ARCHER
12-03-2004, 12:17 AM
As Murphy's Law would dictate and as I anticipated, my car ran flawlessly during the tech's test drive today - no hesitation, no throttle lag, nothing. He was thoroughly impressed with how strongly my 72-K-on-the-ODO car ran. She started beautifully this morning and of course, ran clean all the way to the dealership.
Aside from the cold start issues which could just be a fluke as no fault codes have been registered, here are a couple of the reasons why my dealership pisses me off... and please... correct me if I am wrong or am in any way ignoring the obvious.
Through the steering wheel, I notice a distinct "shimmy" coming from the front rotor(s) under braking from highway speeds. It is the tell-tale, textbook kind of shimmy that comes from a warped rotor. It's a no-brainer as far as I am concerned. Yet, both my tech and service advisor suggest that this is likely due to a wheel being out of balance. Okay, so why does this surface only when the brakes are applied? They are going to investigate further... :?
Also, my inspection light actuated during the tech's drive. At ~72k miles, this is quite obviously going to be Inspection II, right? After all, 72K is rather generous even for Inspection II, isn't it? Not so fast. They are sure it is Inspection I, which according to my records from the previous owner (and John Roberts in Austin), was performed ~two years ago. I will show them my printout in the morning.
They did manage to agree that I needed a new thermostat (since 20 minutes in the car only brought the temp. needle to 11-O'clock) and that it was due for a state inspection.
I am thoroughly disappointed in my service dept.
As an aside, I was offered a drop-top, 2004 M3 which has been sitting on the floor for a lifetime, at $500 over invoice. This thing must be cursed. Many E46 M3's - even similar 'verts have left this thing at the post all year long.
Aside from the cold start issues which could just be a fluke as no fault codes have been registered, here are a couple of the reasons why my dealership pisses me off... and please... correct me if I am wrong or am in any way ignoring the obvious.
Through the steering wheel, I notice a distinct "shimmy" coming from the front rotor(s) under braking from highway speeds. It is the tell-tale, textbook kind of shimmy that comes from a warped rotor. It's a no-brainer as far as I am concerned. Yet, both my tech and service advisor suggest that this is likely due to a wheel being out of balance. Okay, so why does this surface only when the brakes are applied? They are going to investigate further... :?
Also, my inspection light actuated during the tech's drive. At ~72k miles, this is quite obviously going to be Inspection II, right? After all, 72K is rather generous even for Inspection II, isn't it? Not so fast. They are sure it is Inspection I, which according to my records from the previous owner (and John Roberts in Austin), was performed ~two years ago. I will show them my printout in the morning.
They did manage to agree that I needed a new thermostat (since 20 minutes in the car only brought the temp. needle to 11-O'clock) and that it was due for a state inspection.
I am thoroughly disappointed in my service dept.
As an aside, I was offered a drop-top, 2004 M3 which has been sitting on the floor for a lifetime, at $500 over invoice. This thing must be cursed. Many E46 M3's - even similar 'verts have left this thing at the post all year long.