[5hutupyouface]

I've honestly had enough of my car. It's shut a shame because it was my pride and joy until the problems started. And even till now, I hate the thought of getting rid of it.

its an e93 2008 330d. It has done 43,000 miles. Purchased from a dealer as an approved used which I have now realised means nothing. There is no 100 something point check, no added value just extra money.

Just in the last 2 months, I've had a roof failure, transmission leak and an engine oil leak. Granted all has been fixed under warranty, it's the hassle that's bothering me. I've had the car for 1 year.

Right now, its sunny outside. I have waited 2 months for some good weather to put the top down. I took it to the car wash, parked up and put the roof up. After I put the roof up, engine shuts off. Power steering etc. are all off.

When I try to start the car, it just cranks. It won't start. I take the key out and immediately put it back in, press the push button starter and it turns on as normal. No excessive cranking. I crawl forward and brake. Engine turns off again. It did ths about 10 times at the car wash.

I finally manage to drive it out. I gave it some decent power, car shifted down and the engine turned off again.

I get home, park the car, it turns off again. I put it into reverse, it turns off again. To reverse park it I had to turn it on 3-4 times. Whether its idle or not, it turns off.

At every instance when it turns off, it won't turn back on again. It will just crank indefinitely until I take the key out and put it back in again. As if something needs to reset. It had done this once before I took it to the car wash a few days prior but was fine after that until today.

No engine light, no faults.

I hear no strange noises at any point prior, during or after. I have no idea what's wrong and am just really frustrated.

Anyone have any ideas what's going on with the car? Anyone experienced this before or have any ideas?

I've lost too much sleep over this car..

[5hutupyouface]

To update this..

I called BMW emergency service and they came round, diagnosed the issue. I was surprised how helpful and knowledgeable the BMW engineer was. Explained the issue in a lot of depth.

Gave me a 320d for the mean while (2012). Dealership had the car for 3 days and managed to sort everything out.

Would have been an expensive job, but all done under warranty.

[egregor]

Originally Posted by 5hutupyouface

... Explained the issue in a lot of depth.

Don't leave us hanging, what was it?

[ShinyRedCar]

Originally Posted by egregor

Don't leave us hanging, what was it?

Yes!! Do tell!!

[fdawg4l]

Originally Posted by ShinyRedCar

Yes!! Do tell!!

It's like a joke with a good run up but no punch line. So frustrating!

[SoIntoYou]

do tell please

[Chriztofor]

OP:1) always post an update, it might help someone on here. 2) I would be upset if i had all that done out of warranty.

[5hutupyouface]

Sorry had been away.

Essentially, what the engineer that came round to the house said was injector 3 was failing. The injector once opened, wouldn't close, allowing fuel to leak out causing a loss of pressure. The engine would shut off because there was a significant loss of fuel pressure to the engine. By taking the key out and putting it back in, everything would re-initialise including injector 3, in which it would close allowing the pressure to build up to normal levels.

By not taking the key out and just trying to start the car, it would keep cranking and not start because not enough pressure was there to start the engine.

The above is what I understood. I by no means a technical person when it comes to cars so I apologise for any discrepancies.

The dealership which worked on my car only replaced and recoded the injector. However when they did do this, the car wouldn't even start anymore. They found out a rod had been dislodged in (?) one of the fuel tanks. Didn't make much sense to me as I would imagine a fuel tank was nothing but a tank. Either way, they fixed that and I was up and running again.

I asked the dealership how much this would have all potentially cost, they said at least £900 including labour. A tow from BMW costs £149.
So factoring in the costs:
£900 for repair
£149 for tow
£70/day for BMW from Enterprise (had it for 3 days) - £210
Total cost: £1,259

My warranty costs about £48/month (comprehensive warranty, zero excess and BMW emergency service).

I only bought the warranty last month when the AUC warranty ran out, and Mondial has already spent £1259 in the first month, so it's already paid for itself for this year.

A little bit off topic:

I usually used to use Williams BMW in Liverpool, but after receiving a puncture on almost *every* visit and having to pay them £360/tyre (got 4 punctures in one month, on the same day on every visit). When I took the car in for a wheel alignment, they told me I have damaged the suspension. Keep in mind I hadn't even given them the keys to look at the car, I had only just walked in. Then they tell me the suspension is fine, but they cannot do a wheel alignment because my tyre tread is less than 3mm (legal limit is 1.6mm) and so I need to buy 2 more new tyres at £360/each to get wheel alignment done at £400. I told them where to go. Went to a local garage that had the Hunter system for the wheel alignment, apparently same thing BMW use, and they sorted it out for £130.

Went to BMW Halliwell Jones in Warrington to fix my transmission + engine oil leak and at the same time I asked them to do an inspection on the car, which they did for free. My tyres were 4mm. Just a heads up for anyone in the mersey region using Williams.

This has been my second visit to Halliwell Jones and have finally been getting the type of service I would expect from BMW. Didn't realise there was such a big difference with the dealers, I'd thought BMW would set a standard. The service from Halliwell Jones has been nothing short of fantastic.

Anyways, hope the above is of help to someone out there.

[Chriztofor]

^ Thanks for the update!