HELP!:engine went bad, Foreign Motors West are trying not to cover or help

[Rob_]

Originally Posted by hayaku

what the service advisor is claiming is that diaz performed a mechanical over-rev, aka the dreaded money shift.

remember that its all connected. the wheels to the differentials to the tranny to the engine. if one spins they all spin (unless in neutral/out of gear). so for every given gear, there is a mph range that the engine can be in (your rpm range). if you are in a high speed for 3rd/4th gear and you drop down to 2nd gear, your engine will need to spin faster then the available 7000 rpm limit to keep up with the wheels. that is the wheels are forcing the motor to over rev. since the cam shafts are only designed to spin at a max of 7000 rpm, anything over will cause it to bend the valves and cause other head damage.

diaz should NOT have downshifted, but rather have put both feet in (clutch and and brakes) as hard as he can.

engine braking is ALWAYS the wrong answer for quickly stopping a vehicle. the brakes do a much better job at that.

I do not know if the stuck accelerator claim will work since the over-rev was caused by diaz and he did not do the proper actions by putting both feet in.

sorry diaz, this is not what you wanted to hear or read but there is driver error involved. i don't know if that will be covered by the stuck accelerator issue...

I have to agree with Adam. Money shift, improper gear selection...call it what you want but the end result is never pretty. The was common with E36 M3's. In fact one of the techs that used to work with me performed the money shift on a 1/4 mile track...he had to replace the motor.

Rob_

[DIAZ]

Yes the car has a Manual transmission, and yes they are blaming it on driver error. Regardless of the case I bought the car there, and the dealership should at least be on my side and try to help me out in any way that they can, I have sent them custumers that have bought cars, and was always talking good about this dealership as the person who sold me the car is a great guy.But the fact that they are trying to bend me over so badly has me very mad. i already asked for all the documentation and a copy of the overrev codes, and overrev history. Im going in tomorrow and im gonna photocopy all my case to have documentation. they sold me the car CPO recently and I have only put 4,000 miles on it, it is so dangerous that the accelerator was getting stuck anyways, and the repair bill that they gave me is outrageous, It was $12,000 and Lance said it might be more in various costs, ive asked around and started calling dealers and mechanics and a BMW remanufactured engine should cost me $6500 plus shipping, and I get $500 for core exchange, If i send them my motor back. All the places that sell engines have told me that I should pay about 1200 on the low end to 2400 on the high end in labor to get the engine installed. SO at most I should pay $9,000 for a new engine. Either way this BMW dealership has the worst Custumer Service I have ever seen

[DIAZ]

I would like to thank everyone for trying to help out by giving me advice

[kglesq]

Legally speaking, when a person is placed in a position of imminent peril, he is not held to the same standard of care as an individual who is not in peril.

In other words, ordinarily it would be considered negligent on your part to have elected to slow the car by grabbing second at such a high speed, and the bent motor would be your problem. Although it is easy to second guess your conduct from the comfort of my couch and calmly deduce that the correct action would be to step on the clutch and brake, you didn't have that luxury in the moment. The law recognizes this, and consequently does not hold you to the same standards in these situations. This of course does not apply if the imminent peril was the result of your own stupidity, but that does not appear to be the case here.

In the instant case, you were on what looked to be a one-way ride to hell, courtesy of the defective accelerator pedal. This is clearly a situation that meets the definition of imminent peril, and said peril was caused by a defective part (the accellerator pedal) which BMW was responsible for under their written warranty.

As such, while an overrev would ordinarily be your problem, here it is squarely BMW's.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that the dealer will respond to this reasoning if you use it yourself. As such I strongly advise that you contact an attorney, preferrably one who deals with lemon law issues--dealers understand that attorneys tend to make good on their threats. As an added bonus, many will take your case on contingency.

Good luck.

[bozo]

Originally Posted by Quicksilver

Here's one thing you could do. We did and it worked.( Not with a car though) In our area there's an ABC news program called 7 on your side. You can call them and if you have a good consumer case they will broadcast the problem and go to bat for you. Unwanted media coverage is some thing no dealership wants. Make sure you have all your records ect.

Originally Posted by kglesq

[Legally speaking........As such I strongly advise that you contact an attorney, preferrably one who deals with lemon law issues--dealers understand that attorneys tend to make good on their threats. As an added bonus, many will take your case on contingency.]

Good luck.

Between these two pieces of advice, not only will you NOT have to pay for anything, but you will probably have an extensive apology to accompany that....You could sit there and argue 'til your blue in the face about printouts and overrevs and what not, but when sh#* hits the fan, you gotta' hit these people where it hurts....($$$$$)..And that ONLY happens via negative exposure..Good luck!

[Quicksilver]

Originally Posted by bozo5521

Between these two pieces of advice, not only will you NOT have to pay for anything, but you will probably have an extensive apology to accompany that....You could sit there and argue 'til your blue in the face about printouts and overrevs and what not, but when sh#* hits the fan, you gotta' hit these people where it hurts....($$$$$)..And that ONLY happens via negative exposure..Good luck!

Yep I said that and now I will say it again. Get someone to help you deal with it legally. And don't argue,fuss,fight or anything else. Just be nice and play hard ball.

[JohnD]

Diaz,

Take my advice and contact the owner of Foreign Motors West. He took care of me when Lance and the rep from BMWNA wouldn't. Lance has nothing to lose by customers not buying again, he is compensated on how much money he saves the service department. The owner of the dealership and the new cars sales managers are the ones who want to keep you happy. Trust me on this - I have been a Customer Service Manager for 15 years, no one in sales or sr. management want to lose a customer

[alpac]

Originally Posted by kglesq

Legally speaking, when a person is placed in a position of imminent peril, he is not held to the same standard of care as an individual who is not in peril. .......

In the instant case, you were on what looked to be a one-way ride to hell, courtesy of the defective accelerator pedal. This is clearly a situation that meets the definition of imminent peril, and said peril was caused by a defective part (the accellerator pedal) which BMW was responsible for under their written warranty. ....

Absolutely, that was exactly my point

[DIAZ]

JohnD could you please help me out by giving me the name of the owner, or how you contacted him. To my understanding the dealership was employee owned. I would like to take this approach before I try to get a lawyer involved, as if I get a lawyer it would be a clear declaration of war.

[statdoc]

Originally Posted by DIAZ

it would be a clear declaration of war.

C'mon, it already is on their part (except they think they won't have to fight, and that you will roll over and accept domination).