BMW warranty comprehensive cover declined.

[thorpem28]

Hi all,

I was hoping for some advice on the following:

I have a BMW 330i E90 (2006) with 59k miles on the clock. I purchased this car in April 2018 and decided to purchase the BMW comprehensive cover for around £80 a month. The car was good as gold till now. I discovered a slight burning smell coming from the vent so I filled out a service forum via the BMW website and no none got back to me, 8 days later my car completely cut out on the dual carriage way with engine management light on with basically every error code on the screen. long story short BMW emergency services took it to BMW in bath, they explained the recall about a blower wire.. they discovered that the ECU was full of water hence the fault and not starting... they said it is not covered due to the fault being a seal in the ECU housing and will cost £2k to fix.

Any advice on where I stand here? I am as you can imagine pretty furious with the situation. I purchased this warranty cover to be at peace in case of a total breakdown.

I appreciated anyone input.

[helix402]

Speak to bwchiptune about a replacement ecu. They will be a lot cheaper than BMW.

[Smuler]

Have you contacted the warranty company direct?
I always check any item I claim before approaching dealer.
There’s a list of exclusions in the documents , I would challenge the decision unless the problem is expressly excluded.

[survivalist]

I’d say it’s worth speaking to the warranty company and challenging it. Assuming it’s the BMW Insured Warranty it does state that it excludes seals, but there’s also no service requirement (as far as I know) to check and replace the seals around the box that contains the ECU, so the assumption is that it should last the lifetime of the car.

That said, I’ve had some odd decisions in the past. Amazingly they covered a set of suspension springs on my 10year old 335i as one of them had broken. But they are currently refusing to replace the bake lines that are just starting to show signs of corrosion. I’m challenging it on the basis that they specifically exclude fuel and coolant hoses, so any other hoses should be covered.

Good luck with getting it sorted.

[Ninja59]

survivalist said:

I’d say it’s worth speaking to the warranty company and challenging it. Assuming it’s the BMW Insured Warranty it does state that it excludes seals, but there’s also no service requirement (as far as I know) to check and replace the seals around the box that contains the ECU.

That said, I’ve had some odd decisions in the past. Amazingly they covered a set of suspension springs on my 10year old 335i as one of them had broken. But they are currently refusing to replace the bake lines that are starting to corrode. I’m challenging it on the basis that they specifically exclude fuel and coolant hoses, so any other hoses should be covered.

Good luck with getting it sorted.

Bit of an odd one that, I agree a hose in comparison with a line is completely different. Bloody hell.

Regarding springs presuming it was a fully comp policy would cover it as the warranty covers wear and tear.

In regards to the OP I would push them as the warranty only excludes "Weather Strips and Seals", I would question whether an ECU seal is the same as a weather strip or seal....https://www.bmw-warranty.co.uk/Comprehensive#/_ComprehensiveDetails

Edited by Ninja59 on Thursday 30th August 08:24

[bmwmike]

That's why I dropped it in the end, too variable and too much at the mercy of the dealer to ok stuff. Checking with the warranty company first before going to dealer is a good call.

I've even had to convince them to replace a shock as a pair when TIS specifically states they must be replaced in pairs over 50k miles. Warranty company sided with me, but the service manager got a hump on.

[thorpem28]

thanks for the response all.

spoke to the BMW warranty, they explained that it was a cleaning issue in the end.. a build up of leaves caused the DME to flood??!

looking online this appears to be a common issue.

looking around for specialist and best price i come up for replacing the DME is £1600.

[helix402]

There are drains in the area around the e box. If they are blocked with leaves etc water can enter ecus and or the car interior.

[helix402]

[bmwmike]

Do BMW highly trained technicians inspect and clear drains during servicing , anyone know ?

[helix402]

Unlikely if they are on main dealer bonus pay schemes. Unblocking scuttle drains is not on the service sheet so most wont bother. I used to, including removing the E60/1 drain hole grommet-easy to do with a brake fluid change.

[thorpem28]

well i cannot believe it, but after sending a huge complaint email and CCing some retail managers etc...

They are now agreeing to cover all costs, as you can imagine i'm completely over joyed.
The BMW warranty claims department company basically said anything that involves external cleaning (leafs) and seals they will not cover.

I'm going to wait until they actually fix it before i get my hopes up. there is something that still does not quiet make sense to me..

when breaking down the AA tech came out, during the time that i waited for them i was on google trying to find a root cause etc.. where we thought we would open the ECU white box to check a possible fault on a blue relay.. that box was completely dry, and i do not know how water can even enter that box

here is a video example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndDEZpSIxhs

how would an abnormal amount of leaf build up (somewhere) cause water to enter this closed white box? and how would i prevent this occurring in future?
is the leaf build up they are referring to below the windscreen only?

anyway i do appreciate the time and effort everyone on this forum put in to helping me with this.