Here is a letter that i sent to BMW NA
For the past ten years, Ive been a satisfied customer of BMW. I believe the company had a good reputation, and responsible warranty coverage and knowledgeable BMW service staff. That is also why Ive bought three BMW vehicles since 2001.in recent months, I have not seen the responsible warranty coverage in both of my BMW vehicles. The above referenced vehicle has been in a BMW service center for a service engine soon light multiple times. As I am concerned about the repeated service visits, I began looking into the past repair history of the vehicle and noticed that the SES light had plaque the car ever since Sept with the same fault code 2882/2882 fuel mixture lean which was never resolved. The BMW service center had replaced various parts and recommended various actions to fix the SES light 2882/2883 fault code.
Below is a list of all work performed on the vehicle: 1. Found 2882/2882 fuel mixture lean fault code (SES Light). BME Service replaced air filter element (9). SES light came on after 3 weeks with the same fault code, returned to BMW service center... 2. Replaced vacuum hoses (3) (not covered under CPO warranty) SES light came on after 3 days with the same fault code, returned to BMW service center... 3. Reprogrammed DME (4) fault code returned to BMW service center... 4. BMW Service center refuse to diagnose SES light because they feel that the fuel filter is causing the SES light (10) 5. Fuel filter replaced (1) return vehicle to BMW service center for diagnose 6. Replaced one O2 sensors... SES light with the same fault code returns after 3 days, returned to BMW service center... 7. Replaced all O2 sensors... SES light with the same fault code returns after 3 days, returned to BMW service center... 8. BMW service center spend 2 weeks on the car with over 100 hours... Replaced various different parts... I was assured that the SES light will not come on again (paid a total of $998 for parts that was not covered under warranty). The SES came back again after 5 day with the same fuel mixture fault code, I returned the vehicle back to the BMW service center... 9. BMW service center claims that there is a misfire and a faulty coil. Recommend replacing all coils... Refuse to diagnose the vehicle until all coils are replaced. All coils were replaced, SES light resetted... SES light came back on within 2 days.
At this point, I have a number of concerns regarding the above service history. First of all, I am really questioning the ability of this particular BMW service centers ability to diagnose and get to the bottom of this reoccurring SES light issue. After spending numerous amount of labor hours along with replacing various different parts (some of which is not covered under BMW CPO warranty) the same SES light with the same lean fuel mixture fault code have not been resolved. The second concern that I have is that this SES light issue began well within the 6/100k CPO warranty, but the problem was never resolved. The vehicle was at 99,900 miles when it was in BMW service for 2 weeks. After spending almost $990 on parts that was not covered under CPO warranty, I was rest assure by the service center that the lean fuel mixture issue is resolved. Sadly, the SES light came back after driving it for 300 miles with the same lean fuel mixture fault code (which by then the vehicle had over 100k miles). The vehicle was brought back into the BMW service center. I was told that there is a defective coil (cylinder 5) which is causing the SES light. The BMW service center had deny warranty on coil replacement claiming that the coils are rusted which is not a manufacture defect. I had contact BMWNA about this which BMWNA sided with the service centers diagnose.
At that point, I was extremely unsatisfied for the following reason: 1. The fact that the SES issue is still not resolved after the BMW service center had repeatedly assure me that the issue had been fixed 2. The fact that BMW NA denied coverage on something that should be covered under CPO warranty.in the past Ive had coils fail (due to rusting) on another European luxury brand vehicle that Ive own which was replaced under CPO warranty with no problem. Coils were NOT on the BMW CPO warranty exclusion item list. 3. Why didnt the BMW service center notice this issue when they had the vehicle for 2 weeks and had spend over 100 hours on diagnosing the vehicle? 4. The BMW service center was most certain that the SES light fault code was due to the bad coils. But at this point I have no confident that this BMW service center can correctly and effectively diagnose the issue with my vehicle and repair it once and for all. All I see is that the service center is recommending parts / work to be done that cannot fix the reoccurring SES light fault code. I had raised this concern to a BMWNA representative (Kevin). If I had all the coils replaced as noted by the BMW service center but the same lean fixture fault code returns once again... Then what will be next? A new engine? Or a new car perhaps? To me it seems like a never ending story of replacing parts that would not solve the problem. It was unclear what BMWNA was willing to do at that point. The BMWNA representative did not provide a direct answer to my concern at that point. I decided to trust the BMW service centers diagnostic one last time and replaced all the coils with new OEM coils and spark plugs. Sadly, once again the SES light came back on within 500 miles and sure enough it was for the same lean fuel mixture fault code.
I contacted the BMW service center and my service advisor told me that the service center is not sure how they would proceed with it since they are not sure how and who will pay for the diagnose cost etc. The car is now at 101,000 miles, with the a SES light with the same fuel mixture lean fault code. The impression I got from the BMW service center is that they are not willing to diagnose the car or work on the car any more unless someone is willing to pay for it. To me this is an outstanding issue that was never resolved when the car was still under CPO warranty which BMWNA should honor. To be honest, I am extremely dissatisfied to a point where I am about to sell both of my BMW vehicles and will not consider another BMW in the near future. Ive own other premium European luxury vehicles before (2002 Audi TT CPO vehicle, and a 2004 Audi A4) and I must say I was extremely satisfied with their warranty program. Ive never experienced any warranty coverage issue and almost everything that needed to be repair or replaced was covered under warranty up until 100k miles for both vehicle (including a full turbo replacement at 98k miles). I hope BMWNA would look into this matter and continue to stand behind BMWs reputation of quality product, service and after sale warranty program. I hope to have this issue resolve as soon as possible, please contact me at % to discuss possible resolution for this matter.
Then I got a call today from Kevin at BMW NA. He informed me that BMW NA had declined to provide assistance to repair the car Although the issue was never repaired before the CPO warranty ran out So I filed a formal complaint to Better Business Bureau America for BMW North America (Business ID 0221-00007000228). Complaint # 9868635 This might not do much (and I am planning to just sell the car), but I am going to do what I can. I think is very disappointing that BMW is #1 not standing behind their product and repair. And #2 having dealership that cannot fix the issue correctly.
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