You know something is weird when the Stealership can't figure it out......

So........my car has been at the dealership for a month now. The car was stalling out on me but runs perfectly fine during the times is was actually running (no misfire, rough idle, etc, just stalling out). Well, first it took them a week to come up that it was a crankshaft sensor and some cable that was giving the car a low voltage indication ($1000 p&l). So they replaced it and it didn't fix the issue. Then they said it was the ECU(DME)($2500 p&l). Said they popped one in from another car and said my car worked fine. So they ordered one, popped it in, car still has the issue. Then they said it was the alternator ($1500 p&l) but that didn't work either. So now they said its the wiring harness ($3500 p&l). So now I'm waiting........

Looks like they're just taking the "let's see if this works" approach.......

Lemon Law if you purchased it new.....

Sorry to hear about that. I wish there was some sort of law that forces dealers to refund $ spent by customers on incorrect diagnosis and installation of unnecessary parts.

Hope the harness fixes it for good.

If you are paying for these repairs out of pocket, you need to run from this dealer and get to a good indy, immediately!

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Man is that ridiculous. If the first item threw a code and they replaced it then fine, it may have been bad.

But the trial and error method to repairing your car would only work if they put the part in but kept the old part to reinstall if the new one did not fix the issue. They cannot think that all these parts are bad.

Is the car with you or at the dealer? I would get that vehicle out of there as JPEG said, if it was me I would have paid by credit card and would immediately file a dispute with my credit card company for the previously paid repairs that were performed under the "guess" method. I would pay for the first repair, but after that no way. Once the CC company refunded my money it would force the dealer to come after me.

Originally Posted by coug60

Lemon Law if you purchased it new.....

It's an 05. Bought it in 08. Has been running excellent until now

Originally Posted by JPEG23

If you are paying for these repairs out of pocket, you need to run from this dealer and get to a good indy, immediately!

Sent from my LG-P999 using Bimmer App

I hate the dealership. Took it to an indy first. They couldn't figure it out and told me to take it to the dealership

Originally Posted by Yorgi

Sorry to hear about that. I wish there was some sort of law that forces dealers to refund $ spent by customers on incorrect diagnosis and installation of unnecessary parts.

Hope the harness fixes it for good.

Thanks Yorgi. They aren't charging me for the unnecessary repairs. I'm kinda hoping it's NOT the harness, and it's something simple that they overlooked. Because $3500 isn't nice

I would refuse to pay for, plug & play repair! Have they thought about checking the fuel pump? With the software & tools that they have, their simply guessing what the problem might be.

Good Luck!

Originally Posted by HerbP

I would refuse to pay for, plug & play repair! Have they thought about checking the fuel pump? With the software & tools that they have, their simply guessing what the problem might be.

Good Luck!

Thanks! Yeah, almost going on 5 weeks. This is sad.....

It sounds like the dealer is just taking your money.

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UPDATE!!!

After replacing the wiring harness, they said I needed to replace the auxiliary fan because the car was also overheating.

Well it turned out to be a bad ignition coil all this time. Said it was giving bad feedback to the crankshaft sensor. I'll get her back tomorrow

Now here's the deal. They said that if I pay for the bad cable and wiring harness ($3400 parts and labor), that they would keep the other new parts the put in it (crankshaft, ecu, alternator, and aux fan) at no extra charge AND give me a 2 year warranty on the car. I think that's a pretty good deal since they had my car a month and a half and was pretty much guessing on the fix

Said my car was the talk of BMW because it was such a rare problem. Oh well, finally getting her back!!!

That's great news! Finally!

I would grab that offer in a second. The warranty alone is probably worth the price.

Originally Posted by Yorgi

That's great news! Finally!

I would grab that offer in a second. The warranty alone is probably worth the price.

Thanks, Yorgi! The warranty was a very nice perk!!!

The original post painted them in a bad light, but as this developed I realized that they took VERY good care of you. It was a difficult problem that probably cost them a lot of money in the end to fix, yet they are still giving you more compensation on the back end of it. I am sure after reading this that they lost a lot of money on the deal.

Pretty decent of them, you might want to revise your thinking about them being a "stealership".

+1 on the stealership reference!! Every now and again a dealer shines and we should comment when they do a superb job as much as when we are let down!!!!!

I have to agree That is a good deal and would take it plus you have a new warranty is worth the price. Glad this one worked out well for you.

Well........let's not speak too soon. It was too good to be true. So I have a new ECU, crankshaft sensor, camshaft sensor, alternator, battery cable, wiring harness, aux fan, ignition coil, and a few other misc items. But the real probably was the ignition coil that was giving bad feedback to the crankshaft. So they only charged me for the wiring harness and battery cable, which was $3400. The rest of the stuff was free on charge (total for everything was around $10,000). The 2 year warranty is ONLY for the parts they installed, not bumper to bumper

So, I'm not sure if that's a great deal after all. They replaced parts that didn't need to be replaced. But then again, I have 94k on the odometer, so I guess some of those things were going to be due anyways.

But she's back home