Dealer Charge For Diagnostic Test?

[tgm]

Wow. Had my '97 540 for about 6 months now. I just hit the 60,000 mile marker and my "check engine" light just came on. I wanted to confirm what the light meant so I brought the car to the dealership this morning (Irvine BMW, SoCal) - and asked them to hook the car up and quick run the codes. I'm figuring this was going to be a $20-$50 endeavor, as there's not much to it.

Wrong.

$140 used

FWIW I'm also at the point where i need new cats, o2 sensors, the 60k tune and a driver side door seal - so i'm lookin down the barrel of a $2,000 bill. The cost to repair this car is fairly shocking. Good thing I got it for $14K - that's my only saving grace.

[LOS]

Surprise, surprise... but it sounds about right coming from the dealer $$$.

I'm surprise your car needs all that with only 60k miles, the cats & o2. I believe these are covered by the warranty!! Check your owner's manual for additional info.

LOS

[tgm]

Well, the left cat is definitely rattling pretty bad, the right cat has got some loose stuff in it - I'm not 100% sure the 02 sensors are gone, but I've been told it's a good idea to replace them when you do the cats, b/c if they're bad they'll just speed up the wear on the cats. Though they're expensive (though cheaper than cats), they're easy to replace. So, that's basically where I'm comin from there.

[kid667]

Dealers will probably do a good job and not put up much of a fight if they screw something up... but I would take it somewhere else... do you know anyone that knows a good foreign/bmw mechanic in your area? If you can find one you trust you could save hundreds by not taking it to the dealer.

[LOS]

TGM, I'm in the South Bay area and know a great, honest shop if you're interested.
The sensors are about $125 each, you need four. The cats are MUCH MORE, $600 ea??

You're doing the right thing by replacing the sensors as well. Again, I'm sure this is covered by the original warranty. Emission components are good for eight years I believe.

LOS

[tacroteau]

There is a federal mandate that requires the manufactuer to warrenty emmision controls for 8 years. That should be covered.

Originally posted by LOS@May 17 2005, 12:55 PM
TGM, I'm in the South Bay area and know a great, honest shop if you're interested.
The sensors are about $125 each, you need four. The cats are MUCH MORE, $600 ea??

You're doing the right thing by replacing the sensors as well. Again, I'm sure this is covered by the original warranty. Emission components are good for eight years I believe.

LOS

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[superdeadman]

and it doesn't matter what's the milage on the car? because i know i need to replace my o2 sensor on my '99 and i definitely don't feel like spending 300 bucks on them.

[mrogers]

Catalytic converters must be covered up to 80,000 miles...don't know about O2 sensors. I need new cats, but I'm at 91k :-/

[tgm]

Hrm, very interesting stuff guys. The car now has 61,000 miles on it, it's a '97 so I'm butting up against the 8 year thing. I'm calling my dealership now...

Does it matter if I'm the second owner?

UPDATE: FWIW cats run about $760 online, closer to a grand (per side) from a dealer. At least that's what the dealers near me charge (Irvine BMW)

UPDATE 2: Info on the 8 year/80,000 mile policy. I'm going to read this thing and fax it to my dealer to see what's up. My only concern would be I had a single oil change done by someone besides them (this week), so might they freak out over that? Not that an oil change has anything to do with the cats, but I dunno, it might give them some sort of legal "out"...

[billB]

My only concern would be I had a single oil change done by someone besides them (this week), so might they freak out over that? Not that an oil change has anything to do with the cats, but I dunno, it might give them some sort of legal "out"...

Oil change has nothing to do with it....does NOT void the warranty on cats....Go for it and make sure you contact another local dealer for 2nd opinion (if u can)...good luck

[tgm]

After freaking out about the $140 diagnostic charge at my dealer, I went to the local "Big O Tires" store, where the manager (Ron) has diagnostic equipment for BMW's.

Net net net, good news all around.

Big O charged me $75 for the diagnostic (!!) and they found it was my cat that set off the "check engine" light. Bonus. I spoke with the dealer from whom I purchased the car. They were hesitant at first, but after sending them the actual EPA document they said it sounds like I should be covered. The downside is they're doing major reconstruction and said I should go to another BMW dealership. So I called up the local BMW place (who tried to charge me $140) and explained the situation and faxed them the EPA documentation, at first they were like "Well, did yo purchase the extended warranty, b/c if you didn't, we can't do anything for you". Heh. I explained to them that this actually has nothing to do with that as (basically) the Federal Gov't mandates this warranty. He became a lot more cooperative.

At the end of the day, I have an appt. scheduled for next Wednesday.

The only kicker is the guy from Big O reset my "check engine" light after running the diagnostic. I'm hoping it will turn back on by next wednesday for when I bring it to the dealer, but in the event it doesn't I had the manager of Big O attest (on my receipt) that the failed cat was the cause of the check engine light. Hopefully that should be enough if the light doesn't come back on.

Thanks all for all the help - whomever it was that suggested I follow up on the 8/80k thing, I owe you a beer (or six)!!

[LOS]

Excellent!!

I'm glad things are working out for you... Let us know the outcome on pricing, etc... for future discussion.

Just for your information, Long Beach Bmw is good at solving this kind of warranty stuff.


LOS

[tgm]

OK, just got the car back from the dealer. Turns out I was literally *5* days away from the expiration of that 8 year/80,000 mile EPA thing!!!! LMFAO - the dealer laughed too when he saw how lucky I was. Heh.

In any case, as I'd previously mentioned I'd brought the car to another local shop to get them to run the codes to see why my "check engine" light was coming on. Guy ran the codes, printed them out, told me it was the cats.

The dealer, however, comes back and tells me that my check engine light is coming on b/c my instrument cluster is toast. I remind him of the codes, and he tells me that I'm wrong, that I need to spend $800 to fix my guage cluster (replace it) so the CE light won't come back on. used That made no sense.

In any case, he also proceeded to tell me the following about my car:
1) Right valve cover is leaking, $60 parts, $300 labor to fix
2) Cylinder head cover gasket leaking, both sides for $571 to replace the gasket
3) Gear box has a small oil leak, $540 labor $1,240 (!!!!) parts



Seriously though, I haven't ever had a puddle under my car, of anything. This guy is trying to pitch me on about $2,300 of "required" repairs that my car needs.

Since it's the big $$ item, what down by the gear box could possibly cost $1,240 (incl tax I guess) - b/c I wouldn't think there are that many parts outside of an engine block that should cost that much. Even on a BMW.

And finally, LOS, if you're ever down in South OC, hit me up and I'll buy you a couple cases of your favorite brew - you saved me a solid $2,500 man, THANKS!!!

UPDATE: Oh, and is it my car, or do new cats smell really bad and give bad gas mileage??

[LOS]

TGM, thanks!

I'm glad we saved you some money. Hey more thing, when you say the gauge cluster, you mean the LED light panel (information panel)??? This is also covered under an unknown warranty. I replaced mine for half the price from the dealer.

I found the original topic. I can't paste it on this post but...
it was posted on May 24, 2004 BY TWIN QUE... COSMOSBLACK was the last person to reply to it.

I hope this helps as well!! Maybe you can save money if you contact:
leonora.vlaovich@bmwna.com Just follow the "nice and polite" way for asking and they may replace it for free.

LOS

[amitpatel]

Im in OC, for some reason whenever I took my car to diff bmw dealers for warrenty repairs, they always tried to sale me a repair pitch on things that where leaking or damaged which I knew where in perfect condition. When they tell you the estimated cost you almost have a heart attack to think they are tryin to take you for that kinda ride. They try to sucker punch anyone they can get there hands on. Atleast, with my expierences with the dealers.

Shelly BMW in Buena Park (those horrible, horrible service agents)

P.S. I know of an exellent guy that works on BMW's and foreign cars. Car Emporium in Garden Grove his name is Serge. Also, if you need parts from a dealer I have a wholesale account with Crevier BMW in Santa Ana.