2005 M6 Vanos issues

[andrewsedward]

I'm a month into ownership of the above motor, having bought it from a small second hand dealer in South Wales. I bl00dy love it, and have had a couple of drives already where it's scared the pants off me!! BUT, the engine warning light has come on and having taken it to my local BMW dealer I have been told that it has got a faulty Vanos oil pump that needs replacing. cost? c£3500 from them or £2600 from a local independent specialist. I've driven it a bit between it being diagnosed and it going in tomorrow for the work, and the warning light is sometimes on and sometimes not. Someone told me about a software upgrade that is relevant to the Vanos.
Has anyone had any exprerience with this sort of issue before? And if so, once it's changed, were there any follow on problems?

[joesnow]

No personal information to give I'm afraid, but this chap is fully clued up on all things vanos related. http://www.mrvanos.com/index.htm

[Zod]

The VANOS oil pump on a 2005 car should have been fixed back in 2006!

[andrewsedward]

Zod, as in it should have been changed in a service or under a recall?

[Zod]

andrewsedward said:

Zod, as in it should have been changed in a service or under a recall?

There was a recall from memory. It happened at about the time my car (that didn't need it) arrived in March 2006.

[andrewsedward]

Zod said:

andrewsedward said:

Zod, as in it should have been changed in a service or under a recall?

There was a recall from memory. It happened at about the time my car (that didn't need it) arrived in March 2006.

Thanks, Zod. Is there any way that I can check from BMW that any recall work has been carried out, do you know?

[ecain63]

You can get your recalls checked at your local dealer. They'll need your chassis number, that's it.

Out of interest, why don't you have a warranty? Its essential with these cars. Nothing is cheap.

[E30M3SE]

Why is the 'small second hand dealer' not covering the cost of repairs if you have only had it a month?

[andrewsedward]

E30M3SE said:

Why is the 'small second hand dealer' not covering the cost of repairs if you have only had it a month?

I have tried to get him to covewr some of the costs here but the engine warning light was not on when I bought it, so in his eyes this is something that has gone wrong since I bought it so he has no responsibility for it.

Re the warranty, I was thinking about it when the light came on. I then took it to BMW to get it diagnosed, so they now know that there is a fault so it won't be covered if I take one out now. I am going to take out a BMW warranty once this is fixed, because from what I've read the indepenent warranty companies aren't up to much. There's not a huge difference between BMW's price and someone like Warrantywise.

[andrewsedward]

E30M3SE said:

Why is the 'small second hand dealer' not covering the cost of repairs if you have only had it a month?

I have tried to get him to covewr some of the costs here but the engine warning light was not on when I bought it, so in his eyes this is something that has gone wrong since I bought it so he has no responsibility for it.

Re the warranty, I was thinking about it when the light came on. I then took it to BMW to get it diagnosed, so they now know that there is a fault so it won't be covered if I take one out now. I am going to take out a BMW warranty once this is fixed, because from what I've read the indepenent warranty companies aren't up to much. There's not a huge difference between BMW's price and someone like Warrantywise.

[playalistic]

andrewsedward said:

E30M3SE said:

Why is the 'small second hand dealer' not covering the cost of repairs if you have only had it a month?

I have tried to get him to covewr some of the costs here but the engine warning light was not on when I bought it, so in his eyes this is something that has gone wrong since I bought it so he has no responsibility for it.

Re the warranty, I was thinking about it when the light came on. I then took it to BMW to get it diagnosed, so they now know that there is a fault so it won't be covered if I take one out now. I am going to take out a BMW warranty once this is fixed, because from what I've read the indepenent warranty companies aren't up to much. There's not a huge difference between BMW's price and someone like Warrantywise.

Shame you didn't do it the other way round

[Rags]

An arse about face way of doing things.

[E30M3SE]

andrewsedward said:

E30M3SE said:

Why is the 'small second hand dealer' not covering the cost of repairs if you have only had it a month?

I have tried to get him to covewr some of the costs here but the engine warning light was not on when I bought it, so in his eyes this is something that has gone wrong since I bought it so he has no responsibility for it.

I'd speak to someone about this as I don't think it is reasonable to have to shell out upto £3600 after having a car only 1 month, the fact that the light was not on when he sold it is not a good enough reason, after all he is a motortrader, so, he cannot sell a car 'as seen' to the general public.

[CarbonBlackM5]

I was told by a trader that they have to give a 3 month warranty by law, not sure if thats true or not.

[rassi]

According to EU consumer rights legislation you have 24 months of reclamation right, the first 6 months are warranty so the dealer has to repair/replace anything that fails in this period, after that it is for the consumer to prove that the fault was present at the time of buying the product.

In other words, unless the dealer specifically sold the car with a mention that Vanos was faulty, he is obliged to repair the car at his cost.

[-Z-]

Not quite true, if you have a failure within 6 months of purchase and the dealer refuses to fix, the onus is on them to PROVE that the problem was not there when you bought it.

Because this can be difficult for them to do, most cases are found in the customers favour.

AFAIK

Edited by -Z- on Wednesday 15th December 13:20

[Eyas]

I had a similar problem with my 2005 car just after I got it last year with the engine management light coming on intermittently. In my case it was actually the oil pressure sensor that failed (the actual pressure when checked was fine). Mine was (and is) under BMW warranty which was just as well as the warranty claim was still pricey as replacing the sensor apparently required taking quite a lot of the engine apart - although this could have been dealer exaggeration.

I would also second what everyone else has said about the warranty as these cars are complicated and BMW dealers are pricey! In the first year I think my warranty claims came to about £4K - all of it covered without any arguing. On the plus side since the early problems were sorted the car has been perfectly reliable. With the warranty, the only thing I worry about is the clutch going pop as mine is nearing 40K miles!

[TX1]

I would def give the citizens advice bureau a visit, one month after buying it is not on and its such a big expense.

[jamiepeers]

CarbonBlackM5 said:

I was told by a trader that they have to give a 3 month warranty by law, not sure if thats true or not.

Thats certainly true. IIRC its at least for engine and gearbox but its moot anyways as the vanos is part of the engine