[veerbeamer]

Hello,

I was at the BMW dealer today for regular maintaince that is covered by my extended warranty and the service advisor tried to upsell the following services indicating that they are not covered by my extended warranty (CPO + maintenance) but recommends the following services:
1) Power steering service - every 2 yrs or 30K miles
2) Fuel injection/Induction service - every 1 yr or 15K miles
3) Coolant service - every 4 yr or 60K miles

I was surprised that these were not covered as part of the extended maintenance plan.

Any suggestions would be helpful.
Thanks
VJ
2006 BMW 330i
72K miles

[combatcarry]

You can put your faith in the marketing poster, or the BMW engineers that developed the condition based service computer.

[fun2drive]

Look at it this way. If it was required by the CBS they would be required to do so. Those suggestions given our PS fluid is synthetic Pentosin is rediculous. Same with injectors and coolant. BMW states their coolant is lifetime....................until the warranty and out and low and behold now it is required/ suggested.
It is a good idea to change fluids out but anything less than 50-70K miles for the PS fluid is a waste and it is not that hard for a DIY person to do it.
Quality fuel injector cleaner like Techron or BK-44 covers that injection cleaning.

I agree this is an upsell and if you have an unlimited budget and want to over maintain your ride press ahead.

You are right to question this stuff. What bugs me is that less informed people be it men or women will have no clue and get this done and then complain that BMWs are expensive to maintain when actually they are not much more expensive than anyother vehicle I have owned.

[gunnerxq]

I would do coolant at 100k miles. And brake fluid every 3-4 years because the boiling point decreases.

[ctuna]

You need to get a copy from Mike Miller BMWCCA



Email Mike at 'techtalk@roundel.org'. He'll send one to anyone who asks.

[Chriztofor]

Op send the pic to bmwna and complain. They can't have a poster for maintenance and then claim it is not covered. I might even go as far and report them to the BBB. It is just plain wrong especially when they advertise $0 maintenance and they pull this crap.

[ENINTY]

Not sure what the dealer was trying to tell you, but brake fluid service is covered under the 50K mile maintenance plan. Power steering fluid service has never been a manufacturer recommended preventative maintenance service on any car I've ever heard of. That said, it can't hurt to change out the PS fluid every now and then, but every 30K miles seems a bit excessive. I changed my PS fluid this past summer at 151,000 miles. The old fluid was a bit different in color than the new Pentosin that went in. However this is a service that the dealer could easily rip off the customer with since 99% of owners wouldn't even know where to look to see if the fluid was changed and the simple way to do the service is to just suck out the oil fluid from the reservoir and replace it (which you can do at home with a turkey baster). The proper way to perform the service is to suck the fluid out of the reservoir and then drain the rack and hoses by removing the banjo bolts from the rack and letting it drain. This removes the other half of the fluid that is in the PS cooler and steering rack.

The owner's service manual that comes with the car states that coolant and transmission fluid changes are required at 100,000 miles.

Fuel injection service is also not a manufacturer recommended preventative maintenance requirement, but it is not a bad idea to have it done, especially with direct injected engines where the detergents in Tier 1 gasoline cannot get to intake plenum and intake valve areas where carbon can build up from crankcase gas recirculation systems. However, every year or 15,000 miles seems a bit excessive. If you do have fuel injection service done, I recommend having the BG Products service performed by a professional mechanic. I had my 100,000 mile F-150's engine cleaned with the BG system and the engine ran 100% better afterwards. It took care of a lot of drivability problems I was having.

I think one thing that should be added as a preventative maintenance item is cleaning of the VANOS solenoids.

[F1Senna]

Is cleaning the Vanos solenoids an easy DIY?

[ENINTY]

Originally Posted by F1Senna

Is cleaning the Vanos solenoids an easy DIY?

Yes. Look it up.

[328i M-Sport]

Coolant changes at 60k miles is a good idea in my opinion. Brake fluid should be changed every 30k miles or so.

I would not worry too much about power steering fluid if the level is fine. Fuel injection service like Motorvac usually does not produce much benefit unless you have driveability issues like low vacuum at idle. Direct injected cars like the 335i are a different story because the engines produce much more carbon deposits.

[Kolyan2k]

coolant every 60-70k, brake fluid every 3 years, power steering.......have no idea..... I replaced my power steering fluid and clutch fluid simply by sucking the content of reservoir several times....easy and pretty much free.... no need to bleed anything too.

and never did any fuel injection service.... just buy BK-44 or Chevron cleaner