BMW service

[Joseph02 3]

Hi guys,

I dropped my car 116i 2012 in BM workshop for service and I got this.

1. Drive belt and pulley cracked and require replacement $200.00
2. Air filter dirty $52.00
3. Spark plugs worn $260.00
4. Micro filter dirty $112.00
5. Wiper blades poor $158.00
6. Coolant expansion tank and rear connector leaking $? Excess ?? $350.00 Inc GST

I bought this car 6months ago at 52000 km ( 63000 km now). Is it common to replace those parts at this odometer? 

Just wasn't expecting to replace all that after 6 months. Any thoughts? Thanks,

[B.M.W Ltd 950]

Normal... the car isn't six months old...it's 7 years old. It's called catch up on maintenance 

[NZ BMW 368]

10 hours ago, B.M.W Ltd said:

Normal... the car isn't six months old...it's 7 years old. It's called catch up on maintenance 

Really? Would have thought plugs, pulley and expansion tank would need doing at around 100k rather than 63k... 

Still, most of that you’ll probably only have to do once in your ownership of the car. 

[KwS 2425]

KM doesnt tell the whole story though. Could've been sitting rotting for a long period, or sitting in traffic with lots of engine hour and few KM.

Totally agree with Glenn though, all of that stuff is deferred maintenance that is catching up now.

[Joseph02 3]

 

 

 

10 hours ago, KwS said:

 Could've been sitting rotting for a long period,

I think this is it. The last service this car had done was 2017 and I bought this car in October 2018. It should have been serviced before I bought it but it's my mistake as well not having checked all that. I was bmw newbie.. didn't know about much 

[Mikan 173]

At the risk of being a Pollyanna, this sounds pretty reasonable. Especially if you exclude the wiper blades and filters - you can surely sort those yourself much cheaper? 

[M3AN 4016]

Is that the cost for blades alone? Surely not? ?

 

[NZ BMW 368]

8 minutes ago, M3AN said:

Is that the cost for blades alone? Surely not? ?

 

Hehe, I can show you the invoice from Auckland BMW for mine if you want. That’s the price for factory blades. 

That being said, I’ve got two years out of them and they are now in need of replacement so they do last. 

[kwhelan 241]

a pulley and coolant tank on a car that's done 60k in 7yrs is pathetic unless your looking through BMW rose tinted glasses. We all know and expect those things to fail through unfortunate experience but its hardly fair to expect a new bmw owner to realize that and just call it maintenance because to nearly any other brand its not expected. Its a small town runabout and should be judged against its competition for expected maintenance. its hardly an M3

 

[NZ BMW 368]

11 hours ago, KwS said:

KM doesnt tell the whole story though. Could've been sitting rotting for a long period, or sitting in traffic with lots of engine hour and few KM.

Totally agree with Glenn though, all of that stuff is deferred maintenance that is catching up now.

True... although I just don’t understand why BMW cooling systems are so poor. I’ve owned a couple of Mercedes over the last 10 years and the cooling systems are far more robust, despite having to operate under the same recycling regime. 

[kwhelan 241]

theres no logic to it,you just have to suck it up if you want to run a bmw, along with water pumps and various other parts. It certainly hard to justify to any sane person like your wife when your car just keeps soaking up money compared to her bulletproof japper which in the 116 category is no worse in any way than the bmw

bmw owners are masochists

Edited April 15, 2019 by kwhelan

[kwhelan 241]

10 minutes ago, NZ BMW said:

Hehe, I can show you the invoice from Auckland BMW for mine if you want. That’s the price for factory blades. 

That being said, I’ve got two years out of them and they are now in need of replacement so they do last. 

so your saying they are using magic moondust rubber that last 2 whole years, wow seems to be well worth the cost then, you got ripped

[NZ BMW 368]

20 minutes ago, kwhelan said:

so your saying they are using magic moondust rubber that last 2 whole years, wow seems to be well worth the cost then, you got ripped

Yeah I am saying that. Most blades I’ve bought from Repco and the like are circa $40-50 bucks and after six months they are hopeless. If you can even find anything that fits your car there. 

Yup, you can purchase them (BMW blades) online and ship them in for less but I needed them at the time, so had to pay the premium to get them over the counter. 

[Eagle 1662]

49 minutes ago, NZ BMW said:

True... although I just don’t understand why BMW cooling systems are so poor. I’ve owned a couple of Mercedes over the last 10 years and the cooling systems are far more robust, despite having to operate under the same recycling regime. 

From what ive seen Mercedes use a different plastic blend, generally appear to run cooler thermostats, better layouts and likely have less plastic components in the cooling system. 90's era cars are were they started to make a name for themselves. Id imagine modern BMW's are likely even worse with more\lesser quality plastics, turbos, smaller\packed engine bays etc. 

I run Goodrain blades on my E39, they are very cheap and perform excellent at all speeds.

[sobanoodle 45]

1 hour ago, NZ BMW said:

Hehe, I can show you the invoice from Auckland BMW for mine if you want. That’s the price for factory blades. 

That being said, I’ve got two years out of them and they are now in need of replacement so they do last. 

I cheaped out and bought a set of Bosch blades. Wish I went OEM again as they're just so much better and you definitely get more than just a season out of them. 

 

1 hour ago, kwhelan said:

you got ripped

unlikely... 

[Olaf 3317]

Hasn’t been serviced for two years.  8 years old.  Some parts need replacing to keep it running well.  Under $1k for two years?  Try that in your Holden Commodore!

One can compare to a “reliable”** Japanese brand, but to compare apples with apples you must also consider driving experience.  If the 116i and Mazda 3/Toyota Corolla feel the same to you, buy the Mazda.  Agree an 8 year old lower km’s car shouldn’t need a new coolant tank but hey, it does, whaddyagonnado - gamble with your engine on a point of principle?

** people love Honda’s.  Friend of mine bought a brand new City, it was knocking a bit - could I have a look? 6 years old 58k km’s rod through block.  “There’s your issue!”.  Turns out they don’t like being driven without maintenance of any kind. 

[Olaf 3317]

41 minutes ago, sobanoodle said:

I cheaped out and bought a set of Bosch blades. Wish I went OEM again as they're just so much better and you definitely get more than just a season out of them. 

Do you mean you wish you went genuine?  Bosch is the OE Manufacturer, along with Valeo, depending on model.

FWIW I’ve bought one set of BMW e46 wipers, and one set of BMW e60 wipers from NZ dealers.  I get about a year out of them, I use Rain-X on the screen and BMW washer fluid in the tank.  I bring them in myself, I think the apparent margin is too great.

[sobanoodle 45]

37 minutes ago, Olaf said:

Do you mean you wish you went genuine?  

Yes I wish I went genuine.

38 minutes ago, Olaf said:

Bosch is the OE Manufacturer, along with Valeo, depending on model.

That's precisely why I ordered Bosch instead of OEM. Same same but different.

[qube 3570]

On 4/15/2019 at 8:57 AM, Joseph02 said:

Hi guys,

I dropped my car 116i 2012 in BM workshop for service and I got this.

1. Drive belt and pulley cracked and require replacement $200.00
2. Air filter dirty $52.00
3. Spark plugs worn $260.00
4. Micro filter dirty $112.00
5. Wiper blades poor $158.00
6. Coolant expansion tank and rear connector leaking $? Excess ?? $350.00 Inc GST

I bought this car 6months ago at 52000 km ( 63000 km now). Is it common to replace those parts at this odometer? 

Just wasn't expecting to replace all that after 6 months. Any thoughts? Thanks,

if you "drop in" a car for "a service", you are getting a.. service. aka, get the basic parts replaced/sorted at their knowledgeable reputation and hopefully prevent bigger/further damage and keep your car on the road.

every single one of those items are all good important parts that should be replaced, unfortunately the kms is never a good judgement of a condition of the car and this is the biggest problem with NZ car sellers and buyers who think LOW KMS? --> NO PROBLEMS!!

Now, all those things are relatively easy replacements if you choose to order the parts and DIY but this requires a level of skill or at least help. Sure you can save a few bucks but in exchange you spend your time and effort. Therefore, a service exists the way it is.

Another dealer bullshit is that they will always claim the car is "serviced" upon arriving from Japan. This is 99% of the time just outright lies. At most, they apply a thick layer of greasy cleaning product all over the car and engine bay and usually top up the engine oil instead of draining/replacing it properly.

To be honest, if you bought your car 6 months ago and you have done 11,000kms already, you should DEFINITELY do an oil change. 

It should be done roughly every 10,000kms not every 1 year or 20,000kms. 

Also, with the 116i, be careful with the air intake hose, it will probably crack soon if it hasnt already. 

 

[GorGasm 563]

Wiper blade and micro filter cost is retarded, that's the sort of sh*t that gives european cars a bad name.

Buy the blades and microfilter overseas and fit them yourself.  The rest isn't too bad.

[qube 3570]

^ both actually require a certain level of skill. even if its just 1/5 on the screwdriver-skill-o-meter.

all things considered, those retarded prices are reasonable, the indy needs to make some margin on the OEM parts they are fitting to offset the cost/delivery/stocking, then they have a labour portion on top of that.

when i called dealership last time for wiper blades, they were 250, oem from nz was 150, and oem from overseas was 100.

ended up ali-expressing some cheap ones for $30..

[Cammsport 390]

I personally would be doing that work myself. Yes some of it will require research and certain tools, but look up the price for those parts at fcpeuro.com and your costs will be a fraction of the current $1k+ bill. 

 

[B.M.W Ltd 950]

A couple of points are being missed here. The OP has indicated he has mechanical warranty by expressing the $350 excess. Which means it must be serviced according to the specifics of the warranty provider. He cannot service or repair the vehicle himself if he want's to maintain that warranty. He is also over the mileage between services as most warranties require the vehicle to be service every 12 months or 10,000 km whichever occurs first. What warranty company is it Joseph ?

Edited April 16, 2019 by B.M.W Ltd

[Joseph02 3]

2 hours ago, B.M.W Ltd said:

A couple of points are being missed here. The OP has indicated he has mechanical warranty by expressing the $350 excess. Which means it must be serviced according to the specifics of the warranty provider. He cannot service or repair the vehicle himself if he want's to maintain that warranty. He is also over the mileage between services as most warranties require the vehicle to be service every 12 months or 10,000 km whichever occurs first. What warranty company is it Joseph ?

You are absolutely right. I watched so many youtube clips of how to do DIY and researched where to get the parts but as my car has to be serviced for mechanical warranty I couldn't even try. I'm with autosure and need to be serviced every 12,000km. They have accepted the claim.

[Joseph02 3]

 

 

 

6 hours ago, qube said:

Another dealer bullshit is that they will always claim the car is "serviced" upon arriving from Japan. This is 99% of the time just outright lies. At most, they apply a thick layer of greasy cleaning product all over the car and engine bay and usually top up the engine oil instead of draining/replacing it properly.

 

Yeah that was what I was thinking. I think the car was sitting rotting since imported from Japan and has not been serviced until I bought it. Then I drove +10,000km without service which is bad. Learnt life lesson through mistakes and your comment.