locoboy
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| posted on 21/12/08 at 11:18 AM |
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warranty issues / rights
Mrs Locoboy has got a 56 plate 335 coupe that had 18K on the clock when she bought it (on finance)
She has had the car approx 9 months to date and its currently up to 40K so its doing more than average miles per year.
It has always been serviced on time and either at main dealer or authorised independant place, all replacement parts have been gen BMW items.
There have been a list of problems with the car since day one .
Rear brake squeek and in my opinion a sticking calliper - was told by BMW that the wear senson in the pad was made of a plastic that squeeks when it
rubs on the disk! apparently they were aware of this and its more common the on the 5 series - outcome was either to change your pads before they get
the the wear sensor (the light does not come on) so your not getting full mileage out of your pads, or to live with the squeek!
Next was a peculliar rattle on tick over, which i noticed the day she brought the car home, it didnt concern me overly as it was a totally different
sounding engine to her previous 330D and it's a new fangled modern petrol engine and who am I to question BMW's build quality /
engineering.
She mentioned it when it went in for service and the CAT was replaced (under warrenty) as it was apparently breaking up, this made it marginally
better but not a lot ( i got a bolllocking at this point for being too picky!)
I managed to get her to swing by the authorised independant place and get them to have a listen, they straight away said it sounds like the turbo
actuator rods and the valve thingy rattling - they explained this is a common problem and even gave her a print out off theyr exploded drawing of the
part to take to the main dealer to get them to investigate! - (really nice guys)
She then put it into the main dealer for them to have a look at - in the mean time i did a bit of research on the net and its a world wide common
problem with this twin turbo engine, actuator rod rattle, its documneted all over the net yet the main dealer didnt suggest it and replaced the CAT
instead! some customers have had both turbos replaced with brand new items under warranty.
It then went in to have the actuator rods changed, the first day they did a software upgrade!, how the funk is that going to solve a vibration related
rattle on the engine? which by all accounts is down to bushings in the actuator pivots not being up to the job and the actuator rods being too
lightweight hence bouncing about.
The car ended up being in for a week whilst the had to take the engine out to replace the actuators on the turbos - no complaint here, if thats what
needs doing then so be it.
It came back and it did sound better but some days it would still not sound 'right'
Next was the engine managemment light coming on and going into limp mode.
This has happened more than half a dozen times, sometimes leading to it to be recovered because she is on her way to a meeting in Manchester, London
etc so cant limp it to its destination.
The results of the half a dozen stints back to the main dealer have been
occasion 1 - no idea
occasion 2 - new spark plugs
occasion 3 - no idea
occasion 4 - new coil packs
occasion 5 - it was not fueling on all 6 cylinders so the fueling was sorted ( it went like stink after!)
occasion 6 - dont know as its currently in there now.
Her warrenty has only another 8 months or so to run and she wants the problem CURED before it runs out of warranty, or at what point can she claim the
vehicle is / was not fit for purpose and demand a new engine? and does anyone know how this affects here statutory rights as a consumer?
ATB
Locoboy
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big_wasa
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| posted on 21/12/08 at 11:26 AM |
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get rid, sounds like it will cost you a fortune in the long run.
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mookaloid
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| posted on 21/12/08 at 11:56 AM |
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I would have thought a problem which appears during the warranty period but hasn't been sorted is still a warranty problem even after the
warranty runs out. Obviously you need to have raised the issue before the warranty runs out.
Maybe you should write to BMW and complain about the dealer service?
Also you have rights under the consumer credit act and you can complain to the finance company.
Cheers
Mark
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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mr henderson
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| posted on 21/12/08 at 12:55 PM |
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It's one thing to have rights, and another to get them enforced. Your strategy should bear this fact in mind.
First step is to get advice from all the free sources, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau.
I would also advise not giving too much detail about the faults with the car, just say that it is faulty and that it hasn't been repaired
properly (unless asked for detail, of course)
John
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tomblyth
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| posted on 21/12/08 at 09:42 PM |
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turn the radio up
get in touch with trading standards ad ask for there help!
[Edited on 21/12/08 by tomblyth]
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