BMW 335 Engine Light Troubles

It all started back in the spring, I was driving up the road one day and my engine light came on.  I pulled into the nearest parking lot and consulted the owner’s manual.  According to the manual the yellow engine light indicates loss of power.  I could actually feel the loss of power but at the time I was thinking it was just one of those strange quirks with the BMW.  I turned the car off and back on again and the light was gone so I dismissed it.

A couple of weeks later I was merging onto the highway and again I felt the loss of power and the yellow engine light came back on.  Again once I stopped and turned the car off the light went away.  I called BMW to set up an appointment to have it checked at that point.  I brought the car in, they couldn’t replicate the problem so they just told me to call them back if it happened again. 

So of course it happened again and again so in May I brought my car back in.  The diagnosis was that I needed to update the DME software before further diagnosis could be done.  They charged me $213.50 for the diagnosis and sent me on my way.  The software update would run me about $350 so I went away to mull it over knowing very well my car had a REAL PROBLEM not a software update problem.

The light problem continually worsened to the point it would come on under all heavy acceleration such as going uphill or merging onto the highway.  In August I brought it in for the DME software update but when I went to pick up the car they told me the software update didn’t resolve anything and that they noticed the wastegate on my turbo was seized shut.  This basically means there was no exhaust gas passing through the turbo so it was not functioning at all.  This explains both the engine light and loss of power.  They told me this is the first time they have seen a malfunctioning turbo and they would have to replace it, the good news is it was probably covered under warranty.  They also noted one of my control arms and ball joints could use replacing but they were also covered under warranty…. probably.

The next step was to bring my car in so the warranty company could inspect it to make sure I did not cause any of the damage.  This on top of the multiple trips I had already made was really starting to agitate me but I went in, they did the inspection and low and behold the repairs would be covered under warranty.  They said overall the vehicle was in great shape, which I knew.  I saw the quotes they had done for the work and the turbo work was $5,500, ball joint and control arm were about $1,000 each so my $4,000 warranty was seeming to pay itself off in short order.

Now I had to wait for the parts to come in so they could do the work.  Two weeks later they called and said it was ready to go so I brought my car in, and as of right now that was two weeks ago on Friday September 18.  At that time I was given a loaner car, a 2013 Hyundai Elantra…… I guess if you don’t buy your BMW from BMW they just stick it to you at every opportunity, but at least I had something to drive.

My first call to check on the vehicle was the following Tuesday, September 22, and I was informed that they were waiting on fittings for the repair job, apparently they had the parts but not the nuts and bolts to install them.  So this was not going well.  I called back on Thursday, September 24, and they said they had the fittings but were having some minor issues and there were a couple of hoses that were seized, so they had to replace them and they were NOT covered under warranty to the tune of about $300.  On Friday, September 25 at 4 PM or so I received a call from the service manager, which is never good.  He told me they could not get the turbo installed, their hoses and fittings would not work with it because it was not an original equipment turbo they had received.  He apologised profusely, told me they would make it up to me blah blah blah.  My car was gone for a week and we were back to scratch.  He said he was going to call the warranty company and make sure they sent the proper part and would call me with an update next week. 

So I waited until the following Wednesday to give them a call after I hadn’t heard from them.  The service person told me they were still waiting for the turbo to be MANUFACTURED by a company in Quebec.  The service manager was off that day who would have had more information on it.  At that point I knew it would be into the next week for sure until any progress was going to be made.  So here it is Sunday October 3 and my car is really no closer to being fixed than it was when I brought it in 16 days ago.

Aluminium Wheel Repaired!

I finally got my wheel back today and it is good as new!  The guys at custom wheels also balanced my wheel for no extra charge which was nice of them.  You can see where the wheel was welded but it feels good and well balanced.  I dropped over to Mr. Lube to get my tire put on and they did it in about 10 minutes for no charge.  The guys at Mr. Lube even commented on how nice the Optima looks.  I came home, washed up the Optima, shined up the tires and it looks as good as new.  

I think there is a lesson in all of this.... while I was at Custom Wheels I was looking through their magazines with hundreds of different rims and I was surprised at the prices compared to my $775 replacement Kia Optima rim.  For $200 - $300 there were some really nice looking rims available.  In the future I would suggest upgrading the rims yourself instead of going with the factory upgrade.  Of course the problem becomes that upgraded rims often come with upgraded everything else in a package deal so it's hard to get some of the good stuff like sunroof, leather etc... without buying the upgraded rims. Also if you are buying a used car, for $1,000 you can really give your car a nice upgrade by ordering some nice wheels.

Overall Custom Wheels does good work and saved me about $600, you just need to wait a couple weeks to get the work done.

Fixing My Wheel

It looked like I would need a new wheel so I called Kia to see what the damage would be.  The answer was above what I could have imagined.... $775!  I politely cursed a few times and told them I would get back to them.  I started scouring used car part sites but as I suspected there was not an 18" rim to fit a 2011 Kia Optima EX Luxury to be found anywhere.

My next call was to car repair shops to see if the rim could be fixed.  I Googled fixing aluminium rims and it seemed like professional welders could get the job done if the crack wasn't too extreme.  After calling around I got put on to a place called Custom Wheels.  They said they could fix it but the cost would be at least $140, they would have to see the rim.  So off I went to Wal-Mart to get the tire taken off the rim and my dummy installed.  They charged me a whopping $5 and the counter guy did all the work himself.

Next stop was custom wheels (which was VERY difficult to find) where they took a look at the rim and said they could fix it for $180 + tax but it would take two weeks.  TWO WEEKS..... but I didn't really have a choice since it was saving me about $600.

So here I am one week into wheel repair, driving my better half's car and using the Optima only when totally necessary.  I will do a follow up post in a week when my rim is back hopefully as good as new.

Damage to my baby...... Repair Rip off (in my opinion)!

Can you see it???  One of the people who drive my car but is not me hit a chuck of ice and cracked my front bumper cover.  Its like a piece got totally cracked off but is still hanging on by the guard underneath.  As soon as I opened the garage it jumped out at me, it is painful but I didn't get upset with unnamed driver who damaged the vehicle.  In behind the bumped cover the guard was cracked also but it didn't seem to be bothering anything so I left it.  

And then we got LOTS of snow.  Some of said snow managed to build up under the crack n the guard and then an entire section broke and started hanging down.  This caused my car to start shaking wildly as the wind caught the guard under the bumper co-incidentally enough while unnamed driver was driving it.

Duct Tape Repair

I used duct tape to keep the guard in place and went to Kia to get a repair estimate.  Kia sent me on to Collision Experts who looks after body work for them, I took that to mean this would be the most expensive place they could send me and they would get a kick back.  But since I figured it might be good for some post material which I have been severely lacking lately so I gave it a shot.

When I showed up there were two other customers waiting which they told me was strange since usually there is no wait.  I figured it was just as well to wait and my wait time was only about 15 minutes.  The guy looked at the car and said I would need a new guard but wasn't sure if they could just fix the bumper or if it had to be replaced.  

He went back in and came out in 10 minutes with my estimate.... right away my eyes shot to the bottom line $1,593!  Did you see the picture at the top..... $1,600 for a once inch bumper crack.  After he saw the wild look in my eyes he immediately pointed out I could get a new guard for about $150 but the bumper guard needed to be replaced and would cost $1,450.  The freakin bumper guard piece costs almost $500, then there was $172 for paint and 7 hours labour.  7 hours labour to  replace a bumper cover and paint it...... 3 hours to replace and 4 hours to paint.  

I passed on the bumper cover.

See the gory details below.  Also to note I called around a couple other places and while expensive they were more in the $1,100 range to replace the bumper cover...... still too rich for my blood.  I am going to try to get someone to patch it up, there must be a way.