2004 760i. Stalling, Humming Sounds

Had Century BMW in Greenville, SC do a full work up on this 760i. Here are the results:

1. HPFP failure on bank 1. HPFP on bank 2 appears to be okay. Service advisor says it will fail as soon as the bank 1 is replaced. Nice to know. $4,061, parts and labor.
2. Alternator bracket leaking oil. $50 for the part. 11.5 hours labor. $1,390, parts and labor.
3. Safety terminal needs to be replaced. Recall that I had an airbag fault indicator come on. $174.98 for the part. $530 labor for 2.5 hours labor.
4. Valve cover gaskets leaking. $2,050 for the parts. 15.5 hours labor. $2,475, parts and labor.

I asked the deal in Houston, Texastrucksource dab Autobyzack, to cover the costs of the alternator bracket and the safety terminal. Dealer refuses to provide reimbursement.

Recall, I purchased this car with 85,843 miles on 29 October. Car was shipped on 5 November and arrived on 7 November. First contact with the dealer that the car was stalling was on 8 November. Car now has 86,061 miles and is sitting at the Century BMW service center. I think I am being more than reasonably fair to just ask for the Alternator bracket and safety terminal repairs.

If you get the work done at your expense, demand to get the faulty fuel pumps back.
If they ask why, tell them you will be posting pics on the BMW blogs. Who knows, the
threat of bad press might just get your pumps covered or replaced at a discount!

At any rate, if I were shelling out that kind of money, I'd want to see exactly what failed,
why it failed and what I could do to prevent it from happening again.

So let me get this straight, dealer said they would take care of it and not to worry, and now low and behold they are refusing to pay? I would call them and tell them if they are going to stick you with thousands of dollars worth of problems on a car that you bought from them WITH those problems, which started as soon as it came off the truck, you are not only going to fight them for whats right, but you are going to plaster all over the place what this company did to you by selling you a broken vehicle and then telling you they would take care of it, and once you bring the car in to get the work done they tell you they aren't going to do a thing now.. that is as bad as business gets in my book..

When you buy a car from a dealer, it's supposed to be checked and inspected, certainly not stalling and running like crap. Seems like this place got very excited when they saw you.. Got rid of their problem car on a flat bed truck so you are a long distance problem now..

Both new760Liowner cmpcpro make good points. To cmpcpro I say to you that I have pointed out to the dealer they represented the vehicle as serviced and tested. As you would expect them to say, they were "surprised" by the problems I have had since they had been driving the car and had not experienced one problem other than a battery needing replaced.

This is from correspondence on 12 November:

"Looking at the report the vehicle was fine and passed all road test and inspections that has been done. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we work with all of our customers to make sure they are satisfied. Everything will be ok.
Thanks
AutoByZack

- texastrucksource".

Obviously they are not working with me to make sure I am satisfied or they would be backing up what they sold as serviced and ready to drive anywhere.

Dealer in Houston says they will provide $1,500 towards repairs. I have requested $1,920.00 to cover the replacement of the safety terminal and the alternator bracket.

How much are paying total out of pocket? This is absurd.

Still working with the dealer in Houston to get this resolved. In the mean time, the car sits in the Century BMW on a lift in an inoperable mode.

I find it amazingly hard to believe the car presented no symptoms whatsoever in the time the dealer had it, and that it magically just started happening after you purchased it. This feels more like the dealer taking advantage of an out of state sale with the thought that someone a distance away is much less of a legal threat than someone local.

I am not paying for anything else on this service. I have paid out of pocket to have the two front fuel filters replaced, the fuel pump with regulator in the fuel tank, a thermostat, blake fluid flush. I am not paying anything else.

Latest update on this situation. Century BMW replaced the high pressure fuel pump on bank 1. Test drove the car after the service. At highway speed stalled several times. Returned to the service bay. Tested high pressure fuel pump on bank 2. Diagnosed as failed. So, $2,228 for the part, $1,200 for the labor, $130 in taxes for an awful cost of $3,558. Insurance covered the cost for HPFP bank 1.

Also, the dealer, Texastruckcenter in Houston, refuses to acknowledge or accept any responsibility for selling a car that was represented as "Serviced, maintenance up-to-date, ready to go anywhere for the next owner". The dealer also refuses to provide any assistance for these repairs. So to date: both front fuel filters, fuel pump with regulator at the tank, HPFP on bank 1, alternator bracket, safety terminal, valve cover gaskets, vacuum pump, return valve, lower radiator hose, thermostat, brake fluid flush service. You do not want to know how much my out-of-pocket has been thus far. Looks like another $3,600 incur next week.

This 760i just turned 86,000 and I have put a whopping 150 miles on the car since it was delivered on November 8. The car has been with in the service bay more than it has been in my garage.

To the previous post that said I should not have to pay for any of this I believe you are correct. The distance between me and a non-responsive dealer has been a real imposition. I have a niece that is an attorney that I will have start looking at my options against this dealer.

Lawyer up! This is bull****, now time to prove it. Let us know what happens.

Originally Posted by rsbolin@me.com

I am trying my best to get the dealer to own up to the repairs. Some things are regular maintenance but others are not and if the dealer truly inspected they should have found. The HPFP's going out in less than 50 miles of ownership should be covered without question by the dealer.

I will keep posting until this is resolved.

just checking in to see what the repair was?

Both HPFP had to be replaced as well as the fuel pump with regulator and both fuel filters located up front. Dealer will not respond so legal is next course.

Both HPFP replaced, fuel pump with regulator at the tank, both up front fuel filters, alternator bracket was leaking, and a safety terminal had to be replaced. Dealer, Texastrucksource, 832-713-2967, refuses to acknowledge or provide any cost recovery for the repairs. Legal course remains.

Originally Posted by rsbolin@me.com

Latest update on this situation. Century BMW replaced the high pressure fuel pump on bank 1. Test drove the car after the service. At highway speed stalled several times. Returned to the service bay. Tested high pressure fuel pump on bank 2. Diagnosed as failed. So, $2,228 for the part, $1,200 for the labor, $130 in taxes for an awful cost of $3,558. Insurance covered the cost for HPFP bank 1.
.

Thanks for the response. I have finally figured out that I'm in for both HPFPs on my 760Li, but mine's at 135K miles. I plan to replace them myself. The thing is, I've read TIS, and I have had the plenum off before--I know what it takes, and it ain't much, and --looking at those pumps--I'm sorry, but I am 95% sure I could have that entire job (both pumps and back to running state) done in about 2-4 hours, including time for head scratching. The dealers really ream us on billable hours on these jobs. Not trying to depress you, but we need to start pushing back on some of these flat rates for the jobs they quote.

Originally Posted by rsbolin@me.com

Both HPFP replaced, fuel pump with regulator at the tank, both up front fuel filters, alternator bracket was leaking, and a safety terminal had to be replaced. Dealer, Texastrucksource, 832-713-2967, refuses to acknowledge or provide any cost recovery for the repairs. Legal course remains.

Make sure to review them online too, they really screwed you, AND said they would take care of it.

I have been in touch with an attorney in Houston.

There are a number of causes if action that you can have against them under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) among other contractual and common law claims. Most of them allow for attorneys fees, sometimes treble damages and occasionally punitive damages.

Going to go hard after this dealer.