[runwild]

This week I brought my e92 in for a valve cover gasket replacement, and all my headaches began. After I paid my dealership $958 for the gasket replacement, power steering fluid flush and a reinforcement plate part for under the car, I drove the car home and smelled burning oil the entire ride home. When I got home to pop the hood I noticed the original oil leak was far worst AND the gasket was NEVER replaced. I flipped. I couldn't call the dealership because they closed when I picked the car up and the following day they were closed for Christmas, so yesterday I went back in and I made it very clear that the mechanic fucked me on my repair. So I spoke to the manager and he assured me everything would be taken care of and the problem would be fixed, and if I really was scammed on the repair the mechanic would be fired. He would comp me on a full detail while the car was in service... Blah blah blah.

So after they had the car for the day, they called me and explained the whole situation. Basically I was told that the gasket was replaced, but I know for a fact it was not because the old broken gasket was still visible under the hood after I picked the car up. Basically the manager went on to explain that the mechanic while doing the repair, noticed a problem with the servo motor screw, it was broken, or stripped, so he went on to throw a different larger bolt he had handy into the servo motor to hold it in place. I was told the broken bolt from the servo motor was loose inside the valve cover and he retrieved it out for me and something about another bolt being broken also which he took care of without mentioning to my service advisor. All this while replacing the valve cover gasket.

Ater all this occurred and was "taken care of" the second trip back to the service department turned out to be a different problem. I was told the valve cover was the problem and my mechanic tried doing the right thing by me without telling my service advisor about the additional work he did, but he never disclosed the trouble he ran into while replacing the gasket.

So long story short, I had to have the valve cover replaced, but after going back and forth with the dealership they paid half the price for the part and I paid the other half. The labor was on them.

Has anyone ever had an experience like this, or does anyone have some knowledge of this type of repair? I truly believe that the mechanic tried getting away without replacing the gasket, and somehow maybe he over tightened the valve cover bolts and broke the cover and made the leak worst? Maybe the problem with the servo motor bolt being broken was something he accidentally did while repairing the gasket, so he tried forcing a larger bolt in place of it to hold the servo motor in place? How should I go about this experience? I just got hosed $1,200 for this nightmare. Would this be a legitimate complaint to file with BMW North America?

PS: they also gave me the old original valve cover that needed to be replaced. I can take some pics of it and post it here if anybody has some knowledge about it.. Looking at the part, I don't see anything broken with it, but I do see the bolt the mechanic stuck in there that wasn't oem.

[nate5ks]

I've heard of people needing to replace the entire valve cover but usually it's just the gasket. I don't know how anyone, let alone a bmw mechanic could forget to put the new gasket in place. As far as the valvetronic motor goes, there is a possibility that the original bolts would not hold the motor in place because of thread stripping. This happened to both of my coil ground bolts eventually. I don't know what to tell you though, it's always a good idea to ask to see old parts after a repair job because people, not usually dealers though, will sometimes try to pull a fast one on you and not actually do the repair. I replaced a leaky oil pan gasket on an e46 for a guy who said he had just gotten it done 2 months prior. It broke into tiny pieces when I removed it from the oil pan so I doubt it was 2 months old. I wouldn't expect this from a bmw dealer but accidents do happen.

[BMW_TECH]

Possible the valve cover was wrapped in the first place. With out removing and checking with a straight edge, there is no way to tell with the motor all together. It isn't common, but it does happen.

I'm not sure I understand how you were able to see the old gasket? The valve cover gasket itself is nearly impossible to see once it has compressed between the cover and the cylinder head, let alone determine it is the old one.

[runwild]

Originally Posted by BMW_TECH

Possible the valve cover was wrapped in the first place. With out removing and checking with a straight edge, there is no way to tell with the motor all together. It isn't common, but it does happen.

I'm not sure I understand how you were able to see the old gasket? The valve cover gasket itself is nearly impossible to see once it has compressed between the cover and the cylinder head, let alone determine it is the old one.

Where the oil leak was, the broken gasket was visible. You could see parts of the old gasket broke off under the valve covers, just chunks of the old gasket were hanging freely from under neath the valve cover. The car looked exactly the same from the moment when it went in,mup until the moment the car came out. If the gasket was done right, I shouldn't have seen remnants of the old gasket hanging and sticking out from under neath the old valve cover. Is it possible he changed it and forgot to clean out the old gasket between the cover and the cylinder head, yes. But tell me how that new gasket would seal properly if old broken gasket remnants remained between the valve cover after the new gasket was replaced? At around $800 for a repair that costs under $400 at an Indy shop, BMW should know better to do the repair correctly the. To half ass something like that. And to hand a customer the keys to the car after the repair was complete, and not check the car after the repair was done, shows me they really didn't give two shits on whether the car was fixed or not.