Originally Posted by ard

The difficulty with modern diagnosis is more than meets the eye...

While we both said "monitor fuel pressures"...which indeed was the key, there is an economic factor at play.

You see BMWNA only pays the dealer for certain service codes- if a dealer spends 4 hours diagnosing a bad sensor, the "book" may only provide for 30 minutes to diagnose and repair- because the 'book' assumes a code will be set and the car will arrive with a bad sensor code already logged.

So dealers- and specifically the tech and the service manager- really dont like spending time to diagnose stuff that is outside the usual path. They have to document complaints a few times, then send it to BMW...then open a puma..then BMW says 'run these test plans'... all the while, BMW is telling the dealer what they will pay for the work they are asking. Practically speaking, these long drawn out problems are a lot of 'wait for PUMA to reply' then 'find time in the schedule with the other 20 cars I am clearing to do what they ask', then 'document results and send back'...rinse and repeat. BMWNA and PUMA control the work reimbursement and therefore control the pace of this stuff.

I post this so people can understand what motivates/restrains the tech/dealer... the key to managing a repair is to support the dealer when he is doing HIS job, (and kick butt when they arent)..but if you can show them you understand their challenges that are created by BMWNA, you buy some goodwill in the relationship

Not sure this WAS the issue here, but food for thought.

A