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Comments
Spyderred
1. The fog lamps will only come on only if the park lamps or/& headlamps are ON. So if you want your fogs on all the time, leave them on the "ON" position and whenever your headlamps come on, the fogs will also.
2. DRLs are only the highbeam lamps illuminated at low power - the lowbeam lamps/park lamps are off.
3. If your your lamps are always on and you are in AUTO MODE, you might have a problem with the auto mode sensor resulting in your lights being on all the time situation. Have the system checked.
Hope this helps....JL
Thx,
Mrnsr
Good luck with your decision and let us know who you went with and your experience,
Spyderred,
Think the BMW CPO warranty is superior in time (6/100), roadside assistance, financial backing, ease & speed of use at all BMW dealerships (since they all honor it immediately). Your plan doesn't have a deductible, but I wonder if the coverage is as complete as BMW CPO. What sorts of limitations and exceptions lurk in the fine print? And how reputable and long-term is the company? 3rd party warranty only as good as the company and the contract. BMW CPO is backed by BMW and honored by BMW everywhere inside BMW.
I hope that if I have to use 1Source again they will come through for me just as well, but only time will tell.
Spyderred,
I had no problems with the car. But then, I started to have problems with
my audio, it would turn off by itself,and then turn on.. The sound was also
having some distorted sounds, thus I was unable to listen to music in high volumes.
I took the car to a BMW service and they did not find anything. Then two days
ago while I was driving, I showed a left signal, the blinking on my car console
did not show up at all, then I tried to turn on the high-beam light, and that symbol
would not show up as on the console as well, but I can see the light in front of me.
I stopped, restarted the car, and then it seemed to work.
The next day, while I was at work, alarm went off on my car, three times in a row
(my neighbors told me), no one has touched the car, it was in a driveway, and then
the alarm stopped by itself.
When I came back from work, I noticed my car was completely dead, I took it to a shop
by calling BMW roadside assistance help, the service guys looked at it, and called me
at work, saying that I had 6 inches of water in my trunk, and that it has created
electrical problems for the whole car, and that is why it is dead now....
BMW is saying that they will put the car in the extensive car wash, and try to find
the leak in trunk. But if they don't find it, they will make me pay for it, because
they would assume that I left the trunk open. But I know for sure that I did not, as
I kept a lot of stuff there, so if I did leave it open, it would get all wet, therefore
it must have came from sided of trunk or somewhere. Did anyone have the same problem?
Is there a way for me to prove that it is the leak, even if they don't find it?
We had showers for some days in the last three weeks, they would never be able to reproduce
20 hours of rain in their car wash!!!
Sorry to hear of your problems, but you might want to look at a couple of "water in trunk" posts in another forum:
http://bimmer.roadfly.org/bmw/forums/e39/archives/forum.php?postid=240789&page=2
and
http://bimmer.roadfly.org/bmw/forums/e39/archives/forum.php?postid=509634&page=1
Synopsis: the rear lights may have leaky seal.
To all other BMW owners, I would recommend checking the place where spare wheel is located in the trunk, to see if there is any water there...
The Warrantech is not considered CPO by the dealers as I understand. Warrantech does not CERTIFY the vehicle. According to my BMW dealer, not all BMW dealers honor Warrantech, although they all honor CPO warranties. The only way you can get CPO on your used BMW is to purchase your car from a BMW dealer as a CPO car. For me and people like me whose warranties are expiring, you cannot get CPO's. You have to stick with Warrantech, 1Source and other. Is that your understanding as well?
Spyderred, are you sure that 1Source is honored by all BMW dealers? Also, did you compare the items that either company warranties (or doesn't for that matter). Did you find 1Source to be better in term of items that they cover (not just price)? How can I get more info on them? I know that our cars are prune to having the tiny bulbs in the instrument or stereo clusters burnt. It can be very expensive to replace them if your warranty doesn't cover these items.
Only way to get BMW's CPO warranty is to buy a used BMW from a BMW dealer who has had the car certified. The CPO warranty extends beyond the original 4/50 b-to-b BMW factory warranty. You can't buy a new BMW and then later buy a CPO warranty on the same car, unless you sold it back to dealer first and s/he resells you your own car back as CPO. (Haven't heard of anyone ever doing this but there is always a first time for anything.)
Not sure there are any companies, new or 3rd party, that offer coverage after 100,000 miles. If they do, costs start to rise dramatically--as actuarially the likelihood of problems starts to rise dramatically. Not aware of any BMW warranty program that extends beyond 100,000 miles, though every now and then there might be rare exceptions for specific components on particular vehicles (thought I read somewhere about special extentions just to the Nikelsil (sp?) V-8 engines in the mid-1990s, but those might only have gone to 6/100).
I'm not a fan of 3rd party warranties. Too many horror stories from buyers. Too many failed companies that went bankrupt and left policy holders high and dry. And often their coverages are filled with exceptions. Can be a hassle to get the 3rd party to pay the claim and sometimes a dealer will have problems getting it paid, so many often require you to pay up front.
If you want to ensure you get every BMW dealer in the USA to cover your car and use BMW parts, then BMW CPO is the only way I know. It has its flaws and isn't perfect, but is about as good as it gets for BMWs. I only wish BMW let you buy an extended warranty they honored at time of new car purchase. I did that once with an Infiniti product. Really gives you peace of mind and I could finance it at time of sale and roll into monthly payments.
If you haven't joined BMW CCA, you really should.
Bimmer magazine also has some wonderful technical information. I'd recommend subscribing.
In USA it afflicted E34 530i V8s, E34 540i V8s, E32 740i/740iL V8s, and E31 840i V8s. These are the M60 V8s used from MYs 1992-1996: 3.0L (2997cc) and 4.0L (3982cc) engines. {Rest of world also had Replaced in MY 1996 by the M62 V8s, of which USA gets the 4.4L (4398cc). [For rest of world there is also an M62 3.5L (3498cc).] See James Taylor's book "Driving Machines, The BMW Story", 2000, for discussion about all the various engines and their applications.
I pulled out a couple back issues of each. April 2002 issue of Bimmer has a Tech Q&A question on the subject. Response opines that most Nikasil V8s were replaced under warranty, though some still remain. You have to ensure the engine block is Alusil, not Nikasil. You need to check out the block casting number. Says a good source of information can be found at
www.koalamotorsport.com
Click on the "What's wrong with the V8 engines?" FAQ. You might check that site out.
September 2002 Roundel has a Tech Talk article titled "Aging Nikasil 740? Sell!" Letter writer has a '94 740i with 86,000 miles now experiencing rough idle and periodic loss of power. Writer states his block casting number is 1 742 998, a Nikasil block. Roundel's tech guru, Mike Miller, says that rough idle is a "harbinger of the low-compression situation that signals the Nikasil debacle." Cylinder-wear problem. He points out that BMW extended engine warranties of the Nikasil blocks to 6yrs/100,000 miles. That was on the V8s made BEFORE 3/95 (automatics) and 5/95 (manuals). Miller thnks most Nikasil's were replaced under warranty.
The August 2002 Roundel has a sad letter to the editor titled "I Want a 250,000-Mile Warranty." Writer has a 1994 740i with 98,000 miles. Tries to sell the car thinking it is worth about $12,000-15,000 but when he goes to trade it in on a new X5 he is only offered $5,600 from BMW dealer. Low figure due to his car still having the original Nikasil block. So far he hasn't experienced the problem.
See at least three options: find a nice Nikasil-block car and buy it cheap (realizing you'll likely have an expensive engine replacement down the road); be careful and ensure the engine has been replaced, verifying that carefully; or avoid the issue altogether by buying an E39 5 Series, the current generation.
There was an interesting glitch when I picked up the car at night and discovered the dim lights were now pointed only about 8 feet in front of the car. When I returned the car, the dealer said they did not understand this since "they had not touched the lights." With my rudimentary knowledge of cars, I knew BMW used an automatic leveling system to adjust the height of the lights relative to the chassis. Sure enough, a technician fixed the problem in about 1 minute. My guess is there was an electrical connection that he had forgotten to reattach. All returned to normal. Hopefully, your dealer will be a bit more conscientious. All in all, however, although I was not keen on a repair with so few miles, BMW did a good job of fixing the problem. Good news is that the car now steers and handles better than it did when I took delivery in Munich. And I had the use of a 528 for the 4 days it took to fix the problem. Bad news is that I found the handling, steering and "sounds" preferable on the 528 to my new 530. The 530 does ride better and the brakes are superior to the 528 I used. I'll be interested in hearing how they fix your car. And if they hook your lights back up!
1.) I have heard mixed things about the 5-Series in snow. Is it driveble without sport suspension and snow tires?
2.) What is the "a" in 528ia mean?
1. "Driveable" is relative. How extreme are the conditions.
2. "a" = Automatic (transmission)
Hope this helps....JL
Bob
97 528i
99 328i
That being said, there is nothing like the 528 driving experience. My 97 528 rides better than most new cars and it has 63,000 miles. Repairs have been minimal. There is also the prestige factor of course. An Accord is just another car on the road.
I found a local mechanic who repairs BMW's and has all the latest diagnostic equipment. He charges about a third less than the dealer.
My vote is the BMW.
Anyway, I don't see anything in the owner's manual that accounts for this. I wonder if there is a way to "reboot" the system, to get it to accurately update its position. I've got a service scheduled with my local dealer in about 10 days (it will be my first!), but meanwhile, if anyone has any ideas/suggestions on how I might correct this, please let me know. Thanks!
"1976 2002"- this genius is upset that an eight year old '02 is not as reliable as a new Acura. It had a squeaky heater fan and a bad u-joint. And he's dead wrong about M10 rocker shafts. They CAN be replaced. Notice he never cites the vehicle mileage.
"740i LEMON" Owner has been reduced to tears. Poor baby. She never describes the vehicle age, mileage, or the "problems".
http://www.bmwlemon.com/gasketb.txt - you have to read this moron's message yourself, I crack up when I try to type it.
"Gasket Problem"-The profile gasket failed and BMW UK fixed it under warranty. But it took them a week and they gave him a 316 sedan for a loaner. How sad.
"What another 318 Gasket problem?"-profile gasket died at 97000 miles. Mean old Munich wouldn't pay for the repair. How unfair!
"1994 525i"- Idiot buys a CPO and after purchase "discovers" problems that would have been obvious on even a brief test drive. BMW gives him another 525i but that's not good enough. The imbecile pledges to "fight on".
"BMW=DEATH" This guy blames BMW for the fact that his girfriend was tailgating the car she hit at "40 mph". And if the seat belt failed, why didnt she suffer any facial trauma from hitting the wheel, dash, or windshield? Can you say, "I can't drive, but it's STILL BMW's fault."?
The site is a true moronic convergence
What year and model do you have?
If so, I'd first check for proper and even tire pressure, but I'm assuming you've done that. Then, my second assumption would be that there's too much negative camber on the alignment, and/or perhaps a modest toe-out. But, still, I'd expect it to affect one or two tires at most, not all four. And, presumably, two alignment jobs should have corrected any such problems. After that, I would suspect worn or bent suspension arms (or other components), but you say that's been checked out as well.
So, I'm stumped. Where do you live? What sort of roads do you drive on? What tire pressure do you maintain?
If that fails, you can advance to harsher compounds and/or clays, which are coarser and more abrasive: more powerful, but more dangerous. It's easy to make things worse fast if you're inexperienced with them, so it might be worth taking to a professional detailer to do. Last resort, of course, is a repaint. Cost there is probably a couple of grand, but unless this car wash scrubbed your car with sandpaper it probably won't be necessary.