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Comments
My 3 series steering wheel is most of the time smooth as butter. It gets jumpy going down a gravel or rock road or riding over very bad road surfaces.
But on smooth, level and well paved roads, there should be virtually no vibration or road-feel in the steering wheel. If you let go of the wheel the car should go straight. On a "perfect" road surface, if you can find one, going at highway speeds the steering wheel feel should be perfect. Pressing the brakes, soft or hard at highway speeds, should not result in any vibration on a "perfect" road.
edit - kydfx beat me to it.
My 2004 330i is perfect...no pull either way and no vibration at any speed....however I did have the rotors replaced at approx 3000 km....I was getting a vibration in the steering wheel when applying the brakes at high speed. The rotors were warped and BMW replaced under warranty.
Perfect now.
Regards,
Webby
First visit to the dealer this week for some 'hesitation' Any other things I need to have checked while in?
Thanks.
I love Taos - I learned to ski there back in the mid 80's. I can only imagine the fun on driving up to the lodge... *sigh*
-Paul
I bought this car on October 27, 2004 from Capital Cities Import Cars in Glenmont (a suburb of Albany), New York. The car was assembled in Regensburg, Germany. I followed the instructions given in the owner’s manual during the car’s ‘breaking-in’ period. The car has used premium gas (93 Octane) only.
Since November 21, 2004 there have been five occurrences. Three of the five occurrences took place on December 18, 2004. During each occurrence, the car engine suddenly accelerated from ~ 600 RPM to ~1600 RPM, while my (right) foot was on the brake. I felt a strong force moving the car forward, and fortunately the movement was still preventable. During the last occurrence, after I shifted the gear to ‘N (neutral)’, the engine accelerated to ~6000 RPM for ~5 seconds before I turned the car off completely. (My right foot was tightly pressing the brake during the entire event.) The car was restarted on neutral and behaved as normal. In all of the occurrences, the car was on dry land and the car traveled at least for two hours prior to the problem. The outdoor temperature was above 38 °F.
Initially, I suspected it may be a problem with the floor mats. The car is equipped with carpet floor mats provided by the car dealership, and I put a thin rubber mat on each mat for protection. In the early two occurrences of the unintended engine-acceleration, I was not sure whether or not the rubber mat in the front of the driver’s seat had touched the gas pedal. Later, I trimmed the rubber mat near the gas pedal and clamped the rubber mat to the carpet floor mat to ensure non-interference. It is clear that the rubber mat played no role in the three occurrences on December 18, 2004.
I sent the car back to the dealership on December 21, 2004, and as I understand, the service department has not observed any re-occurrence of the problem. I have informed the BMW worldwide Headquarter of my problem by e-mail.
It is of no surprise that the problem is intermittent and difficult to diagnose. However, the problem can potentially cause fatal accidents. I hope that both NHTSA and BMW will pay attention on this matter immediately. Other information will be provided, if and when requested.
Did the problem only occur after you put the rubber mat under the carpeted floor mats or did it happen before you did this?
One more question: do you or did you use the cruise control on the day(s) that this occurred?
1)&2)Rubber mats are put above (not beneath) the carpet mats to prevent salt/water soaking in the carpet.
3) I did not use the cruise control on the day of the first occurrence, because I drove the car in town. I did use the cruise control on the days of other occurrences. However, the cruise control was off when the last occurrence took place.
Unfortunately unintended acceleration, IMHO is an under-reported issue with cars. Over the years I've that happen a number of times with American, Japanese and German cars. Most of the time it was not a repeat occurence, but those "episodes" left me scratching my head as to whether or not it really happened.
Never happened with my BMW however. Keep us posted.
2) The revving up to 1600 RPM would not bother me "too" much.. As that shouldn't override any brake pressure, or even cause the car to really "jump" when the brake pressure is relieved.... But, up to 6K RPM? that is a problem.. Hopefully, it is due to the floor mats.. Most people use winter mats instead of carpeted mats... Just remove the carpeted ones.. If your rubber mats aren't sufficient, go to the dealer and buy a nice set of the BMW winter mats... about $90 just for the front..
regards,
kyfdx
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-Paul
There is a reason why I asked about the cruise control. I had a Dodge Avenger (remember them?) a while ago and had an unintended acceleration\cruise issue. I had the head gasket changed under warranty and the dealer technician apparently replaced the OEM bolt that held the throttle\cruise bracket with another bolt because he lost the first one.
Well, guess what happened. The bolt was too long and caused the throttle to hang wide open. I was on a two lane highway when the cruise control would not shut off. I had enough sense to realize what was happening and I was able to pull off the road with my foot on the brake as hard as I could press and shut the engine off while I was still going about 20 mph.
This obviously does not sound like what happened with you however. Keep us informed as to what you eventually find out.
It isn't like you have a choice.... Can't start the car without it.. if it is bad, it is bad..
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I need to get my tires replaced too...would you recommend the dealership or sams/costco?
Tires... find somewhere else.. Costco or Sams only if you know someone that has taken a luxury car there for tires and recommends that particular store.. Otherwise, find a good independent or chain tire store....
regards,
kyfdx
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Any advice would be great.
After market claims that it is the same windshield but BMW dealer disagrees. Also, if you lease the car BMW will not accept it back or will charge you for the original windshield upon return. After market places take approx 3 hrs whereas BMW took a day and a half.
They test for water leaks, test drive to check for wind noises and make sure rain sensors work properly.
I was impressed how they fixed it, can not tell from new.
Regards,
Webby
I've had multiple windshields replaced and have never seen an increase in my insurance rates. I use Allstate however and I don't have any experience with Progressive.
You could at least call your insurance company and ask them if your rates would go up and if they would cover an OEM replacement without giving your name.
I highly doubt any type of warranty would cover a rock hitting your windshield since it is not a manufacturing defect.
BMW of Bakersfield, CA - can't be beat for service.
-Paul
Re Insurance, it varies......my insurance ( Canada ) will cover 3 windshield claims in 3 yrs regardless of cost.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Webby
The replacement glass and sometimes the installer/provider (e.g. Safelite) is typically up to the insurance company. If they do not cover for OEM glass and you insist, they may only cover up to "reasonable and customary" cost and you will need to pay the overage.
Also, a aftermarket windshield repair on a previous car(saab) left the top trim popping off on the highway.
If insurance will pay in either case, it'd be a no-brainer for me.
Are you sure you aren't pushing the throttle with your foot as you are braking. When Audi had their unintended acceleration problem back in the 80's, my understanding is that the problem turned out to be just that. With the brake and throttle so close together (great for heel-toe down shifts), I find that I sometimes hit the gas and brake pedals together when it's not my intention.
btw, I don't have an auto tranny so I'm not even sure if the pedal placement would allow this.
Thanks
Am also looking for new tires. My Continental haven't held up very well.
Am looking at Pirellis, Yokohama and Michelin.
As far as tires go there is no good reason to get them from a dealer unless you don't care about price and selection . I recommend B.F. Goodrich Traction T/A's which are available through Sam's club for abut $75 mounted and balanced and are raved about on other BMW forums. Or you can get Discount Tire or one of the other large chains to pricematch Sam's Club by looking up the price on the samsclub.com.
Of course, now that i've said that, i'm sure it'll die tomorrow.
Now, the question.
I lose about 1 qt of coolant a year. BMW dealer said they saw no leaks at the end of my CPO warranty, a buddy of mine saw a little seepage at a hose and tightened it, but it's low again as of a few days ago.
A buddy said he smelled coolant in the exhaust at one point, but we've been unable to duplicate. Seeing no coolant in the oil.
I'm speculating a little coolant might seep into the cylinders in cold weather due to the iron block aluminum head contracting at different rates.
Experiences? Comments?
Aside from this only problems has been a little dash electronics replaced under warranty. Car has 101,000 miles. Mechanic says ball joints/shocks getting tired.
dave
Does anybody know if the antenna will get damaged if I take the car through an automatic car wash without removing the antenna ?
Also, if I intend to open it as a precaution, before sending it through the car wash, is it easy to do so ? Do I need any special tool, or will it just unscrew with pliers ?
Any advice will be highly appreciated.
It was getting kind of dirty until New Year's weekend when it was unseasonably warm on the East Coast.
Forgive my ignorance about antennas and car washes - do you think that the ones with hanging strips may damage the antenna ? Do "touchless" car-washes not have any such hanging strips at all ? Do they wash by using water jets only ? If that is the case, I don't think I have any in my area in South Jersey.
Lastly, by some chance, if I am obligated to open the antenna, do you think it's easy to open ? Does it just unscrew ?
I wouldn't mess with the BMW assist antenna. It's a GPS-type, designed for permanent mounting. You are much more likely to have leakage around window, door, and moonroof seals (as they wear over the next dozen years) than through that antenna where it mounts on the roof.
I have also experienced very small coolant loss for quite a while. Since I haven't been able to identify where the small leak comes from, I simply add a little coolant about every other month. I also had the struts and shocks (Bilstein) replaced about 5,000 miles ago. It seems this car ages similarly as yours! This "old" car handles almost as well as my '02 325xiT by comparison. Proper maintenance is everything!
Handling as well as a new car is the big reason i haven't yet felt the need to replace as of yet, though the 5-series with the sport package was an eye-opener.
dave
I still have the original batteries in the 3er(10/95 build) and 5er(5/96 build). I do check the electrolyte levels every six months-and top them up with distilled water if needed.
dave
I have a brand new (well, 2 week old) 2005 325xiT Wagon. As per the interactive CD-based Owners' Manual, there is a small green indicator lamp on the top right of the head lamp control knob. This is supposed to light up whenever the head lamp control is in auto mode and the low-beam turns on, automatically, as a result of low ambient light.
When the outside light becomes low, the low beam switches on automatically, as expected. But the green indicator lamp does not turn on.
I would request other 325 owners to check this out and let me know if this works in their vehicle. Interestingly, the printed owners' manual does not mention this.
Any response, comments will be highly appreciated.
Edit: You're correct after looking at my CD. The green light should turn on. The green light I was referring to was the fog light indicator on the dash.
Having said all of that, the little green light for the automatic headlights does not turn on on my car either. I did not drive for any period of time to check this however. I just tried it in my garage and the green light did not come on even thought the headlights were on.
If it changes at some point, I'll repost.
1. The grren light is not the fog light. The fog lamp indicator light comes up in the dash.
2. This green light is right on the panel where the headlamp control knob is. It's very small.
3. In my opinion, this is an important indicator lamp. Without it working as indicated, on a cloudy day, it may be difficult to figure out from inside the car if the auto-headlamp-control actually switched on the low beam or not.
4. I have tried it out in my garage and outside and never found this to light up, even when the auto headlamp control is switching on the low beam.
I shall earnestly request all owners to try this out. If this is a general problem, we should approach BMW.
I apologize for my edit apparently not being clear enough. I do realize that there are two green "lights" involved. There is the green fog light indicator in the dash that I was originally confusing with the green light just to the right of the headlamp switch.
If you are really concerned about whether your lights are on or not, it is pretty simple to move the switch such that you know the headlights are on. Of course, that takes away from the nifty little automatic on feature.
One other thought is that it may come on only after driving for awhile without the lights and then comes on once it gets dark enough for the headlights to come on. I don't know this for a fact and since it is my wife's car it may be difficult for me to determine this any time soon.
You can always call your selling dealer to ask them about this feature.
It was dreadful!