$4500. and counting

redlands · 01-17-2003, 12:55 PM

Please can someone give me advise on my 318i auto 1997.
two months ago i had the whole car checked repaired ect $3000.00 by a dealer in NC were i was vacationing,very happy no problems.that was 6-wks ago.
recent problem was over heating,sent it a dealer who i have little confidence,they tell me the fan needs replacing,$450.00 and the radiator $590.00,which i declined,bought after market.
next problem,check engine light comes on and off ,engine stalls,but will re-start,then transmission light comes and stays on, shifts are slow and erratic.
take back to another dealer,they tell the alternator is overcharging and the transmission fiters need replacing,$680.00.
now the engine check light comes and off,stalls the engine,but normally re-starts.
can someone please help,i am at a loss to what the problem is,i have checked to see if any codes are showing,but nothing,i now have spent more on it than i owe the bank,it was a great car upon till now,i would appreciate any help possible.
thanks

Jared at Pelican Parts · 01-17-2003, 01:37 PM

I agree on the tranny filters, that MAY be a cause, however I need some more info, what exactly are you doing when the engine light comes on and stalls? Are you accelerating?

redlands · 01-20-2003, 04:35 AM

As in my last explanation that bmw south replaced my electric fan,i have discovered over the weekend that they have some how re-wired the electric fan to my a/c fuse.

The engine is cutting out and the engine light flashes,only when the electric fan cuts in and out.

When i opened the fuse box,i found the a/c fuse in the box,but not pluged in.
so i put the fuser in,but now the electric fan does not turn off.
If the ac fuse is not in,the a/c is still is working via the electric fan relay.

If i remove the electric fan relay,the fan still works via the a/c fuse,and the car runs normal,and does not cut out.

So its something the dealer has done,which is not surprising as i have had many bad experiences with this delaer ship,both mechanical,and sales of cars,i do not know how they got the dealer ship.
So this morning i took it back to them,and told them to fix it,i wait with anticipation,and dread to what they will do.
will let you know.

mark

Jared at Pelican Parts · 01-20-2003, 09:30 AM

Sounds like the dealer made a mistake here. I would maybe take the car to another dealer and explain the situation. If they did somethign wrong, then they should be liable.

I really hate dealership service departments. I remember one time i needed to set the mixture on my old 320i. this requires a super long 3mm allen key. None of the tool stores had this tool, so I went to my local BMW dealer to see if i could "borrow" the tool for the 2 minutes it takes to set the mixture. Well, I went to the service manager, explained my situation, and he flat out said no. I went into the service bay and asked the mechanic instead, to which he replied, "CIS? I've never worked on one of those before" and this is a dealer mechanic! Hence, why i dont take my car to dealer service.

redlands · 01-20-2003, 10:20 AM

after i had the dealer do the work,and the check light came on,i sent it to another bmw specialist,and he told me the altermnator was bad.
having only replaced it 14 months before,i was sceptical,but the last time it did go bad,the engine check light came,so i told hime to proceed with the repair..$680.00 as he told me this was the problem.
so i told them to do it,but it still did not fix it,so i though i must be the fault of the dealer,as they were the last to delve into the fuse box.
I hate going to dealers,the mechanics and i use the term loosley,as they do not find the fault and fix it,they just keep replacing parts until they resolve the fault.

it makes you want buy cars,when they were just simple,without all this electical stuff they run on now.

its 2.15pm and have heard nothing,and i do expect to,because the dumb mechanic can't find what he messed.
i will let you know what they say,but i'll tell i am not paying a dime.

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

Ahh, indeed, this is the reason why we're in business, and growing! We are trying as fast as we can to get more technical articles up on the website so that you can fix your car yourself.

You see, most mechanics are just out to replace components, in a hope that it will fix things. No one diagnoses anything anymore. I took my truck to six different places, and no one want to diagnose it, or even work on it! All they wanted to do was swap components. A monkey can do that. This site aims to give people the power to do it themselves.

For example, here is an article on doing your transmission filter replacement. $50 in fluid and supplies:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/E36-Tranny_Fluid_Auto/E36-Tranny_Fluid_Auto.htm

The key is to find a really good mechanic, who will diagnose stuff. You need to ask around - the dealers will not ever do that. The dirty little secret is that the shops and dealers make their profit on selling parts - not servicing the cars. If they didn't sell you the parts at list price, they wouldn't make any $$$...

-Wayne