2007 118i 34k problem after problem - please help

[Chris H]

This may turn into a rant but I really need advice/help regarding this car.

I purchased this car for my partner in May 2012 from John Clark Aberdeen - It's a 2007 118i which had 25k on the clock when we picked it up. The car had 1 previous owner (who worked for the dealership) and was in very good condition. I brought it for a whisker under £10,000

My partner only drives a few miles a day, I occasionally take it on the 60 mile round trip to work, and in the 18 months we have had it she has taken it up to its current 33,950 mileage.

3 weeks ago I received an email from her while I was at work saying that the car was lurching and being jumpy while trying to accelerate (it was still driveable, intermittent problem). I got it booked in with the dealership the next morning and on the way there the car became much worse to the point where I pulled over and had the car recovered.

When the car was being unloaded off the trailer at the dealership the recovery driver (in no way affiliated with BMW) said in his opinion the cat had collapsed and blocked the exhaust. He'd seen it before and said that's what it sounded like to him.

John Clark had the car and diagnosed/replaced the 'Differential Pressure Sensor' (B13.62.8.617.097). They test drove the car and reported that it was really down on power and not pulling as it should. Further investigation showed, that 'the cat had broken up was embedded in the denox silencer'. They said that the car has had some kind of impact underneath and the cat had been hit at something causing it to eventually collapse. They emailed me a video of the underneath of the car showing the denox silencer with a massive dent in it and a brace next to it which had been bent to the point that it was almost touching the fuel tank. I was quoted a total of £3000 to fix this.

Quite simply I was shocked at this, and having spoken to my partner, neither of us have ever even hit a pothole in this car let alone anything which could do the kind of damage described above. It wouldn’t be something that could happen and you wouldn’t notice. She spoke to her insurance company who agreed to have an engineer look at the car and then repair it as it was ‘impact’ damage. This had to be the best way of resolving the problem as her excess is £250 and her no claims protected (8 years+ no claims).

One thing BMW did say is that the damage, and I quote ‘didn’t look recent’. I paid BMW for the work they had done ( change the sensor, remove the exhaust investigate the problem) which came to £393.

The car was collected from the dealership by the insurance company and taken to its approved repair centre. It was looked over and the same conclusion reached – collapsed cat, damaged denox silencer. So they repaired everything agreed by the insurance company classed as impact damage, total bill to the insurance company was £1751. Everything was replaced apart from the catalytic converter, allegedly that had no damage on the outside so wasn’t classed as impact damaged. The repair centre said the with the parts changed when they started the car it was only running on 3 cylinders and misfiring badly. They suggested taking it to John Clark to have the misfire fixed.

So the car went to John Clark (Dundee this time not Aberdeen, as it was closer to the repair centre).

John Clark investigated the problem and said that the spark plug, ignition coil and injector needed replacing on cylinder 3, along with a new cat. This work was completed and the total bill £1500. The man working in the service department said that the car had been road tested (less than 2 miles going by the odometer) and the problems were completely sorted.

So got it all fixed, out of pocket to the tune of £2303 plus £1700 that the insurance company covered. Here is a rough summary of the parts changed:-

Catalytic converter
Denox silencer
Exhaust temp sensor
Differential pressure sensor
Spark plugs (all 4)
Ignition coil (x1)
Injector (x1)
Plus misc, parts

Picked the car up just before closing time yesterday, started to drive home in the last of the Dundee rush hour, within 10 minutes I pulled out at a roundabout and the f**king car started lurching. I thought maybe it was me not used to driving it but sure enough it happened intermittently on the drive home. It seems that in 1st, 2nd or 3rd gear if I accelerate (normal driving, not in any way aggressively) and lift off/coast then when I apply part throttle it lurches, stutters for a few seconds before accelerating. So as it stands now the car is in the drive way having just had £4000 spent on it and it is still displaying the symptoms it had in the first place!

I am furious beyond belief about this situation and am looking for help as to what to do next.

Any help would be so appreciated