A little respect...

[Raxe]

We recently had a cold snap and a lot of newer BMW's have frozen up, mostly X5's it seems. I work at a dealership and for a few days there was almost a constant stream of tow trucks bringing in dozens and dozens of frozen cars and trucks and dumping them out back. Unfortunately a disturbing trend seems to be starting, a few customers feel that by threatening staff, they will get their car fixed sooner/faster/for free. We've even had to call the police in a couple times for particularly rowdy customers. I'd just like to remind everyone that, believe it or not, they're not the only ones who own a BMW, and dealerships can only work on so many cars at a time (we've had customers demanding that the technicians work extra overtime to get their cars done, which is completely unfair to the techs, they have lives too..). A little patience at the dealership is acknowledged far more than a death threat.
Thanks.

[silversleeper]

when u say freeze up, are u referring to fuel in the fuel lines?

[TwistyTunedE30]

Rental cars arent good enough???

[Bimmerista]

My first guess was fuel lines were freezing up

[gobuffs]

May be this issue... http://www.s14.net/forums/showthread...9&highlight=x5

[mikeedler]

waaahhh wahhhh!
I would be pissed if my brand new 100,000 dollar X5 didnt start too.
I deal with the ass hats all day long too, so i know where your coming from.

[PiercedE30]

Do these people not know what a block heater is?

[atomic]

Note to self... look at other SUV's than X5's to buy...

[Massive Lee]

It's not acceptable that the customers put their anger on the reps. And it's not acceptable either that BMW sells such cars or make customers pay for the repair bill. I totally understand customers being pissed for their not working X5 or e46 or e39 while their Hyundai-driving employees have no problem.. Those hydrolocked BMW engines are in no way isolated cases. Just google "BMW" and "hydrolock" or "oil separator" just for fun...

The oil separator is the problem, and the long oil change intervals are the cause. BMW added a "blanket" to isolate the oil separator but I guess it is not enough to keep it warm during long nights at -30 Celcius. Oil gets charged with moisture, which turn into a white gunk, gets thicker day after day until it blocks a passage way and freezes up... Changing oil on shorter intervals ensure you also flush moisture, that white-turned-dark gunk and all the shit. Let's not forget that a long-interval oil has more detergent and less oil. Not good either for lubrication.

15 years ago, BMW would have blamed the owner for not following the oil change schedule and would use it for not paying the claim. Now that BMW itself requires long intervals, I wonder on what they can blame the problem. Oh yes. I know. BMWs are not designed to run under one hour at a time so that they burn an excess moisture in the oil. So, if you work 15 minutes from your work, you shouldn't drive a newer BMW. That's actually what BMW Canada told my friend Tom after he blew his X5 motor.

Damn I love my e30 M3... They just don't build BMWs like they used to...

[Farbin Kaiber]

I've always laughed at the 15,000mi change intervals, I see them from my automotive standpoint as nothing more then a method to bypass EPA taxes/credits due for Polllution Production of hazardous waste. AND to give out free service wit new purchace by doing only 4 oil changes under said warranty.

[AlpineIS]

It has always been my understanding that BMW puts their engines through extreme cold and heat testing during engineering. If so, how could these failures occur? Hard to believe but evidently true.

[Raxe]

I don't know what exactly the most common problem is, I don't fix them or deal with customers personally, but I've heard a large part of the problem is customers flooding the engine because they don't understand that you can't turn the key for 5 seconds, stop when it doesn't turn over, turn the key 5 seconds, stop when it doesn't turn over, etc.

Do these people not know what a block heater is?

Most new BMW's don't have block heaters as it was optional, which also adds to the anger that they didn't opt to have a block heater installed earlier and they want it installed immediately for free.

[Massive Lee]

Raxe. Engines are not hydrolocking because of fuel. They hydrolock on rearward cylinders because of stucked oil vapour turned into oil and being dumped back in the intake as the oil return is clogged from gunk.

I would be pissed too by my Ultimate Hydrolocking Machine.

[shiftbmw]

Damn I love my e30 M3... They just don't build BMWs like they used to...

Word. My E30 M3 has never hydrolocked...(ok fine so I live in San Diego...but whatev)

M3: 1 ---> X5: 0

[e30e]

You think BMW customers are bad haha deal with heavy machinery customers.....People who run equipment with no people skills on the phone telling me that there machine needs to be fixed now, HAHAHAHA funny shit, ONLY YOU EXIST AND WERE HERE TO SERVE ONLY YOU. This damn country is so fixed on "me" and "my" needs are right now, not five minutes from now or tomorrow but now.