[SnowsM3]

I'll try and be brief. The car was flawless up until the 1200 mile service. It is an extra car for me so I don't drive it every day. So when I do drive it I don't listen to the radio much and just enjoy the car and the drive. The reason I mention this is because I'm positive it wasn't making any engine noises prior to my 1200 mile service. I followed the 1200 mile break-in EXACTLY, just like I did with my E46 M3. When I picked up the car after the 1200 mile service I noticed that when driving thru the parking lot of my office there was a clicking/tapping noise coming from the engine. See this thread for a better description.

http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=213104

I took the car back to the dealer immediately and they kept it for a couple days. They informed me that the noise was the normal expansion of the exhaust and that I shouldn't worry about it. I didn't fully believe that explanation but since they're the experts and they said they pulled out all the "scopes" & diagnostics on the car I went with it. They said the car was 100% and to drive it normally since nothing was wrong. I took the car on a weekend road trip with my girlfriend and the noise appeared to get worse. I compared my car to a friend’s car with almost the exact same mileage and I couldn't repeat the noise on his car after almost an hour of trying. This convinced me that something was wrong with my car.

Long story short, apparently the North American Head of Engineering (or some title like that) happened to be at my dealership on Tuesday of this week so I brought the car in. I took him for a test drive and he heard the noise during the drive and while sitting at idle. They just informed me that they believe there is an issue with the bottom-end of the engine. BMW in Germany don't want them to touch the engine but they want it shipped back to Germany so they can disassemble it themselves and find out what went wrong.

I'm sure you've already figured out my question. I don't want my brand new car torn apart and repaired with a different engine from the factory one. I paid cash for this car and I don't want to worry about resale down the road. Does anyone have any suggestions or personal experience as to how I can get a new car instead of just a new engine? Am I overreacting to this? Does anyone else agree with me on this one? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated before I start this battle.

Unfortunately, I'm leaving the country tomorrow morning and will be unreachable for several days. I can reply tonight and early tomorrow morning but after that I'll be MIA until Thurs next week. I plan to call BMWNA customer relations and the dealership GM when I return next week. The car will remain at the dealership until I return. Thanks for your input.

[M3_Dust]

wow that sucks. this leads me to wonder even more if the tech's are doing something very wrong there during service. my car worked flawlessly up to my first inspection 1, which I allowed them to do. within 2000miles I had a total VANOS failure that would have cost in the $5-$7k range to fix if it wasn't under warranty.

can you ask them to give you an entirely new replacement car? maybe you can sue under lemon law and get them to buy it back?

[BimmerPerfStore]

Maybe the lemon law could apply? Any attorneys here know the conditions under which he might be able to get BMW to give him a new car? I think the consumer HAS to allow the manufacturer the opportunity to make it right.

Sorry hear you're having a problem and even more sorry since I just ordered the exact same car with DCT.

Time for a group hug

Bob

[Rez]

I concur with what Mike and Bob said, I think you should ask them to just buy back your car and give you a new one, the sticking issue is going to be whether techs at the dealer screwed it up or it was an inherent factory fault. Look into lemon law, in most states such major damage during first 30 days makes it lemon iirc...Be polite and patient but persistant, hopefully they would want to avoid the neg publicity

[ToddMcF2002]

Luckily gone are the days where people care about matching numbers. Porsche NA does this alot too, swapping engines. Just do it and move on.

[Rez]

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002

Luckily gone are the days where people care about matching numbers. Porsche NA does this alot too, swapping engines. Just do it and move on.

Your point is well taken, only problem is that I would not trust the idiots to change the engine of this car that they have no experience with at all

[ToddMcF2002]

Originally Posted by Rez

Your point is well taken, only problem is that I would not trust the idiots to change the engine of this car that they have no experience with at all

Exactly why they don't want the engine worked on yet I'm expecting.

[Rez]

Originally Posted by ToddMcF2002

Exactly why they don't want the engine worked on yet I'm expecting.

yup..

[ArtM3]

did it throw any codes?
how did it run other than the 'noise'?
was it getting louder? vary with engine speed?

I would be pissed too, but probably not have an issue with them changing the engine, as long as someone has had done it before and/or been trained...most likely from HQ in NJ

I'd also want an extended engine warranty...and a NEW engine, not rmfg

[ToddMcF2002]

Where the heck would they find a remanufactured engine? LOL