BMW over-revving in the mornings - help!

Following the 40,000 mile oil service, the car has been running like a dog in the mornings.

For the first 10 minutes of driving, it refuses to go above 25 mph (pressing the accelerator simply results in additional revs). During this period the manual facility for changing gear is inoperable. However, at a certain point, the car rights itself, and performance is "as normal".

When I took the car back to the dealer, it (after a day's investigation) replaced the airflow meter. No difference.

I returned the car and was informed (after another day's investigation) that the gearbox needed to be replaced.

Credit to the dealer, it contacted BMW, who in the interest of goodwill (the car is out of warranty) offered a free replacement. All I had to do was pay the difference between the "airflow service" and the cost of fitting the new gearbox.

The car was off the road for a week. The gearbox was replaced. It made no difference.

The dealer suggested that I bring the car back. Whoa.

I am not particularly inclined to fund further research (I'm £1000 down already, including the oil service).

First off I do hope you're not going to stand for being charged for work that didn't achieve anything. It couldn't possibly have been the airflow meter and clearly wasn't the gearbox. Your first step is a letter stating that neither of these jobs cured the fault and you expect your money refunded within 14 days or you'll claim it back in the small claims court.

Does anyone have any opinion (half-baked is as good as the dealer's) as to what might be wrong?

Fraid not but if it wasn't the box itself it might lie in the electronic control systems. How they work on a modern BMW I haven't the faintest idea though.

Thanks, all John

Sorry, this post will not help in the slightest, however, I'm struggling to understand the "credit to the dealer" bit? They've fitted two parts, one of which they've billed you for, and the total including labour is a grand?, and yet they haven't the competence to repair your car?

There ought to be a bloody law against this.

Following the 40,000 mile oil service, the car has been running like a dog in the mornings.

For the first 10 minutes of driving, it refuses to go above 25 mph (pressing the accelerator simply results in additional revs). During this period the manual facility for changing gear is inoperable. However, at a certain point, the car rights itself, and performance is "as normal".

When I took the car back to the dealer, it (after a day's investigation) replaced the airflow meter. No difference.

I returned the car and was informed (after another day's investigation) that the gearbox needed to be replaced.

Credit to the dealer, it contacted BMW, who in the interest of goodwill (the car is out of warranty) offered a free replacement. All I had to do was pay the difference between the "airflow service" and the cost of fitting the new gearbox.

The car was off the road for a week. The gearbox was replaced. It made no difference.

The dealer suggested that I bring the car back. Whoa.

I am not particularly inclined to fund further research (I'm £1000 down already, including the oil service).

Does anyone have any opinion (half-baked is as good as the dealer's) as to what might be wrong?

Thanks, all John

Thanks Dave (and all who took the time to reply)

I also posted this problem to alt.autos.bmw. There's an interesting difference in the tone of the replies:

Mike Dodd (this group): There ought to be a bloody law against this. zerouali (the other group): I doubt a gearbox is cheap so I reckon that was fairly good goodwill!

During it's 42,000 miles, my car experienced the following: sensor failed (causing over-revving during normal operation), air-conditioning failed (twice), noisy and erratic electric windows (numerous occasions), bulbs failed (numerous occasions) and the current problem.

I spoke to a taxi driver this week (for obvious reasons) who said that his last cab did 1.2 million miles (without major surgery).

The next car is a Lexus. Or a cab :-)

TTFN - thanks, all (I'll keep you posted) John

I agree. I simply wouldn't pay.

Following the 40,000 mile oil service, the car has been running like a dog in the mornings.

For the first 10 minutes of driving, it refuses to go above 25 mph (pressing the accelerator simply results in additional revs). During this period the manual facility for changing gear is inoperable. However, at a certain point, the car rights itself, and performance is "as normal".

When I took the car back to the dealer, it (after a day's investigation) replaced the airflow meter. No difference.

I returned the car and was informed (after another day's investigation) that the gearbox needed to be replaced.

Credit to the dealer, it contacted BMW, who in the interest of goodwill (the car is out of warranty) offered a free replacement. All I had to do was pay the difference between the "airflow service" and the cost of fitting the new gearbox.

The car was off the road for a week. The gearbox was replaced. It made no difference.

The dealer suggested that I bring the car back. Whoa.

I am not particularly inclined to fund further research (I'm £1000 down already, including the oil service).

Does anyone have any opinion (half-baked is as good as the dealer's) as to what might be wrong?

Thanks, all John

The problem is you're using a BMW dealer. Get your money back from the BMW dealer, they did nothing to fix your car. Then go to an independent dealer which will be cheaper and they will fix it or at least tell you what the problem is.

Don't buy a BMW again though, their dealers rip you off, you get ripped off for extras when you buy the car, reliability isn't very good and they're common as mud these days.

If nothing else has changed it looks like something happened to cause this during the "service". Can you ask them exactly what they did?

I've never worked on an auto, but for such a thing to happen I guess the g/box does look sus. If the revs are coming up in response to the accel pedal, this reinforces this guess. AFAIK the correct oil in autos is critical - is the correct oil in there?

Try and find out what sensors are involved in warm-up. BMW's have many, it could simply be a faulty sensor of some kind.

That really is rubbish! I had an '89 325i for 10 years. It did over 200K including much high speed driving in Germany and crawling through UK traffic jams and never let me down. I did all my own servicing.

What relevance has that got? Sounds like jealously to me :-)