Henry Lubong's Journal

Just recently, my two Bimmers started to gave me some headaches and were throwing out some error codes (according to my OBDII scanner). Had I not have the tool, a shop can easily charge me $60 for diagnostics alone and BMW “stealerships” will definitely charge more. With some googling around and lots of searches from BMW forums, I was able to get more information regarding the problems I was having with my cars.

Here’s a little bit of background with my cars. The 325i/E46 began with a hard start in the morning and the car goes into limp mode due to some transmission control error. This precautionary measure is to protect the transmission from a very costly damage. But the error can also mean an already malfunctioning transmission. We are talking $5,000 here in repair! Aside from the tranny error, the thermostat was also found stuck open which attributes to the car being sluggish. This car has already 80,000 miles on it so the whole cooling system is due for a preventive maintenance anyway before it can do harm to the engine. It means, replacing the thermostat, water pump, expansion tank, hoses, a bunch of sensors and flushing the coolant. Phew! Listing those parts makes me go broke! Upon my further diagnostics and electrical troubleshooting, I concluded that the alternator is what’s causing the transmission control error. Basically, the alternator is not putting out the correct voltage, which is needed by the transmission’s computer module. I called up the shops and of course they won’t concur and wanted to do their own diagnostics. That translates to more mula from my pocket!

And that is just the E46. My Z3 was acting up too and throwing a couple of error codes. Sometimes, it doesn’t start when its cold. It also wouldn’t hold idle and stall when decelerating. It would also hesitate in the low RPM range and bogs and surges when running. I scanned the problem and gave me a Camshaft Sensor and Cooling System error. This is an easier one, I just had to replace the sensor and the thermostat.

So with all those problems I mentioned above, how much really are we talking about here? A typical BMW dealership will charge $100 to $180 per hour for labor and a certified independent BMW mechanic can charge $60 to $80. The dealerships around my area charge $120/hr and my goto indy (independent) shops charge $75/hr. Just for the record, do not take your BMW cars to just any auto shops that you know of. Most of the repairs involve a know how of the many electronic modules in these cars – which I hate! And stay away from the dealership as much as you can So anyway, my indy shop quoted me for almost $900 dollars just to do the cooling system on the 325i. Another $800 to replace the alternator. And for the Z3, it’s $300 to do the thermostat. Then they have to diagnose the camshaft sensor problem (which I already knew) and that will cost me at least $60 and an hour labor to replace the $160 part. Let me do my quick math here… did all those things just added up to be around $2,200!!!

I certainly would not pay that much for something that I can do on a weekend. So thanks to their detailed quotes because I was able to order the parts myself and saved some money too from buying it online. The parts on those two cars totaled to only about $700. I spent one entire day to fix the two cars and pocketed $1,500 worth of labor. It should have only taken me 4 hours if it wasn’t raining and I didn’t have to look online for procedures It’s still worth spending a day with my cars and at least I’m confident that they were taken care of and I don’t have to worry about a sloppy job done by some mechanics.

With all these money that I saved, it’s just right to give something back these holidays. I normally send money to my relatives in the Philippines but this year, they will get something extra