GREAT... JUST NOTICED I CLICKED ON WRONG SECTION.. sorry guys, Ill repost it in 135i.
First post!
Wooooooohoooo
I've been stalking you guys on here for a while and its time for me to chime in.
Anyways, this is a very long story, but I'll try my best not to make it a book.
It all started when I first bought my 2008 135i From carmax. It had 45,500 miles and drove like the wind. I was no stranger to the N54 platform because my best friend had a 335i with all bolt-ons and (Jb3 at the time).
So, first day I pull off the lot and as Im pulling on the highway I decide to see what shes got. About 3 seconds into the pull, the reduced engine power light comes on. So I turn right back around and go to carmax. No less than 20 minutes from when I bought the car, carmax tells me to take it to BMW because they wont fix it. So now I have to take it to the stealership. I finally get around to taking it a few days later (to my local dealer Lauderdale BMW of Pembroke Pines) and they replace the front and rear VANOS sensors and all is well again.
My next trip is about a week later to my not so local dealer (Braman BMW of Jupiter) which is about 70 miles away to get my Dinan stage II tune. It takes them about 4 hours to load the tune, but when they finally get done its awesome. This car is a beast. Ive heard that some cars take better to the Dinan tunes than other and I believe mine took it very well.
All Is well until one day when I am on the highway and the reduced engine power light comes on (Orange) I was on my way to pick up some papers from work, so I did that then made a quick stop at the dealer so that they could read the code. The problem was that when I shut my car off at work the code went away and wasn't there when I turned it back on. Luckily when I got back on the road it came back on. Then I get to the dealer and say the light is on now but if you shut the car off itll go away. So the SA gets in the car, shuts it off, puts the key in, turns it back on then drives it into the shop. Needless to say he came back 10 minuets later and said "I read the codes on your car and found nothing" so off I went. This incident I chalked up to bad gas.
Then I take my car in for its 50,000 mile service. The car has 50,100 Miles on it and what does my dealer say... Your Wastegates are going bad and you'll need to replace them "This clicking noise is actually worse than I've ever heard on any car" said my service manager. The thing is that I had been hearing this clicking noise on deceleration since I bought the car, so I always just figured it was normal. So when does the dealer tell me about this issue they've known about all this time? 100 miles after my "warranty" is over. So I call BMW NA and make a complaint. 3 days later I get a call back and they tell me they cant help me. So now Im on my own. I actually called Dinan and spoke to the warranty man, Dan. Great guy Dinan has there. He offered his help to go at bat for me with BMW and try to make some progress. Hes kept me up to date, but I dont want to hound him because hes doing his best. Hes had no luck so far. However, he did tell me that the warranty on the wastegates is in the emissions system which is if I remember correctly 8 year 82,000 Miles. So back to the dealer I go.. Armed with the document for the class action suit that extended the warranty on the wastegates I spoke with the guys at Pembroke Pines BMW. Again, No luck. They dont care.
Fast forwarding about two months, Now occasionally my car will show the reduced engine power light when accelerating and feels like its not building boost. But right after turning the car off and on it goes away. The issue is that Im always doing something when this happens, so I cant leave my car on until I get to the dealer. Ive taken pictures of some of the reduced power lights that have come up.
Today on my way to work, I have to accelerate because of a sticky situation I was in during traffic. I was rolling at about 40 mph and I hit the gas hard enough to just hit the threshold and make the car downshift, but instead the car shook all over the place. The orange service engine soon light came on and any time i touched the gas the car would vibrate and shake. So I immediately took a picture of the dash. As I was checking to make sure the picture wasnt blurry I look back up, and the light is gone. The cars driving normally. Im just at a loss for what I should do.
I was thinking take the trip into Braman BMW Jupiter and give them a shot at things. Ive given up on pembroke pines.. Any opinions?
Thanks in advance,
Adam