Took my car into the dealer today for a diagnostic test. They found some misfires and have corrected the codes (whatever that means). They are also installing a new power steering pump.
I complained earlier that I felt the clutch slipping betwee 4th and 5th gear. I am told by the service manager that the clutch is a wear item and is not covered under the 4 year factory warranty. Quote was $2k to replace incl. flywheel.
is this true? My car is an '02 and is warrantied until 5/06, so not much time left, but I never heard of a expensive factory item like this not being covered.
The WARRANTY never covered the clutch, as the clutch is a wear item, like belts, hoses, and brakes. There is a full free maintenance program for US cars which covers these items. For 2002, the full free maintenance was for 3 years or 36K miles, unless extra was paid, as I did, to extend this to 4 years or 50K miles. The clutch will normally be covered under this maintenance program, unless it is due to abnormal wear and abuse. If you purchased the extended maintenance to match your warranty period, it may be covered, otherwise, it was never covered by the manufacturer's warranty -- only the free full maintenance program.
The WARRANTY never covered the clutch, as the clutch is a wear item, like belts, hoses, and brakes. There is a full free maintenance program for US cars which covers these items. For 2002, the full free maintenance was for 3 years or 36K miles, unless extra was paid, as I did, to extend this to 4 years or 50K miles. The clutch will normally be covered under this maintenance program, unless it is due to abnormal wear and abuse. If you purchased the extended maintenance to match your warranty period, it may be covered, otherwise, it was never covered by the manufacturer's warranty -- only the free full maintenance program.
Thanks Digi.
I think you're right. I'll have to see if i can live with it for a spell or it can be my first expensive repair on the car in 72 hours of owning it!
Different dealers seem to handle it differently. If the self adjusting mechanism (seen here as SAC) has gone bad (most of the time this is the cupprit), then the clutch will not hook up properly and an honest dealer who reports that (OK, stop laughing out there) should be able to get BMW to cover it under the warranty. If you abused the clutch, then obviously, no coverage. The problem is that an abused clutch looks an awful lot like a clutch with a bad SAC mechanism.
As a practical matter, most dealers covered one clutch, whether under maintenance, warranty or simply good will. It is a known weak spot and many dealers even stock an entire clutch kit for the M5 (with total US sales of about 10,000 cars- that should tell you something).
Talk to the SA and the general Service Manager calmly, tell them you know this is a weak spot and that you would like to chat with the zone rep, as you are aware of dozens of M5 owners with the same problem who BMW stood behind. You would expect a manufacturer to stand behind what it advertises as a $75,000 "Ultimate Driving Machine" . Good luck
Regards,
Jerry
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'01 Black/caramel
Dinan Stage 3 suspension, SS jet coated headers, ESS SC kit, open brake ducts, Hamann front splitters, TEC cupholder, U.S.(Euro style) tilt/slide armrest, 6k HID fogs, 6k super white low beams, V1/Stealth1, dual head LI, 2.65 diff w/40% lockup/2x dynamic, compact spare, Euro trailer hitch, Mocal oil cooler, ACS type rear spoiler, Rogue custom SSK and tranny mounts, ST 355 BBK (fronts), BP sway bar brackets, Bluetooth retrofit
If $tealer says anything along the lines of "driver abuse", or "wear and tear" your $crewed. As mentioned above, all $tealers are different and handle situations at their discretion - Good Luck
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2000 Silvr(354)/Blk(M1SW) 65k miles
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