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BMW 3-Series Maintenance and Repair

5349 messages,  Last post on Apr 30, 2013 at 3:31 PM

You are in the BMW 3-Series Forum.

What is this discussion about? BMW 3 Series, Sedan

    
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Messages Page 394 of 536

#3924 of 5349 Re: Maintenance on BMW's [praz] by etomori

Jul 17, 2008 (10:58 pm)

Replying to: praz (Jul 17, 2008 9:57 am)
Plan to spend more $$$ for maintenance and repairs on a BMW. That is the nature of the vehicle. I am assuming that you are buying a 3 Series new with the 4yr/50,000 mile warranty/maintenance agreement. Can extend the warranty and maintenance coverage to 6 yrs/100,000 miles via BMW through one of its dealers. Suggest twinkidneygrill.com, a Georgia BMW dealer, for such policies at the best prices possible.
 
If you are buying a twin-turbo 335, really plan on getting the extended maintenance and original owner protection policies. There is a strong feeling that the turbos will have a life about 75,000 miles and repairs/replacement are costly.
 
Also, the BMW 15,000 mile oil/filter change intervals are suspect. Many owners are changing their oil and filter at 7500 mile intervals. Preventative maintenance will give you the longevity. Another thing, the water pump should be replaced at around 60,000 miles. Waiting for it to fail could cause a warped head/block, a lot of $$$.
 
Not very encouraging, right? I just had my engine replaced under warranty on my 2003 330i ZHP. Bought it used at 34,000 and it had factory warranty remaining. Had continuous and documented problems necessitating warrantied repairs under BMW supervision. Should check around to see which BMW dealers treat their customers well. Niello BMW of Sacramento, CA, has provided me with excellent service on a used car that was purchased from a small non-BMW used carl dealer. This dealership really backs up their product!!!
 
But, I am keeping it because it is a great car with character (!!!) with a great dealer providing terrific service.

#3925 of 5349 All Windows rolled down by pounds

Jul 18, 2008 (8:22 am)

I recently purchased a 2008 328i and came out to my car one morning to discover the windows were all the way down and the sunroof was partially open. I hypothesized that somehow I accidentally pressed the unlock button on the key remote. I went to the dealership to have this feature disabled and was told that it cannot be disabled on the E90, however, they have done it on the older E46 . But then again, they said this was the first time they have tried to disable the feature on the E90 and it does not come up as an option on the computer. Has anyone had this successfully done on a recent model BMW? If not, does anyone know of a hard shell case that will hold my key remote so buttons cannot be accidentally pressed?

#3926 of 5349 Engine service light on--BMW 325xi 2004 by jodan

Jul 18, 2008 (7:17 pm)

My service engine light(yellow) has been on and off the last 4-5 months. I suspected the bad gas as a culprit , but now I'm a little confused. I check my gas cap and it's close. I still put in 93 grade and I just had my major service done over at my dealership for 60,000+ miles four months ago. Any advice will be great!
 
JD

#3927 of 5349 Re: Maintenance on BMW's [etomori] by nyccarguy

Jul 18, 2008 (7:25 pm)

Replying to: etomori (Jul 17, 2008 10:58 pm)
I'm just curious about what lead up to having the engine replaced on your '03 ZHP?

#3928 of 5349 Re: Maintenance on BMW's [etomori] by jaxs1

Jul 18, 2008 (7:44 pm)

Replying to: etomori (Jul 17, 2008 10:58 pm)
If the turbos were *likely* to only last 75,000 miles, it would be priced into the warranty and you would be paying for it anyway. They are not in the business to lose money and if you think you are outsmarting them buy buying the extended service contract so you can get turbos replaced for free before the extended warranty expires, you are probably wrong.
It is alot of money to tack on 2 years of service contract coverage after the end of the 4 year factory warranty. I would probably just buy a new car after 4 years instead if I was really concerned about the next 2 years of reliability.
 
At year 6 the extended coverage is gone and the car is more likely to have problems at that later age when they are no longer willing to take the risk of providing extended coverage.
 
Anything could go wrong with any car and the warranty will pay for itself for *some* people, but they will be in the minority. The odds are in their favor or they would not be so eager to sell the contracts.

#3929 of 5349 Re: Maintenance on BMW's [jaxs1] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Jul 18, 2008 (7:51 pm)

Replying to: jaxs1 (Jul 18, 2008 7:44 pm)
Correct. These "extended warranties" are really not warranties. They are insurance policies, and the companies issuing them have got the actuarial tables all figured out.
 
They are betting your car does NOT break, and you are betting that it does.

#3930 of 5349 Re: Maintenance on BMW's [Mr_Shiftright] by jaxs1

Jul 18, 2008 (8:32 pm)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jul 18, 2008 7:51 pm)
The other thing is that it is such a narrow window of coverage for so much money. The first 4 years are covered by the factory warranty,and year 6 on is not covered by anything.
 
On a Honda sedan, you can get an 8-year, 120,000 mile factory backed $0 deductible contract for around $1000. Even then, you will probably not come out ahead, but it's much more tempting to extend the 3 year warranty for 5 additional years and extend the very short 36,000 mile basic warranty to 120,000 miles for that price than to extend a 4 year warranty for only 2 more years for 2-3 times that price.
For many people buying the Hondas, $1000 is worth it for 5 extra years of peace of mind even if they don't have enough problems with the car to get a full financial payback on this "investment."

#3931 of 5349 Re: Maintenance on BMW's [jaxs1] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Jul 20, 2008 (9:21 am)

Replying to: jaxs1 (Jul 18, 2008 8:32 pm)
Extended warranties are all about EXCLUSIONS. Most people don't read the exclusions, which are many, various and tricky.
 
If it was fairly priced, I'd get an extended warranty on a BMW, but I wouldn't pay for those fat-profit ones.

#3932 of 5349 Re: Engine service light on--BMW 325xi 2004 [jodan] by hal56

Jul 20, 2008 (8:04 pm)

Replying to: jodan (Jul 18, 2008 7:17 pm)
my 08 335i had the light come on within a couple of days of delivery. Turns out thre was a bad wire over the rear wheel--took a day for the dealer to trace it down and about 5 minutes to actually fix.

#3933 of 5349 BMW 325ix seeking honest tech around zip 01845 by dujox

Jul 22, 2008 (10:43 am)

Hi everyone. I really need your input. This is first experience with BMW and I considering getting a second opinion about some diagnostic issues.
 
 Anybody out there know an affordable and honest tech on around zip code 01845? Thanks

Messages Page 394 of 536

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