BIG BIG Motorplan and Maintenance Thread

[Swiegie]

Hi

I have compiled a detailed list of all the maintenance carried out on our 2005 E46 318i BMW during its 7 years and 94000km on Motorplan.

I am not going to list all the small things on the invoices, but will add it up and call it sundries.

I hope that this thread will be informative and that I can help some other fanatics out there.

If you would like I will detail the service items as well – let me know.

First service – Oil Service

2007/01/08 – Forsdicks Tygervalley
23298 km
Total cost : R427.71

Second Service – Inspection 1

2008/08/06 – Forsdicks Tygervalley
47937km
Total Cost : R854.79

Third Service – Oil Service

2010/08/27 – Forsdicks Tygervalley
69259km
Total cost : R3162.49
Control arm bushes replaced. R1669.14 parts and 565.74 labour.


Now the real fun begins

1st Repair/maintenance

2010/10/18 – Auto Atlantic
71296 km
Total cost : R5050.85

Parts :
- Clutch kit – R2773.08
- Exhaust gasket – R127.63
- Sealing CVR – R194.13
- Sundries – R164.63
- Labour – R1791.38

2nd Repair/maintenance

2010/11/10 – Forsdicks Tygervalley
72299km
Total cost : R4119.07

Parts :
- Brake discs front - R791.16
- Brake pads front – R635.99
- Brake Discs rear – R725.96
- Brake pads rear – R586.69
- Brake fluid – R65.97
- Brake sensors – R286.39
- Labour – R1010.25

3rd Repair/maintenance

2010/12/20 – Forsdicks Tygervalley
74048km
Total cost : R2645.54

Parts
- Oil cooler – R1438.34
- Anti Freeze – R116.13
- System flush – R404.10
Labour – R686.97

4th Repair/maintenance
2011/04/05 – Forsdicks Tygervalley
80222km
Total cost : R713.22

Parts
- Temperature sensor – R252.12
Labour : R421.20

5th repair/maintenance
2011/06/08 – Donford Stellenbosch
82469km
Total Cost :R8461.48

Parts
- Tappet cover gasket – R763.00
- Flange gasket – R71.40
- Wheel alignment – R747.49
- Rear Shocks + mountings – R4395.20
- Gas struts for boot lid – R 730.80
- Wipers – R197.40

Labour : R2303.30

6th Repair / Maintenance

2011/06/30 – Donford Stellenbosch
83375km
Total cost : R17964.11

Parts
- Vacuum Pump – R3697.60
- Dual mass Flywheel – R 8807.10
- Clutch kit – R 2908.30

Labour – R2523..15

7th Repair/Maintenance
I am missing this invoice from Donfords will update once received.

Fourth Service - Inspection 2

2011/12/15 – Auto Atlantic
90546km
Total cost : R2851.31

8th repair/Maintenance

2012/01/16 – Auto Atlantic
91653km
Total cost : R27722.81

Parts
- Exhaust gasket – R140.20
- Clutch Release bearing – R418.25
- Front shocks + Mountings – R7013.43
- Wishbone LH – R3592.33
- Wishbone RH – R3592.33
- Control arm + bushes – R1823.08
- Oil separator/pcv valve – R 483.25
- Various hoses – R1153.63
- Sump gasket – R311.12
- Diff bushes – R485.94
- Sundries – R187.06

Labour – R 8478.55

9th Repair/Maintenance
2012/01/24 – Forsdicks Tygervalley
92000km
Total cost – R2007.04

Parts
Bleeder – R45.43
Radiator cap – R109.18
Expansion tank – R1135.22
Anti freeze – R93.08

Labour – R624.13

10th repair/maintenance

2012/02/13 – Auto Atlantic
92491km
Total cost – R21841.66

Parts
- Engine mountings – R2438.98
- Eccentric shaft – R5947.22
- needle bearing – R321.02
- Tappet cover gasket – R778.51
- Flange gasket – R74.55
- Intermediate – R4147.56 ??? Do not know what this was.
- Clutch Kit – R2476.13
- Sundries – R187.57

Labour – R6065.84

11th Repair/maintenance

2012/02/22 – Forsdicks Tygervalley
93626km
Total Cost – R 2806.80

Parts
- Water house – R892.89
- Boot lid lock – R510.71
- Wipers – R205.89
- Anti Freeze – R93.08

Labour – R1104.23

12th Repair/maintenance
2012/02/27 – Forsdicks BMW
Awaiting copy of invoice, another big invoice.

Our cars clutch was replaced a couple of times due to bad workmanship. Every time they only replaced certain parts and then the clutch would stat giving problems again. It seems that the clutch is now sorted out!

Overall the car drives like a dream after the repairs was carried out and we will probably keep it for another couple of years.

 

[Doomsdaya]

I roughly calculated thats well over R90k worth of servicing/repair/maintenance done on the car.

Sheesh thats alot of money you saved thanks to MP. Are you still gona have the car serviced/repaired at BMW Stealers now that it's out of MP ?

 

[Twinz]

Wow, that is an excellent review. I agree with Doomsday, MP saved you big time on cost :thumbs:

 

[Philip Foglar]

Hmm, I was at Forsdicks last week sometime and saw a lady dealing with the parts department, from what I remember there was a boot lock and I think a driver's door lock and key replacement - had to be reprogrammed or something too. And coincidentally was a white or silver E46 318i. What's the chances? But this was the 24th that I was there last week...

 

[L~C~G]

Shocks, control arm bushes and wish bones at under 100000kms. WTF? :nonono:

 

[AdiS]

Hmmm, I was really looking for feedback like this when i created this thread:

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=28164

As you will see, I was probably too academic about it, and expected too much from people.

 

[FaSTandFurious]

You got your money's worth out of the MP

 

[L~C~G]

Hmmm, I was really looking for feedback like this when i created this thread:

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=28164

As you will see, I was probably too academic about it, and expected too much from people.

These things really are an unknown. This particular car im my opinion seems to have either seen some serious abuse (no disrespect intended to the OP) or the dealer this car went to was milking the motor plan for all its worth.

I have owned many cars and done 100000kms on a few of them. not one was ever new, some had pretty high mileage and all of them put together probably never cost as much as this thing did.

It is very difficult to give a breakdown of what can actually go wrong and often it is something that has not happened to anyone else.

I personally think this thread paints the E46 318i in a very bad light and this is by no means the norm on these vehicles.

How in the hell can the control arm bushes be stuffed at 69000kms brake disks at 72000kms, the shocks at 82000kms and the clutch at 83000kms? Was this thing used as a pace car on rally tracks?

 

[Jacques24]

Hmmm, I was really looking for feedback like this when i created this thread:

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=28164



How in the hell can the control arm bushes be stuffed at 69000kms brake disks at 72000kms, the shocks at 82000kms and the clutch at 83000kms? Was this thing used as a pace car on rally tracks?

My Discovery's lower control arm bushes were replaced 3 times by 100k km, it depends on driving surfaces etc, but it's a known problem for D3 owners

 

[AdiS]

Hmmm, I was really looking for feedback like this when i created this thread:

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=28164

As you will see, I was probably too academic about it, and expected too much from people.

These things really are an unknown. This particular car im my opinion seems to have either seen some serious abuse (no disrespect intended to the OP) or the dealer this car went to was milking the motor plan for all its worth.

I have owned many cars and done 100000kms on a few of them. not one was ever new, some had pretty high mileage and all of them put together probably never cost as much as this thing did.

It is very difficult to give a breakdown of what can actually go wrong and often it is something that has not happened to anyone else.

I personally think this thread paints the E46 318i in a very bad light and this is by no means the norm on these vehicles.

How in the hell can the control arm bushes be stuffed at 69000kms brake disks at 72000kms, the shocks at 82000kms and the clutch at 83000kms? Was this thing used as a pace car on rally tracks?

I was more trying to use what HAS gone wrong from peoples' experiences in order to predict what might go wrong.

 

[L~C~G]

Hmmm, I was really looking for feedback like this when i created this thread:

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=28164

As you will see, I was probably too academic about it, and expected too much from people.

These things really are an unknown. This particular car im my opinion seems to have either seen some serious abuse (no disrespect intended to the OP) or the dealer this car went to was milking the motor plan for all its worth.

I have owned many cars and done 100000kms on a few of them. not one was ever new, some had pretty high mileage and all of them put together probably never cost as much as this thing did.

It is very difficult to give a breakdown of what can actually go wrong and often it is something that has not happened to anyone else.

I personally think this thread paints the E46 318i in a very bad light and this is by no means the norm on these vehicles.

How in the hell can the control arm bushes be stuffed at 69000kms brake disks at 72000kms, the shocks at 82000kms and the clutch at 83000kms? Was this thing used as a pace car on rally tracks?

I was more trying to use what HAS gone wrong from peoples' experiences in order to predict what might go wrong.

Well, if you based it on this car............everything apparently can go wrong :thumbs:

 

[NoFear]

That’s insane, damm after all that changes the car will be like new. I would not mind if bmw can change all of that on my car when it reaches high mileage.

 

[AdiS]

That’s insane, damm after all that changes the car will be like new. I would not mind if bmw can change all of that on my car when it reaches high mileage.

With this report being under motorplan, I would immediately question the necessity of all those parts being replaced. I would assume that a level of 'motorplan attitude' was used and parts were replaced very liberally as is normally the case un mplan. Hence, this service history perhaps doesn't accurately reflect the cars true maintenance requirements.

 

[Swiegie]

Hi

I see some harsh comments out there....

This car is actually in mint condition, is driven by my mom who is over 50 years old and by no means a robot racer anymore.

I must also add, that we are extremely fussy owners and all our vehicles are maintained to the max and we keep them for a long time before replacing.

I agree, that some of the items replaced under Motorplan was probably not necessary, but if the dealers are willing to replace the parts, why should I when the car is a year or two out of Motorplan.

for example brake discs, BMW do not skim discs and if I had to pay for this I would have had it skimmed at a fraction of the cost.

Shock absorbers, to last seven years and almost 90 000km is a long time. Most shocks only last for about 4-5 years, so I requested the dealers to replace this. Most people do not notice that their shocks is actually worn and drive their cars untill road holding is terrible before replacing them.

The clutch issue on this car started with clutch shudder. As far as I am aware most BMW owners experience this problem on their cars at around the same mileage. This is due to the dual mass flywheel that fails. The clutch and other related parts was replaced numerous times, as the clutch pedal was very rough when depressing the pedal - felt like crushing glass.

As for the control arms and bushes, I was also a bit surprised when they told me its needs to be replaced. However, one of my colleagues had to go through the same excercise with his Audi with 110000km on the clock.

My personal opinion is that this vehicle was maintained the way a BMW is supposed to be maintained as it still drives like new, unlike some 2008/2009 BMW's I see on dealer floors that are thrashed mechanically and cosmetically.

I would just like to mention again, that some of the parts replaced could have easily lasted another couple of thousand km's and most was replaced on the dealers recommendation.

I hope the above is more clear.

 

[L~C~G]

No one is taking a dig at you bud. :thumbs:

This just seems like an insane amount of parts to replace on a car that has under 100000kms.

If I even bought a second hand car and landed up with half of the faults that you have gone through with this vehicle I would have sold it long ago.

 

[XMAX]

IMHO - All the major parts that did go on the car were fine to have been done so at the mileage that it was done.


also, the costs for those parts were actually not terrible.


Repair 6, 8 and 10 seemed to be the most expensive, raising the total cost extremely high (some R67k). Other than that the costs were actually not very high.

 

[NoFear]

That’s insane, damm after all that changes the car will be like new. I would not mind if bmw can change all of that on my car when it reaches high mileage.

With this report being under motorplan, I would immediately question the necessity of all those parts being replaced. I would assume that a level of 'motorplan attitude' was used and parts were replaced very liberally as is normally the case un mplan. Hence, this service history perhaps doesn't accurately reflect the cars true maintenance requirements.

I agree 100% with you it’s more a case that the owner as stated in a post above maintains the car to the max. My theory is most of the repair work was requested by the owner to be replaced just for the sake of it not that the part where even faulty.

My bmw 318is bill did not even come close to that and I sold the vehicle with 250 000km on and I am also one of the owners that look extremely after there vehicles everything must work 100% or it will be replaced.

This car is definitively not that costly to run or maintain it’s more a case of misusing the maintenance plan.

 

[Swiegie]

Hi

Yes, at some stage we were so tired of taking the car to the dealers that we almost sold it. The car was at the dealers 5 times to look at the clutch and each time on their recommendation additional parts was replaced.

My only complaint was the ongoing clutch issue and I requested them to replace the shocks.

Repair 10 was done as the car made a loud clatter sound at idle.

Overall it took a lot of patience to get all the small issues sorted out on the Vehicle, but she is now perfect and drives like new.

Could other owners maybe post what their reapair bills was on Motorplan so that I can have something to go by?

Cheers