[lifeofjono]

Yeah as I mentioned earlier I originally intended to go to bromley but had a lapse of judgement as I was already in the Croydon branch there asking about something else and thought maybe it was easier to just do it here while I'm here. WRONG!

[Corradokid]

I'm surprised at the love for Stephen James bromley here, I use them as they are just around the corner but service has been pretty rubbish the last few times I've used them and was planning on looking for an alternate dealer...

[lifeofjono]

i recommend coopers croydon..

tbf my experience hasn't been great at any branch but bromley has been the better of them. The only thing i don't like about the store is how tight everything is out front, hardly any space to navigate.

[beemarman]

For me it's good experience with them.

1. Took my car in to have the front and back brakes changed cause I was getting warning lights coming up on the dash.
Was ready to shell out nearly £1200 for it (2012 M5) Got a call saying the front brakes have recently been changed and the rear still has a few 0000 miles left.

2. My clutch was slipping and the drivers leather seat had a bit a wear on it, so took it in last monday to see if I can get it done on warranty. Got a call yesterday saying BMW have approved the clutch and leather replacement. A savings of nearly £2500.

So I guess for me it's all good and dandy with Coopers.

[lifeofjono]

UPDATE:

Ok so i guess i have to retract some of my earlier statements towards coopers at least until the works complete and sorted but..

Apart from the initial not contacting me in the beginning my service advisor has actually been pretty good, providing prompt updates and chasing up previous invoices for me and arranging a loaner vehicle at short notice. Like within an hour of me asking.

In regards to my car its getting a brand new gearbox fitted, at a total cost 3.9k!


costs to me - £100 (my excess)

and i have a dinky brand new 65 plate 116D to drive in the meantime at no cost.

Due to collect mine back on monday.

All I can say is thank jesus titty fucking christ I took out a warranty

[The0pportunist]

Originally Posted by lifeofjono

UPDATE:

All I can say is thank jesus titty fucking christ I took out a warranty

Amen to that!

Glad its all working out for you! Let us know if it actually fixes the problem though!

[lifeofjono]

Originally Posted by The0pportunist

Amen to that!

Glad its all working out for you! Let us know if it actually fixes the problem though!

Yeah thats why i said i retract some of my earlier statement, I'll hold off until all the works done and my cars sorted.

Another bonus was no smartly dressed man driving my car

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by lifeofjono

UPDATE:

Ok so i guess i have to retract some of my earlier statements towards coopers at least until the works complete and sorted but..

Apart from the initial not contacting me in the beginning my service advisor has actually been pretty good, providing prompt updates and chasing up previous invoices for me and arranging a loaner vehicle at short notice. Like within an hour of me asking.

In regards to my car its getting a brand new gearbox fitted, at a total cost 3.9k!


costs to me - £100 (my excess)

and i have a dinky brand new 65 plate 116D to drive in the meantime at no cost.

Due to collect mine back on monday.

All I can say is thank jesus titty fucking christ I took out a warranty

Wow thats good. Check if they are doing clutch / DMF though. It makes no sense not to do this while gearbox is out.

Also, I have had repairs done under warranty, and it turn out not to be those items that were faulty. So you may end up with new gearbox and a new clutch in the end anyway :-)

[lifeofjono]

I've continually hounded them stating I still believe it's the flywheel. I asked her to send me the report they sent to warranty and its says on it flywheel and clutch ok.
Like you said could end up with all 3 replaced if gearbox doesn't fix.

[gaza01]

They are one of the worst dealers ive ever used. Stephen James in bromley are superb!!!

[old grey steve]

Flywheelk judder noises in netural etc. are sadly fairly common we see a fair amount of 520d's and of course 320d's in with these sort of isseus, it isn't of course a BMW esq issue VW's Audi suffer too always repalce clutch and flywheel together I seen the odd clutch replaced with the flywheel in situ customer has an issue post clutch fit brings it in and hey presto you end up repeating the exercise again costing more money.

Warranty's are a grey area on clutch if a flywheel fails then may will cover this its the clutch that'll cause an issue re warranty if you have consiquentual cover then if one's let go the other will be covered but in this area when you're talking about clutch on warranty its a grey area to say the least.

I had a M6 in for a clutch, flywheel, the warranty company due to what they suspected sent an engineer down to inspect, we knew and statd tothe customer that the clutch was worn as a result the flywheel had issues, mere fact that the clutch was worn was going to be seen as an age/mileage issue warranty company enginner arrived was with us for 15 minutes total looked at the clutch and walked away basically, reason being clutch's wear. Only in a component failure will most agree to repalce under warranty.

Re lifeofjono potentual outcome gearbox issues are rare but not unheard of, but be interested to know the final outcome of all this, seen the odd gearbox(mainly VW/Audi oddly enough)be condemmend due to internal bearing failure and shaft damage(when stripped down-we use a trans specialist who gives us the required info) bare in mind though that if the gearbox proves to be the issue clutch & fly would be ideally replaced as well.

[lifeofjono]

Thanks for the input steve. seen many of your posts on here which have been very insightful even if its not an issue to my car. Have you considered changing your name to old white steve? like Gandalf the grey to white. you've surely earned it by now.

Will let everyone know if gearbox replacement resolves issue I'm hanging on the optimistic side but i still maintain its the flywheel despite them saying otherwise, im no mechanic mind.

If they were going to replace the flywheel i'd already prepared to pay out for the clutch cost if they weren't going to cover it. I asked them to send me the tech write up which was a short but brief set of handrwritten notes which is typed up verbatim below:

1 - c/o road test - noise evident when taking up drive in low gears
2 - remove undertrays and inspect coupling and final(?) drive - ok
3 - c/o quick test & connect charger, checked t/m in NED no testmod - req g/box remove & inspect
4 - Remove G/box (after checking oil level ok and no leaks) no obvious faults with clutch and flywheel - req G/box



either way I see it they change gearbox and it fixes it- great

or

it doesn't resolve it and it goes back for other fixes and I got a new gearbox for next to nothing.

I am quite enjoying this little 1 series they've given me in the meantime though, never driven an auto before which is awesome in the stop/start traffic which is my reg drive and the steering is super light so really easy to drive but lightness of the steering wheel does make you feel a bit detached from it.

[lifeofjono]

Latest update:

so they called me midday monday and said it might not be done by the end of the day are they ok to keep till the day after but they'd let me know, swung by there after work as had to grab my sat nav from my car. Spoke to the lady and she confirmed they would need it another day, which was fine as I had the loaner anyway.

I asked what was up, she said that the mechanic still wasn't quite happy with it i asked how come? have there been issues fitting the gearbox? she replied no they've fitted the gearbox but its still making the sound..... they said they'd look more in depth tomorrow and let me know.

Get the call today -
"yeah we've had to put in for a new flywheel and clutch with your warranty and are waiting a response from them"
....
at this point I had to laugh and really bite my tounge, only been saying this from the beginning.

she said they've eliminated the noise (I don't know what they did different from yest, which has me wondering?) but theres still vibration coming through the pedals.

so just awaiting the response from the warranty company now. get the feeling they'll approve the flywheel but not the clutch, spesh if they've just paid out near 4K for a gearbox.

I can't fault my service advisor though I might add she's been nothing but helpful.

Have to laugh at the whole situation really. Been saying it all week and gf's been like "since when did you become an over night mechanic? I'm sure they know what they're doing, you've just read stuff off the internet." Shes been calling me a smug cunt all evening since i told her they said it needed a new flywheel.

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by lifeofjono

Thanks for the input steve. seen many of your posts on here which have been very insightful even if its not an issue to my car. Have you considered changing your name to old white steve? like Gandalf the grey to white. you've surely earned it by now.

from some angles I may look like old gandalf stick a beard on me take away my glasses you never know but nah name doesn't flow for me so I'll stick to this one

Originally Posted by lifeofjono

Latest update:

so they called me midday monday and said it might not be done by the end of the day are they ok to keep till the day after but they'd let me know, swung by there after work as had to grab my sat nav from my car. Spoke to the lady and she confirmed they would need it another day, which was fine as I had the loaner anyway.

I asked what was up, she said that the mechanic still wasn't quite happy with it i asked how come? have there been issues fitting the gearbox? she replied no they've fitted the gearbox but its still making the sound..... they said they'd look more in depth tomorrow and let me know.

Get the call today -
"yeah we've had to put in for a new flywheel and clutch with your warranty and are waiting a response from them"
....
at this point I had to laugh and really bite my tounge, only been saying this from the beginning.

she said they've eliminated the noise (I don't know what they did different from yest, which has me wondering?) but theres still vibration coming through the pedals.

so just awaiting the response from the warranty company now. get the feeling they'll approve the flywheel but not the clutch, spesh if they've just paid out near 4K for a gearbox.

I can't fault my service advisor though I might add she's been nothing but helpful.

Have to laugh at the whole situation really. Been saying it all week and gf's been like "since when did you become an over night mechanic? I'm sure they know what they're doing, you've just read stuff off the internet." Shes been calling me a smug cunt all evening since i told her they said it needed a new flywheel.

Interestingsometimes the main dealers throw money at parts sometimes this doesn't work. It happens a fair bit sometimes as a customer you benifit as they can't simply pull the gearbox out and put the old one back in warranty won't take too kindly to that

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by lifeofjono

Latest update:

so they called me midday monday and said it might not be done by the end of the day are they ok to keep till the day after but they'd let me know, swung by there after work as had to grab my sat nav from my car. Spoke to the lady and she confirmed they would need it another day, which was fine as I had the loaner anyway.

I asked what was up, she said that the mechanic still wasn't quite happy with it i asked how come? have there been issues fitting the gearbox? she replied no they've fitted the gearbox but its still making the sound..... they said they'd look more in depth tomorrow and let me know.

Get the call today -
"yeah we've had to put in for a new flywheel and clutch with your warranty and are waiting a response from them"
....
at this point I had to laugh and really bite my tounge, only been saying this from the beginning.

she said they've eliminated the noise (I don't know what they did different from yest, which has me wondering?) but theres still vibration coming through the pedals.

so just awaiting the response from the warranty company now. get the feeling they'll approve the flywheel but not the clutch, spesh if they've just paid out near 4K for a gearbox.

I can't fault my service advisor though I might add she's been nothing but helpful.

Have to laugh at the whole situation really. Been saying it all week and gf's been like "since when did you become an over night mechanic? I'm sure they know what they're doing, you've just read stuff off the internet." Shes been calling me a smug cunt all evening since i told her they said it needed a new flywheel.

If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck...etc..
This is laughable really. Good for you though, you get a nice new gearbox, and if you push hard you might get a good discount on the rest if it doesnt go through warranty, especially as you'll still be liable for the excess on your gearbox you didn't need.

[lifeofjono]

Further update:

just had the call flywheel and clutch replacement authorised.
flywheels are on back order for 7-10 days.
They've offered to let me stay in their 1er or they can arrange a 3 series from enterprise for me at their cost so should be switching to a 64 plate 320D luxury, sadly its not an auto as was enjoying the auto in the 1 series but not gonna complain.

all this for the paltry sum of £100.

warranty

[The0pportunist]

What a result!!
'Smartly dressed chap' is really not too bad at all!

[Digitalize]

Might be worth changing the thread title to be honest.

[lifeofjono]

Originally Posted by Digitalize

Might be worth changing the thread title to be honest.

I'm waiting till works done and everythings fine before i retract completely, but i do agree maybe they don't deserve such a harsh title since they've actually treated me pretty well after the initial blip. It was wrote in a rage at the time.

[Aragorn30d]

They've still completely cocked up the diagnosis

Had he been paying rather than it having been a warranty claim, do you think they'd have refunded the 4 grand for the gearbox? Unlikely i'd think.

[The0pportunist]

Originally Posted by Aragorn30d

They've still completely cocked up the diagnosis

Had he been paying rather than it having been a warranty claim, do you think they'd have refunded the 4 grand for the gearbox? Unlikely i'd think.

Exactly.

I wonder if the tech who signed off on the new gear box is penalised in any way?

[lifeofjono]

Originally Posted by Aragorn30d

They've still completely cocked up the diagnosis

Had he been paying rather than it having been a warranty claim, do you think they'd have refunded the 4 grand for the gearbox? Unlikely i'd think.

wouldn't have thought so, however if i didn't have the warranty, i would've stuck to my gut feeling of it being the DMF and not got them to take the gearbox out and taken it to an indy to replace DMF & Clutch, actually would have gone to an indy in the first place.

Tbf, their cock up actually benefited me as:

1) free new gearbox obvs

2) i get the suspicion that had they just straight forward diagnosed the flywheel in the first place that the warranty would have likely only covered the DMF and I would've had to pay for the cost of the clutch. however due to the misdiagnosis and delay they've pushed for a new clutch aswell or absorbed the cost themselves, likely the former.