....

I don't think the MOT system works like that, if oyu have a valid MOT that is not yet expired then you're ok. The only problem will be when you come to renew/re-test for a new MOT right?

Originally Posted by ShereKhan

Toxicnerve my car may have lots of probs but I have enjoyed driving it every minute. This is my 1st BMW and I would have chosen it again if it existed.
I think my car was just a lemon/friday car.

I know what you're getting at but when you're spending anywhere from £20-35,000 on a car, especially if it is new or AUC, then I really don't think that these sorts of issues should be encountered at sub-100,000 miles.

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Someone who works for BMW said on the 1 series forum that BMW are replacing hundreds of DSC/ABS faults at the moment and the fact they had 1600 modules in stock puts into perspective that this should be a recall!!

This is my concern, I've been reading on various forums (basically doing my due diligence before I go and lay down the cash, if I ever do) and this seems to be a fairly common issue. I've heard of it happening on some cars at sub-30,000 miles.

This is a very worrying trend. In some cases BMW are offering goodwill on the parts but still charging upwards of £200 for labour.

All this kind of thing kind of puts me off, we're not talking an Italian Stallion which can be loved for being gorgeous if a little quirky etc (i.e. an Alfa Romeo)...BMWs (in my opinion) are supposed to be towers of German engineering...I'm looking for a car that will last me many years to come with regular servicing and not much else!

[gIzzE]

Always some problem with every brand, just be aware of them that's all.

[ShereKhan]

Originally Posted by toxicnerve

I don't think the MOT system works like that, if oyu have a valid MOT that is not yet expired then you're ok. The only problem will be when you come to renew/re-test for a new MOT right?

I know what you're getting at but when you're spending anywhere from £20-35,000 on a car, especially if it is new or AUC, then I really don't think that these sorts of issues should be encountered at sub-100,000 miles.

I 'm just covering my back as I would be asked by my senior management why I drove the car and crashed it knowing I had a fault on the CAT. As my insurance is via my employer they pay for all risks in the event of an incident.

If the car cannot pass an MOT test then I will not drive it. Simple as that.
The MOT test cert is made invalid if I take it for another MOT and it fails on that test. So there are ways to make sure it gets fixed.

My lease company prob want to do a cheap job themselves through another garage and not through franchised garage is my guess.

I have had Italian (Fiat), French (Peugeot) and British (Rover). I think if you look around other vendor forums/clubs everyone will have a tale of woe.
See Honest John's site. I think you need to see what you would like to drive.
And just go for it. If you get a lemon then p/x it for something else before it ruins your life.

Unfortunately I don't get a choice of p/x I live with it for 36 mths (or 48 mths as my next car will be).

[ShereKhan]

Originally Posted by gIzzE

Someone who works for BMW said on the 1 series forum that BMW are replacing hundreds of DSC/ABS faults at the moment and the fact they had 1600 modules in stock puts into perspective that this should be a recall!!

I wasn't suprised when the stealer told me DSC parts were in stock. If he had told me the cat and air con is in stock i'd be suprised!

[ShereKhan]

Just dropped the loan car and picked up my hire car "Mondeo 2.0 Edge"
Lease company agreed that I cannot be allowed to drive car.

All work has been authorised to be done by lease company.
They didn't want to pay my insurance for loan car though!

Total bill is at £3500 at the moment....Probably will rise when they find something else wrong.....

I'll let you all know what the outcome is anyway.

[toxicnerve]

Originally Posted by ShereKhan

Total bill is at £3500 at the moment....

See this is what I couldn't stomach....If I spent £30,000 on a car and then after a few years later (let's say 3.5 years) I had to spend £3,000+ (that's 10% of the purchase price) on repairs...that would be a little worrying.

I'm not talking about servicing costs here or consumables/wear and tear issues...I guess I'm worrying about nothing and these things can happen on any marque...but I'd expect "quality" from a BMW but it doesn't seem you get that these days, what with all the issues being talked about, the most worrying being the cracked alloys and ECU failures...

[ShereKhan]

All I can think is god help whoever buys my car. When it goes back it will go to an auction house. I will let you all know when and where so you can avoid touching it!

[Dr Dave]

Surely your lease co will put pressure on BMW Corporate for a goodwill gesture?

[NFS]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

Surely your lease co will put pressure on BMW Corporate for a goodwill gesture?

I doubt they will bother.

When I had company cars I remember that every time I had the brakes done I needed new discs.

Hasn't been the case at all with my own car, which does suggest that the dealer was simply milking the lease company for all they could get, in the sure knowledge that the vehicle was covered by a maintenance policy.

[Dr Dave]

When I was in the motor trade, lease companies would always ask for manufacturers goodwill support for cars just out of warranty. You wouldn't necessarily know about this though.

Likewise, they will always ask for brake disc thickness measurements. If it is at or below minimum thickness, they can't argue.

You must have hammered your brakes to wear out a set of discs with a set of pads though!

[ShereKhan]

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

Surely your lease co will put pressure on BMW Corporate for a goodwill gesture?

That price includes the goodwill for the DSC prob.
The guy at stealers has told me that was the 1st thing he did with the DSC issue.

I think the lease company will make a huge loss on my lease contract.
The GMFV is 11.5k. They defo got the monthly price wrong...

Can anyone tell me what its actually worth (Glass guide not Parkers).
Its 80k miles Sept 06 registered. Just curious. I suspect not much more than 9k if that.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by ShereKhan

Can anyone tell me what its actually worth (Glass guide not Parkers).
Its 80k miles Sept 06 registered. Just curious. I suspect not much more than 9k if that.

From Glasses Guide

Excellent condition £8410
Average condition £7580
Below average condition £6660
Retail £10950

Originally Posted by Dr Dave

You must have hammered your brakes to wear out a set of discs with a set of pads though!

Thing is, I drive the 330i the same way and I got 60K miles out of the front brakes and discs.

When I had company cars it seemed to be new brakes and discs everytime it went in for a service. (i.e. every 15-20K miles)

Can't help thinking that they were ripping off the lease company

[ShereKhan]

Originally Posted by NFS

From Glasses Guide

Excellent condition £8410
Average condition £7580
Below average condition £6660
Retail £10950

Cheers for that NFS

After it gets resprayed, touched up alloys sorted it'll be in excellent condition.
At the moment its in prob average condition. So that's about £500 value lost per month.