Carlos50 - Questions

carlos50 · Post by **carlos50** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 10:25 am

Ive got a few issues with my purchase and wonder if you guys can help.

1. There is a decent size chip in the front screen, very noticeable, gutted I didn't spend longer checking on collection. The dealer was fully aware of it as they tried to improve on it, its been repaired but to a poor standard and the crack lines are very visible, i had National Windscreens out yesterday and they were shocked at what a bad job it is. Should i reject it back to the dealer and get them to replace the screen? Its a zone b chip so not in the direct line of sight, zone a, but the specialist said he classed its as an MOT failure, the X6 was MOT's for the first time on collection. I assume it wasnt in the interest of the dealerships MOT tech to say "new screen required".

2. The I Drive tells me that there is too much oil in the engine, have checked twice now, driven 20 mins to warm it up as per the book and still says too full, what should i do?

I'm surprised that they haven't made a better effort, especially when the oyster leather has a lot of denim transfer on it. I decided against letting some apprentice scrub the leather and will do it myself but still, not a good start.

Id put pictures up but don't know how

Thanks

Carl

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 10:58 am

If they've had a go at fixing the screen then you might have a case for insisting on them replacing it. However if the damage was done before it got to them then they may have a defence EXCEPT if it's an MOT failure. That would mean it should have been flagged. Well that's how I see it. At the very least they had a duty to point it out to you, and with an invalid MOT that means the car is 'not of merchantable quality'.

Get the MOT regs and make sure though - you can download the MOT Handbook on line here: (Section 8 is what you need).

Having had broken screens under warranty, you will really need BMW to replace it with an OEM screen. If you have the HUD included in yours that requires a special screen where the glass layers are out of parallel because the plastic laminate centre is wedge shaped rather than flat. A normal screen will cause double reflections.

Also, my Dealer warned me that the warranty for paintwork and anything around or below the inside of the screen would be invalidated if BMW didn't fit the replacements. Fortunately my insurer agreed as the new screens were Â£700 each, fitted. Fitting takes a day as the car must not be moved for a few hours whilst the glue sets off properly.

You may have a dipstick at the back of the engine bay. If the oil level is too high then back to them to fix it. The easiest was to remove all is to suck it out through the dipstick, unless you can get under the car of course. The dipstick is not mentioned on the manual but it's here on my 40d....

Dipstick pulled out....Oil level should be at the 'Max' mark, or upper indent ring, and no higher.

Some Dealers have decent detailing teams on site and do care. You can always go back and say that for an AUC car it wasn't well prepared. I have beige leather in mine and it came back from having the wheels changed from Winter back to Summer with footprints on the seats. You can imagine my reaction! Sometimes being 6'4" and built like a rugby full back has advantages!

Bolio · Post by **Bolio** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:13 am

I had the same issue with mine saying that the engine oil was to high. The dealer had to change the oil level sensor, all seems fine now. I must admit I didn't think that they had a dipstick but looking at the earlier post some do, unless that because it's the newer 4.0d engine, I am going to have a look see if I can find one. I don't really trust the I drive.

Thanks
Bolio

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:16 am

I also have a healthy mistrust of computers. So I check mine too....

Now all I need is a proper temperature, oil pressure, and alternator readout/guage rather than just fuel and econometer.

Bolio · Post by **Bolio** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:29 am

Just been and checked and there is a dipstick there, just checked it and oil level is fine just as stated on the I drive. I have only been a member for an hour and already found out something new!

pvr · Post by **pvr** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 1:55 pm

Sorry - I made a right mess of moving and splitting the topics, will deal with that later

... as you were ...

535dboy · Post by **535dboy** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 2:16 pm

Welcome

I use shell v power only

Yes it costs more but I get more mpg using it so it pays for itself I reckon, not that I 'pay' for my fuel!

carlos50 · Post by **carlos50** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 3:20 pm

Hi much do you pay for V Power diesel and what sort of increase have you seen? Have you ever compared to BP Ultimate? The BP is costing me Â£1.58 per litre as oppose to Â£1.44 for Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Esso etc.

I had to go back to the standard diesel today because of all the uproar about strikes etc and it seems better for it but that's probably because it hadn't adjusted to the Ultimate yet.

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 3:33 pm

My nearest BP station is some distance away so would be a 30-mile round trip which rather reduces the benefits somewhat. That and it's on the A1 so even higher priced than usual. We've got a Shell station nearby, but I'm not sure if he sells V-power as he may not have the tank space being a small station. Some reports say that in Europe, V-Power is made from Gas-to-Liquid rather than refined from oil. No idea how true that is though.

Having now had a squint around the web too, it seems that the phrase 'with the right marketing you can sell anything' seems to hold true with these so called Performance Diesels. Test reports seem to show little improvement, some even show worse performance. The average is if there is an improvement it is very small, possibly less than 1mpg, but there will always be some engines that do better than others. Petrol seems a different case, and the tests do show improvements in most cases, but not so for diesel fuels. If there are improvements then these are so slight as to fail to justify the extra cost per litre. Â£0.14ppl is an extra Â£0.63.6ppg and multiplying that by a tankful (Â£11-50 ish) still doesn't balance out for the small improvements. You'd have to be getting more than 60 miles per tank as a minimum to make it worth it.

Most garage forecourt fuel comes from the same master depot anyway, and the tanker driver probably just chucks a can of additives in as the tanker fills, or when delivering - which brings me back to 'marketing'. It's most likely the same with these 'Performance Improver' additives you can get all over the place, all of which should come under the heading 'Snake Oil'. BMW does tell you never to use such things in their engines.

If car manufacturers wanted owners only to use special fuels, they'd tell us and design the engine accordingly as well as put 'you must only use......type fuel' in the handbook. The only recommendation I have seen with BMW is for Castrol Oils, and that's probably a deal they've done.

Given the variance in the state of storage conditions of the underground tanks (water levels etc)! and test results both on sponsored sites and real world forums, I remain sceptical.

carlos50 · Post by **carlos50** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 4:44 pm

I needed a fill up last night but found that the local BP garage didn't have any diesel at all, they said it was arriving through the night so i went back this morning. It still wasnt there so i asked why when i went in the shop, apparently the Ultimate Diesel has its own tanker, the other fuels are all in one but not the Ultimate Diesel, makes me wonder if there is a reason for this?

The shop manager said it was ordered and expected any time but confirmed that it never gets delivered at the same time as the rest of the fuels, even the Ultimate petrol.

My Range Rover TDV8 felt a little smoother and was certainly quieter but didn't offer any marked mpg improvement.

Ive read that supermarket diesel is the very lowest grade allowable in the UK hence why it can be sold at the cheapest price so maybe the best compromise is Esso, normal Shell etc which is only a penny or two more than supermarket prices?

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 7:31 pm

Perhaps the BP one is also a GTL fuel, which would explain the different tanker being needed. Be interesting to see how your X6 gets on with it though. I don't do a lot of miles so there may be an advantage in terms of keeping parts cleaner.

All our fuel, regardless of which station forecourt it ended up at used to come from Buncefield so the tale of the supermarket fuel being to the 'minimum allowable spec' sounds like marketing to me! It all meets that spec and if it all comes from the same depots - let's face it Sainsbury's, Tesco's et al don't have their own refineries or depots in the UK so it's the same fuel as the others. The cost difference will be more likely that they can absorb the lower costs into their other costs, and they may well be using a lower cost transport contract price. Small fuel stations don't have large supermarkets attached to can't take the 1-2p a litre differential as they have nothing else to load it into.

Or put it another way, if say an Asda fuel station runs out of fuel then the staff work in the main store and earn their keep that way. Whereas your local named brand may have to keep staff on-site to sell the odd paper or sarnie but no fuel so the operating costs are much higher as the owner still has to pay them to basically sit there.

dirtymonkey29 · Post by **dirtymonkey29** » Sun Apr 01, 2012 6:14 pm

Morrisons use there own tanker drivers and a lot of them are agency drivers. Tanker drivers have to be trained and hold a certificate to empty there loads at fuel stations and stay legal but supermarkets get around this buy having a staff member trained with the correct certificate. Probably without much of a pay rise and then use cheaper drivers for transport.

carlos50 · Post by **carlos50** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 5:54 pm

To update, the supplying dealer has offered to come and collect my X6 and take it back to check the faults i have found. I listed :-

1. Crack / chip to windscreen
2. Engine oil level too high according to I Drive
3. 2 x dents to drivers side rear door
4. Leather on drivers seat starting to crack

I haven't mentioned the polishing marks all over the paint because if they tray again it will just add to the problems.

The sales manager has said that if the screen passed an MOT (which they issued so doubt they will rescind it) then they wont be able to do anything else.

Engine oil can be easily rectified, its either too high and should be drained or the sensor needs changing? The dents i expect to have pulled out by professionals not their body shop man doing his best but the leather is also a worry.

I am concerned that when it comes back, 600 miles later, it will be no better or worse

Last time i took a BMW back (albeit a different dealers) for poor prep they made a right mess trying to put it right, spray can job on an alloy wheel etc. The dealers simply dont have the right skills these days.

Should i allow them to try? Cant see me getting a screen which is the main issue. I said the the guy "am i supposed to accept a Â£35k car which obvious damage to the screen because its legal?". I think he understood to an extent but with me not being at the dealers, its 4 hours away, i dread to think what they will do.

Advice and comments welcome.

Cheers

Carl

dirtymonkey29 · Post by **dirtymonkey29** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 6:49 pm

Tel them you will report them for dodgy Mots and refuse the car

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Mon Apr 02, 2012 7:11 pm

The Bodyshop that my local dealer uses is apparently one of only 18 or so 'BMW Approved' ones in the UK. It's not part of the Dealership itself, although owned by the same parent company, but is only 100 yards from them. What the difference of being fully BMW Approved means may of course be insignificant and just another marketing ploy. They certainly did a good job on mine when the paint had to be fixed.

Section 8.3 of the 2012 MOT Manual covers the windscreen and what constitutes a failure. Can be downloaded here:
http://mottesters.co.uk/files/special%2 ... Manual.pdf

Page 179-180 is where you need......

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