£196 for a BMW Software Upgrade ?

Dr House · 8 Mar 2011 at 22:09

i was going to make a thread about this today.

So I took in the car to BMW Sheffield yesterday because the gearbox did not feel right.

They called and said it needs a SW upgrade and that it would be covered by the BMW warranty so fine I thoguht.

They called me today, to pick up the car but he says that it is not coverd as it was not a mechanical problem and that I would have to pay 233 pounds. :rolleyes:

Needless to say I will give them hell tomorrow.

Firestar_3x · 8 Mar 2011 at 22:13

If you fancy a laugh ask them to explain what changes are in the software....

denon · 8 Mar 2011 at 22:55

Gaygle said:
Was reading about some poor guy with a 325i that needed the injectors replacing, new DME, new coils and new spark plugs - £2776.01. It was only 2 months out of warranty too. BMW, as a gesture of good will offered to pay £1200, but they still wanted him to pay £1580 for the repair.

These new engines have deep flaws and the only thing that make them worth owning is the fact that you can get a comprehensive warranty. I would never consider running a 335 or N53 without a warranty as the potential costs could be crippling.

Why haven't BMW redesigned the flawed parts?

seems very strange for the dme to be replaced aswell, and im pretty sure bmw are working on redeisgning these parts as there asking for all the old plugs, coils and injectors back

[TW]Fox · 8 Mar 2011 at 22:55

Not that strange evidently as a new DME is what was required on our 525i as well.

Django x2 · 8 Mar 2011 at 23:14

Mine had to be reprogrammed remotely by BMW UK when I had an SOS Call fault. It was reprogrammed over the course of a week.

Dr House said:
i was going to make a thread about this today.

So I took in the car to BMW Sheffield yesterday because the gearbox did not feel right.

They called and said it needs a SW upgrade and that it would be covered by the BMW warranty so fine I thoguht.

They called me today, to pick up the car but he says that it is not coverd as it was not a mechanical problem and that I would have to pay 233 pounds.

Needless to say I will give them hell tomorrow.

Reset it yourself then. Resetting is normally all it takes to put the gearbox back in to learn mode. It takes 35 seconds too. I do mine every 2 months or so if the car has spent a lot of time around town.

Dr House · 9 Mar 2011 at 01:03

Lucero said:
Mine had to be reprogrammed remotely by BMW UK when I had an SOS Call fault. It was reprogrammed over the course of a week.

Reset it yourself then. Resetting is normally all it takes to put the gearbox back in to learn mode. It takes 35 seconds too. I do mine every 2 months or so if the car has spent a lot of time around town.

Yep I would have done that but they told me I was not going to be charged for the upgrade.

Irish_Tom · 9 Mar 2011 at 08:53

denon said:
Programming the car can take any time from half an hour to four hours plus depending on the last time it was updated and how many control units it has had.

They dont need to leave the car overnight.

I see... my post was based on my experience with Scotthall Hampshire and that was the 'excuse' they fed me.

I would have been happier if they had just explained it the way you did.

Sneaky Peaky · 9 Mar 2011 at 09:15

I have to say the more I read the more unbelievable I find this, so let me get this right.

1) They have an inherent fault with these engines with injectors/coils/sparkplugs/DME
2) The fault diagnostics on the cars can't diagnose it without a software upgrade
3) They charge you £200 so that they can upgrade their deficient software to detect a known issue
4) It doesn't even require much in the way of man hours to do this as the car is unattended for most of the time yet they are charging 4 hours labour
5) You then have to fork out for the repairs that can run into 4 figures

Jeez, I'm suprised there's not a civil uprising of BMW owners banging on the doors of their local dealerships telling them where to stick their diagnositics..

Haven't heard the outcome yet but hopefully get an update today but doesn't look so good based on this thread !

Sneaky Peaky · 9 Mar 2011 at 10:29

Update - ok so the 'software upgrade' has told them new spark plug and coil needed, surely they could have diagnosed this using good old mechanical means. Anyways, no coils available in the UK apparantly so have to get one from Germany so won't get the car back until Monday at the earliest but they are providing a hire car in the meantime which I think they are paying for.

To add insult to injury though it's a 1.2 Chevrolet Aveo which Top Gear describe as 'Like an IT supervisor wearing an 'If your mother was any fatter' T-shirt, the Aveo manages to be impossibly dull yet slightly offensive at the same time' lol

Gaygle · 9 Mar 2011 at 10:49

Sneaky Peaky said:
I have to say the more I read the more unbelievable I find this, so let me get this right.

1) They have an inherent fault with these engines with injectors/coils/sparkplugs/DME
2) The fault diagnostics on the cars can't diagnose it without a software upgrade
3) They charge you £200 so that they can upgrade their deficient software to detect a known issue
4) It doesn't even require much in the way of man hours to do this as the car is unattended for most of the time yet they are charging 4 hours labour
5) You then have to fork out for the repairs that can run into 4 figures

Jeez, I'm suprised there's not a civil uprising of BMW owners banging on the doors of their local dealerships telling them where to stick their diagnositics..

Haven't heard the outcome yet but hopefully get an update today but doesn't look so good based on this thread !

What i'm trying to figure out is what these cars are going to be like in 10 years. Are they even going to still be running?

My E46 has been very reliable, but has still cost a lot of money to keep running. These new engines are going to have all of the costs of the E46 PLUS the fact they will easily drop a £2500 bill with no warning.

Can you imagine someone wanting to pay this in 10 years time? Hell, most E46 owners with 10 year old cars can barely be convinced to put anything more expensive than Falken tyres on their car, let alone pay thousands for repairs! Without a warranty (which most won't have whent they're 8-10 years old) i can see the x35i and x30i DI's costing the same amount of money to run as an M3, when you factor in the repair costs

Sneaky Peaky · 9 Mar 2011 at 11:21

Ok thanks - need some input here into extended BMW warranty options, Fox !

Had a quick look at the website and seems like loads of options, any clues on what's best value / what to go for ? Any advice welcomed ta..

In fact gonna spin this out onto another thread. Thanks all..