2002 BMW M3: 60K Service

Great! you took the M3 to a mechanic shop that the only customers there drive BMWs from two to three
decades ago.Brilliant!

I would not be surprised if you pick up the car and the mechanics tell you that they spotted some problems with the carburetor...

and on top of that some bold guy tries to break in.

Au contraire, banhugh, people who love and care for old bimmers are more likely to take them to a trusted shop. I'm betting these guys will do just fine.

FYI: The guy trying to climb through the mail slot is our Photo-guy, Kurt. He could smell the antiques and wanted in.

-mike

+1 to edubya

Desmo, don't you feel special now? The Edmunds staff have actually taken your suggestion!

How much did Summit quote you guys for the service? How long did they say it would take? One of the sticking points is that major service at a lux dealer *usually* comes with a loaner- I know of this at our local MB, BMW, Acura, and Lexus dealers. So if Summit will save some $ but take a substantial amount of time, it could be a real pain for those of us who don't always have a spare ride.

Wow $2000. The major service on my Cobalt ran me $200. I know the Cobalt and M3 are not anywhere near the same plane, but a 10-fold difference is something pretty remarkable.

I'm going to guess $900-1200 is a reasonable offer on this service.

I've heard great things about summit as a member of the BMWCCA...so I think you guys are on solid ground.

For those who think this is expensive, bear in mind that this car takes an expensive high quality synthetic fluid in it's engine (oil), diff, and trans. A valve adjustment is a significant service. This car takes special plugs and takes some time to replace. The air filters aren't cheap.

For a comparison, I'm doing a service on my 06 Civic SI for 50,000 miles. The equivalent service at my dealership (coolant flush, brake system flush, new brake pads, oil change) would probably cost $350-400. And that's not as serious as what's going on here.

Joe

I forget, did you buy this car from a private party, wholesale, or a dealership? The seller was shady and reset the service indicator, so that's why it said "oil service" rather than "inspection". Sneaky sneaky. Good thing you had the service history!

Hey, Joe! I saw your comments about the Forester in The Truth About Cars review. kurtamaxxxguy posted some comments in that review, too! :o)

m_thrizzle, the vehicle was purchased used (not CPO) from a local Southern California BMW center (BMW doesn't like to call their dealerships "dealerships." Go figure.).

Inspection 2 is basically oil change, air filter change, cabin filter change, spark plug change, trans fluid change, diff fluid change, and the dreaded valve adjustment. I'd also do a coolant flush as well.

My personal belief is that while dealer service does not come with vaseline, dealer pockets are deeper than indy shops if something were to go wrong, such as the valve adjustment; it's like open-heart surgery.

Just the parts alone, if sourced from the dealer will cost you around $800, maybe more. Factor in 8 hours of labor (or more) at the dealer labor rate (my local BMW dealers charge $128/hour). The parts can be sourced from Tischer BMW for around $500, BTW.

Slightly OT: the local Nissan dealer wanted to charge my g/f $200 to replace rear brake pads on her Murano. I bought the pads from the dealer for $45 and changed them myself in under 30 minutes. Brake jobs are the biggest automotive rip-off next to replacing air filters at the quick lube places.

I must admit that when I originally posted about what you guys should do, I had no idea what an Inspection II entailed. Good thing there are those who pointed out the type of work needed and good places to go! A valve job might have been some pretty intense DIY work for y'all. Hope it turns out well, can't wait to hear the result!

Well if they're responsible for the 2002 and the original 320i sitting there, I imagine they could be ok? =P

I honestly don't know what you expected. Owning a used BMW M is like dating a girl with STDs. Only most women are more upfront about their lurking problems than most M-cars. My '98 M3 has regularly, repeat regularly cost me more than 2 grand for parts and labor. Case in point: The second to last time I was at the shop with (another) check engine light and an air con that just decided one day it would neither blow cold or blow at all. Also, the airbag deployed light came on and stayed on. And I had the tach needle jumping around like a madman. So, I take it to the shop and the air con problem was just the result of a loose connection. Still cost about 200 bucks. The rest of everything, including time pushed well over 2 thousand. My bank told me to just right a check since it would save time over them having to clear my debit card for "VIP spending." To top things off, all of those things that I had "worked on" stopped working, resulting in another trip back to the shop where more problems (diagnosed and fixed: this time a leaking head gasket among others) totalled in at a whopping $1200. So now, here I am, back at school 400 miles away on my 03 Grand Am that I've had since I was in 10th grade that has never once decided it would do anything other than get 32 mpg and blast tunes louder than the M3's vaunted 12 disc changer (that also never worked right). So, now I've got a car that over the course of a month cost me nearly over 3k in repairs sitting at my parent's house in perfect working order that I'm afraid to drive because it falls apart (like when my parents took it to church a week ago and the turn signal indicator fell out in the road. This is the third time it's happened.). I've probably spent over $20 thousand on the car, including a paint job that still isn't right, including alignments that don't work for more than a week (which no dealership or indie shop can understand) and, of course, with the new M3 out, the value on an e36 plummetted, leaving me with a car that I hate (used to be my favorite dream car) and no one will buy, even for the paltry sum they go for these days. So, I'm stuck with it. Maybe someone else has had problems like this? I hope so. Because all I know is that I drove my dad's 1970 Chevelle around for a year with crummy drum brakes and hardly any seat belts before he and my mom bought me my "lame-o" Pontiac (which I subsequently took over payments on and just last month payed off)and it never gave me anything more than sheer, untroubled motoring bliss. Cadillac needs to hurry up with the CTS-V and get it ready for sale, because now if I win the lottery I'm drivining straight passed the BMW dealership and getting a car built to last more than 10 years. Thank you for putting up with this long and bitter rant. M3s of the world, you've got to do a lot for me to win back my respect.

If this works out, Summit better give me a discount!
If not, why on God's green earth would you take advice from someone called Desmolicious?!