[Kenshin07]

I took my 3 series in for a recall for the PCV valve and blower motor wiring. it was definitely a bad experience with the dealership but that's besides the point. I have dash cam footage from when they pulled in the car to the day put it out for me to pick it up. Dash cam video record in 3 minute intervals. It shows them pulling in the car, popping the hood, raising the car up, bringing it back down and replacing my windshield wiper fluid. Other than that I can't really see anything that they replaced. Unfortunate thing is that I don't have any recordings from the microphone so I don't know what they were saying. The whole ordeal took about 30 minutes. Then it shows them taking my car for a test drive around the campus and was parked in a lot. The funny thing is they told me that they couldn't even get my car in until the next day because they were so backed up and it was an all-day process to fix the car.

Based on how much time they actually spent working on the car, I'm skeptical that they actually replaced anything. it doesn't look like they even tinkered around in the engine bay aside from inspecting things with a flashlight and opening my oil cover. They didn't remove anything or take apart anything. I heard that for the blower motor you need to access it from under the passenger dash and I was looking for a moment where perhaps they open the door to fix something from the inside but it doesn't look likely. I have no way of confirming that because the dash cam only points forward and there was no audio recording. But I was hoping to see some vibration in the dash cam from opening or closing the door but I'm not picking up anything.

I want to stitch the video together and watch it again to be sure but I'm not sure what to do. Given how crappy the service was and all the excuses I had to deal with, I'm just not confident that they did what they were supposed to do. Am I just being paranoid or could this be something? How should I approach it? What and where should I check to see if anything has been done?

Thanks in advance for the help

[Run Silent]

Yes - you do have to access the blower motor from under the dash. It helps to remove the glove box as well, but it isn't required.

If this was a normal CP repair, you could have asked for the old parts to be returned to you, ensuring that the work was performed - but it's after the fact now and being a recall item, that would have probably been unlikely anyway.

If you know what the updated wiring looks like on the blower, you can check. I believe the fix is to replace the final stage unit, not the actual motor, but it's pretty hard to remove the final stage without taking the blower motor assembly out as well.

PCV valve should be easy to check and see if it's new. There would be substantial dirt and wear/tear on the surrounding parts and it would look obviously new and clean by comparison.

[Kenshin07]

Where is the PCV Valve located? I tried looking up images of it's location but I dont see any good ones. I know how the part looks but where does it go? Would they have to remove the engine cover? It looks untouched.

[Efthreeoh]

You seem to say you do not have continuous footage. What does "3-minute intervals" mean?

The PCV heater valve is under the intake manifold about in the center of the manifold (between no. 3 and no. 4 intake runner). The PCV valve is replaced by removing the alternator.

The blower motor is accessed by removing the leg protection crash panel below the glove box. Can your dash cam see into the passenger footwell? If the blower harness connector is not showing signs of heat stress, they probably do not replace it.

[Kenshin07]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

You seem to say you do not have continuous footage. What does "3-minute intervals" mean?

The PCV heater valve is under the intake manifold about in the center of the manifold (between no. 3 and no. 4 intake runner). The PCV valve is replaced by removing the alternator.

The blower motor is accessed by removing the leg protection crash panel below the glove box. Can your dash cam see into the passenger footwell?

Meaning it records for 3 minutes, saves it as a file then continues recording. 3 minutes intervals rather than continuous recording. Makes it easy to watch when you're looking for a specific thing that occurred.

And no it doesn't. As mentioned I don't have any proof they did or did not do anything under the dash. For all I know they did it. I'm just skeptical. Judging from the footage it doesn't look like they removed the starter.

[IllSic_Design]

If you say they only had the car in the shop for 30 minutes there is no way they did both of the recalls, let alone probably even one if you have to take the alternator out to get to the pcv valve. Sounds fishy.

[DiFFv1]

I just left a bad review because of the same issue, Blower Motor Wiring Recall. They left pieces of cut up wires in my passenger floorboard. Also a 3/4 Cup of Coffee behind the gearshift causing me to have a detailed cleanup. Waiting to hear back...i do all my work myself but when it comes down to a recall i would like it done by the techs. Sadly they don't care about our cars the way we do. its another ticket number for them with no commission.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by DiFFv1

I just left a bad review because of the same issue, Blower Motor Wiring Recall. They left pieces of cut up wires in my passenger floorboard. Also a 3/4 Cup of Coffee behind the gearshift causing me to have a detailed cleanup. Waiting to hear back...i do all my work myself but when it comes down to a recall i would like it done by the techs. Sadly they don't care about our cars the way we do. its another ticket number for them with no commission.

Wow wtf.

But yes I would suppose they care less for recall work lol.

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by Run Silent

Yes - you do have to access the blower motor from under the dash. It helps to remove the glove box as well, but it isn't required.

If this was a normal CP repair, you could have asked for the old parts to be returned to you, ensuring that the work was performed - but it's after the fact now and being a recall item, that would have probably been unlikely anyway.

If you know what the updated wiring looks like on the blower, you can check. I believe the fix is to replace the final stage unit, not the actual motor, but it's pretty hard to remove the final stage without taking the blower motor assembly out as well.

PCV valve should be easy to check and see if it's new. There would be substantial dirt and wear/tear on the surrounding parts and it would look obviously new and clean by comparison.

Run my man, you are without a doubt the bimmerpost polymath. I'm always amazed at how knowledgeable you are about damn near everything. Either that or your google game is off the charts.

[Run Silent]

Originally Posted by Now_Rudi

Run my man, you are without a doubt the bimmerpost polymath. I'm always amazed at how knowledgeable you are about damn near everything. Either that or your google game is off the charts.

1) I grew up in the car business.
2) I recently got ready to replace the blower and final stage on my E93, so looked up the 'how to' just a couple of weeks ago.
3) A PCV valve is essentially the same on most any car.
4) What's google?

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by Run Silent

1) I grew up in the car business.
2) I recently got ready to replace the blower and final stage on my E93, so looked up the 'how to' just a couple of weeks ago.
3) A PCV valve is essentially the same on most any car.
4) What's google?

Fair enough and

[CTinline-six]

Not sure how your dash cam is set up, but mine only powers up when the car turns on. This sounds like what happened with yours, on when they drove the car in, on when it was driven out, etc.

The alternator mounting bolts will be new if they did the PCV recall, as the bolts need to be replaced (aluminum) when it is removed.

[juld0zer]

If properly done, the battery is disconnected for the blower cable recall as you are cutting a high current cable close to its ground cable. At worse, you pop the 40/50A maxi fuse. To save time and lower the chance of the FRM falling over, the battery is often left connected. That may account for the missing footage.
At the very least, you get a short new section of cable which connects to the blower controller. It will have heatshrink and cable ties on it.

For privacy and security reasons, a lot of shops also don't allow dashcams to operate. I understand the lack of trust a lot of people have. So i am surprised they didn't disconnect it.

The PCV recall is new in my country but if the alternator is removed as others have described, then it would be sensible to disconnect the battery also. Again, that can also be done with the battery connected if you're careful.