DIY Score!
 

The light bulb that illuminate the odometer in my BMW Z3 had to be replaced. I called the dealer because I was really busy and blah blah. Anyway I got an estimate of $127.50 for labor and they wanted to replace all the bulbs at $10 each because getting to them was so hard, bringing the total to nearly $200!

I ordered two bulbs from our host for less than $20. It took less than 20 minutes to disconnect the battery, get the instrument panel out, change the bulbs, put it back together, and reprogram the radio. The only trick was using a suction cup to pull the instrument panel out of the dash.

BMW - $200
Pelican and me - <$20.00

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1440474316.jpg

Only two screws hold it in, but there is no way to get any purchase on the instrument panel. I used the suction cup from a light bulb changer.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1440474336.jpg

Brilliant! Nothing better than DIY.

You just summarized why I work on my own cars, even if I sometimes don't want to. I cannot fathom paying $200 for such a simple task.

One of my friends is dating a lady that has always taken her car to the same dealer since it was new. She just waved he hands and told then to do what was needed.

He noticed the AC fan was not blowing hard. He looked at the cabin filter and it was clear it had never been changed. It was filthy gross. He bought a new one and popped it in in minutes. She was rather upset with the dealer and walked into the dealership's managers office and dropped the filthy filter on his desk. Typical stealership.

That's pretty clever, Patrick. Don't you love it when a plan comes toghether?

I wish the instrument panel on my beemer was that simple.

Besides the savings, I do think I can do a better job than the average mechanic, especially on low skill tasks such as oil, filter and brake jobs, which are generally staffed with the lowest paid / least experienced staff.

My VW came with a free service plan for the first 3 years / 36k miles. In 3 oil changes and 1 cabin air filter change they were able to strip one screw on the underbelly pan and lose one of two plastic thumb screws on the cabin air filter.

My new Ram1500 Ecodiesel had some awesome service plan offers that I vehemently declined. The sales guy thought I am nuts. :) I am already glad I did. The local dealer is very nice but when I sent my wife by to buy a quart of oil to keep in the truck, as it is a special oil you can't get on the road, she came back with the wrong oil. Wrong viscosity and wrong rating for the DEF/particulate filter. :rolleyes:

G

What model?
The comments on BMW message boards made the job sound like a tight squeeze and quite daunting. Based on what they said I budgeted 2 hours and told my wife due to my large hands and long fingers I might need help - that led to a two hour delay, BUT we eventually pulled it off.

It's always nice to have someone that you like around to lend a hand when problems come up.



:)