BMW E90 3 Series DTC Failure

hunkydory1

I had the handbrake and DTC warning lights come on today. From reading UK forums this is a common fault with 05/06 E90 cars. BMW in the UK seem to cover a lot of the cost of the part (£1250) and labour (at least three hours), even for cars that are out of warranty.

Has anyone any similar experience with Irish BMW dealers?

mickdw

I believe they are covering the cost of the part but insist on it being fitted at dealer and customer paying the labour. IMO, that is nowhere near good enough. This is obviously a defective item. I would be pretty sure that whoever supplied this part to BMW originally is throwing free replacements at them. If that is the case, bmw are actually profiteering off the back of faulty products. It should be a 100% free repair imo regardless of age.

hunkydory1

hunkydory1 wrote: »

I had the handbrake and DTC warning lights come on today. From reading UK forums this is a common fault with 05/06 E90 cars. BMW in the UK seem to cover a lot of the cost of the part (£1250) and labour (at least three hours), even for cars that are out of warranty.

Has anyone any similar experience with Irish BMW dealers?

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=272871&page=2

hunkydory1

mickdw wrote: »

I believe they are covering the cost of the part but insist on it being fitted at dealer and customer paying the labour. IMO, that is nowhere near good enough. This is obviously a defective item. I would be pretty sure that whoever supplied this part to BMW originally is throwing free replacements at them. If that is the case, bmw are actually profiteering off the back of faulty products. It should be a 100% free repair imo regardless of age.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=272871&page=2

hunkydory1

hunkydory1 wrote: »

mickdw wrote: »

I believe they are covering the cost of the part but insist on it being fitted at dealer and customer paying the labour. IMO, that is nowhere near good enough. This is obviously a defective item. I would be pretty sure that whoever supplied this part to BMW originally is throwing free replacements at them. If that is the case, bmw are actually profiteering off the back of faulty products. It should be a 100% free repair imo regardless of age.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=272871&page=2

Sorry, duplicate link..

hunkydory1

Any idea of the cost of labour? That's crazy..

Anyone any experience of getting a discount on the cost of labour?

dharn

got mine replaced by bmw maindealer 80% of part cost covered pay for labour total cost 300

hunkydory1

Thanks

George Dalton

dharn wrote: »

got mine replaced by bmw maindealer 80% of part cost covered pay for labour total cost 300

Does that mean they covered 80% of the cost of the repair kit then rather than 80% of the cost of a new unit?

skyhighflyer

And if BMW don't play ball there are places that recondition them for about €300:

http://www.ecutesting.com/bmw_abs_pump_module_fault_ate_.html

George Dalton

There is no need to get your own reconditioned. BMW sell a repair kit for them that will work out cheaper and you also won't have the hassle of your car being off the road while your own unit is off for repair. We charge €400 to fix an E90 with this problem. It takes about 3 hours. Now obviously if the dealer will discount the part and do the whole lot for €300 then great but otherwise it will pay the OP to go to a good independent rather than pay the dealer labour rates.

hunkydory1

Rang Kearys this morning. Was told that the DTC unit would not be covered by BMW. I explained that I found many examples of Irish customers having this part covered by BMW, as recently as August. Was told that the charge would be ~€550, as the sensor only would be replaced. Why were they replacing the entire unit for some people..? Told her I wasn't having that and cancelled my appointment for today. Got on to BMW Ireland to complain. Was put through to BMW UK as, get this, the entire customer service team in Ireland are on training for the week. I won't get a call back until monday. What a load of rubbish. These guys are supposed to be a premium brand. When I think of a premium brand, I expect premium customer service. Pathetic.

George Dalton

Cars break all the time. They cost money to fix. Just because BMW is a premium brand doesn't mean BMW owners should be immune from this. There is a known issue with the Teves MK60 unit across all its applications, VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Ford, Volvo, Mazda and BMW are the ones I have personally seen although there may be others. In fairness to ATE and the various manufacturers they responded to this by making a repair kit available for them at a fraction of the cost of a whole new unit, which was originally the only cure for the problem.

Anan1

hunkydory1 wrote: »

Got on to BMW Ireland to complain. Was put through to BMW UK as, get this, the entire customer service team in Ireland are on training for the week. I won't get a call back until monday. What a load of rubbish. These guys are supposed to be a premium brand. When I think of a premium brand, I expect premium customer service. Pathetic.

In my experience, BMW Ireland treat their customers like dirt. Just for comparison, the EML came on in my out-of-warranty Subaru a few weeks back and Castle Subaru told me straight off not to worry, that it was a recognized issue and that the work would be done FOC. I'd be quite worried driving an E90 without an extended warranty - in the last year, ours has needed a new turbo, a key, a folding mirror, and its a/c ducting repaired.

hunkydory1

George Dalton wrote: »

Cars break all the time. They cost money to fix. Just because BMW is a premium brand doesn't mean BMW owners should be immune from this. There is a known issue with the Teves MK60 unit across all its applications, VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Ford, Volvo, Mazda and BMW are the ones I have personally seen although there may be others. In fairness to ATE and the various manufacturers they responded to this by making a repair kit available for them at a fraction of the cost of a whole new unit, which was originally the only cure for the problem.

Thats a fair point George. What wrecks my head is the point that in August, on 3 series cars of the same age as mine, BMW were sorting this out for half the price that I was quoted this morning. That is not good customer service. This is a fault not caused by my driving or the age of my car. It's caused by a defective part supplied and fitted day one by BMW.

George Dalton

I'm sure they also charged plenty of people full price to repair them in August as well. I don't think there was a definite policy of covering these for people in the dealers, otherwise nobody would have been getting me to do them @ €400 a pop because we would be more expensive than the dealer. In these situations it seems to be that if you kick up enough of a fuss the dealer will do something for you, which isn't right either. There is usually a lack of a coherent approach to these kind of issues across all main dealers. EG with the Subaru issue mentioned above, maybe another dealer wouldn't have been so co-operative as Castle were.

bazz26

hunkydory1 wrote: »

Rang Kearys this morning. Was told that the DTC unit would not be covered by BMW. I explained that I found many examples of Irish customers having this part covered by BMW, as recently as August. Was told that the charge would be ~€550, as the sensor only would be replaced. Why were they replacing the entire unit for some people..? Told her I wasn't having that and cancelled my appointment for today. Got on to BMW Ireland to complain. Was put through to BMW UK as, get this, the entire customer service team in Ireland are on training for the week. I won't get a call back until monday. What a load of rubbish. These guys are supposed to be a premium brand. When I think of a premium brand, I expect premium customer service. Pathetic.

Was it Keary's who said they would not cover it or was it BMW Ireland? I'd get clarity on this. The fact that some similar cars are getting it covered and some are not could have alot to do with the dealer's willingess to support your case. Unless BMW Ireland flatly say they will not cover it then you might have better look with another dealer.

hunkydory1

bazz26 wrote: »

hunkydory1 wrote: »

Rang Kearys this morning. Was told that the DTC unit would not be covered by BMW. I explained that I found many examples of Irish customers having this part covered by BMW, as recently as August. Was told that the charge would be ~€550, as the sensor only would be replaced. Why were they replacing the entire unit for some people..? Told her I wasn't having that and cancelled my appointment for today. Got on to BMW Ireland to complain. Was put through to BMW UK as, get this, the entire customer service team in Ireland are on training for the week. I won't get a call back until monday. What a load of rubbish. These guys are supposed to be a premium brand. When I think of a premium brand, I expect premium customer service. Pathetic.

Was it Keary's who said they would not cover it or was it BMW Ireland? I'd get clarity on this. The fact that some similar cars are getting it covered and some are not could have alot to do with the dealer's willingess to support your case. Unless BMW Ireland flatly say they will not cover it then you might have better look with another dealer.

It was the lady at the service dept. she told me she had to pay for her own also and that I'd have to pay. She was neither sympathetic or helpful.

Gumbo

It will depend on condition, mileage and service history.
I recently got my 2007 E90 done in Joe Duffys in Finglas.

BMW covered 100% parts and Duffys wanted 330 for the labour, told them i couldnt afford it and could they do anything, so got it done for 280e, and that included a brake fluid flush and refill too.

my car has 50,000KM with full documented service history on it, none at a BMW dealer, but normal garages but service book filled out etc

Gumbo

heres some recent info on it also - http://www.bmw-driver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=28881&highlight=DTC

hunkydory1

kceire wrote: »

It will depend on condition, mileage and service history.
I recently got my 2007 E90 done in Joe Duffys in Finglas.

BMW covered 100% parts and Duffys wanted 330 for the labour, told them i couldnt afford it and could they do anything, so got it done for 280e, and that included a brake fluid flush and refill too.

my car has 50,000KM with full documented service history on it, none at a BMW dealer, but normal garages but service book filled out etc

My car is an early '06 with 121,000km. It has a full service history, with every stamp bar one a BMW dealer.

I really like BMW's and had always intended our next car to be one. Kearys customer service this morning was rubbish. Do these dealers have any sense..?

The more I hear about various BMW dealers being at least proactive and covering the cost of the part, the more annoyed I'm getting

Gumbo

hunkydory1 wrote: »

My car is an early '06 with 121,000km. It has a full service history, with every stamp bar one a BMW dealer.

I really like BMW's and had always intended our next car to be one. Kearys customer service this morning was rubbish. Do these dealers have any sense..?

The more I hear about various BMW dealers being at least proactive and covering the cost of the part, the more annoyed I'm getting

Sounds like Kearys are simply being pig headed!
Go to a different dealer and ask them to contact BMW Ireland on your behalf to request Goodwill on the part.

IIRC, BMW legally dont have to offer a recall on this as DTC/DSC is a Driving Aid, not a mandatory safety feature if you get me, or something along those lines.

dharn

bmw service staff are generally unhelpful until they realise you know what you are talking about then they will be more helpful it is in their interest to extract as much cash out of you as they can i had a similar problem with 06 320d so car was scoped and 546 quoted to fix it but when i mentioned bmw goodwill payment as this is a well known fault he said oh i will get on to bmw and see what they say so he rang me a few days later and said bmw would cover 80% of the part cost so the repair cost so repair cost 363 approx as it was included in service

bazz26

dharn wrote: »

bmw service staff are generally unhelpful until they realise you know what you are talking about then they will be more helpful it is in their interest to extract as much cash out of you as they can i had a similar problem with 06 320d so car was scoped and 546 quoted to fix it but when i mentioned bmw goodwill payment as this is a well known fault he said oh i will get on to bmw and see what they say so he rang me a few days later and said bmw would cover 80% of the part cost so the repair cost so repair cost 363 approx as it was included in service

Unfortunately it can be alot easier for a dealer to get the money from a customer than having to buy the part in themselves and them have the hassle of claiming it back off the manufacturer. As you say a little knowledge is a powerful weapon.

gee118

dharn wrote: »

bmw service staff are generally unhelpful... i mentioned bmw goodwill payment

Hi Dharn,
Who did you mention the goodwill to?
I have the brake and spin triangle up now with the code 5E20 code. (hydraulic pressure sensor internal)

Need to know who to go to to get this fixed.
Thanks--

dharn

Brought car to main bmw dealer, mentioned it to the service manager, he contacts bmw they asscess your service history car age etc and come back with an offer, usually a percentage of the total cost,