Did my dealer need to replace my transmission?
Apologies in advance if this is not the right subreddit, after looking through BMW subreddits this seemed like the most appropriate spot. Additionally, sorry for the long post.
I own a 2013 550i M Sport with 72k miles. I've owned the car since August 2017. The first few months were very trouble free, starting January I've had nonstop problems.
To get right to the point, I get in my vehicle one morning and the car won't shift to drive, it would automatically go back into park. I tow the car to the dealer and they told me what I expected, I need a new transmission and another part I've never heard of - service advisor told me "Oil is all over the place." I never saw any oil leaking from the vehicle which I thought was really odd. This whole time the dealer tells me that they have a transmission at the shop ready to go.
A week later, once my warranty company (the warranty Carmax uses) approves the claim the dealer says they need to order the transmission. I was confused but agreed, they call me about a week and a half later and say they received the transmission but it has been damaged in shipping (wtf?) they then tell me they can only order a new one from Germany, that was the last transmission in the country (wtf x2?). About 2 weeks go by and the transmission is being held in the shipping port and waiting for release, tranny finally gets released and the shop does the repair. In total, this charade was about 5-6 weeks long. Dealer never offered to give me a loaner and gave me the run around when I asked for one, I had a piece of shit rental car for many weeks. Is this what BMW ownership looks like and how they treat their customers? Out the door I paid $600 for $16k worth of repairs. Thank you warranty.
My first day back with the car I'm eager to drive and take my wife out to dinner, we pull into the parking lot and the check engine light goes on. My heart drops but I know transmission repairs can sometimes do this, I run my scanner and it's the 02 sensor. No big deal. I have to schedule to bring the car in a week and a half later to get a loaner car, which I do and the repair is about 3 days. Warranty covered the repair, $100 out the door. Fine.
A couple days of driving and that damn check engine light is back on, I call the dealership frustrated and ask to bring the car in again and request a loaner. The appointment is, again, about a week out. Once they've looked into the issue the service advisor calls and lets me know the entire wiring harness in the engine needs to be replaced. At this point, I'm pretty pissed and have a lot of questions to which I get no answers - How does this even happen? Was it an electrical issue this whole time and transmission was fine? Are you even driving the car to test the work if my check engine light comes on 2x in a row after bringing the car home?
The car is in the shop getting the wiring harness replaced for 2 weeks. The warranty company graciously covers the $6k repair and I pay $160 out the door.
I'm left here asking, is this car destined for repair hell or is my dealership incompetent? I've contacted the dealer with my story and have not heard anything back, they said they'll talk to their foreman then radio silence.
TLDR: Dealer replaced transmission, then 02 sensor, then wiring harness in the span of 3 months. Could this have been an electrical issue the whole time?
Posted Apr 9, 2018, 12:43 PM UTC
As for all the hassle with waiting on the transmission, it sounds normal. I'm a Porsche tech and the amount of damaged and/or items that have to come from Germany that we deal with is unreal for when newer cars. Nobody wants to stock parts stateside anymore.
As for the other issues, it sounds like either a) someone messed up when doing the transmission r/r and damaged the wiring harness or b) there is a pre-existing electrical issue that was creating the transmission error and they didn't notice it first, although the oil comment is odd. But these cars have so many underbody panels I don't doubt that it could be leaking somewhere and you not see it.
I would call BMW North America and get their opinion on it, and possibly research a second trusted dealer in the area for another opinion on the work. It's definitely not right for a vehicle to go in with one issue then have so many subsequent issues after a big job was completed.
Also with the dealer not covering a rental, that's usually the case. Your aftermarket warranty should have information in it on when you're allowed a rental car to be paid for and it's usually not the dealers responsibility unless the vehicle is still covered under a factory warranty.
Thanks for the info, I suppose it's reassuring to know the damaged transmission is not unusual. I still feel mislead when the service advisors tells me there's a transmission at the shop and then we go through 3 weeks of trying to obtain one.
I'll give BMW NA a ring and see what they think. Unfortunately the other closest BMW dealer is about an hour drive out. The warranty did cover 7 days @ $25/day which I dont fault the dealership for. The loaner is not a big deal to me I was more concerned that their work was causing subsequent issues.