Services Required at 170,000 kms

[hedonest]

Dear All,

Greetings.

It has been a while since I have posted, but I do keep reading on a regular basis to keep in touch with things happening around.

My 2001 540i has now just clocked over 170K Kms. In December, it met with a minor accident front side (replaced radiator, a/c belt and a few other minor items). Got it back in January, but since its been just sheer bad luck. The car has spent more time in the garage than on the road.

First the engine oil pipe cracked, spilling oil everywhere. Then there was a coolant leak leading to smoking engine and just couple of days ago, the water tank busted and the belt needed to be replaced.

Now I have read the sticky thread for service at 100K Kms and it was definitely very informative. But I would like to know if the same will be valid for a car which has clocked 170,000 Kms and has been serviced with all OEM products till date?

A summerized list of works that need to be conducted as a planned preventive maintenance would also be good to ensure the car spends more time on the road than in the garage :P

thnx,

Regards,

Ankur

[hedonest]

Hey guys,

Alright, so I sent across my car for servicing and I have got a list of items that need replacement:

1. valve cover gaskets
2. valve covers
3. inlet manifold gaskets
4. inlet rear cover gaskets
5. engine center plate gasket
6. engine mounts
7. thermostat valve
8. brake booster
9. master cylinder
10. ABS Sensors
11. Steering angle sensor


there are a few other issues that I had noticed but I feel they have somehow been missed.

1. There is a cracking noise near the driving wheel front side. Usually happens when going over speed-bumps or those tiles roads (like the ones in JBR-walk). I think that is something to do with the control bushes.

2. At around 120kph, there is considerable vibration in the steering wheel (n the car). There is a small bend in one of the rims. I have been told it may be because of that. Any recommendations?

3. Changing from gear 3 to gear 4, when the gas pedal is floored, there is jerk. Like the car gets pulled back a little during that change over. I informed that about that, but not sure which of those items would help with that, if at all.

Any recommendations would be welcome.

Thanks.

[Wazif]

wow! that is an exhaustive list....

i remember having to replace gaskets on my 540i V8 engine too. For some reason, they give way very often! I also had fuel sensor and fuel pump issues that were never ending!

What does the estimate look like for those parts? I reckon it will cost you quite a bit :(

[hedonest]

yea... i think i missed that .. AED 18,500.00 for labor & parts. I feel that this its a bit over priced. Since I have no idea about the prices for such parts, I was wondering if any of you guys had any clue? I tried googling with just those names, but dint come up with much.

Now I am wondering about the practicality of all of this. The car is 2003 model. All fine except for minor problems. And well, yes the above list as well.

Any suggestions as to how to proceed?

[SSense]

Are you getting the parts or the garage will get them for you

[Wazif]

suggest you change those parts in intervals based on priority. your service advisor should be able to tell you whats critical and whats not.

[hedonest]

AED 18,500 is the quote tony has given for both labor and parts.
What do you guys think about that price? I personally felt it was bit over priced.. I dont know, mayb i am wrong, which is why I tried googling it to get an idea, but no luck. Any feedback?

Also, I was wondering, which of those parts would actually require a BMW expert to work on? The engine mounts, brake booster & master cylinder sound pretty complicated & serious issues, which may require such expert to attend.

what do you guys think?

[Bruno]

this a service job beyond the average major service that i've seen. why do they want to change the brake booster and master cylinder? take these 2 items out of the list and you should see the total figure drop. but then again, you still have to add the gear issue, fixing rims, shock tower hats etc....

[hedonest]

Yeah it was a shocker for me too Bruno. And you are right, the brake booster & master cylinder account for almost 30% of the total amount. I will definitely check with them why these 2 items need replacement.
Just for my info, the brake booster is pretty self explanatory - improves the braking.
But I cant find much information on the master cylinder. What is it and its purpose?

[Bruno]

lol brake boosters don't improve braking.

info on master c... http://www.ehow.com/how_5243300_diag...-problems.html


i really doubt those 2 need to be changed. are your brakes malfunctioning?

[hedonest]

ooh... *embaressed* so i guess the name DOESN'T say it all eh.. loll

That website seems really informative. Thanks.

Yes Bruno, the brakes seem fine. I haven't seen seen any deterioration in the brakes performance lately. I am going to try and see what tony has to say. Atleast now i am aware of some more basic information than before, thanks to you guys.

Will keep you posted with the updates.

[hedonest]

An update after my conversation:

1. Apparently there is a leak in the master cylinder. Also, there is some water which has somehow entered the fluid. And since the brake booster and master cylinder come as a package he recommends replacing both of the them.

2. There is an ABS, Brake & DSC light which is ON all the time. So he has recommended to replace the ABS sensors which are faulty. The system also shows faulty steering angle sensor. Now he says there is no guarantee that this will fix the DSC fault light showing on the dash board. If it does'nt, then the DSC unit itself needs to be replaced which would cost around 5,000 bucks if you buy the one from BMW. And if we dont fix it, well, apparently the speedometer stops working and the car electronics cant figure out which gear the car's in. Pretty much the car gets stuck in gear. Now that seems like a BIG problem.

[Bruno]

if it was functioning i still dont see any reason why they should be replaced, plus if water entered into these 2 items which are located on the driver's side firewall under the wipers which are are high enough not to let water enter. unless you drove into a pond. i would say clean this department and move on to the other parts.


if the dsc is on all the time, i'm afraid what they are suggesting is true, but i'm not aware of the gear getting confused and the odometer stopping to work.

if i were you i would remove my car from there it really comes down to how much you trust them. i would trust shak on these issues to be honest.