M3 - Inspection II + other work

jimbling

rebel.ranter wrote: »

Hi OP, you could go to MMW (Murphy Motor Works). They are based on the Monahan Road. The two main mechanics down there are ex-main dealer with a lot of experience between them. They have all the proper diagnostics equipment etc.
Contact 021 432 2122

I just rang these guys there. He's putting a quote together, but I get the feeling it will be a lot cheaper. I asked him about valve adjustment etc and he told me that he would be about 90% sure none would be required as the car only has 45k on it.

You don't need to be a BMW specialist to change oil, plugs, diff oil, a few filter and have a looksee to ensure the brakes, shocks, bushings etc are sound. There are plenty of back street garages that do top quality work, plenty of them do shoffy work too, so you have to got to a good one. In saying that plenty of main dealers do shocking work too.

As I said though, anyone driving a modern M3 probably isn't short of cash, personally though there is no way I would hand over a grand for an inpection 2. Fair enough giving them a couple of hundred for the valve work. Do keep in mind the parts can be got a lot cheaper than what I posted too. Also as I have said if you need pads, discs, bushings, gaitors etc the price will be much more.

All in all, BMW service costs described in this thread from the dealers and specialists are nothing short of robbery. If the vanos is not giving trouble and there are no warning lights there is nothing required that a competent mechanic couldn't do easily.

kdevitt

Once the Indy has the proper diagnostic equipment, and used the correct oil and plugs you should be fine (remembering there is a specific, and not very cheap oil for M engines)

Personally I'd only buy an M car which has all its major services done by BMW - it helps track the history of the car for a start, but plenty of people will buy one without it, so it won't really hinder you when it comes to selling.

I'm testing out the 2009-2 map dvd this evening by the way, if it works you can have a copy.

jimbling

kdevitt wrote: »

Once the Indy has the proper diagnostic equipment, and used the correct oil and plugs you should be fine (remembering there is a specific, and not very cheap oil for M engines)

Exactly, most backstreet garages as RoverJames states wont have the proper equipment.

kdevitt wrote: »

Personally I'd only buy an M car which has all its major services done by BMW - it helps track the history of the car for a start, but plenty of people will buy one without it, so it won't really hinder you when it comes to selling.

What about a BMW specialist? I haven't checked, but I presume that they can put the history on the Key just like BMW do. Anyone know that? I'll ask later anyway.

kdevitt wrote: »

I'm testing out the 2009-2 map dvd this evening by the way, if it works you can have a copy.

Cheers mate, that would be brilliant. Someone else posted about updating the software on the car myself too.. might look into that, could save me quite a few quid.

RoverJames wrote: »

As I said though, anyone driving a modern M3 probably isn't short of cash

I know an M3 driver shouldn't be short of cash, but I seem to be these days. I used to have extra income from Poker, which has depleted. I didn't play golf which is now costing me a lot of money (most of which is petrol to drive too and from the course). And I used to get annual increases in wages :rolleyes:

So, things are relatively tight at the moment.

kdevitt

jimbling wrote: »

What about a BMW specialist? I haven't checked, but I presume that they can put the history on the Key just like BMW do. Anyone know that? I'll ask later anyway.

Nope - wouldn't do it for me, and I know most of the Dublin specialists personally. I still get the likes of AC to do my interim oil changes on the M3 (its just handier for me) and the likes of my last wishbone replacement.

Only the mileage gets stored on the key - so its not much use to verify anything other than the that!

As I said though - I just want my cars to have the full BMW history for main services, and like keeping it that way - would also help if I ever need to put through a good will gesture claim. Most people aren't so fussy, once you hold onto all receipts you'll be fine.

Victor_M

I paid €513 for an Inspection II on an E46 M3 with AC car sales about 2 years ago, Cyrus IIRC I think you paid around €700 for the same, I'm not entirely sure what 'valve clearance' is I've never heard of it, any one care to enlighten me?

I rang all the main dealers in Dublin and they were within €50 of each other at around €1200, AC cars was my first service outside of the Authorised BMW dealer network, I was a bit reluctant from a resale perspective, but anyone who is looking for a used M3 at this stage in Ireland will have heard of them, I haven't looked back since, from the detailed break down of exactly what was done, by a guy who clearly loves M3's to the advisories, with no pressure to get them to do it for you, I can't recommend AC car sales highly enough.

Unless the car is less than 3-4 years old I wouldn't go near a main dealer again.

jimbling

kdevitt wrote: »

Nope - wouldn't do it for me, and I know most of the Dublin specialists personally. I still get the likes of AC to do my interim oil changes on the M3 (its just handier for me) and the likes of my last wishbone replacement.

Fair enough... why though? Do you think the specialists do shoddier work or something?

kdevitt wrote: »

Only the mileage gets stored on the key - so its not much use to verify anything other than the that!

Oh, I thought way more information got stored on the key. I'm sure the bmw guy told me he could tell the cars history from the key

kdevitt wrote: »

As I said though - I just want my cars to have the full BMW history for main services, and like keeping it that way - would also help if I ever need to put through a good will gesture claim. Most people aren't so fussy, once you hold onto all receipts you'll be fine.

Eh, what's a good will gesture claim?

jimbling

Victor_M wrote: »

I paid €513 for an Inspection II on an E46 M3 with AC car sales about 2 years ago, Cyrus IIRC I think you paid around €700 for the same, I'm not entirely sure what 'valve clearance' is I've never heard of it, any one care to enlighten me?

I rang all the main dealers in Dublin and they were within €50 of each other at around €1200, AC cars was my first service outside of the Authorised BMW dealer network, I was a bit reluctant from a resale perspective, but anyone who is looking for a used M3 at this stage in Ireland will have heard of them, I haven't looked back since, from the detailed break down of exactly what was done, by a guy who clearly loves M3's to the advisories, with no pressure to get them to do it for you, I can't recommend AC car sales highly enough.

Unless the car is less than 3-4 years old I wouldn't go near a main dealer again.

Cheers for that. It's a pity they're not local for me. The car is 5 years old and ill have it for another year at least.

Gumbo

jimbling wrote: »

Fair enough... why though? Do you think the specialists do shoddier work or something?

if i was looking for an E46 M3 i would want to see the run service at 1200 odd miles from a main dealer, and all the scheduled services from a main dealer including inspection 1 and 2. all the in between stuff i would have no problem buying if done at a recognised specialist like AC or similar.

Ken would have hign regard for specialists like AC, just look at his website to confirm BMW-Driver, so i would imagine its nothing to do with shoddy work or anything, just a case of keeping the official history of such a specialised car imo.

jimbling wrote: »

Oh, I thought way more information got stored on the key. I'm sure the bmw guy told me he could tell the cars history from the key

when you give the dealer the key, he puts it into the machine which in turn tells him the mileage and reg details of the car iirc, and with the reg details he can search the internal BMW system for service history, recalls and work carried out to the car.

jimbling wrote: »

Eh, what's a good will gesture claim?

its basically a good will gesture from BMW, like for instance if your car has a full history and then all of a sudden something major goes, BMW can discount the repair charge, ie i know a guy that the turbo went in his E46 320d and the car was bought new from Joe Duffy's and had full service history from duffys, so when the turbo blew he got BMW to carry out the repairs for half the price.

rebel.ranter

jimbling wrote: »

I just rang these guys there. He's putting a quote together, but I get the feeling it will be a lot cheaper. I asked him about valve adjustment etc and he told me that he would be about 90% sure none would be required as the car only has 45k on it.

Liam & Stephen in MMW are excellent mechanics & would have been highly regarded when they were in the main dealer network. They are only a year or two out of the main dealer shop. If it were me I woud rather have these two guys working on my car. Sometimes too an independent specialist will be more likely to see faults or issues that emerge on older non-current models.
Note: I am not knocking the main dealer system I had reason to use them recently (4 wheel alignment) & found the service offered to be quite good.

As I said the offer to reset the TC fault is still there.

rebel.ranter

Victor_M wrote: »

I'm not entirely sure what 'valve clearance' is I've never heard of it, any one care to enlighten me?

Most modern cars have hydraulic tappets that are adjusted automatically, I remember in my old Beetle, e34 5 series & e30 3 series all needed valve clearance adjustments, that is the gap between the tappet & the top of the valve adjusted. An easy job witha 10mm spanner & a set of feeler guages. The Beetle used to require it regularly.
Having the right valve clearances means the valves open up the right amount, I would imagine that an out of sorts valve clearance would mean the valve is not opening enough, hence the air or fuel getting in is not adequate. Having it adjusted too tight coudl cause the valve to burn.

A decent mechanic, especially one that is used to a particular model of car would nearly be able to tell by listening if they were not right.

My guess is that the majority of the labour cost would be in the stripping down of the various engine covers, oils, etc.

jimbling

Okay, so the car has been in twice now......

Trip one Breakdown:
Service as Required. (including running diagnostics etc)
Check ABS/ASC, PDC Systems.
Oil (Castrol TWS): 136.50
Oil Filter: 12.40
Air Filter: 21.71
Brake Fluid: 12.50.
Labour: 120

Trip two Breakdown:
Software upgrade.
Parts:
Rear Shock Mountings*2: 52.26
Trailing arm bushes*2: 51.40
Fuel Filter: 57.60
ABS Pressure Switch: 124.61
Labour: 180

Also note, that he ordered a PDC sensor for me the first time but never installed it as it had started working again.
Alas, that didn't last as when I picked it up the second day it started acting up again pretty much immediately.
So, that's another 103.78 for the part, and the inevitable labour cost.


Also, there is a problem with the steering angle sensor. It's 232 for the part and he said the labour is a big one on it too. He reckoned we can get away without fixing it after everything else was done though so haven't ordered anything for it yet.

I drove the car up to clare at the weekend. The shuddering at high speeds was insane. WAY worse than it was a few weeks ago. I was completely shocked. He had said that the tracking still need to be done but I dont think he was expecting any problems like that.

So, that's €850+ charged so far.... and it's booked in again for Thursday.