BMW 228i problem / tech advice

[XanderUK]

Hello, first of all it's been a few years since I've been on here and can't for the life of me remember my old details so I have created a new account.

OK then, we have 2015 BMW 228i coupe as one of our cars that has just had a rather large repair bill which wasn't fun over Christmas. I have owned the car since 2018 bought from a BMW main dealer, I'm the second owner the car has just hit the 44k mark and has full BMW service history and has been very well looked after.

Over the last year I have put just over 100 miles on it (yes just 100), some of this partly due to covid lockdowns and some of it due to having other cars to use. Over the last couple of months I have noticed the low battery warning flash up but never really concerned myself too much about it until last week a new warning flashed up saying 'Drivetrain issue" which advised the car not to be driven. So I had the car taken to my local BMW dealership to resolve the problem. I have just collected it today and was told there was over £750 in parts and with labor this came to around the £2k mark.

I was given the repair sheet which consisted of Replaced valvetronic motors, actuator inlet and exhaust vanos with gaskets and seals. BMW claimed these problems occurred due to lack of use, this surprised me as in the 28 years I've been driving and owned well over 100 cars I have never seen such issues from lack of use. BMW failed to give me more details even when I requested them as it was (fortunately) covered by my extended warranty so luckily all the work cost me just £100.

Now my question is does this make sense? The car had its last service in August and as stated really hasn't been used much since then. I would be interested in reading people's opinions on this and also wanted to make a post that may be of interest to others with BMWs that have the same engine.

Thanks for reading my post and all the best.

[rosejem]

I guess the old petrol in the tank must have gone off whilst sat for a year , I am no expert but wonder if the BMW dealer is making a meal of a warranty job for their benifit.
Lucky it only cost you the £100.00 excess.

[XanderUK]

rosejem said:

I guess the old petrol in the tank must have gone off whilst sat for a year , I am no expert but wonder if the BMW dealer is making a meal of a warranty job for their benifit.
Lucky it only cost you the £100.00 excess.

Must admit it did cross my mind. I will add that I put fresh petrol in the car in November and that was the first time I used E10 petrol, could it be possible that played a part as prior to that I used regular unleaded or super unleaded.

[BOR]

I'm guessing, but putting 2+2=5 I'm going to say lack of long journeys/cold engine/increased water content in oil/oil never getting hot enough to boil off water leading to surface corrosion on the parts described.

Surface corrosion on the actuator or electric motor could cause enough stiction etc to throw a check engine light.

Your case sounds quite unusual. The corrosion would probably have removed itself with more use, but 100miles is very low.

[Jamescrs]

I also suspect the main dealer went to town on what they could add on to the bill knowing the warranty would take the cost so you would be more accepting of it, it probably hasn't done the car any good sitting and only doing 200 miles in a year.

Probably not relevant to your case but I own a M240i on a 66 plate and last month it sat for a couple of weeks over a particularly cold snow filled spell in Yorkshire where I used my old FWD shed instead and just that took a toll on the battery and when I came back to the BMW it started fine but 5 mins into the journey threw a drivetrain error up, I pulled over and turned off the car and restarted it again which cleared the fault and it has never been seen since with regular use (I drive it most days).