Engine Malfunction / Increased Emissions

[SPOOLED]

I had a pretty eventful morning.....

Started my car and was greeted with alert messages "Engine Malfunction / Reduced Power" & "Increased Emissions". The engine was sputtering and I did not want to take the risk of driving it to my dealrship so I had it towed.

i've read other post with similar issues (Stuck valve, defective sensor)


I should hear back later this afternoon. I'll send an update.

Thanks

[SPOOLED]

Just got a call from the Dealer. Turns out it was bad Gas and it damaged my fuel pump.

[SUB-ZERO]

Originally Posted by SPOOLED

Just got a call from the Dealer. Turns out it was bad Gas and it damaged my fuel pump.

That's what happens when you piss in the tank...LOL J/K

What brand of guys did you use?

-SZ

[SPOOLED]

Premium (93 Octane).

Now we'll see how long the claim process will take. Since it's not covered by warranty so I am being charged $1,400 to replace the fuel pump.

I hope there are not any other damages that could have resulted from this...

[FStop7]

Wait, what?

Dude, they're ripping you off. Why would that not be covered by warranty, first of all? Second of all, I seriously doubt their diagnosis. Bad gas causing a fuel pump failure? That makes no sense. I would be willing to bet you've got the idle valve actuator failure, which is very common and 100% a warranty fix.

Third of all, full retail price on a fuel pump repair kit is $532, per RealOEM. Are they seriously charging you $900 in labor? That's like a 2 or 3 hour job.

You need to take your car somewhere else. The bullshit some dealers try to pull, unbelievable.

[SPOOLED]

Originally Posted by FStop7

Wait, what?

Dude, they're ripping you off. Why would that not be covered by warranty, first of all? Second of all, I seriously doubt their diagnosis. Bad gas causing a fuel pump failure? That makes no sense. I would be willing to bet you've got the idle valve actuator failure, which is very common and 100% a warranty fix.

Third of all, full retail price on a fuel pump repair kit is $532, per RealOEM. Are they seriously charging you $900 in labor? That's like a 2 or 3 hour job.

You need to take your car somewhere else. The bullshit some dealers try to pull, unbelievable.

Good info.

I was told that when they did a scan that all spark-plugs came up as "Fail". I'm not sure how it would cause the pump to fail but I will investigate further. Seems rather high but i have not seen the service report yet.

thanks for the advice. Stay tuned.

[Griz]

Originally Posted by SPOOLED

Premium (93 Octane).

Now we'll see how long the claim process will take. Since it's not covered by warranty so I am being charged $1,400 to replace the fuel pump.

I hope there are not any other damages that could have resulted from this...

Can you trace the gas down to a particular station (is there one place you always go)? Some companies will guarantee the gas that you purchase (Quicktrip is the one that I know of), so that if your car is damaged by the gasoline from one of their stations, they will reimburse you for all expenses.

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by FStop7

Wait, what?

Dude, they're ripping you off. Why would that not be covered by warranty, first of all? Second of all, I seriously doubt their diagnosis. Bad gas causing a fuel pump failure? That makes no sense. I would be willing to bet you've got the idle valve actuator failure, which is very common and 100% a warranty fix.

Third of all, full retail price on a fuel pump repair kit is $532, per RealOEM. Are they seriously charging you $900 in labor? That's like a 2 or 3 hour job.

You need to take your car somewhere else. The bullshit some dealers try to pull, unbelievable.

Yep! This sounds very fishy to me. Take it somewhere else.

[lsu4m3]

I have a very similar story...I got those same symptoms two days ago. Shut the car down and called BMW Assist who got the car towed to the dealer. Got word today it was "bad gas" with water in it. The dealer stated they would need to remove the gas tank, drain and clean it, and flush the fuel system and change the filter...for over two grand! I called the Exxon distributor, who checked the tank in question and found no water. This just doesn't seem to add up to me. I will ask them about the fault codes tomorrow and mention SI B13 05 08. Exxon is going to call the dealer and discuss the "bad gas" issue. The idle air actuator or fuel pump would seem to be more suspect to me. Spooled, did you get your car fixed yet?

Please keep us updated

[MrHarris]

f the dealer

[py0413]

Dealerships = SCAMMERS = STEALERSHIP = RIPPING OFF

[King Tut]

Sorry guys but you are both getting scammed. There is no way they can prove it is water in your gas unless they got some out of the tank and tested it. This water in the gas thing just doesn't happen anymore and certainly would not happen to the level of causing the car to run poorly. Besides even if you had water in your fuel it wouldn't cause your fuel pump to fail, haha.

[Griz]

Originally Posted by King Tut

Sorry guys but you are both getting scammed. There is no way they can prove it is water in your gas unless they got some out of the tank and tested it. This water in the gas thing just doesn't happen anymore and certainly would not happen to the level of causing the car to run poorly. Besides even if you had water in your fuel it wouldn't cause your fuel pump to fail, haha.

I mentioned Quicktrip because because my parents' vehicle had diesel mixed in with the fuel. The Honda dealer diagnosed this (how, specifically, I can't tell you), and Quicktrip owned up to the problem, covering all the repair costs.

I don't believe Quicktrip gave an explanation. Maybe they had similar reports on that batch of fuel, maybe figured the repair costs weren't worth challenging... either way it suggests that, even if infrequently, fuel contamination occurs. I wouldn't assume that water in the fuel is a scam by the BMW repair shop.

[M3Kernow]

Cheeky Bastards! Go to another dealer and don't mention your other Stealership visit

[M3 Montreal]

Originally Posted by FStop7

Wait, what?

Dude, they're ripping you off. Why would that not be covered by warranty, first of all? Second of all, I seriously doubt their diagnosis. Bad gas causing a fuel pump failure? That makes no sense. I would be willing to bet you've got the idle valve actuator failure, which is very common and 100% a warranty fix.
Third of all, full retail price on a fuel pump repair kit is $532, per RealOEM. Are they seriously charging you $900 in labor? That's like a 2 or 3 hour job.

You need to take your car somewhere else. The bullshit some dealers try to pull, unbelievable.

Im betting it's the Idle Valve actuator as well...

[Finnegan]

Just PM'd the OP and asked for an update....

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by Griz

I mentioned Quicktrip because because my parents' vehicle had diesel mixed in with the fuel. The Honda dealer diagnosed this (how, specifically, I can't tell you), and Quicktrip owned up to the problem, covering all the repair costs.

I could see this as more probable then a bunch of water in the fuel. The guy filling the tanks could have made a mistake and put some gallons of diesel in before realizing the mistake. That is what most likely happened since Quicktrip owned up to it. What was actually wrong with the car? I would think a little diesel in the car would still allow it to run decent.

[quackbury]

Got mine back from the dealer today. SIB 13 05 08 Idle valve actuator, 100% warranty repair.

How in the world could bad gas cause a fuel pump to fail? The pump is mechanical - it doesn't know or care whether it is pumping good gas, bad gas, water, diesel, apple juice or vodka.

Bad gas might cause your fuel filter to clog, your injectors to fail, your plugs to foul, maybe even cause carbon deposits on your valves. But it won't damage your fuel pump.

Find a dealer that doesn't take you for a fool. Quickly.

[SPOOLED]

Thanks for all the support and advice; it has been a crazy two weeks. Here’s an update.

To recap, the dealer claimed that high ethanol content caused my fuel pump to fail and that it would not be covered under warranty. Well, after the fuel pump was fixed it was also determined that one of the fuel injectors was not working and that it needed to be replaced as well. Keep in mind that these damages that were being accessed were all attributed to bad gas. Charges were approximately 2k at this point.

Once the injector was replaced the car was still not in proper operating condition and was now smoking through the rear tails pipes (grey in color). At this point the dealer felt that this was still attributed to bad fuel left in the system and they thought that it would be fixed by driving the vehicle to burn it out of the system. 100 miles was placed on my vehicle and it appears while in the hands of the dealer the engine may have been compromised due to being improperly diagnosed.

Here is where we are today:

Yes, “misdiagnosed”. I had the fuel tested as I was very skeptical with the dealer’s claims. Turns out the fuel is fine and consistent with general fuel /ethanol specifications. The data was provided to the dealership and BMW NA is now involved. The engine is not fixed and may have been compromised due to faulty tech work. Any further actions at this point will be covered by the warranty.

One cylinder has failed a compression test; so now we are waiting to hear back from BMW NA on a resolution. At this point, I am told the possibility of a new engine or a new car are not farfetched. It’s just a shame to see that all of this resulted from improperly diagnosing a car. I should have an idea in the next week on what will be done to address what now appears to be a damaged engine. Whatever the decision may be, it will be under warranty and at no cost to me (except for lost time with my car).

[Lemans_Blue_M]

Originally Posted by SPOOLED

Thanks for all the support and advice; it has been a crazy two weeks. Here’s an update.

To recap, the dealer claimed that high ethanol content caused my fuel pump to fail and that it would not be covered under warranty. Well, after the fuel pump was fixed it was also determined that one of the fuel injectors was not working and that it needed to be replaced as well. Keep in mind that these damages that were being accessed were all attributed to bad gas. Charges were approximately 2k at this point.

Once the injector was replaced the car was still not in proper operating condition and was now smoking through the rear tails pipes (grey in color). At this point the dealer felt that this was still attributed to bad fuel left in the system and they thought that it would be fixed by driving the vehicle to burn it out of the system. 100 miles was placed on my vehicle and it appears while in the hands of the dealer the engine may have been compromised due to being improperly diagnosed.

Here is where we are today:

Yes, “misdiagnosed”. I had the fuel tested as I was very skeptical with the dealer’s claims. Turns out the fuel is fine and consistent with general fuel /ethanol specifications. The data was provided to the dealership and BMW NA is now involved. The engine is not fixed and may have been compromised due to faulty tech work. Any further actions at this point will be covered by the warranty.

One cylinder has failed a compression test; so now we are waiting to hear back from BMW NA on a resolution. At this point, I am told the possibility of a new engine or a new car are not farfetched. It’s just a shame to see that all of this resulted from improperly diagnosing a car. I should have an idea in the next week on what will be done to address what now appears to be a damaged engine. Whatever the decision may be, it will be under warranty and at no cost to me (except for lost time with my car).

Wow...that sucks man.

Sorry to hear your car is messed up, and no clear resolution has been found as of yet.

I can imagine your frustration. >>>

Would you mind clarifying what you meant in the blue highlighted portions of your post?

Thanks.

[Griz]

Originally Posted by King Tut

I could see this as more probable then a bunch of water in the fuel. The guy filling the tanks could have made a mistake and put some gallons of diesel in before realizing the mistake. That is what most likely happened since Quicktrip owned up to it. What was actually wrong with the car? I would think a little diesel in the car would still allow it to run decent.

The information/explanation of the particulars went through my mother, so a great deal of detail was lost in the process.

Simply put the computer identified that the fuel mixture was off (by how much, i don't know) and shut down the car as a preventative measure.