Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

such a handsome rig.

Did an RV trip through the States a couple of years ago and other RV folk kept referring to my 'rig'. The kids still take the piss out of me now.

OK Boomer

Let's...

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No skateboard? I'm out

Latest update on the e91 325i touring saga....

2 weeks ago it showed all of the symptoms it had pre new ecu (at a cost of 1500). Called Munich legends, they advised getting breakdown cover to come and scan the car. Guy arrived, scanned car, no fault codes, but agreed it was running like shit. Booked in for car transport To Munich legends the following Monday.

Slight mic up on Monday, another breakdown van arrives instead of a transporter. Go through all of the motions again anyway, only this time the car runs fine. Conclude that water got in somewhere it shouldn’t have during the heavy rain, and then fixed itself after spending the weekend parked in the sun. Call Munich legends and they say to get it down to them and they’ll take a look. Booked the Thursday off work at short notice to get it to them before rain returns. Dropped off last Thursday, then they’re off for the bank holiday. Car drove down absolutely fine only now I’m getting an oil sensor inactive warning light.

Get a call from ML on Tuesday to say they can’t connect to the ecu (the new 1 month old one), but have taken it out and noticed a white residue around it that suggests moisture got in somewhere. Further inspection indicates the ecu housing was cracked. I bit my tongue a bit at this point as they said they would have more information within 24hrs.

Roll forward to Thursday, get a call to say car is ready for collection, appears to be running fine now that it has dried out and the housing has been replaced (another approx £250), but the oil sensor inactive warning is still showing. They tested both the sensor and the wiring and all ok, and that maybe it’s a problem with the new ecu. It could be a faulty part which is covered by bmw parts warranty, but if they inspect it and find water damage, there’ll be a fee for inspection and they’ll dishonour the warranty, costs would be passed onto the customer (me). Their suggestion is to drive it to see if it dries out more and goes away. I am not all that impressed at this point but decide to sleep on it before lashing out. Garage also promise to run car a bit more to see if it dries out.

Call next morning to ask for an update but they haven’t had a chance to run it, I pay the invoice and arrange out of hours collection for today, and then air my grievances. The long and short of it is that they don’t believe they have done anything wrong, and appear to be unwilling to accept any liability in this situation.

Re the inspection I got back in November, they said they don’t check for blocked drains, and can categorically say they won’t be doing it in any future inspections either. He then tried to argue that you shouldn’t believe what you read on forums, but I pointed out that it was him that told me blocked drains was a common fault and that I had never heard of it before then.

I said whatever about that, I am upset about the new, 1 month old part now also potentially water damaged as they fit it to a broken housing. They also held their ground on this and ultimately feel it’s an unfortunate situation that it has happened, but again wouldn’t be checking it on future ecu replacements either. He said he could pull the engine bay apart to look for problems, but when it’s being charged back to a customer you have to draw the line somewhere.

Maybe I’m mistaken but I thought the point of going to a specialist was because they knew the common faults associated with the model and paying for their expertise up front would save bigger bills down the line. Whatever about missing the blocked drains resulting in an ecu replacement, I’ll take that on the chin, but I feel fitting a new ecu to a damaged housing is just negligence. They fixed the symptoms rather than the route cause.

Anyway, just about to go collect it, oil sensor inactive warning still on, £3k deep in repair costs in under 3 months, and not entirely sure what to do next.

TLDR, Munich legends are no better than your average (at best) independent mechanic at the end of your road, and not worth the 70 mile round trip.

Chain of events (for posterity):

09Nov19: I purchased the car privately with 77,299 miles completed.
30Nov19: Munich legends completed a post purchase inspection at 77,365 miles completed where a number of non-urgent suspension items were identified, but agreed that overall it was a good car.
22Feb20: car lost all power on journey out of London at approx 79,000 miles completed and was recovered to my home address.
12Mar20: car transported to Munich Legends for diagnosis and repair. Diagnosis was water damaged ecu due to blocked windscreen drains which I was advised over the phone is a common issue on e9x model, ecu replaced with genuine BMW part alongside other work identified during post purchase inspection.
21Mar20: car collected from Munich Legends, invoice of £2,394.01 paid. 79,016 miles completed.
30Mar20: car exhibits symptoms identical to those shown prior to ecu replacement. 79,135 miles completed. Breakdown cover called, no faults detected but acknowledged that car wasn’t running well (lumpy idle, loss of power, cutting out). Requested transport to Munich Legends on following Monday. Rear drivers side window regulator also fails, allowing rear window to drop and won’t close.
04May20: due to confusion with breakdown rescue company another breakdown rescue mechanic arrives instead of transport, checks codes, no faults found, car now running ok after sitting in sun all weekend. Suspect water getting into area it shouldn’t and was causing problems. I opt to attempt to drive car to Munich Legends later that week as no rain forecast.
07May20: drove car to Munich Legends with no loss of power or cutting out, but oil warning light now on. 79,172 miles completed.
12May20: call received from Munich Legends to state ecu housing damaged and letting water in, white powder like residue noticed around ecu (replaced mid-March) and wiring, not able to plug car into computer to read codes, new part ordered and should have update on faults within 24 hours. Window regulator replaced.
14May20: call received from Munich Legends, car now driving but oil light still on. Oil sensor and wiring checked and both fault free, suspect error might be related to the ecu (replaced mid-March). Munich Legends confirm ecu housing would not be inspected during ecu replacement. Suggestion from Munich Legends is for me to drive car in the hope that it dries out and fault disappears. If not the new ecu will need to go back to bmw for inspection,but if water damage is found it will not be covered by warranty and I will be liable for cost of inspection by bmw, plus cost of replacement part. Munich Legends agree to run car a few more times until I am available to collect (they haven’t) to determine if drying out clears fault. Invoice amount approximately £500.

Thanks man, it sure is.

@Colm89

This sounds like an absolute shit scenario. Sorry mate.

I've just been asking around and I hear there's a bit of a rep with ML that I wasn't aware of either.

Not that it's any help now, I have a recommendation of BMR in Crawley.

As to whether you want to spend more money on it, that's another question.

If you're less guilty minded than I am, I'd say get it to a point there's no errors and absolutely fuck it off ASAP. Even if it's to We Buy Any Car so you don't have to look the buyer in the eye.

If you can afford to, perhaps speak to this BMR place to see what's the most cost effective way of getting it all sorted.

I feel for you dude, I've been there before, and shit service from supposed specialists is an absolute wounder.

Sorry I didn't mean to be unpleasant but i find the lifestyle notion of elderly landrovers XXXX..

They are truly awful to drive and in practical terms only bought latterly as an alternative to japanese pickups for their towing capacity.

The new one looks like an improvement but it's a case of when will it breakdown rather than if.

I was thinking about this (nothing better to do in the queue at Tesco). I don’t disagree they are poor to drive by modern criteria e.g. comfort, noise, controls weight and so on. And doubtless a hilux is more ‘capable’ (although it’s done everything asked of it so far). But isn’t that the case with the majority of classic cars? To drive it is an experience and rewarding in its own way. Like J said, it’s own kind of fun. And although I do use it semi-properly occasionally, it’s totally discretionary - or to put it another way, a lifestyle choice.
#parklife

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https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26113/lot/63/?category=list&length=117&page=1

I could live with that

I very much like that.

On the jag flip side though, I hate late model jags with leaping cats added to the bonnet.
Yesterday though I saw the piece de resistance, an S type with a leaping cat probably 3x the normal size right on the front of the bonnet. Owner would be a sure fire cunt in my book.

@Colm89 What a shit storm, feel for you. I have had similar with so called one marque experts.

To try and make you feel better watch a few Hoovies garage on Youtube to see what really throwing money at BMWs is like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-X7ncPqepA

Excuse the ignorance but why are ECUs next to the wiper drain on German cars? Seems counter intuitive. 🤔

I'm hearing more and more stories of German Marques dropping a bollock before 100k. Mine did. Fortunately my wife wrote it off before anything else died.

Feel your pain.

don't listen to the jelly haters, that truck is amazing and will probably outlast all the tiresome dadbarges that people in these surrounds hold in such inexplicable high regard.

Boring car related question. I need breakdown cover, is there any difference between any of the major providers? Are there any smaller companies I should be looking at?
My only experience actually using breakdown cover was with the RAC. My van broke down in Slovenia in the middle of a tour. They towed us to the nearest garage, put 9 of us up in a hotel, sorted a replacement 9 seater van to finish the tour, paid for all the fuel for it and towed my van from Ljubljana to Leeds, all at no extra cost. All in all a very positive experience. Just wondering if that sort of thing is totally standard across the board or not!

I guess I’m a little confused on what to do next tbh. I bought it at a not so great time, when 6cyl manual petrol msport tourings were thin on the ground. It’s in particularly good condition, engine problems aside, so it wasn’t cheap. I paid £6k for it in November. I would say right now it’s probably worth 4.5 to 5k in working condition.

I’ve sunk another 3k into it in repairs with Munich legends since February, and although it managed the drive home fine, the oil light is still on. I’ve now got nearly 10k invested in it when all is said and done, and I’m on the fence about throwing more into it. Where do you stop?

It would be different if it was something special, but it’s not, it’s just a nice average car.

Do I cut my losses, try and sell it for whatever I can get and be as transparent as possible, potentially losing my shirt on it? Do I try to see past the turbulent few months of ownership and continue to throw money at it with a different specialist?

The thing that's sticking out to me here is the guy from Munich Legends saying that they won't check for blocked drains in future- that, surely, is insane?

For reference, the drains on the 996 (and, I suspect, most other cars) are a known problem if they get blocked - in the 996 it's the rear drains, which if blocked then flood the passenger compartment and guess where Porsche put some of the electronics? Top marks if you said under the passenger seat.

Precision, who are maybe a mile down the road from Munich Legends, check the drains every time you take the car in because a) it's simple and fast and b) causes horrible problems if they don't

To sell it now and take a £5k hit for less than a year of ownership doesn't seem like a great prospect.

Either it needs another ECU or it doesn't. [Edit: I doubt anyone is going to buy it with the oil light on so you'll need to find out in either scenario]

Hopefully it doesn't. I'd keep hold of it and see if you can get a couple of years without any big bills.

I'd call BMR and lay it out for them - they may know exactly what the problem is.

Other thing to do is to ring round a few breakers for an equivalent ECU, plug that in and see if you still have the oil pressure warning.

As a side note, one of the guys who either works at BMR or started it, had a terrible experience at ML so might be a little sympathetic to your cause and be a little more accommodating, at least in giving advice.

Also, not that it helps you, I didn't Munich Legends were shit mechanics who won't stand behind their own work, now that I do I won't buy from them - and I did keep checking their site for a Z3M Coupe.

It's an absolutely shit scenario to be in and it's one that crops up way too often. I've seen it really put people off car ownership as a hobby and gets them in a 3 year old Mondeo. I'd hate to see that.

I really don't know tbh, how much more can you afford to spend basically? If the answer is none or minimal, then see if you can get a gauge on how much more it might cost. If it's too high, then sell ASAP and buy something else.

You'll take a beating selling it with the oil light on - who'd buy it?

If you can't afford to get it fixed let me know and I'll throw the cash in for it.

I looked at a few cheap Z4s a while ago which were cheap because the electric roof was stuck up (or down) because the motor is under the rear drains which commonly got soaked when it blocked and it costs something like a grand for BMW to repair and relocate it.
You’d think they’d factor these things into designs