Picked up the X5 today, and thankfully there was no CEL/SES on the dash this time. Here are the comments on the work order:
65647 ACTIVE TANK SENSORS SHORTED INTERNALLY (1) INSPECTED AND VERIFIED THAT THE SES LIGHT WAS ON. (
No fucking shit, really?? Did you think I was making it up?) RAN A SHORT TEST TO CHECK FOR FAULTS IN THE CONTROL MODULES. FOUND FAULTS PRESENT IN THE DDE FOR ACTIVE TANK MONITORING ERROR. (2) RAN TEST PLAN FOR ACTIVE TANK AND FOUND THAT THE TANK SENSORS WERE SHORTED INTERNALLY AND REQUIRED REPLACEMENT PER DIAG CODE: D1170 00000000 30 001. (3-5) REMOVED AND REPLACED ACTIVE TANK. (6) TOPPED OFF SCR FLUID. (7) CLEARED FAULT MEMORY. (8) ROAD TESTED AND RECHECKED, FAULT NO LONGER PRESENT
My SA wasn't there today, but the Service Manager was. I asked to speak to him to give him some direct feedback on the whole process. Both my wife and I were in this meeting that lasted about 20 minutes. The net result is that my opinion of BMW Bellevue 's service department is even lower. Says something when the guy in charge of service doesn't even drive a BMW (his own words). My wife's impression of the guy was that he was a complete idiot (her words.) I expressed my concern over trying to deliver a vehicle back to the customer with the CEL/SES still on, and given that a scan of a different module found the errors in the active tank, why weren't they caught before? No real good answer came from the SM. I then asked why if I can read an OBDII code, search the internet, and pinpoint at least the subsystem with the issue why they couldn't do the same? His response was "we ignore what the customer says, as well as OBDII codes. BMW has their own test plans and systems, so that is what we use."
O-M-G! Did you really say you "ignore what the customer says"? Wow, just wow. Hell, at least sugar-coat it and make it sound less patronizing, like "we appreciate the input from our customers and we do our best to implement BMW's test plans and protocols to the highest standards."
I then asked why the error wasn't caught earlier if the technicians followed the protocols in the testing plans, and why the X5 still had the CEL/SES on when I tried to get it earlier. His response can be summed up with:
And he kept asking why we didn't buy the extended warranty, because BMW is less likely to help out customers with "goodwill" repairs if they didn't buy the extended "warranty". What, that doesn't make any sense. Had I bought the extended warranty, they would have just covered everything after the deductible, where would "goodwill" factor into that?
I also said that if BMW can't build a car that can go at least 100,000 miles without THOUSANDS of dollars in repairs (not maintenance, but repairs), then I either need to stop buying BMWs or just lease them and turn them in before the factory warranty expires. He agreed with that statement, saying you shouldn't own a BMW outside of warranty, either factory or extended. Again, that doesn't inspire confidence in continuing to buy the brand when the SM says something like that.
And when the extended "warranty" costs $5,000 just to cover an additional 2 years and 50,000 miles of ownership, how much confidence should I have in the product? He didn't have an answer for that, other than to repeat about not owning one outside of warranty. He then shared a story about having to do a $12,000 warranty repair on his previous M5, and how he was glad he had the extended warranty for that.
There was some additional discussion about training opportunities for their Service Advisors, especially with BMW selling more diesel cars than ever in the US. If your SA's can't tell the difference between SCR (a process) and DEF (a reactant used in the SCR process), they might need additional training.
I walked out of the meeting pretty much just shaking my head.
My final concerns are that the passive tank is going to have the same issue shortly, as it appears they didn't even run a test plan on that unit. So I'm hoping for two outcomes: The passive tank is fine and doesn't have an issue, or if it does, it appears in the next 5,000 miles. If it shits the bed after 100,000 miles, I'll be somewhat OK with that (but only somewhat.) By then, "alternate options" will likely exist....
The X5 goes back in for an oil change in about 1,500 miles. We did buy the extended maintenance contract because that penciled out in our favor vs. the local indy shops for comparable service. I think I'll give BMW Seattle a shot on that service and see how they do. Should be an easy test to pass.....
The last thing I'm going to start doing is refilling the DEF tanks every 4th fill-up. Not sure that will help, but it seems that crystallization of the UREA on the sensors may be a contributing factor. Maybe keeping the tanks topped off will reduce or eliminate that issue.