Problems With My First BMW - The Saga

[JFarley]

Morning all,

I don't really know what I expect from starting this thread to be honest, think I just want your thoughts and opinions. I've been having an absolute nightmare with a 116d I bought a couple of months ago.

Got my first BMW a couple of months ago and until I bought it, I knew absolutely nothing about cars, and never really had any interest. Everything I've learned over these past couple of months has mostly all came from this forum, so I just wanted to say thank you for starters. The more I learn the more I've found I want to learn, I've got a delivery coming tomorrow with all the tools I'll need to start digging into the thing myself.

I bought a 65 plate 116d with just north of 50k miles on it from a smaller second hand garage, they had thousands of positive reviews with very few negatives, and the place had been recommended to me by a work colleague.

Long story short, my cousin owns a local family garage, I asked him to stick it up on the lift and give it a once over, but he didn't get chance to get me in until I had already had the car for about 6 weeks, those first 6 weeks it was spot on though (to my limited knowledge at the time anyway) and I loved driving it.

When he lifted it you could see straight away that the floor pan was saturated with oil, turns out it had a huge leak, he booked me in for 3 weeks time and told me it was fine to continue driving as long as the oil was topped up and monitored frequently.

He was correct, up until about 2 days before my bloody appointment - this is when the serpentine belt snapped. It took the tensioner with it, and they had to extract a 30ft strand of drive belt from the crankcase. They managed to fix the leak, I believe the cause was one of the main seals (the part isn't listed on my invoice, it just says oil leak repair) as he showed me the old part and it looked like a lump of plastic with a large hole in the middle, with a black rubber insert/o-ring in it, the rubber was all worn and over half of it was missing. Please correct me if this sounds like another part. They also fixed the damage caused by the drive belt fiasco. They did an oil and filter change whilst it was there - this is important I think.

The car was fine for about 24 hours, I then got the dreaded drivetrain warning with no CEL and limp mode. This error reset itself and wasn't present in the check control area of the console after I turned off the engine and turned it back on again. I rang the garage and they said it's probably just an old code from when the drive belt went and to see how it got on, it got on really well for about a week. The error returned when I was on the dual carriageway, my first trip where I had gotten into 6th gear and above 80mph, before that I had only made short trips to work and back which is about 2 miles away.

This is when I started looking online and on the forums for answers, eventually I popped into the garge and they ran it's codes (general non-ISTA system) and they got the below.

- Engine Oil Level Too High
- Drive Belt-related Issue
- Oil Pressure Too Low

They removed a small amount of oil with a pump and told me to see how it went, I wasn't filled with confidence to be honest. It came back immediately after leaving the trading estate, they had squeezed me at 5 PM though so I couldn't return. Did some more forum reading and realised I was just going to be pissing in the wind unless I got my own code reader, so ordered a ENET cable and got myself BimmerLink yesterday. I drove around until the error came back and scanned it and I got the below codes.

- 2B7800 Oil Pressure Control Valve, plausability, mechanically defective (oil pressure too low)

- 2BE800 Oil Pressure System, torque reduction due to insufficient piston cooling (oil pressure too low)

When I looked on the forums it seemed to me that the most common cause of the above is indy garages doing an oil and filter and throwing away the insert that goes into the middle of filter. Now when I got mine done, one of the lads there said it was a good job they had changed the filter for me, as someone had jammed a new filter on top of a piece of an old one, at the time I didn't have a clue, but now I've seen what an oil filter actually looks like and how it's shaped I'm not convinced this is even possible? I think they might of mistaken the insert for debris? Or do you reckon I'm barking up the wrong tree here?

I took the car back yesterday near closing time and explained the above, they immediately got their back up and said no there's no way this is the cause, they initially tried booking me in for the 27th of May but after some back and forth they took the keys and said they'd check it today. Either way I'm picking it up today at 5 PM as I feel like I'm probably best taking it elsewhere even if it's still playing up.

I have an appointment with BMW on the 5th of June also, I booked this just in case the garage above didn't have any joy.

Does anyone have any ideas here? Does anything jump out at anyone that could indicate the root cause of the problem? Could the low pressure actually indicate that the leak is still present but it's just internal now rather than external? The other possibility I've seen is that bits of timing chain guide are clogging the oil system - dropping the pan is way beyond my capabilities at the moment though, so I'll have to get this booked in somewhere to get this checked if I have no joy today when I pick it up.

Thanks all. Sorry for the wall of text, I thought it was important to provide as much info as possible.

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by JFarley

I bought a 116d with just north of 50k miles on it from a smaller second hand garage.

Someone has to quote it, might as well be me. This is where your problems started, and where they will end.

Take the car to a proper dealer and have it properly checked out, have it fixed properly and learn from the experience.

[MADBMWX5MC]

Dang, heck of a story about your 1st BMW...

[tracer bullet]

Agreed, it needs to go to a good shop to be diagnosed and repaired. After that it will probably serve you very well.

Be sure the shop is reputable, and ask to have them walk you through what they want to do and why. Be sure it makes sense to you. Have them give you a set of safety glasses (will be required) and then take you onto their floor with the car in the air, let you see everything.

You could also sell it and get a different car that's been treated better. Someone dumped their poorly maintained problematic car and unfortunately you bought it. As they say "lesson learned".

[JFarley]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

Someone has to quote it, might as well be me. This is where your problems started, and where they will end.

Take the car to a proper dealer and have it properly checked out, have it fixed properly and learn from the experience.

Hi mate. Yeah never again. It's the first time I've purchased any car to be honest, if I could go back and stop myself then I would.

I was absolutely clueless, expensive lesson to learn, but if one good thing has came of it then I suppose it's that it's forced me to learn about BMW's and vehicles in general - I'm guessing a lot of the knowledge I've gained will be transferable when I get my next BMW, from a proper dealership...

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by JFarley

Hi mate. Yeah never again. It's the first time I've purchased any car to be honest, if I could go back and stop myself then I would.

I was absolutely clueless, expensive lesson to learn, but if one good thing has came of it then I suppose it's that it's forced me to learn about BMW's and vehicles in general - I'm guessing a lot of the knowledge I've gained will be transferable when I get my next BMW, from a proper dealership...

Wow, first car is a BMW?

Your first car should have been a Japanese (made in Japan, check the first digit of the Vin to see it's a "J") car, unless you're made out of money.

[JFarley]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

Wow, first car is a BMW?

Your first car should have been a Japanese (made in Japan, check the first digit of the Vin to see it's a "J") car, unless you're made out of money.

Yeah. Driving lessons in the UK are expensive and unfortunately my family wasn't in a position to put me through my test as a teenager, so I started a little later than most.

I'm the wrong side of 25 now and I had always wanted a BMW so decided to treat myself.

The garage have kept it in by the way, they weren't prepared to let me drive it away and potentially destroy my engine driving it around whilst I waited until my appointment with BMW, I've agreed to let them investigate/work on it up until the end of the month at the latest - even if they claim to have fixed the issue by then, I'm going to take it to my BMW appointment for a second opinion and peace of mind.

They have checked the oil filter and that wasn't the issue, mentioned the known problem with timing chain guide pieces causing blockages, they were already aware and said that's the next thing they're going to look into. Fingers crossed.

Appreciate everyone's input!

[tracer bullet]

Any chance you can return the car to where you bought it from?

[M3SQRD]

Sorry man. As you said it’s been an expensive lesson learned, one you will not forget.

My first experience with a BMW was an e21 320i. It felt so fast and cornered unbelievably well compared to my 1988 Honda Civic. Then it was an e30 325e and then followed up with 11 more BMWs. I’ve had not one major issue with all of the BMWs I owned/own so my point is you’ve had an unlucky experience with your 1st BMW and the chance of that happening again is pretty low. I hope they sort out the issue(s) and you can continue to enjoy your 116d until it’s time for your 2nd much more reliable BMW