BMW F31 has the shakes
Discussion
Apologies for another one of 'these' types of post, but bear with me.
I recently bought a 2013 BMW F31 320D from a dealer. Said dealer isn't the type with a nice shiny glass fronted building. In fact he works from home, with about 10-15 cars in stock ranging from £2000 - £20000 ish.
The car was purchased on 17 June 22 (so about 3 weeks ago). One critical part of buying the car, was the fact the dealer told me it had new chains while in his care, and EGR cooler. Upon inspection, the EGR cooler was very new and shiny, and he had receipts for the chains, so all good. On the test drive all seemed fine, so deal was struck and off I went on my way.
My commute to/from work is all motorway, and thats when I started noticing the issue. Under hard acceleration (at around 60mph+), the car has a vibration. And I mean a really noticible vibration! Through the seat, pedals, steering wheel. As soon as I ease off the vibrations go.
I've had it into a BMW indy, who had a quick initial inspection. They didnt start pulling any bits out, but suspect it may be a case of not being put back together properly when the dealer had the chains done. It's booked in for the next available slot at the indy, which is in August. Their plan is to take the starter off to inspect the torque converter bolts (to see if any are missing/backing out). If everything is ok there, then gearbox off (ZF8 auto) to see if anything is amiss in there. 5 hours labour at £100 p/h.
The indy could replicate the issue with a test drive, and with it on the ramp (in gear/in neutral, foot on the brake, revs up). So unlikely to be the guibo or prop bearing, as prop wasnt moving on the ramp.
I know the sensible advice is just to throw it back to the dealer, and get him to sort it out. But to be honest, I really dont think he is the type who would get this sorted to any satisfaction. How the car passed the MOT (in May) with brakes in the state they were in is anyones guess (iDrive had been updated to say brake service had just been done...no chance, not on this car anyway!). I've since had new discs and pads all round.
As of today, I'm still within the 30 days of right to reject (which I don't want to do as I like the car, other than the shakes). But waiting for the indy inspection, takes me out of the 30 days. My main worry, is waiting for the indy inspection, and they discover a bigger problem (after I'm already £500 in to inspect it). I dont mind paying to have it inspected by the indy (if it fixes the issue), as they are well regarded, and the mechanic I spoke to seemed very knowledgeable.
WWYD? Fire off an email to dealer telling him what the score is probably the mininum (just to cover myself)?
I recently bought a 2013 BMW F31 320D from a dealer. Said dealer isn't the type with a nice shiny glass fronted building. In fact he works from home, with about 10-15 cars in stock ranging from £2000 - £20000 ish.
The car was purchased on 17 June 22 (so about 3 weeks ago). One critical part of buying the car, was the fact the dealer told me it had new chains while in his care, and EGR cooler. Upon inspection, the EGR cooler was very new and shiny, and he had receipts for the chains, so all good. On the test drive all seemed fine, so deal was struck and off I went on my way.
My commute to/from work is all motorway, and thats when I started noticing the issue. Under hard acceleration (at around 60mph+), the car has a vibration. And I mean a really noticible vibration! Through the seat, pedals, steering wheel. As soon as I ease off the vibrations go.
I've had it into a BMW indy, who had a quick initial inspection. They didnt start pulling any bits out, but suspect it may be a case of not being put back together properly when the dealer had the chains done. It's booked in for the next available slot at the indy, which is in August. Their plan is to take the starter off to inspect the torque converter bolts (to see if any are missing/backing out). If everything is ok there, then gearbox off (ZF8 auto) to see if anything is amiss in there. 5 hours labour at £100 p/h.
The indy could replicate the issue with a test drive, and with it on the ramp (in gear/in neutral, foot on the brake, revs up). So unlikely to be the guibo or prop bearing, as prop wasnt moving on the ramp.
I know the sensible advice is just to throw it back to the dealer, and get him to sort it out. But to be honest, I really dont think he is the type who would get this sorted to any satisfaction. How the car passed the MOT (in May) with brakes in the state they were in is anyones guess (iDrive had been updated to say brake service had just been done...no chance, not on this car anyway!). I've since had new discs and pads all round.
As of today, I'm still within the 30 days of right to reject (which I don't want to do as I like the car, other than the shakes). But waiting for the indy inspection, takes me out of the 30 days. My main worry, is waiting for the indy inspection, and they discover a bigger problem (after I'm already £500 in to inspect it). I dont mind paying to have it inspected by the indy (if it fixes the issue), as they are well regarded, and the mechanic I spoke to seemed very knowledgeable.
WWYD? Fire off an email to dealer telling him what the score is probably the mininum (just to cover myself)?
As others have said, return it and reject it. It’s a modern diesel, which means that any fault is unlikely to be cheap to sort out. It’s also a very very common car, so there’s no reason whatsoever to stick with any problematic example when you can easily bin it off and find another.
There are almost 600 2012-2014 320ds for sale on Auto Trader right now nationally. There’s a very good chance you will be able to find a car without these issues nearby.
There are almost 600 2012-2014 320ds for sale on Auto Trader right now nationally. There’s a very good chance you will be able to find a car without these issues nearby.
OP here, with an update.
I returned the car to the dealer just after my first post for him to repair. He has had it now for almost 3 weeks, and in that time has has replaced the following.
New propshaft flex discs (front and back) and center bearing
2 new rear driveshafts
Checked fuel injectors
Engine and gearbox mounts
Main crank pulley
Disappointingly, none of that made any difference. To be fair, if the dealer is actually doing all he says he is doing, then at least he is trying. He tells me the next course of action is to try a known working (used) high pressure fuel pump.
To be honest it's all a little frustrating, and sounds like he is just firing the parts canon at it. It could probably do with someone looking at it who could use ISTA and take a more methodical/analytical approach and get some live data. It only happens when on throttle above 60mph, as soon as you let off the throttle, the vibration goes away.
Apparently he has an ex-BMW mechanic looking at it next week. Hopefully he'll be able to get to the bottom of it.
When I took it to the indy for their diagnosis, the mechanic there did actually say it was a very strange vibration that he'd never seen before.
I fear it may reach the point where I'll just have to reject and get a refund, but I'd like to avoid this as I'd already spent a few hundred quid on the car after buying it and before it went back to the dealer. If they could just fix the shakes, it will be a pretty well sorted car.
I returned the car to the dealer just after my first post for him to repair. He has had it now for almost 3 weeks, and in that time has has replaced the following.
New propshaft flex discs (front and back) and center bearing
2 new rear driveshafts
Checked fuel injectors
Engine and gearbox mounts
Main crank pulley
Disappointingly, none of that made any difference. To be fair, if the dealer is actually doing all he says he is doing, then at least he is trying. He tells me the next course of action is to try a known working (used) high pressure fuel pump.
To be honest it's all a little frustrating, and sounds like he is just firing the parts canon at it. It could probably do with someone looking at it who could use ISTA and take a more methodical/analytical approach and get some live data. It only happens when on throttle above 60mph, as soon as you let off the throttle, the vibration goes away.
Apparently he has an ex-BMW mechanic looking at it next week. Hopefully he'll be able to get to the bottom of it.
When I took it to the indy for their diagnosis, the mechanic there did actually say it was a very strange vibration that he'd never seen before.
I fear it may reach the point where I'll just have to reject and get a refund, but I'd like to avoid this as I'd already spent a few hundred quid on the car after buying it and before it went back to the dealer. If they could just fix the shakes, it will be a pretty well sorted car.
I can understand why you're keen not to but as others have suggested I'd move to reject. The parts cannon approach as you say isn't working and the respected indy after a brief look not being sure is a worry. If it is something to do with the chain replacements what's to say that even if it's fixed the period of running with it wrong won't have stressed other things?
Thats What She Said said:
I like the car, other than the shakes
You'd better get used to that as a BMW owner 
It must have been a very good price and/or mint to stick with it. As already said, 320Ds are probably more common than Golf GTDs, so plenty to choose from.
As its a BMW, I take it all the usual control arm bushings been checked/replaced? It doesn't take much to make them have the shake, rattle and rolls.
Kawasicki said:
I would have started with wheels/tyres… but hey…
Same, damage, balancing, defective tyre - had similar shake in my Mk5 Golf around 60ish (went away at 8x) and ended up taking it to second garage (the first one 'balanced' it twice and same issue) to be rebalanced properly by an independent who found it was massively out and instantly cured the issue.Taking bits of engine apart to cure a wobble at speed seems an interesting approach.....
PistonTim said:
Kawasicki said:
I would have started with wheels/tyres… but hey…
Same, damage, balancing, defective tyre - had similar shake in my Mk5 Golf around 60ish (went away at 8x) and ended up taking it to second garage (the first one 'balanced' it twice and same issue) to be rebalanced properly by an independent who found it was massively out and instantly cured the issue.Taking bits of engine apart to cure a wobble at speed seems an interesting approach.....
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