IMPORTANT- Interim servicing and warranty

[IBSC]

Interim servicing (every 10,000klms) is very important but so is telling your technician how to deal with fault codes and failed components when your car is still under warranty.

Just before I finished at the dealer we were getting endless talks on how important it is to complete a test schedule for warranty repairs or we did not get paid for the repair by BMW.

The dealers rely on two things for warranty:
DIS on Group Tester 1 (GT1) and its test schedules.
PUMA

Test schedules are integrated in DIS and are in place for everything from a failed ignition coil to a rattle.
Not kidding, there are test schedules on the diagnosis equipment for a rattle.
A test schedule is a series of tests/measurements/readings etc that the technician performs in the correct order to determine accurately what is the cause of the fault.

Every night the dealer uploads fasta data to BMW.
This fasta data contains the details of every car that was diagnosed that day, every single page viewed on the diagnosis computer and every single key stroke.
This is so they (BMW) know that the vehicle was present at the dealer and the technician did everything as shown in the test schedule.
Although a rattle cannot be diagnosed with a computer the test schedule for these types of items is there to keep record of the attendance of the vehicle.
If the fault is a “KNOWN ISSUE” the test schedule may well have a repair included.

Example: E60 M5 has an issue with the electric motor gears that drive the front seat side bolsters squeaking when adjusting the bolster.
The test schedule could say to remove the seat back and lubricate the gear and rack.
Correctly working through these test schedules by the dealer is required to validate a warranty claim.

PUMA is a different story.

This is a worldwide database of known issues and fixes.
Example: New Minis have on occasion had a fault with misfire that seemed to be completely unfixable.
However, rather than every dealer in the world spending hours and hours trying to diagnose and fix the problem, the first dealer to see the problem goes through this tiresome routine until they have found the cause.
They then open a PUMA case stating in detail what steps they worked through and how the fault was rectified.
Then when another dealer on the other side of the world has the same problem arise they can search PUMA for the case and perform the fix without having to spend all those wasted hours trying to get to the bottom of the fault.
Dealers can use these PUMA cases to gain assistance from BMW in relation to the problem.
PUMA cases also validate warranty claims.

Example: Last week I had a 335i in the workshop that had a problem with the key slot not holding the key in. This not an uncommon fault but usually more so on the sedans than the coupes.
Now even though this was a fault and bought up an error message on idrive stating not to shut down the vehicle because it may not start again, if you know what you are doing you can manually rectify the fault to enable the key slot to at least temporarily function properly. I did this so the customer could use the vehicle for the two days until the dealer could replace the key slot.
I connected GT1 and did a quick test but did not clear the fault codes.
And I knew there was a PUMA case on this fault that stated in case of customer complaint to renew the key slot.

Now we finally come to the reason for all my dribble.

Had I not known about the PUMA case I WOULD NOT HAVE PERFORMED THE TEMPORARY FIX.
I would have left the key slot not functioning so the dealer could see there was a problem.

Same goes for your independent technician when he performs an interim service for you.

Does not matter what diagnosis equipment your independent technician uses if it brings up a fault code and your car is under warranty he should under no circumstances clear these fault codes without first consulting you.

If he does find codes and clears them and you take your car to the dealer for warranty repair but they find no fault codes they may be unable to do any repair(s) because without the fault code(s) to start a test schedule they may not be able to validate their warranty claim.
They can prove the vehicle was in attendance and the last time the fault memory was cleared but that is about it.
Some fault codes will reoccur almost immediately after being cleared but there are quite a few we saw that if cleared can take months and months to show up again.
Your independent technician should just note the fault codes and advise you of their relevance to any safety systems, particularly those relating to electronic steering locks and SRS.

Then, if necessary, you can take your vehicle back to the dealer and they can perform the necessary warranty repairs.

[SimonB]

Darren, always interesting to hear about some 'behind the scenes' stuff (and just so you know that someone's reading it).

Thanks for your efforts - looking forward to catching up with you, as discussed