I have noticed the clutch judders significantly in start/stop traffic particularly going uphill. A couple of days ago I experienced some serious juddering and a burning smell (opened the bonnet and it was from within the engine bay)
Took to it to BMW as it was due a "vehicle check" service anyways. They said it could possibly be the clutch but the can't confirm as they will to investigate by opening up the gearbox and check the clutch.
My concern is that the car is coming upto be being 3 years from new and is still under the manufacturer's warranty and done only 30k miles. If it did require clutch replacement, how likely is it that it is due to wear and tear and not covered under the warranty.
The dealership said that BMW are getting tight on warranty claims and need authorisation. If the warranty didn't cover, they estimated the costs including labour and parts will be £1,000.
I can probably live with this problem if it not gonna cause other troubles. But if its likely to be under warranty I would quite like to get it fixed for FREE. The only problem is that by the time BMW have opened up the gearbox to investigate, I would have racked up £500 anyways and then it might not be a good idea NOT to replace it.
Any help will be much appreciated.
Thanks
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Best get it checked under warranty, fingers crossed BMW will pay, if not you would have to get it done sometime anyway.
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Sounds like a failing clutch.
Now, BMW are very unlikely to cover this under warranty on a 30,000 mile car. I'm not criticising your driving style, just stating a fact.
I've never replaced a BMW clutch but my experience is that clutches on RWD vehicles are a lot easier to fix than on FWD models.
Might be worth forgetting the dealer and having a clutch replacement from a reliable independent. A lot cheaper and less hassle.
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If the car has full BMW main dealer service history then odds are BMW will change the clutch.
I had a 3 Series E46 clutch replaced a couple of years ago under the Approved Used Car warranty. Before we got to actually replacing the clutch they tried some adjustments and even tried upgrading SW to overcome a dead point on the clutch when taking up drive.
At the end of the day though, I can't see how they can prove or suggest it's your bad driving.
Just out of curiosity, do you have a history of wearing clutches out?
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Yes the car has been serviced by the main dealer, infact by the same main dealer 3 times.
I have never worn out a clutch. This is the first BMW I have had. Had a Ford before which I sold at 100k mileage and no clutch issues ever.
I have been trying to do a bit of research and it seems that it is somewhat a known problem with BMWs. Here is the link
www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16922
The service adviser said that BMW now require the dealership to get authorisation from BMW technical dept before changing clutch under waranty. Not sure how that impacts.
Also, does anyone know if going to one dealership over other will affect the chance of getting this problem fixed under waranty?
Regards
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Got the car to the main dealer this morning.
Called them about 10 minutes ago to check the progress and they confirmed that the clutch needs replacing as there was an oil leek somewhere and that it will be covered under waranty. Saved myself a £1000 I guess.
However, the guy said that rear brake discs and pads are below the minimum recommended and that it will cost £312 to replace them.
I am a bit baffled as I had the Vehicle Check Service done 2 days ago by the same dealer and they said its approaching the minimum soon but it was only at advisory stage yet. How can it detiorate in 2 days.
Can I ask you guys to suggest whether I should get them replaced by the main dealer or go to an independent to save a bit of money?
Thanks
Nas
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Ask them exactly what the minimum recommended is and what yours are measuring. Take a wheel off and look at the pads yourself. If you can see plenty of pad on there, then have a right to be suspicious, at the same time you can measure the diameter of the discs. if you can't easily measure it, look at the depth of the wear ring around the edge which give you an idea of how much material has worn away. As a very rough guide, it the ring is only 1 to 1.5 mm deep your probably fine. If the pads have 8mm of more on em your probably OK for a while, depending on how you drive..
I have seen a lot of posts on forums about how since they stopped using asbestos, the new materials are harder and wear the discs faster. Not really so sure I subscribe to that myself, for me it does not make logical sense and really doesn't seem to be the case on any car I have owned in recent years. If the discs are now wearing faster as pads are harder, then energy is being used up in wearing the disc, so this load is now shared where before it wasn't. If this was true, modern pads would last longer....but they don't. If anything they seem to wear quicker.
Disk material has changed little on cars over the years, but I do believe the performance of cars is much higher and the breaking systems are being loaded far higher for modern driving I think peoples driving styles have changed dramatically and it is this that wears things much more. Coupled with heavily sintered pads (especially some aftermarket and your going to get a lot of wear. In the old days I never would have put the loading on brakes at motorway speeds that they can be put under in a modern car, it was hard enough to get to 70 or more and certainly so few cars that there was rarely a need for heavy breaking.
I probably drive the same way I always used to and am not heavy on the brakes as such I have never had the disks changed on any car I have owned many up to 60k plus miles. I may have had 1 or even 2 sets of pads though.
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