Presently, I'm working on repairing a very common problem with my 1999 528i. I just came back from the dealer parts department where I was told that this part was not available due to the fact that my car was made during a design changeover. So, instead of having to replace these commonly failing parts on these cars (CrankCaseVent/Oil separator/Pressure Valve, and two hoses, I'm told that I need to buy 3-4 new hoses plus the new distributor piece ($100 I'm sure) in order to get my car on the road again.
It seems to me that there are laws on the books somewhere that say automakers selling in the U.S. Must supply parts for their products for at least 10 years. My car is just 10 years old and it seems ridiculous that they don't have the parts available to fix my car without having to buy a bunch more costly stuff. If the car was 20 years old, o.K., I could understand it. But this is what I consider a later model car that should have proper parts available through the dealer at least.
Does anyone know what these laws are?
BMW is terrible about working to keep their new cars serviceable at any level by owners. The cars have a disturbing amount of plastic parts that reside in the hostile environment of the engine compartment. This is where virtually every failure that this car has experienced has been, attributable to plastic in the engine compartment.
If you're considering buying a new BMW, do yourself a favor and lease it instead of buying. While it's intermediate term cost-effectiveness may be questionable, you don't want to one of these cars due to the breaking down plastic/electronic parts.
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