[cfreak]

My car has Vehicle Life + Brake light on. I read several threads said that this probably brake sensor.

I went to the dealer and let them take a look. The quote me $450 just for inspection and then another $440 for brake lining change. (My car is now under extended warranty). I know that I could take my car to independent shop or DIY, but I'm already stupid enough to send my car into dealer.

Just wondering if this is common for dealer to quote $450 just for inspecting "Vehicle Lift + Brake light'?

Estimate including:

51BMZ BODY EQUIPMENT MISC
34BMZ BRAKE SYSTEM
51BMZ1 WINDSHIELD BLADE
02BMZSCOPE SCOPE CHECK
02BMZVECHECK WARRANTY VEH CHECK
.................... FRONT BRAKE LINING REPLACEMENT

[Chriztofor]

I thought you just had to pay $50 under the extended warranty for them to check any problem. Then if it is covered it gets repaired for free and if it is not covered you have to pay. What does your contract state about vehicle inspections?

[cfreak]

It's actually CPO warranty. I have to pay all the inspection cost first, if the result end up covered by CPO, I will pay only $50. If the result end up with the maintenance, I have to pay for inspection plus the repair.

[cfreak]

I wonder if, in my situation, my CPO should cover the repair. I got the job detail and it said that my front pad was 6MM but the front pad goes into sensor. It was not my brake due to be changed but sensor/part defect?

[Chriztofor]

Try it, it's worth a shot. Talk to the manager 1st then BMWNA. Post an update.

[rambalu80]

Vehicle Check (car on lift) is maintenance work, not warranty. If your car is past either 4 years or 50,000 miles and you do not have extended maintenance, you will have to pay for the vehicle check.

If you pull out your service and warranty manual and look for vehicle check, you will find all the items that will be checked. You may be able to perform this by yourself and reset the CBS indicator.

Brake fluid, pads and rotors are maintenance items too. So, if you took your CPO'd car to the dealership for any of these items, I'm not surprised that they wanted to charge you an arm and a leg.

[Chriztofor]

Yeah but he is claiming his sensors are defective. They allegedly wore prematurely, therefore not a maintanance item. Good luck proving that.

[scottp999]

Yeah - I think what that symbol means can be a simple as the 2 year reminder to change the brake fluid. It will come on every two years for that. If you plan to keep the car, go pay $287 for the bavarian technique tool and you will know if it is condition based service that is due or some other code.

Mine came on (same light) for the brake fluid change, I went into the Bavarian Technique tool and reset it to give me another year before it came on again.

The dealer is going to love you if you take it in for every light that comes on and don't have a tool to read codes and keep them honest.

http://www.bavariantechnic.com/ - get the enthusiast version

Brake sensor replacement is another easy DIY job. If you plan to keep the car for a while get the Bentley Service Manual for about $82 from amazon. It is worth 5 times that: http://www.amazon.com/BMW-E90-E91-Se...5606420&sr=8-1

[Chriztofor]

+1 on the Bavarian Technic tool http://www.bavariantechnic.com/buy.aspx

Also take a look at the peake research tool http://www.peakeresearch.com/ (less expensive but can't reset your battery info.)

I personally had nice experiences with peake (on my e46). Either tool will pay for itself on the very first scan. Good luck.