Car requires its first significant repairs, valve cover gasket...where to buy parts?

[OUGrad05]

My 2015 335i is requiring its first significant repair. The valve cover gasket is leaking. Dealer told me this today during the work we had done. I told them I'd do it if they'd do the valve cover and spark plugs for no add'l labor or for 1 hr each item since they'd be in there anyway. An indy shop wouldn't be screwing me over on labor. They told me no (figured they would) that they'd have to charge me full book for all of it.

That's a non starter.

So now I'm either doing it myself with a buddy, but I supply the parts, or I have the indy shop do it that did my oil filter gasket housing.

They did good work so I may go that route they won't charge me extra labor. Seems prudent to just do it all.

If I do it myself where should I be buying parts? I've also noticed that Valve Covers range in price from mid $2s to about $500. Any thoughts?

[DanG]

Www.GetBMWParts.com

[BMWCCA1]

FCP Euro

[AlpineBoost]

Originally Posted by BMWCCA1

FCP Euro

This.

For a while I got everything from ECS since I found they were always a little cheaper than FCP for whatever I was buying. I have 16 orders with ECS and have never had any issues. I've ordered certain things that won't need to be replaced again from getbmwparts and bmwofsouthatlanta.com, both of which were fine. I tried BMW Northwest a few times but they always just cancel the order.

For everything else I use FCP for the lifetime warranty. Lately the parts I'm buying have actually been cheaper with FCP than ECS. My last order with FCP was $1285 and would have been $1607 with ECS.

[StradaRedlands]

Do you have BMW CCA membership? My local dealer gives great CCA discounts. Usually a full 20% off. That brings it to FCPs price and I get it then and there (most of the time). Otherwise as mentioned above, FCP is the go-to. Plus they have their replacement warranty so if you keep the car for another 100k miles, you can get a replacement VCG for free!

[BMWCCA1]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

Do you have BMW CCA membership? My local dealer gives great CCA discounts. Usually a full 20% off. That brings it to FCPs price and I get it then and there (most of the time). Otherwise as mentioned above, FCP is the go-to. Plus they have their replacement warranty so if you keep the car for another 100k miles, you can get a replacement VCG for free!

I have Lifetime BMW CCA membership and work at a dealership where employees pay 20% over absolute BMWNA cost. I still buy plenty from other sources. FCP is a supporter of BMW CCA (as is Pelican) and they often offer BMW Original and OE and OEM parts so you have a choice of how much you want to save. I recently bought a fan, fan shroud, radiator and fan clutch for my wife's old E39 and I think only the shroud was cheaper from my own dealership. The rest came from FCP at a substantial savings. When you get to items like xenon bulbs, the price difference is startling. It pays to check around.

[Bimmer Pleaser]

I don't understand why they want to charge you for spark plugs labor while doing the valve cover gasket, makes no sense at all. My personal advice is to let them or an Indie replace the valve cover gasket and you do the plugs yourself later specially if they offer warranty because these gaskets tend to start leaking much sooner second time around. Nonetheless do not go cheap on parts; buy OEM directly from dealer because cost of replacing the gasket is almost all labor.

[spielnicht]

Dealer will still rob you on the parts, so best to do it yourself or get the parts and take it to an indy. My dealership (which I actually really like) charges +% over suggested price for BMW parts, yet if I use their online store to buy the exact same part, it's at least 30% cheaper. Crazy, but I get it. It's a business. I do minimize having them work on the car though and love getting genuine BMW parts cheaper than what FCP and ECS charges.

As for your dealership refusing to change whatever they're already taking off, that's a d*** move. Mine was cool charging me 1/3 labor to do the oil pan gasket when they were in there doing the upper oil pan gasket.

But as others mentioned, FCP Euro, ECS, GetBMWParts all great places to find parts cheaper than walking into your local dealership parts store. Have to also mention Rockauto for OE parts (not talking OEM) - they sometimes beat out FCP Euro by a lot but you miss out on the lifetime warranty.