Xoutpost.com - Oil drain plug stripped by dealer, advice from experts needed

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Quote:

Originally Posted by holmz20 (Post 875868)

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.

Yeah, Timeserts have a pretty good success rate from what I was told by my shop as well. I would guess the biggest variable is the person installing it. I agree with your thought process. I would try to see if anyone will take responsibility first, then take to an indy shop for a second look at the Timesert. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure after you attempt to install the timesert the first time, the pan is pretty much shot if it doesn't work successfully. However, I am no expert on it. Hope it works out for you. Worst case may be sourcing a used oil pan and getting an indy to replace it for you.

THE most important thing will be:

WHAT IS DOCUMENTED???

You need a WRITTEN work order or other document from one BMW dealer saying "oil drain overtightened/damaged...etc". With this document, you have a case.

THEN you go to the oriignal dealer and say 'fix it or I sue'.

While this is all verbal, emails, phonecalls...and all based on what YOU say SOMEONE told you, they will dodge.

Great point Ard. I noticed the WO the advisor wrote initiallly was incorrect stating engine leaking oil prior to oil change. I went back to BMW austin and told them why did they misstate this and to correct it to reflect accurate reflection. Now it stated that technician noted oil drain plug binding when removing oil drain plug threads damaged.
If i dont hear back by houston by Tuesday, i will proceed by contacting them next. Maybe even get some lawyer to write an initial letter on this.

I've had good experiences with BMW of Austin, but then my brother in law headed sales.

He's moved on to manage another Penske dealership, but from stories I've heard from him, it's shocking to me that BMW of Austin didn't just fix this and then take it up with the Houston dealership.

I have had good experiences with BMW of Austin until this issue. Been going to them for 8 years. Its sad they wont just take care of this somehow..

this happened to me on my 04 545. The dealer tried to get me to pay for the repair but I simply told them this.

You have all the records for my oil changes, I get it change every 7500 miles by your dealership I have never touched the oil drain and the only people who have touched it was you. Why should I pay for a repair which was caused by you when you are doing the oil changes. I refuse to pay for this and they did agree.

My SA agreed and got the repair done. I would not hesitate to ask for higher up managers. I can only assume that BMW skimped on this part also to save .05 on every oil pan. Following BMW guidelines, your only going to get the oil changed a maximum of 7-8 times during warranty so i bet BMW figured this part would not need to be robust to handle the not so attentive tech screwing in the oil drain not so perfect.

IMO, nothing wrong with the part.

It is the low wage scut that changed your oil that stripped it. People think 'trained BMW mechanics' do all the service, but the truth is dealers have a lot of incompetent people working on cars, driving them, washing them... I really loathe having them work on my car. While I trust one master tech there, the risk of others Fing up still exists.

A

Well at last, with a trip last week on Wednesday to Houston from Austin. I got Momentum BMW who fixed the issue without changing the oil pan. They retapped the oil pan and voila it fixed in one hour. I think we had an incompetent BMW of Austin mechanic on my car. I even asked Bmw of Austin to have them redo it, which the service manager declined. Bmw of Momentum houston took care of me really well, put me in loaner right away and filled my gas tank up for the inconvenience. I ended up staying 3 days in houston to go ahead and get my valve cover replaced by them as well. While I was at it, I also bought the EasyCare TotalCare warranty.

Thanks for everyones input. Now to submit the surveys...

Now that they have fixed it- and you have a document that says it was fixed on their dime and their fault, I'd INSIST that they do it properly: replace the pan. I would never accept a retapped/insert job on a new car.

Why buy an easycare and not BMW platinum? Sure, dealers make more money on the Easycare, but there had to be some other reason...did they convince you it was superior? Of did they jack the price of the BMW plan to make the EC look better?