[tom9192]

Originally Posted by AZDesertBMW

I was having my airbag replaced under the last recall and asked the dealer to inspect the wiring for the new recall. Dealer said they were showing signs of degrading. I just picked up the long term rental from enterprise at my local dealer. The good thing is that the car sits at my house until its ready to fix. It's costing bmw 2 grand a month for the rental. Hopefully they have the repair quickly so I'm not stuck driving the rental x3 for too long.

Did you have to do anything special to get the rental? My wire is in pretty bad shape so I'm hoping to also get a rental until it can be fixed. Did they give you a time estimate of when they might have it fixed?

[ralo]

This is funny I just had to replace wires under my dash along with the blower motor and plug because it burned while I was driving last month.I did not know anything about this.I was able to sort out a 4 inch section of melted wires and rewire everything back to normal.It can really mess some shit up, my brake light wires,door locks,hvac and probably some other stuff i did not notice at the time were all shorted I had to park and disconnect my battery in order to turn the car off completely .I was lucky I did not have to remove the dash and replace the entire harness ,who knows how much bmw would charge someone to fix some shit like this Iam glad I know something.

[AZDesertBMW]

Originally Posted by tom9192

Did you have to do anything special to get the rental? My wire is in pretty bad shape so I'm hoping to also get a rental until it can be fixed. Did they give you a time estimate of when they might have it fixed?

No, i just had to sign a waiver saying I wouldn't drive my car once I got it home. My rental is through enterprise. The enterprise guy said they had down about 6 rentals in Tucson for this issue in the last month. The dealer said they didn't have a timeline.

The crazy thing, Im wondering why BMW just doesn't buy people out of their cars. My rental is costing BMW 2000/month, which for older cars is only a couple of months before the rental cost is greater than the cars value.

[RossBMWZseries]

I called my local BMW dealership on Tuesday for my airbag recall on my E92. They told me to bring it Saturday as they had the part in stock. They replaced the airbag and they also ordered the parts for the other 2 recalls on the blower motor and PCV. Turnaround time is 5-7 weeks and they'll give me a call then.

[AZDesertBMW]

Wow 5 to 7 weeks isn't too bad. Hopefully thats about right because my dealer did has a timetable for me. My X3 isnt a bad rental car, but it is not a 335.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by lab_rat

It's not that the gage isn't correct, it's the type of solder which was used that corroded after all these years. The corroded solder causes a short, which in turn is what caused fires in some cars.

The EU environmental regulations banned the use of lead in solder (which was ~36% lead/64% tin). BMW used solder that was 100% tin, which, in the location under the dash, is subject to moisture, and in turn is more likely to corrode.

Now, BMW is correcting the problem by replacing the connector, wires, *and most importantly* the more superior (and expensive) 100% silver solder.

This is why it is going to take a while.

In my opinion.

Damned Europeans and their RoHs specs!

[Mashman]

Originally Posted by Bavarian Tech

That is the issue why the recall is being done now..But if you look closely its the ground wire issue..But the when the recall is done. U get a new design connector along with thicker gage power wire along with a dedicated ground instead of a splice point along with a new final stage

Great! When I had the issue, I replaced final stage, and spliced on a new connector. If I take the car in for the recall, they will not give me grief about the repair, will they?

[CTinline-six]

You guys have some pretty nice dealerships.

The ones in my area basically told me to pound sand and they will eventually send a letter once they have parts which they have no clue when those will be available.

A co-worker also has an E90 and she told them she didn't feel safe driving the car and they told her there is nothing they could do but allow her to park the vehicle there and wait for parts if she didn't want it in her garage. I think i'd rather have the car parked in the hood than at a BMW dealership.

Then again at these dealerships if you aren't buying a brand new X5 they pretty much want nothing to do with you.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by AZDesertBMW

I was having my airbag replaced under the last recall and asked the dealer to inspect the wiring for the new recall. Dealer said they were showing signs of degrading. I just picked up the long term rental from enterprise at my local dealer. The good thing is that the car sits at my house until its ready to fix. It's costing bmw 2 grand a month for the rental. Hopefully they have the repair quickly so I'm not stuck driving the rental x3 for too long.

I'm wondering how many people they actually put in rentals. Probably only the people who threaten with lawyers or really make a stink. From what I see on the boards it seems they only give you one if you claim driving the car feels unsafe, or you have previous service with the dealer. BMW has been inexcusably slow with the airbag recall. They probably just hope people won't even take their car in. Doing a search through E90s for sale in my area, most of them still have an open air bag recall, which has been going on for how long now?

[AZDesertBMW]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

I'm wondering how many people they actually put in rentals. Probably only the people who threaten with lawyers or really make a stink. From what I see on the boards it seems they only give you one if you claim driving the car feels unsafe, or you have previous service with the dealer. BMW has been inexcusably slow with the airbag recall. They probably just hope people won't even take their car in. Doing a search through E90s for sale in my area, most of them still have an open air bag recall, which has been going on for how long now?

I didn't have to make a stink for this rental. I didn't do it for the airbag recall because I'm in a low risk climate. I think BMW is being more giving with this recall. The enterprise rep did tell me that he heard there was a car locally that started smoking from the heater core recall issue. It was supposedly a car of a friend of someone at the dealer.

[AZDesertBMW]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

You guys have some pretty nice dealerships.

The ones in my area basically told me to pound sand and they will eventually send a letter once they have parts which they have no clue when those will be available.

A co-worker also has an E90 and she told them she didn't feel safe driving the car and they told her there is nothing they could do but allow her to park the vehicle there and wait for parts if she didn't want it in her garage. I think i'd rather have the car parked in the hood than at a BMW dealership.

Then again at these dealerships if you aren't buying a brand new X5 they pretty much want nothing to do with you.

BMWNA would always be a good place to start if the dealer isn't being helpful. They may be able to push the dealer to give a rental, since their the ones paying the bill.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by AZDesertBMW

BMWNA would always be a good place to start if the dealer isn't being helpful. They may be able to push the dealer to give a rental, since their the ones paying the bill.

Yeah that's what I told her to try next. Her car is parked in one of those garages that sits under the house, so it could potentially be a risk.

Mine sits outside in the driveway, so if it caught fire the worse thing that would happen is it might melt a basketball hoop a few feet away.

[Efthreeoh]

Okay, folks, your E90 is not going to spontaneously combust while sitting parked in your driveway because of the blower motor recall issue.

If you are that concerned, pull the passenger knee panel and look at the blower motor connector. If it's not showing signs of over temperature operation, then just wait for the recall. And just drive the stinkin' car.

[sebaNYC]

Efthreeoh actually bunch of cars "spontaneously combust" while they were parked, The heated is avoiding the Valve get frozen, means its always" on, even when the car is off. Even BMW it says it can happen with unattended cars.

"Documents posted Friday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that a heater for the positive crankcase ventilation valve can overheat and cause the valve to melt, increasing the risk of a fire even when the vehicle is not in use. No injuries have been reported. Dealers will replace the heater.

The heater is designed to prevent the valve from freezing in cold temperatures, BMW spokesman Hector Arellano-Belloc said. But irregularities in manufacturing can cause corrosion can lead to overheating.

The other recall covers nearly 673,000 cars including the 323i, 325i, 325xi, 328i, 328xi, 330i, 330xi, 335i, 335xi and M3 from the 2006-2011 model years. Also covered are the 2007-2011 328i xDrive, 335i xDrive and 335is, and the 2009-2011 335d.

Wiring for the heating and air conditioning system can overheat and cause connectors to melt, also increasing the fire risk, even when vehicles are unattended. Four drivers reported injuries. BMW says a wiring connection can corrode and in rare cases cause fires."

[RossBMWZseries]

I think it's funny how most of us are excited to stop driving our beloved vehicles just to get into a rental. Some people will say "well, I'm doing it for safety reasons and/or to avoid adding miles on the car" but honestly, I'm just curious to know what rental I can get to toy with, it better be somewhat fun lol. With that said, does anyone have the phone number for BMW NA?

[RossBMWZseries]

Originally Posted by AZDesertBMW

Wow 5 to 7 weeks isn't too bad. Hopefully thats about right because my dealer did has a timetable for me. My X3 isnt a bad rental car, but it is not a 335.

Not bad at all.

I need to replace my oil filter housing gasket (OFHG) and my valve cover gasket (VCG) as they're both leaking. I read somewhere that the valve cover gasket is a job they'll do when they repair the recall for the PCV. I don't know how true this is and I don't know if it's worth waiting 7 weeks for a freebie or just take care of it myself now.

[Delta0311]

Got this letter as well for my 335. What exactly will they be replacing in this recall?

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by sebaNYC

Efthreeoh actually bunch of cars "spontaneously combust" while they were parked, The heated is avoiding the Valve get frozen, means its always" on, even when the car is off. Even BMW it says it can happen with unattended cars.

"Documents posted Friday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that a heater for the positive crankcase ventilation valve can overheat and cause the valve to melt, increasing the risk of a fire even when the vehicle is not in use. No injuries have been reported. Dealers will replace the heater.

The heater is designed to prevent the valve from freezing in cold temperatures, BMW spokesman Hector Arellano-Belloc said. But irregularities in manufacturing can cause corrosion can lead to overheating.

The other recall covers nearly 673,000 cars including the 323i, 325i, 325xi, 328i, 328xi, 330i, 330xi, 335i, 335xi and M3 from the 2006-2011 model years. Also covered are the 2007-2011 328i xDrive, 335i xDrive and 335is, and the 2009-2011 335d.

Wiring for the heating and air conditioning system can overheat and cause connectors to melt, also increasing the fire risk, even when vehicles are unattended. Four drivers reported injuries. BMW says a wiring connection can corrode and in rare cases cause fires."

I specifically discussed the blower motor recall. I did not discuss the PCV heater valve, which is a different subject and a separate recall campaign. What you quoted does not state the cars caught fire when the HVAC system was not in operation. So get your information correct before you try and post a contradicting point. It's possible you really don't understand what you are talking about.

Regarding the blower motor, unless the circuit is energized when the car is parked and the key removed, which I don't think is the case, the circuit is not going to catch on fire. It's possible that by coincidence the circuit started to overheat just when the car was parked, but I would think the oder of melting plastic would clue the owner that something is amiss. It could be possible that a parked E90 could catch fire unattended if the REST function was in operation (only early model year cars have the REST function) and the HVAC system catch on fire, but that still counts as the system was in operation and the wiring was enegized (i.e. the car was parked and not completely turned off). The recall notice I have speaks to a risk of fire only when the car and HVAC system is in operation. It does not state the risk of fire is possible when the vehicle is parked and the HVAC system is not in operation.

[rds95991]

My 2006 BMW caught fire in my garage about five years ago. Fortunately we keep fire extinguishers everywhere. Did not get a rental, did not get an acknowledgement that it was fault of the car, did not get towing every though I had BMW assist at the time.

Took weeks while I fought with BMW and then weeks while they waited for a new wiring harness to come from Germany.

My wife (whose car it was) and BMW came to a secret agreement.

[mecheng77]

Originally Posted by rds95991

My 2006 BMW caught fire in my garage about five years ago. Fortunately we keep fire extinguishers everywhere. Did not get a rental, did not get an acknowledgement that it was fault of the car, did not get towing every though I had BMW assist at the time.

Took weeks while I fought with BMW and then weeks while they waited for a new wiring harness to come from Germany.

My wife (whose car it was) and BMW came to a secret agreement.

Did it self extinguish? How much damage was there?
Was the blower motor on?

[rgfinn76]

Has anyone had this recall performed yet? My AC Blower just stopped working (Live in Tampa, FL) I inspected the wire harness and it is all corroded and melted. The Dealer here told me that parts are still not available. Not sure how long I can go without AC..

[Jesda]

I emailed BMW NA expressing safety concerns. They responded quickly by phone and advised contacting my dealer. I told my dealer I contacted BMW, and they agreed to get me a rental.

Fortunately they had the parts on hand, set aside for someone who ended up wrecking their car, so what would have been weeks of a rental car turned out to be an overnight loaner. They also repaired some heat damaged wiring, so the fire hazard is very real.

Kudos to Erhard BMW for doing a great job in a short amount of time.