Dealership praise/horror stories

Lovenhatebmw

New member
Where did you originally buy the car? That is your more likely source of the part swapping situation if one exists. Depending on what tools the guys were using they also might just read these modules incorrectly and misidentify them.

These kinds of issues are common on cars that are written off and then repaired with whatever parts the repairers have on hand (and you can get some russian dude on Team Viewer to code everything to more or less work together).
Thank you for this . The car was bought new when the 3 40 year anniversary edition was released and was never in an accident . Like I said I know zero about cars. Hoping for the best.
 

r0ckf1re

Well-known member
Thank you for this . The car was bought new when the 3 40 year anniversary edition was released and was never in an accident . Like I said I know zero about cars. Hoping for the best.

‘’ Displaying 1 series and convertible’’ Very interesting.

The F series doesn’t have a convertible 1 series.
The E88 is a 1 series convertible.


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MR_Y

Well-known member
Yes! I registered on here because this site has been eye opening ! My poor car with low mileage has been parked for nearly a year! Here's why: a year after taking my car to BMW Menlyn for a water pipe related issue my car completely broke down . I reported issues a day after the repairs like the left passenger door lock not working and car driving different ( this was in april 2022) in January 2023 the car started showing a drive train warning and in feb stalled completely with hard start. Car stayed in my garage (as I knew it was going to be an expensive fix just like a small water related issues cost the year before!) I took it to BMW fountains in October and they didnt want to work on the car and said to take it back to LMG Menlyn but they (menlyn) wanted to charge for a replacement battery first even before diagnosing the car. The costs for a new battery alone made me tow the car to an RMI approved mechanic and the mechanic found that the ecu / compuyer box (excuse me I'm not a car boffen) found that the car had a f20 ecu instead of a f30 which the car is?! The car after the initial repair was displaying in the cluster a 1 series instead of a 3series which the car is. It also had warnings of convertible roof and lane assist (all which the car doesnt have ) weird but this is a warning not to trust dealerships out of Motorplan. my car was out of motorplan last year so my suspicion is that they swapped parts. I cant prove it by I suspect it!!
Sorry to hear.
Get all the facts of the case summarised and contact Wendy Knowler
[email protected]
 

Lisaprut

New member
You can always try the motor industry Ombudsman. Had many successes with them in the past.

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TurboLlew

Honorary ///Member
Thank you for this . The car was bought new when the 3 40 year anniversary edition was released and was never in an accident . Like I said I know zero about cars. Hoping for the best.

Wow! One owner from new, only serviced at BMW and now this? The car is certainly behaving like one that has mismatched modules and has not been coded correctly (or even accidentally if this coincides with your water issue: They vacuum fill it and then there is a self-bleeding process that is done on ISTA. This is the only thing that springs to mind as to how it might have happened. Not sure this is actually a swapping parts problem or a module that has gone bad or a tech that coded the vehicle incorrectly as part of the service? Should have been an easy diagnosis and resolution if that was the case. Did you have to drive the car with these from April 2022 to Jan 2023?

Good advice to contact Wendy Knowler and the ombudsman at this point. Also contact BMW HQ. What was the reason that Fountains gave for refusing to work on the car? That may also give some clues as to what is actually happening.
 

Lovenhatebmw

New member
Wow! One owner from new, only serviced at BMW and now this? The car is certainly behaving like one that has mismatched modules and has not been coded correctly (or even accidentally if this coincides with your water issue: They vacuum fill it and then there is a self-bleeding process that is done on ISTA. This is the only thing that springs to mind as to how it might have happened. Not sure this is actually a swapping parts problem or a module that has gone bad or a tech that coded the vehicle incorrectly as part of the service? Should have been an easy diagnosis and resolution if that was the case. Did you have to drive the car with these from April 2022 to Jan 2023?

Good advice to contact Wendy Knowler and the ombudsman at this point. Also contact BMW HQ. What was the reason that Fountains gave for refusing to work on the car? That may also give some clues as to what is actually happening.
Thank you! Yes the car acted very different right after the service last year and I drove it even with the drive train warning but not before taking it to BMW centurion- they did an oil service that was it. Ya, maybe it is just a coding issue and not parts but hopefully it can be fixed 🤞 I will approach the ombudsman ! Thank you for that advice !
 

Veedub

Active member
Sent my daughter's Mini to the dealer like 2 months back (Midrand). Recently noticed an oil leak. Eventually jacked it up and checked underneath. Oil sump plug had two washers on it and oil filter cover was leaking. I had to google to see if maybe it was a B48 thing to have two sump washers...turns out it's not.

Sent it back to them and they "re-did" the service. Oil leaks all sorted now.

Just got the typical "apologies for the inconvenience".
 

Veedub

Active member
Sent my daughter's Mini to the dealer like 2 months back (Midrand). Recently noticed an oil leak. Eventually jacked it up and checked underneath. Oil sump plug had two washers on it and oil filter cover was leaking. I had to google to see if maybe it was a B48 thing to have two sump washers...turns out it's not.

Sent it back to them and they "re-did" the service. Oil leaks all sorted now.

Just got the typical "apologies for the inconvenience".
Sigh....
 

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swazi85

Active member
Sent my daughter's Mini to the dealer like 2 months back (Midrand). Recently noticed an oil leak. Eventually jacked it up and checked underneath. Oil sump plug had two washers on it and oil filter cover was leaking. I had to google to see if maybe it was a B48 thing to have two sump washers...turns out it's not.

Sent it back to them and they "re-did" the service. Oil leaks all sorted now.

Just got the typical "apologies for the inconvenience".

Doesn’t really surprise me. Not excited by bmws Midrand’s service. They couldn’t even noticed they installed my m5 m performance exhaust wonky


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Veedub

Active member
I dropped the car off, again, this morning.

Told the service advisor that I'm not interested in apologies this time.

I think that they might just be too busy in the workshop, so they are rushing things. The volume of cars there in the morning is scary.

BTW - they have a new M2 in a purple colour (individual/special colour option).... !@#$ but it looks good.
 
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