[leeadam]

I am in process of trying to claim something..anything back from bmw toward my £800 bill from bmw to fix my locked on steering lock. my car is 11 months outta warranty ive always browught them this was for last 12 years, never had probs as i have family in business and mate with bmw specialist.
However when it failed i had to have fixed quick for work. The BMW dealer in Tring herts had an attitude that sucked!! a kinda.."we dcould not care less" attitute, in trying to help speak to bmw about some kind of goodwill on a relatively new expensive car with a well known weak spot even though the rude woman on BMWs customer service line told me i was silly for believing all the cases shown on this web site of peoples ESL failing, when i called dealer they admitted it was well known, and my mate with specialist had heard of it.
Crazy i have an old corse twice round clock that has never missed a beat.

anyway letters been sent ..im sure they will keep fobbing me off..who knows??

[vblanche]

Hello, sorry to hear that. In fact, I'm having the same fault, car has not yet been checked. I was wondering what you put in your letter?
Are you driving the car anyway?
thanks
vincent

[leeadam]

Hi no once the warning light came on i drove once on a 4 mile trip then when i parked up the lock engaged and that was it..car stuck unable to move.

[spandeli]

there is a solution to this known issue, havent tried it, but here it is... taken from another member on this US Forum but i cant remember who it was..

After examining the dash and steering column carefully I decided to pull it out myself. It took all of 15 minutes to pull out the whole steering wheel and column. Needless to say it was very strait forward. Only 5 E10(8mm 6pt) bolts holding it all in.

After I had it removed I saw the factory lock on the top of column and began to pull it apart. There are 3 E-5pt torx security bolts holding the cover on. After removing the cover the lock assembly came right out.

Leave it to BMW to pack the unit full of electronics. The assembly consists of a circuit board with an attached mechanism. Inside there is a small electrical motor and some moving parts. As I started to play with the mechanism I noticed the parts were binding due to friction. My first guess was that the motor was burnt up and would no longer spin. After removing the motor I placed it on the bench and attempted to give it voltage to see if it would spin. I gave it 5 volts on both side and it worked in both directions. Now after determining the motor was still good I took apart the rest of the mechanism. I cleaned all the old grease from the motor and inside the mechanism where the lock slides and give if a fresh coating of grease all over.

After resembling the unit i went back out to the car with column and the lock still separated and plugged them back in. I reattached the battery terminal and prayed. I held the lock unit in my hand turned on the ignition and viola, no more light. Car started the first time.

I resembled the column with the lock, reinstalled it back into the car, and double checked all my connections. After everything was checked over twice i crossed my fingers and pushed the button. It unlocked the steering wheel and started like a champ. I tested it over and over about 10 times though out the rest of the day and started flawlessly every time.

I still only have a days worth of testing but I'm very confident that this has resolved the issue. For all of you who's cars may be out of warranty, I will keep you guys posted over the next couple days and weeks. If this continues to work I will document the full repair. I have taken alot of photos that will aid in the repair of this problem without having to spend a dime.

So in conclusion what I have found is that BMW's solution is to replace the lock mechanism in the vehicle because of a flaw. The flaw being that the lubrication (grease) provided inside the mechanism will eventually wear off the parts causing friction and binding. When the lock mechanism sticks and cannot move the motor creates higher current than normal and tells the processor inside the switch to stop, thus creating the error code. This error code prevents the vehicle from starting. When you guys jiggle and turn the ignition on and off you are slowly moving the mechanism and freeing the binding. This will only last so long as the parts will eventually bind again. I feel that this is a very simple fix. I think a semi skilled mechanic could fix this in about an hour or less.

[spandeli]

BTW, a new steering column by getBMWparts.com costs 206,70 US Dollars.

That menas dealers in Uk and in my country are ripping us off

[leeadam]

very interesting reading, i totally believe you actually that its probably just due to in binfing up...very good that you did it yourself im impressed. Just shows what a con dealers prices are.

[vblanche]

Originally Posted by spandeli

BTW, a new steering column by getBMWparts.com costs 206,70 US Dollars.

That menas dealers in Uk and in my country are ripping us off

any part number for a steering column? thanks

[Dr Dave]

Originally Posted by spandeli

BTW, a new steering column by getBMWparts.com costs 206,70 US Dollars.

That menas dealers in Uk and in my country are ripping us off

That sounds rather cheap?

[cyrreb]

Greetings. Have been very interested to read your posts as I too have a 2006 325i (built Aug.-05) with steering-wheel lock faults showing up at 44,000 miles. Actually it happened once before in 2007, but since I got the car started on the next try I dismissed the problem as a fluke. How I wish I'd paid attention (internet search shows plenty of complaints going back to 2007) and gotten a new steering column then.

Lately I've had the yellow warning and asked that it be looked into when I brought the car in this week for scheduled maintenance. $1,400 (for for that and basic stuff like oil change and fog-lamp replacement) and a day later, I got the red warning and non-starting car. Car back to dealer for two more days in order to reprogram electrical system. Was told that standard charge for this was $500, but because they wanted to "work with me" they'd do it for $250.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed and will always make sure that the wheels are pointing straight ahead when I turn off the ignition.

Happy New Year!

[ciscodisco]

Hi Spandeli, Thanks for the very informative post on this very common lock problem, please do not forget to post your photos as I or some of my mates will possibly have the same problem at some stage in the future.


Thanks Ian.


++++

E92 330d and I love her

[spandeli]

Hey guys, you probably did not read my thread carefully.

It was Not me who fixed the column but another member from the US forum, that i cant remember right now. Ive found his post a couple of months ago and printed his directions to a friend of mine who faced the same problem and got charged 800 euros by the dealer to get it replaced.

Anyways the link for a new column is this:


http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...layCatalogid=0

Hope this helps

[spandeli]

BTW Happy New Year to all of you

[spandeli]

Ah, after a little search ive found the link of the original post

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ing+wheel+lock

His name is GregoryM

[vblanche]

Can everyone who had the steering wheel column replaced confirm that steering wheel lock is gone?
thanks, vince

[vblanche]

Originally Posted by spandeli

BTW Happy New Year to all of you

many thanks, same to you, all the best for 2011.

[TMP]

Originally Posted by leeadam

Crazy i have an old corse twice round clock that has never missed a beat.

anyway letters been sent ..im sure they will keep fobbing me off..who knows??

Really poor to get this sort of failure on a relatively new car and ouch at the cost. Good luck and let us know their response.

[spandeli]

Originally Posted by vblanche

Can everyone who had the steering wheel column replaced confirm that steering wheel lock is gone?
thanks, vince

The steering wheel lock is still there even on the replacement parts, although ive read that it was supposed to be gone on 08+ cars

[ChaserPlus]

Hi Leeadam, just had the same problem with the lock and have my car booked into Specialist Cars in Tring on Monday for diagnostics. Im not sure about going there after reading about your problems with them. The girl on the phone wasn't helpful at all and said that was the first time she has heard of such a problem. Did you have any luck with a goodwill payment and if so what did you say and how did you go about it. Can you give me any help in the best way to deal with them. Many Thanks Rich

[vblanche]

goodwill claims have to go via a BMW dealer. I had mine sorted out by my local BMW dealer last week, I just paid the labour, they quickly accepted the goodwill claim.

[leeadam]

Hi all well i will try and scan and post bmws letter reply.
basically they totally deny that this is a common problem on bmws and said they monitor work that gets done on cars and if reoccurring pattern arrises they do a recall. So even though i said to them a simple online search and chat with couple of people that run bmw specialists show this is very common problem they deny it.
The staff at Tring bmw were dreadful and had a ..we could care less attitute because you did not buy car from them. they made no effort in being helpful and just wanted their £800 then..BYE!!!
So even though my car has FULL bmw service history and has 45 k they say because of mileage and the fact i didnt buy from bmw approved dealer there would be no goodwill gesture at all. I have brought my last 7 bmws this way and never had a problem this is first time. Funny thing is a friend had similar warranty issue on his 3 yr old audi a4 it was 5 months out of warranty needed 700 quids worth of work doing mechanical wise and audi wrote back and paid over half of it as goodwill.
Good ole bmw...mm maybe audi is calling and ill make the switch next yr when i sell this one ??

[dxb335d]

His was 5 months out of warranty. Yours is over double.

I think in all honesty it depends on the dealer. If you had a relationship with them maybe they would have sorted you out. To roll Into any dealer and expect them to pay for it when it's a year out of warranty is wishful thinking!

[leeadam]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

His was 5 months out of warranty. Yours is over double.

I think in all honesty it depends on the dealer. If you had a relationship with them maybe they would have sorted you out. To roll Into any dealer and expect them to pay for it when it's a year out of warranty is wishful thinking!

its not the dealer your expecting to pay for it???? its bmw uk. thats who pay them i know how all the systems work as my best mate worked there 15 years.
even he says its a joke. mine was not double the amount of time outta warranty at time i brought to their attention it was just 6 months. regardless of me not buying car at a bmw approved dealer are they suggesting if my car was brought private but with warranty they would not honor it then either? Also the point is the cars clearly have a problem with steering locks failing and they are totally denying there is any issue with them, they should be producing a car fit for its job and at least be decent enough to admit there are issues. I doubt i will buy a bmw next time..s4 calling i think )