Oil drain plug stripped by dealer, advice from experts needed

holmz20 · #1 04-26-2012, 07:48 PM

I wanted to share an experience I have been battling with for one week now with no help from either dealerships. BMW of Austin dealer ending up stripping my oil drain plug on my 70K X5 last week. I took it in for a normal oil change and received a call an hour later that the oil drain plug was over torqued by previous oil change service . I bought the car a year ago and rarely put 9k miles since then since it is my second car. BMW momentum west Houston was last place of oil change. Overall had no luck by calling service manager of houston , service director with them not taking ownership. Placed calls all day today to Bmw of austin trying to get them to talk to Houston to have someone pay for an $2800 oil pan replacement i was quoted.
Originally after austin took screw out stripping aluminum oil plan, they retapped with Timesert screw yesterday. I have called client relations which i see no luck with. I am now trying to figure out approaching corporate owners of Momentum west to take responsibility.
Left with no choice, have 3rd party Warranty Solutions with no claim yet which cover oil pan but Bmw of Austin has mentioned most likely the warranty from them will be declined after warranty company heres story of why oil pan is leaking.
I sent an email to Bmw momentum west right now as well which is below.

Hi Maria,
I received your contact information and wanted to describe an issue which I am not having any resolution to. My 07 X5 received an Oil Change service from BMW Momentum West early last year. Since I dont drive the car much I just performed an oil change here at BMW of Austin since I live in Austin. I was advised when i dropped the car off last week on friday 4/20 that my oil drain plug was really tight and that I might have an issue with the threads getting warped if they unscrew the plug. Bmw Austin I contact my previous dealership which was your dealership and talk to the service manager. I made the call and authorization was received to change the oil drain plug out and retap the oil plug by Cash, the service manager. BMW of Austin did note if the issue is not fixed this could lead to having to replace an oil pan due to BMW Momentum tightening the plug by over torqueing it. The dealership changed the plug and I drove the car home to find out it was dripping oil now. I have been trying to get a hold of the service director to get the issue escalated for someone to take ownership to resolve the issue. I have had no luck this far after tirelessly making calls all day since 9 am until 6 pm to come to a resolution.

I was left with no choice but to email requesting your advice and help in looking into this matter. The oil pan replacement is costing $2800 to replace which clearly I have no fault from my end. BMW momentum west authorized this request and I feel since they were the last one to service the vehicle that they stand behind their customer service. I kindly request you to look in and help me on this.

Any advice from you guys to approach this mess would be helpful. I shouldnt have to pay for an oil pan for this mess!

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Edward98 · #2 04-26-2012, 10:12 PM

How did BMW of Austin know that the drain plug was "too tight"? Did they call you before they tried to remove it? Or did they call you and tell you only after the fact?

I've never heard of thread "warping". I have experience with stripping and galling. Threads almost always get stripped from cross-threading - which usually occurs when screwing a bolt in, not unscrewing it.

-Edward

holmz20 · #3 04-26-2012, 10:35 PM

Bmw of Austin called me an hour after i dropped the car off to let me know they tried unscrewing it and noticed it was very tight. I meant stripping not warping sorry. Told me then that they advise to change the oil pan if the screw leaks after they change the oil. I told them do not touch oil plug and i would contact momentum to have them contact Austin.
Now i dont know if they opened it and closed it back and then let me know if it got stripped since I wasnt at the dealership.

Edward98 · #4 04-26-2012, 11:08 PM

I think it's much more likely that they cross threaded it and then came up with the story after the fact. To be fair, there's no way of knowing what really happened. Did they try the Timesert on their own? Or did you ask them to? I'm really surprised the Timesert didn't work. They're much more effective than helicoils.

holmz20 · #5 04-26-2012, 11:18 PM

Thats what we dont know what really happened. BMW of houston suggested to remove and tap, I found out later they inserted timesert when reading the invoice.

holmz20 · #6 04-26-2012, 11:21 PM

I wasnt sure if it is wise just to tighten it a little more . I also talked with a Tech at an indy shop and he told me he can just get a mercedes bolt which are longer and should hold the leak. I might keep that as my last resort.

Edward98 · #7 04-26-2012, 11:30 PM

I would ping Terry Sayther Automotive. I think it's unlikely that either dealer will step up and take of this for you.

-Edward

holmz20 · #8 04-27-2012, 12:04 AM

I also pinged Pauls motorwerks to work a quote out. might have to drive car to each indy to get an idea to maybe get around not changing the oil pan and instead might get bolt fixed somehow. I will also call Terry as well tomorrow.

FSETH · #9 04-27-2012, 08:29 AM

My money is on BMW Momentum as the shop that screwed this up. I found that I had a stripped drain plug on my e46 when I did the first oil change after buying it used. The plug didn't leak or anything and it came out normally when I removed it to drain the oil, but when I tried to put it back in it just kept spinning. I had an indy shop install a Timesert a few months back and so far so good.

The bad thing for you is that you are going to have a hell of a time proving Momentum definitively messed up your car. I suspect they are all going to balk at taking any real responsibility.

holmz20 · #10 04-27-2012, 11:04 AM

True Fseth, the point that baffles me the most is i called three indy shops and they told me Timeserts work 90% of the time. I am sitting at BMW of Austin as we speak. Not much they will do here which I understand. Best option now is to wait and see with what Momentum says back that is my aim. I have contacted corporate ,have them respond to me today morning , and sent them detail email which has gone to their GM and Service Director for a response now. It is a waiting game at this point..
If it doesnt work I will try the option of taking to Indy so they can inspect timesert and perhaps machine or replace with another bolt and see what happens before I get unfortunately footed with the big bill for oil pan.

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