BMW Dealer wants £1000 and 2 weeks to fix broken Glowplugs -

Raven8472

Raven8472

Raven8472

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BMW dealer was trying to replace some diesel glow plugs on my 2003 330D , they say that two were very badly corroded and have snapped, Head needs to come off and repaired and will take till end of next week.

They want £1000 on top of my existing bill. I have checked around and removing glowplugs on diesels can be a knightmare but i took my car to a main dealer and expected them to do the job without breaking anything, they currently will not admit any liability saying it was a pre exisiting condition of the glow plugs and not there attempts to remove them.

Have spoken to BMW customer services who were slightly sympathetic but did not fill me with confidence. Any advise as i really dont think i should be paying the whole amount for possibly dealer mistake. I was not made aware the risk involved with the glowplugs when i authorized the work.
 
So some clot broke the glow plugs in the head and now they want you to pay? No way would they have snapped in the head without considerable force. Mind you I am no expert on Diseasels so you'll have to forgive me if I am wrong.
 
All major services done at a main dealer, inspection 2 at main dealer last year. The car does not have any bmw warranty but has a 3rd party one with "Warranty Direct" and Sytner BMW dealer said they would try to speak to them. But i feel they should be footing the bill though.

The fact they want my car for 2 weeks when i expected it back in a day , they have given me a loaner mini one but not really a patch on my 330D. Should i wait for them to call, speak to someone independant, Consumer Direct etc.
 
If its got a full bmw service history, I wouldnt take this sitting down. If they were so corroded they should have advised you before "attempting" to remove them.
I would fight that, they caused the damage.
 
Glowplugs are a covered component under your WD warranty. If BMW are right and they were pre-broken, warranty should cover it. If BMW are wrong, BMW should cover it.
 
I agree with the others. If they were that bad to start with the condition should have been noted and it should have been noticed at a previous service. I would continue to push for it to be resolved by BMW and the warranty folk.
 
I had a mercedes diesel a while back and the main dealer wouldnt accept liability if they broke one when removing them. It is a common problem and most garages will not accept the liabilty as like you said the head has to come off to rectify the problem.
If I remember mercedes had developed a special tool to reemove broken ones, basically just a tap and helicoil.
 
the problem with forcable removing the broken ones is that any swarf will simply drop into the combustion chamber and eventually score the bore, using a blowtap just forces and small bits into the gap between the piston and bore.

on the one hand the service history doesnt matter as glowplugs are only removed when they fail or a compression test* is needed and they are often very very tight. glow plugs dont use a compression collar like sparkplugs do and are substantially thinner which makes them snapping a real issue, its simply a case that you dont know if they will snap until they do.

glow plugs arent checked on services, those plugs would have been factory fit and are never fitted with any grease.

why were they being replaced anyway?

*modern bmw diesels can do a compression test through KTS software via the obd plug without even needing the bonnet open.
 
I've never, EVER known Glowplugs to snap when trying to remove them, even on the skankiest of worn out, ill maintained vans and cars that I've had any dealings with.

Must be some special monkeys at the dealership.
 
Thanks for the comments folks

The car was struggling to start on very cold days including decent amount of smoke. BMW said they would do a quick diagnostics and that resulted in finding that most of them were faulty so the garage suggested that all should be replaced as it has 6.
 
Last edited:
atpbx said:
I've never, EVER known Glowplugs to snap when trying to remove them, even on the skankiest of worn out, ill maintained vans and cars that I've had any dealings with.

Must be some special monkeys at the dealership.
Click to expand...

I got the fitters at work to swap my glowplugs on my old Mondeo TD, 2 of the plugs snapped and they had to be drilled out and then the head re-threaded.

They managed this during my night shift, the car was ready to go the following morning!

The cost? £20! :cool::D

£1k and 2 weeks seems absurd by comparison! :eek:
 
Spoken to the dealer today, the glowplugs are actually stuck in the head, asked them why cant they get them out without removing the head.

They mentioned that if the head needs to come off its a good few hours work on my engine. so the cost is mostly labour. The warranty company want a few scans of the documents which i will provide but still why cant BMW actually be able to fix it by thinking outside the box a little.

How would you remove stuck glowplugs without removing and damaging the head, what sort of tools are available to do the job.
 
R420LA6X2/4MNA said:
I got the fitters at work to swap my glowplugs on my old Mondeo TD, 2 of the plugs snapped and they had to be drilled out and then the head re-threaded.

They managed this during my night shift, the car was ready to go the following morning!

The cost? £20! :cool::D

£1k and 2 weeks seems absurd by comparison! :eek:
Click to expand...

Where did all the excess metal go? There would be no way in hell id drill a glow plug and retap a thread which is above the cylinder. Any metal filings go in there and its bye bye..

Anyways back to ops thread, its just one of those things, your warranty will pay so dont worry.
 
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