AGMC's ridiculous customer support

[Rady]

Alright guys I need your help and advice with this, I am facing an issue with AGMC and I am stuck, I don't know what else can be done.

Basically the story is I need to ship my 2007 E64 650i back to the UK since I don't live in Dubai anymore. After doing some research I have found out that my car comes with EURO 2 and in order to register the car in Europe, I need Euro 4. The European version of my car comes with Euro 4 as requested by the law but the Gulf Spec comes with Euro 2. So far, so good. The next step was to find out exactly what differs from the Euro and Gulf spec in terms of catalisor, DME software and obviously emissions so I can replace them. I have tried AGMC, BMW Middle East, spoken to supervisors, managers, etc basically wasted a whole week every day trying to get some sort of information from this people. No one was able to tell me what needs to be done to convert the car from Euro 2 to Euro 4.

I tried speaking to Michael, the supervisor from the service department at AGMC. He has promised me he would do anything he can in order to help me and tell me what steps need to be taken to convert the car. Of course after 2 days he called me saying AGMC cannot convert it to Euro 4 and they have no idea what parts needs to be replaced to convert it as they've never done this job before.

Now the manufacturer of my car, BMW, cannot tell me what needs to be replaced. Their solution is to take the car back to Europe and see what I can do there, which I think its ridiculous as It will be extremely expensive to ship the car and then realise the cost of converting it is ridiculously high.

I am asking myself, if they cant tell me what parts to change, WHO CAN ?

I have a week left in the country now and I need to get this sorted, I cannot ship my car without knowing exactly the cost of converting it.

So.. what so do guys advise me to do?

P.S : from my own research the car comes with catalisors and apparently the only problem is the DME software that can be reprogrammed to fit the Euro 4 specs, but of course AGMC cannot provide me with the coding required. I am even willing to replace the DME if I have to but when I asked AGMC to put it in writing that the DME is the only part that needs to be changed, they have refused saying they are not sure.

[maverick]

UK is right hand drive. why bother converting?

[Rady]

UK is right hand drive. why bother converting?

Its going to stay in the UK for few weeks only then going to Romania which is LHD. Same laws apply in Romania and UK, thought its more likely for someone to have taken their cars back to the uk so thought some1 might have had this problem before.

[Bruno]

what is euro 2 euro 3 euro 4?? is it the emission standards?

i think you are looking to convert something that is already converted. what did they say in romania's customs? you should ask them there first. just tell them it is not american spec. they should point you where to get a document stating that this car is good to go with euro specifications.

you dont need to change any part. new model bmw GCC cars are EURO specs and the customs guys in romania will not plug your DME and ecu to a GT1 and verify what software you have. you might only need some paper work.



go to the thread about your car's spec sheet that i posted 2 weeks ago. there it will mention details about the emissions and stuff like that if my memory serves me right. fax that document to someone in romania who can physically go and check with customs by showing the car's spec sheet. they will know exactly what to tell you to do next.


a 3rd solution would be contacting the guy on our forums who shippped his car to europe too... and i think it was also a neighboring country.

[Rady]

what is euro 2 euro 3 euro 4?? is it the emission standards?

i think you are looking to convert something that is already converted. what did they say in romania's customs? you should ask them there first. just tell them it is not american spec. they should point you where to get a document stating that this car is good to go with euro specifications.

you dont need to change any part. new model bmw GCC cars are EURO specs and the customs guys in romania will not plug your DME and ecu to a GT1 and verify what software you have. you might only need some paper work.



go to the thread about your car's spec sheet that i posted 2 weeks ago. there it will mention details about the emissions and stuff like that if my memory serves me right. fax that document to someone in romania who can physically go and check with customs by showing the car's spec sheet. they will know exactly what to tell you to do next.


a 3rd solution would be contacting the guy on our forums who shippped his car to europe too... and i think it was also a neighboring country.

Thanks alot for your reply Bruno,

Yes Euro 2,3,4 are emission standards. The higher the Euro the lower the emissions.

Unfortunately I have checked the emission and the gulf spec has Euro 2, whereas the Euro spec has Euro 4. They dont check your software but they check your emissions, and I've cheked too here at Tasjeel they are way higher above the euro 4 standards. I want to convert it but I have no idea what needs to be done.

No1 seems to know, not even BMW Germany, what needs to be done to convert it.

[Rady]

a 3rd solution would be contacting the guy on our forums who shippped his car to europe too... and i think it was also a neighboring country.

Who is this person?

[Ayham]

For i-Drive BMW's, Autologic has a sub menu coding item that can convert the DME and car identification to various EU zone specs. If you/we are lucky enough, I might have it for your car. If not, I can always email the car files/log to BMW UK and see what they have to offer. But that only coverts the DME, which I think would result in the desired emissions level given the cats are the same on GCC and EU spec cars (AFAIK).

[Rady]

For i-Drive BMW's, Autologic has a sub menu coding item that can convert the DME and car identification to various EU zone specs. If you/we are lucky enough, I might have it for your car. If not, I can always email the car files/log to BMW UK and see what they have to offer. But that only coverts the DME, which I think would result in the desired emissions level given the cats are the same on GCC and EU spec cars (AFAIK).

I have already sent my car files/log to BMW UK and they have replied saying that my DME cannot be reprogrammed to fit the Euro zone spec, with not a very useful explanation as to why. I am not sure if this means that my only option is changing the DME, which makes little sense to me I am however not a mechanic so I have to go with what they say. Maybe if you send them the logs, you'll get a more detailed reply ?

[Rady]

Had one of my mates speak directly to the BMW Uk dealership and they said its only a matter of DME reprogramming and they can do it for me when my car gets there. Great news ! Problem Solved !

Thanks alot for your replies, I hope no one goes through what I went through the past 3 weeks worrying so much about not being able to register my car there and having to deal with all the UE Bureaucracy.

[Ayham]

Let's see if it's doable from here. It's a high risk if you'll wait till the car is there, you don't want to do that. As you said, it's different when sent by a shop.

Call me when you can to arrange this.