Last Friday I got a call early in the morning from a customer who had just jumped into his BMW F30 320d to head to work. Upon startup, the car gave a "Battery not being charged" warning. Not wanting to risk being stranded, I advised him to have the car towed to me 🚛
A few hours later, the car arrived — along with the owner. Once we moved it inside, he asked me to also check the suspension, as he’d recently done shocks, mounts, and end links elsewhere and since then had been getting a knocking sound up front and serious instability over 100km/h 🚗💨
After he left, I put the car on charge and returned to it later. Once charged, I moved it onto the lift and ran diagnostics. Live data and stored errors all pointed to a failed alternator ❌🔋
We raised the car and immediately saw part of the suspension problem: the driver side stabilizer end link wasn’t even bolted to the sway bar!
It also looked completely incorrect for this vehicle 🚫 I took a video, sent it to the owner, and we agreed I'd replace both sides for peace of mind. I then ordered 2 new end links and a new serpentine belt while I was at it.
Stripped the engine bay and removed the alternator. Thankfully, it came out easily — looks like someone had previously replaced the A/C compressor and didn’t tighten everything. No fight this time 😅
Unfortunately, it was late Friday and my recon shop was closed, so I waited until Monday to drop it off 🗓️
By Wednesday, the alternator was rebuilt and ready for collection. I collected and reinstalled it with the new serpentine belt, refitted the battery (which had been charged separately), started the car and confirmed via diagnostics that everything was charging correctly again ✅🔋
Then we moved to the suspension:
Back on the lift we removed the wheels and both stabilizer end links. Confirmed they were wrong — the ball joints didn’t even face the same direction as the correct ones which were ordered using the VIN 🔎
New end links were fitted, wheels back on, and as requested I took it for a 7.5km test drive to ensure all was sorted 🚘
Once I got back, we did final checks, shortly after the owner arrived with a new AGM battery. We installed and registered the new battery, and he was good to go 💥🔋
Not long after he got home, I received a message from him:
"No knocks anymore. Feels a lot more stable, so much better. Thanks again for the help!"
Glad to have helped and happy to see another F30 back on the road running right 💪😊
A few hours later, the car arrived — along with the owner. Once we moved it inside, he asked me to also check the suspension, as he’d recently done shocks, mounts, and end links elsewhere and since then had been getting a knocking sound up front and serious instability over 100km/h 🚗💨
After he left, I put the car on charge and returned to it later. Once charged, I moved it onto the lift and ran diagnostics. Live data and stored errors all pointed to a failed alternator ❌🔋
We raised the car and immediately saw part of the suspension problem: the driver side stabilizer end link wasn’t even bolted to the sway bar!
It also looked completely incorrect for this vehicle 🚫 I took a video, sent it to the owner, and we agreed I'd replace both sides for peace of mind. I then ordered 2 new end links and a new serpentine belt while I was at it.
Stripped the engine bay and removed the alternator. Thankfully, it came out easily — looks like someone had previously replaced the A/C compressor and didn’t tighten everything. No fight this time 😅
Unfortunately, it was late Friday and my recon shop was closed, so I waited until Monday to drop it off 🗓️
By Wednesday, the alternator was rebuilt and ready for collection. I collected and reinstalled it with the new serpentine belt, refitted the battery (which had been charged separately), started the car and confirmed via diagnostics that everything was charging correctly again ✅🔋
Then we moved to the suspension:
Back on the lift we removed the wheels and both stabilizer end links. Confirmed they were wrong — the ball joints didn’t even face the same direction as the correct ones which were ordered using the VIN 🔎
New end links were fitted, wheels back on, and as requested I took it for a 7.5km test drive to ensure all was sorted 🚘
Once I got back, we did final checks, shortly after the owner arrived with a new AGM battery. We installed and registered the new battery, and he was good to go 💥🔋
Not long after he got home, I received a message from him:
"No knocks anymore. Feels a lot more stable, so much better. Thanks again for the help!"
Glad to have helped and happy to see another F30 back on the road running right 💪😊
