E92 M3 problems after service

[Benjy99]

Booked my car into Stratstone BMW for a service as was due. Car is an 2010 M3. Service done and a new battery fitted due to the previous battery losing power on a regular basis. Service cost including new battery was £750.

Picked the car up last night and after doing 10 miles today the car loses all power and the following warnings come up on the computer

ESC failure
Engine failure
Low battery
Low tyre warning.

All warnings came on together whilst doing approximately 15 mph and all power had been lost.

Took it straight back to stratstone who said after ten minutes it's that no power is going to the left hand side of the engine therefore it puts the car in emergency mode and it's just a coincidence that it's occurred the day after a service and the battery has been replaced.

I will openly admit that I am not a genius on the mechanical front but I have had the car for over two years and never had an issue and I just find it strange this has happened the day after it's been serviced and had the battery changed.

They are keeping it overnight and will be calling me in the morning to give me my options but I can guarantee to put it right won't be cheap.

Car is 3 months out of warranty and has done 42000 miles. Anybody had any similar issues or advice?

[jayemm89]

A £750 service is a large one I'm guessing...

Call me cynical but if you have a car that works fine for two years then the same day a load of people have been poking around in the engine bay it suddenly develops a fault... coincidence? Na...

If they say otherwise ask them to prove that it couldn't possibly be related to what they had just done (or forgot to do).

Garages do all sorts of stupid things. My mother-in-law had a Fiat 500 that was absolutely fine until it was recalled for some work on the Turbo, they didn't put the turbo back together right and it lunched itself. Cost them an awful lot of money

[Schermerhorn]

If they try and charge you a single penny petrol bomb the place and torch it to the ground.

I hate swindling or incompetent morons. They are often no better than dodgy back street mechanics.

[TheHound]

Sounds like the throttle actuators have gone and need replacing. However it seems a bit to convenient that they went wrong the same day as a big service.

[mmm-five]

jayemm89 said:

A £750 service is a large one I'm guessing...

If you include the price of the battery, then I'd assume it was no more than an oil service at dealer prices.

[Benjy99]

mmm-five said:

If you include the price of the battery, then I'd assume it was no more than an oil service at dealer prices.

Yes it was an oil service but they did a complete free health check on the car and nothing was found barring the battery could do with replacing so i had this done.

I am pretty sure its the throttle actuators to which i'm sure they will come up with some daft figure to have it replaced which includes huge labour costs.

I just find it very convenient that this has happened the day after the service and the day i mentioned i was looking to change cars and possible look at a new M4

[helix402]

Maybe they forgot to register the battery replacement.

[Benjy99]

helix402 said:

Maybe they forgot to register the battery replacement.

They say its nothing to do with that, still waiting to hear back from them

[Benjy99]

BMW have agreed to pay for the part so just need to pay for the labour costs

[TheHound]

Benjy99 said:

BMW have agreed to pay for the part so just need to pay for the labour costs

Was it the actuators?

[Benjy99]

TheHound said:

Was it the actuators?

Yeah they said it would be £750 for the part plus 3 hours labour but BMW have agreed to pay for the part as a goodwill gesture seeing as the warranty has just run out and it was the day after a major service and new battery.

[jayemm89]

Tells you the value of a vehicle "health check"....

[sixpistons]

One of my colleges had the dash of his 3 series light up like a Christmas tree numerous times, and the garage couldn't find a fault. Turned out to be loose battery terminals. Worth checking before they start swapping any parts, given it'll cost nothing!

[Benjy99]

jayemm89 said:

Tells you the value of a vehicle "health check"....

i said exactly that to which they replied it was only a visual check!!

[g35x]

Benjy99 said:

Yeah they said it would be £750 for the part plus 3 hours labour but BMW have agreed to pay for the part as a goodwill gesture seeing as the warranty has just run out and it was the day after a major service and new battery.

BMW goodwilled my replacement just outside warranty as well, i think they know that it really should have been a recall given the ticking timebomb the problem seems to be.