Motor

Mancath2

Hi

I have a BMW 2 series gran tourer. It is a 161 model. The car has been in on average twice per year over the last 3 years for left rear light bulb replacement. Also on a number of occasions the boot opened whilst driving. The approved agent updated the software to remedy this fault within warranty. This resulted in a double lock being applied to all passenger doors and a double click of key to unlock car.

Over the last few months the car has being struggling to start and on two occasions I had to call out roadside assist to jumpstart the car.

I left the car into BMW approved dealer 5 days ago who advised that as the car is out of warranty I would be liable for a €90 diagnostics charge. Following an 8 hour diagnostic investigation a battery drain was indicated which necessitated the removal of two back seats and a wire by wire examination.

5 days later and the car is still in the garage and I have been advised that my bill is currently at €500 as the technician cannot identify the cause of the drain.

On the basis of the information provided can anyone offer any advise as to the cause of this problem and suggest as to whether the preexisting issued ie blown bulbs and boot door opening (whilst car was within warranty) may be related to the current issue

Thanks

Spear

Try the motors forum instead:

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=47

mickdw

Any messages on the dash re battery discharge etc?
There have been a few issues with bmw down the years re draining battery but I wouldn't know anything of the 2 series itself.

Casati

Mancath2 wrote: »

Hi

I have a BMW 2 series gran tourer. It is a 161 model. The car has been in on average twice per year over the last 3 years for left rear light bulb replacement. Also on a number of occasions the boot opened whilst driving. The approved agent updated the software to remedy this fault within warranty. This resulted in a double lock being applied to all passenger doors and a double click of key to unlock car.

Over the last few months the car has being struggling to start and on two occasions I had to call out roadside assist to jumpstart the car.

I left the car into BMW approved dealer 5 days ago who advised that as the car is out of warranty I would be liable for a €90 diagnostics charge. Following an 8 hour diagnostic investigation a battery drain was indicated which necessitated the removal of two back seats and a wire by wire examination.

5 days later and the car is still in the garage and I have been advised that my bill is currently at €500 as the technician cannot identify the cause of the drain.

On the basis of the information provided can anyone offer any advise as to the cause of this problem and suggest as to whether the preexisting issued ie blown bulbs and boot door opening (whilst car was within warranty) may be related to the current issue

Thanks

Surely the dealer isn’t charging you 500 quid for not being able to find the fault? I wouldn’t pay that bill

kirving

Mancath2 wrote: »

Hi

I have a BMW 2 series gran tourer. It is a 161 model. The car has been in on average twice per year over the last 3 years for left rear light bulb replacement. Also on a number of occasions the boot opened whilst driving. The approved agent updated the software to remedy this fault within warranty. This resulted in a double lock being applied to all passenger doors and a double click of key to unlock car.

No way that I can see how a software update would be a proper fix for this. All it's doing really is to force the boot to get 2 signals to open 1) unlock and 2) open.

If the boot switch (or anywhere along it's cable) had a freyed wire, it could short to ground and activate the lock, or similar with the lock mechanism itself.

Both that and the blub are related IMO, to coincidental otherwise. I'd guess that the blub that's going is the one in the boot lid itself, and not the one on the car body?

If I was the mechanic (who in reality should be an auto electrician), I would be focusing on the area of the boot lid wiring harness that gets twisted every time you open the boot.

Spear

And this is being closed as people keep attempting to continue an obviously off-topic thread.