[cfm56d7b]

Thanks for the update. Frustrating indeed but there could be a very logical reason for the delay.

The SA owes you an unabridged update, even if the vehicle hasn't been pulled into the service bay.

Often, the dealer is waiting for BMW field engineer to arrive and then your cat gets full attention.

Again - SA does owe you a proper update ...

[bacardi198]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Thanks for the update. Frustrating indeed but there could be a very logical reason for the delay.

The SA owes you an unabridged update, even if the vehicle hasn't been pulled into the service bay.

Often, the dealer is waiting for BMW field engineer to arrive and then your cat gets full attention.

Again - SA does owe you a proper update ...

Thanks for the support! I figured they'd get it on a hoist and drain the oily coolant out to keep it from degrading the rubber in the system while waiting for the field engineer to come in, but I suppose that's up to the shop foreman (who is the tech that has been / is working on my car actually).

The plates to the loaner vehicle I had expired yesterday, so I had to go swap it out for something with updated plates; they gave me a 2019 X3, which is a nice little SUV.

I saw the service manager, he said they replaced the heat exchanger for the oil, and he told me I could go out into the bay and see what the tech was up to since he was working on my car at the time.

The passenger wheel was off and I took a look at it from there; the heat exchanger (17217628058) was replaced, and foreman thinks that will fix the issue. I asked what the next step would be if that didn't fix it, and he said the turbo would be the next (and also last) thing, since there's no where else for coolant and oil to mix.

He was lowering it down to fill and flush it with dish detergent as I walked out, and mentioned he'll flush it a total of 3-4 times. He said that they had to order a new coolant tank cap as the O-rings on the new cap they installed during the engine install had swelled up from the oil mixing in again. The dealer is closed today, but the tech said he'll do the last flush/fill and take it for a road test tomorrow...fingers crossed!

[cfm56d7b]

Nice update. The invitation to visit the service bay was an equally nice touch. Hope all will be well in 2019!

[bacardi198]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Nice update. The invitation to visit the service bay was an equally nice touch. Hope all will be well in 2019!

Indeed, it was nice to touch base with the tech himself and get a feel for how things were going.

Another SA just called and said that the car is all done and ready to go, they were closing up shop of course but he said I can pick it up any time tomorrow.

Hopefully this time it's actually remedied -- I'm going to make sure I take the car to redline a few times when I pick it up, because I didn't start getting oil in the coolant after picking it up last time until I redlined it a few times.

This leads me to the question of what to do about the money? I paid the labor on the engine install, but if it was the heat exchanger all along...should I be on the hook for an engine that didn't need to be replaced?

[bacardi198]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Nice update. The invitation to visit the service bay was an equally nice touch. Hope all will be well in 2019!

Welp, picked the car up Thursday at noon and drove it the 8 or so miles back to my house. I don't drive much, and it's been sitting since Thursday, so I took it out for a highway drive...I figure it'd be nice to let the car go for an extended drive at a decent load (2500ish RPMs on cruise control).

I drove 30 minutes out, and then 30 minutes back to my house then let the car cool down. Attached is what I saw when I opened the coolant tank...layer of oil.



I guess I'll call in the morning to let them know the car is coming back.

[n00bkiller944]

Originally Posted by bacardi198

Welp, picked the car up Thursday at noon and drove it the 8 or so miles back to my house. I don't drive much, and it's been sitting since Thursday, so I took it out for a highway drive...I figure it'd be nice to let the car go for an extended drive at a decent load (2500ish RPMs on cruise control).

I drove 30 minutes out, and then 30 minutes back to my house then let the car cool down. Attached is what I saw when I opened the coolant tank...layer of oil.



I guess I'll call in the morning to let them know the car is coming back.

Dude you can't win. I wonder what their solution is this time???

[cfm56d7b]

Disappointing. The only saving grace can be found in mechanical parts being hardly perfect. I remember my own saga with 2013 BMW 335i sedan which exhibited a ticking sound. Multiple visits to the dealer, multiple parts replaced - no resolution. The engine was replaced but the sound remained.

Keep us updated!

[justanurse]

Crazy story man rooting for it to get fixed, guess it's all down to that turbo

[bacardi198]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Disappointing. The only saving grace can be found in mechanical parts being hardly perfect. I remember my own saga with 2013 BMW 335i sedan which exhibited a ticking sound. Multiple visits to the dealer, multiple parts replaced - no resolution. The engine was replaced but the sound remained.

Keep us updated!

Originally Posted by n00bkiller944

Dude you can't win. I wonder what their solution is this time???

I called the dealer Monday morning @ 0915, the service manager was in a meeting so I told the SA that there was oil in my coolant tank again. He said he would talk to the manager and then "call me back in a little bit."

Fast forward to 1630 and still no call back, so I call them again. The manager picks up in the service department, I tell him it's me and I ask if the SA told him that I called. His response: "yeah he said something in passing about there being oil in the coolant, what do we need to do?"

He said it with an attitude, as if I'm being a hassle for wanting the car fixed. Really blew me away, honestly; on top of that, if the SA told you I called, why had 7 hours passed with no call back?

What do you need to do? Oh, I don't know, maybe fix the car like you were asked to do three months ago?

So I immediately leave and take my car to get there before they close in 45 minutes...the manager comes out, opens the coolant tank and dips his finger in then says "oh that's just a little bit of oil, it just needs to be flushed again and you'll be good to go" because it was big splotches of oil instead of a single layer.

They're going to flush it and give it back, essentially. I tried to tell him that driving it / going over bumps, and getting up to temperature would cause the coolant to expand and instead of being a neat layer of oil at the top it would cause it to not be one neat layer. Stuck to his guns, they're not going to see if it's still leaking, just flush and return the car.

Trying to keep my cool about this whole situation, sorry if this comes across as complaining, just wanting to vent. Mainly about the attitude on the phone and not calling back, but I digress.

[MacklinUSOB]

Originally Posted by bacardi198

I called the dealer Monday morning @ 0915, the service manager was in a meeting so I told the SA that there was oil in my coolant tank again. He said he would talk to the manager and then "call me back in a little bit."

Fast forward to 1630 and still no call back, so I call them again. The manager picks up in the service department, I tell him it's me and I ask if the SA told him that I called. His response: "yeah he said something in passing about there being oil in the coolant, what do we need to do?"

He said it with an attitude, as if I'm being a hassle for wanting the car fixed. Really blew me away, honestly; on top of that, if the SA told you I called, why had 7 hours passed with no call back?

What do you need to do? Oh, I don't know, maybe fix the car like you were asked to do three months ago?

So I immediately leave and take my car to get there before they close in 45 minutes...the manager comes out, opens the coolant tank and dips his finger in then says "oh that's just a little bit of oil, it just needs to be flushed again and you'll be good to go" because it was big splotches of oil instead of a single layer.

They're going to flush it and give it back, essentially. I tried to tell him that driving it / going over bumps, and getting up to temperature would cause the coolant to expand and instead of being a neat layer of oil at the top it would cause it to not be one neat layer. Stuck to his guns, they're not going to see if it's still leaking, just flush and return the car.

Trying to keep my cool about this whole situation, sorry if this comes across as complaining, just wanting to vent. Mainly about the attitude on the phone and not calling back, but I digress.

If you get the car back and see the same thing again, I'd advise you to write a letter to BMW NA and notify the dealer you have done so in your next communication. Forget for a second your car has been in disrepair for months, that BMW Service Manager should be asked by BMW corporate why he's asking customers for instruction on how to fix cars.

Oil in your coolant system means there is some coolant in your oil system, coolant doesn't make a great lubricant for bearings and cams.

[juld0zer]

Post up the parts list. Feel free to black out your personal details, dealer's details etc.

It is really difficult with modern heat exchangers and radiators to completely clean them in situ due to the tiny passages.

I dealt with a similar situation with an F25 with the N20 motor. This car was built in the brief period BMW experimented with a plastic oil filter housing, subject to a later recall to swap the plastic unit for the familiar metal one. This car had never seen a dealership since it was sold, came in with oil bursting from the expansion tank.

We used radiator flush several times, warmed up the engine and used a vacuum sucker and ran the automated bleed procedure over and over to suck out the oil that surfaced in the expansion tank. Eventually got it to a satisfactory condition, but not perfect.

Another case was a 640i where the owner added a litre of engine oil to the expansion tank instead of the engine. Had to replace the heater core because the heater never worked after that.

[amw896]

This sounds like a complete nightmare OP, sorry dude. Have you paid for all that labour yet and how long have you owned the car? Honestly, I would probably go out of my to get rid of it. I went through something similar with Lexus a few years back. Went through almost a year of warranty replacement part hassles for driveline vibrations. Realizing afterwards I should have just traded it in months ago because the headaches would never go away.

[n00bkiller944]

Any updates yet?

[IK6SPEED]

Originally Posted by MacklinUSOB

If you get the car back and see the same thing again, I'd advise you to write a letter to BMW NA and notify the dealer you have done so in your next communication. Forget for a second your car has been in disrepair for months, that BMW Service Manager should be asked by BMW corporate why he's asking customers for instruction on how to fix cars.

Oil in your coolant system means there is some coolant in your oil system, coolant doesn't make a great lubricant for bearings and cams.

I am sure I’ll get slammed for this, but as the car is well out of warranty and the car is being fixed mostly gratis, i feel the pain but I’m not sure how much room there actually is for complaining.

Another thread showing why an EW is mandatory for used BMWs despite what 90%+ of posts say.

Originally Posted by RMachuca3d

They are busy plus you are not paying for the engine = low priority.

Its like that for all dealers, thats just the way it is sadly.

Try rereading.

He’s paying the labor which is going to the Dealership.

I’ve never had any significant difference in repair time whether I’m paying myself vs warranty work.

Unfortunately what this will do is make future customers out of warranty, they will not fight as hard to get a free replacement as they are seeing no good deed goes unpunished.

[MacklinUSOB]

Originally Posted by IK6SPEED

I'm not sure how much room there actually is for complaining.

I just hope there is more room for OP. He had said in another thread he had only bought the car in October and put less than a thousand miles on it before going to the dealer with the problem. PPI's are never a bad idea.

[bacardi198]

LONG POST WARNING

Originally Posted by n00bkiller944

Any updates yet?

A small update: I got the car back Friday morning but the city was brining the roads in preparation for a snowstorm that was rolling in Friday night. The car has lived its life in Texas, and I don't want to risk any rust or corrosion so I drove it straight home and garaged it. We got around 8 inches of snow (that's still on the ground) and the forecast is showing another 5-8" again this Friday...I won't be able to do any extended driving for a few weeks unfortunately.

All the dealer did was flush the coolant and road test it; the service manager said he thinks it was just residual oil left in the system. The first time I picked the car up, there was so much oil crossing into the coolant that it was over-full, and the oil/coolant mix was purging out of the cap. It was much less this time, so I think it's possible it was just residual oil leftover.

Originally Posted by IK6SPEED

I am sure I’ll get slammed for this, but as the car is well out of warranty and the car is being fixed mostly gratis, i feel the pain but I’m not sure how much room there actually is for complaining.

Another thread showing why an EW is mandatory for used BMWs despite what 90%+ of posts say.

Try rereading.

He’s paying the labor which is going to the Dealership.

I’ve never had any significant difference in repair time whether I’m paying myself vs warranty work.

Unfortunately what this will do is make future customers out of warranty, they will not fight as hard to get a free replacement as they are seeing no good deed goes unpunished.

I didn't want to get too detailed and bore everyone, but the vehicle has the BMW Platinum Extended Service Contract (84 months/70k miles) and extended maintenance plan both still active. The paperwork wasn't completed within the 30 day timeframe of purchase to transfer the ESC into my name, so BMW decided to work a partial deal and charge parts against the extended service contract as it had never been utilized...did they have to? Absolutely not, but they felt like it was the right thing to do since the problem would have come up and been covered by the ESC had the original owner kept it another 1,000 miles.

I have been hesitant to complain about the situation to BMWNA or anyone other than the dealership group for the same reason you mention at the end. It would just make the service department not want to go to bat for customers in the future.

I do agree with you though! Not much room to complain with BMW covering $17k (and an additional $3k for the heat exchanger replacement after the engine didn't fix the issue) that they truly didn't have to.

That being said, my complaints/frustrations honestly aren't with the timeframe of the repair or with need to bring it back twice. Lack of communication is one; I went weeks (literally) without updates from the SA. In December, there was an incident involving the SA where I caught the tail-end of him talking trash about me to another SA as the door to the the service bay opened...had the door not been opened at that second, I wouldn't have heard him basically calling me ungrateful (very short version of the story). There are other things, but these were the most glaring.

I still haven't filled out the survey from BMW, as I know it will take a lot of money out of the SA's paycheck and will also affect the good-will money that BMWNA allots to the dealership's service department. Again, no issues with the timeframe/additional repairs needed, only with the customer service (or lack thereof).

Originally Posted by MacklinUSOB

I just hope there is more room for OP. He had said in another thread he had only bought the car in October and put less than a thousand miles on it before going to the dealer with the problem. PPI's are never a bad idea.

Totally agreed but unfortunately (or fortunately?), the PPI from an independent BMW shop came back clean when I purchased the car...sometimes things just happen, I suppose. To clarify for everyone else reading, I purchased the car in October 2017 then brought the car into the dealer this past October, so I put less than a thousand miles on it in 12 months. I don't do much driving anyways, but I also have the E92, an F-150 SuperCrew, and a Ninja ZX10r.

I was interested in moving over to an F80 this year, but now that the F30 basically has a new engine bay, I think I'd rather just stick with it instead . It has every option (literally), so maybe I can swap to the Pure S2 turbo and call it a day.

[cfm56d7b]

SAs are humans just like we are. Expressing frustrations is OK but not when it crosses the line. Only you can be the judge if the line of civil behavior has been crossed.

I suggest ...

- Delay completing the survey
- Send an email to general manager and service manager requesting an in-person meeting
- Briefly describe why you are requesting the meeting
- The day before the in-person meeting send another email with all the details to allow them to read and be prepared
- Have the in-person discussion in a very respectful manner
- Ask them, "given all the facts, how should I complete the survey"

It's worth it.

[NoobCola]

Originally Posted by bacardi198

See the attached image for a diagram of the turbo for the N55B30; check numbers 7 and 8, which are the coolant feed and return lines for the turbo.

If anyone else would like to learn the ins and outs of the motor in their car, check out the technical training manual from BMW; it's very in-depth and has amazing diagrams for everything about the engine.

Here is a link: http://www.bimmerpost.com/goodiesfor...nformation.pdf

For sure, I mentioned that it was remanufactured in the OP with the part number, but I just refer to it as new for brevity's sake since it's essentially new (as opposed to a used motor from a salvage yard, etc.). Hope that clears it up .

Any chance they have one of those for the n20?

[silvermullet]

Originally Posted by bacardi198

LONG POST WARNING



A small update: I got the car back Friday morning but the city was brining the roads in preparation for a snowstorm that was rolling in Friday night. The car has lived its life in Texas, and I don't want to risk any rust or corrosion so I drove it straight home and garaged it. We got around 8 inches of snow (that's still on the ground) and the forecast is showing another 5-8" again this Friday...I won't be able to do any extended driving for a few weeks unfortunately.

All the dealer did was flush the coolant and road test it; the service manager said he thinks it was just residual oil left in the system. The first time I picked the car up, there was so much oil crossing into the coolant that it was over-full, and the oil/coolant mix was purging out of the cap. It was much less this time, so I think it's possible it was just residual oil leftover.



I didn't want to get too detailed and bore everyone, but the vehicle has the BMW Platinum Extended Service Contract (84 months/70k miles) and extended maintenance plan both still active. The paperwork wasn't completed within the 30 day timeframe of purchase to transfer the ESC into my name, so BMW decided to work a partial deal and charge parts against the extended service contract as it had never been utilized...did they have to? Absolutely not, but they felt like it was the right thing to do since the problem would have come up and been covered by the ESC had the original owner kept it another 1,000 miles.

I have been hesitant to complain about the situation to BMWNA or anyone other than the dealership group for the same reason you mention at the end. It would just make the service department not want to go to bat for customers in the future.

I do agree with you though! Not much room to complain with BMW covering $17k (and an additional $3k for the heat exchanger replacement after the engine didn't fix the issue) that they truly didn't have to.

That being said, my complaints/frustrations honestly aren't with the timeframe of the repair or with need to bring it back twice. Lack of communication is one; I went weeks (literally) without updates from the SA. In December, there was an incident involving the SA where I caught the tail-end of him talking trash about me to another SA as the door to the the service bay opened...had the door not been opened at that second, I wouldn't have heard him basically calling me ungrateful (very short version of the story). There are other things, but these were the most glaring.

I still haven't filled out the survey from BMW, as I know it will take a lot of money out of the SA's paycheck and will also affect the good-will money that BMWNA allots to the dealership's service department. Again, no issues with the timeframe/additional repairs needed, only with the customer service (or lack thereof).


Totally agreed but unfortunately (or fortunately?), the PPI from an independent BMW shop came back clean when I purchased the car...sometimes things just happen, I suppose. To clarify for everyone else reading, I purchased the car in October 2017 then brought the car into the dealer this past October, so I put less than a thousand miles on it in 12 months. I don't do much driving anyways, but I also have the E92, an F-150 SuperCrew, and a Ninja ZX10r.

I was interested in moving over to an F80 this year, but now that the F30 basically has a new engine bay, I think I'd rather just stick with it instead . It has every option (literally), so maybe I can swap to the Pure S2 turbo and call it a day.

Hey brother, just wondering if you could provide a quick update on your f30. Im in a similar situation. oil keeps getting into my coolant tank. had the OFHG replaced again as shop thought that was best first step. now they've concluded that its likely a cracked head or head gasket. did replacing the oil heat exchanger fix it for you?

thanks!