BMW and M Power Owners

Soldato
Joined
12 Jun 2004
Posts
5,472
Location
Exeter
My car is going to the dealer in two weeks for 'several days' to fix the turbo wastegate rattle which will almost certainly involve two new turbos. I was told that if I wanted a courtesy car I'd need to wait 5 weeks! :eek:
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Nov 2004
Posts
15,688
Location
East of England
My car is going to the dealer in two weeks for 'several days' to fix the turbo wastegate rattle which will almost certainly involve two new turbos. I was told that if I wanted a courtesy car I'd need to wait 5 weeks! :eek:

Mine had that too. They pressure tested the turbos, found them to be in excellent health, replaced the wastegate actuators and something else, the car still rattled slightly when revved.

It was concluded that it is the wastegate rods which are too small for the hole they are going through, so rattle against the turbo housing when resonated. The later cars had 8.0mm rods as opposed to the early ones which had 6.0mm (IIRC).
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Nov 2002
Posts
3,112
My car is going to the dealer in two weeks for 'several days' to fix the turbo wastegate rattle which will almost certainly involve two new turbos. I was told that if I wanted a courtesy car I'd need to wait 5 weeks! :eek:

That's my problem with warranties - waiting for a countries car at a main dealer. When the water pump holed and spewed my Fabia's coolant all over the road halfway through December, not only would Skoda not replace the timing belt (which was soaked in coolant), but I'd have to have waited until "well into the new year". Three or four weeks of hire car costs and a half-repair wasn't up my street so I paid out my own pocket to have it done. The only option really.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Dec 2002
Posts
7,872
Location
Newcastle upon Tyne
That's my problem with warranties - waiting for a countries car at a main dealer. When the water pump holed and spewed my Fabia's coolant all over the road halfway through December, not only would Skoda not replace the timing belt (which was soaked in coolant), but I'd have to have waited until "well into the new year". Three or four weeks of hire car costs and a half-repair wasn't up my street so I paid out my own pocket to have it done. The only option really.

tbh I wouldn't have been worried about the timing belt covered in coolant, as you obviously have a warranty and providing it was within the mileage and timescale for a belt change had the coolant made it fail you would have been covered anyway surely?
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Jun 2004
Posts
5,472
Location
Exeter
Mine had that too. They pressure tested the turbos, found them to be in excellent health, replaced the wastegate actuators and something else, the car still rattled slightly when revved.

It was concluded that it is the wastegate rods which are too small for the hole they are going through, so rattle against the turbo housing when resonated. The later cars had 8.0mm rods as opposed to the early ones which had 6.0mm (IIRC).

Speaking to the service consultant earlier he said that they cannot just pre-order two new turbos at £1k each. He said they would need to measure the actuator rods first before sending the evidence to BMW but it would almost certainly involve new turbos, we shall see I guess. Do they normally replace the 6.0mm rods with 8.0mm rods if that is the cause?
 
Soldato
Joined
21 Jul 2008
Posts
4,921
That's my problem with warranties - waiting for a countries car at a main dealer. When the water pump holed and spewed my Fabia's coolant all over the road halfway through December, not only would Skoda not replace the timing belt (which was soaked in coolant), but I'd have to have waited until "well into the new year". Three or four weeks of hire car costs and a half-repair wasn't up my street so I paid out my own pocket to have it done. The only option really.

Eh? What was the reason for the wait?
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jan 2006
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20,875
Location
Wigan
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
4 Nov 2004
Posts
14,370
Location
Beds
merely some friendly banter from a fellow owner,

check back 18 months ago in thread when myself and a couple of others had them, and were consequently derided by others by a much greater degree than above.

Always good banter :D

Put me back to 18months ago and there's no way on earth I'd have considered one, bu look at me and the many other new owners/renters now.

2 weeks to go until she's back..... I hope!
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,145
Location
Southampton
Thanks for the link.

Has anyone done this and can say if the improvement is worth nearly £400?

And how big a job is installing?

from a quick read you have to remove the rear seat!

BMW seem to offer the kit for £400. might call in and see what the cost will be to have them do it.

I have the HiFi option factory fitted to mine, which from my understanding is the same as the Alpine upgrade kit..the tweeters and amp certainly look the same.

I've not heard a base stereo setup, but I love my HiFi. Sound quality is very good and cranks up rather loud before it starts distorting.

For £400 though I'd probably be looking at other possible options such as second hand Gladen kit..there is a guy on e90post selling a full Gladen DSP setup including amp (with bluetooth module for remote configuration), under-seat subs, component speakers, all the wiring harnesses and custom made amp mount etc.

Basically it will give you a rather powerful but completely stealthy upgrade to your base setup and he's asking £550. Installation would probably take you a good couple of days to do it properly, but you have all the hardware required. I was going to grab it myself but it wouldn't be a straightforward install for me as I have an amped setup already.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
159,619
That's my problem with warranties - waiting for a countries car at a main dealer. When the water pump holed and spewed my Fabia's coolant all over the road halfway through December, not only would Skoda not replace the timing belt (which was soaked in coolant), but I'd have to have waited until "well into the new year". Three or four weeks of hire car costs and a half-repair wasn't up my street so I paid out my own pocket to have it done. The only option really.

Sounds like thats the problem with crap dealers rather than warranties.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Feb 2003
Posts
5,153
Location
Northampton
Thanks for the link.

Has anyone done this and can say if the improvement is worth nearly £400?

And how big a job is installing?

from a quick read you have to remove the rear seat!

BMW seem to offer the kit for £400. might call in and see what the cost will be to have them do it.

I had it fitted to my E90 and it made a huge difference, the basic system sounded like I was at the bottom of a cotton wool filled barrel with ear plugs in, it was unlistenable. The alpine upgrade made it much better and I could actual listen to music.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Feb 2003
Posts
5,153
Location
Northampton
[TW]Fox;26271396 said:
Sounds like thats the problem with crap dealers rather than warranties.

It's a common problem it seems with BMW dealers where if you want a courtesy car it takes weeks to get your car looked at, even just getting it looked at can take a week or two. The only time that it was any different was when the turbo actuators failed on my 335d and BMW assist provided a cater for 10 days while it was fixed.
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Aug 2010
Posts
3,516
Location
glasgow
I notice a few people buying 10 and 12 year old 330's. What's the running costs like onvthese cars of that age.

Or is it a case of if you have to ask you can't afford it?
 
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