[chenry]

An interesting read from our friends over in the X3M forum....a tale of an X3M, a known flash tune (meaning dealer/BMW was aware), a blown engine and a $14k repair bill covered under warranty.

Quote from owner:
Oh they knew, they knew cause I told them and their ISTA system caught it immediately. I know its pay to play, but when its a factory defect that isn't something that the tune caused, you don't need to pay

In summary:

• X3M owner initially ran BM3 and then removed and moved to Mission Performance for better results
• Car is producing over 600WHP and running sub 3 sec 0-60
• After several months and 6k miles of being tuned and driven very hard car starts to lose power so owner restores car to stock tune but problem persists (and now notices faint ticking sound)
• Owner goes to dealer: dealer knows car is flashed (owner tells them and also of course shows up on ISTA) , identifies problem as failed injector seal. Fixes problem under warranty
• Noise persists: back to dealer so they dig deeper, find out the injector seal not sealing as it was a factory defect and was causing the injector hole to mar (?) and will require a new cylinder head from Germany.
• $14k+ repair performed at dealer under warranty because failure was not tune related but rather a factory defect
• Despite foundationless rumors to the contrary, there is no proactive blanket voiding of warranty due to modifications (at least in the USA)

Direct link to the thread here :
https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1792969

[Alex_bm]

Personal experience here in Canada. I was told by dealership to remove Dinan air intake before they even start diagnosing an issue.
I guess everyone experience varies.

[Fuel-It!]

I think this story is more like winning the lottery than the norm. BMW could just say the extra power caused the injector to work harder resulting in the failure. Good luck proving it didn't. Still nice to hear a story of a dealership doing the right thing.

[Rocket455]

Originally Posted by Fuel-It!

I think this story is more like winning the lottery than the norm.

This. Responses are very dealer-dependent, and unfortunately outcomes like this are rare and usually go the other way.

[Bmwdoubles_]

Holy crap. Very lucky. The good news is MP is a solid group of people and would've helped if the dealer didn't.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by Fuel-It!

I think this story is more like winning the lottery than the norm. BMW could just say the extra power caused the injector to work harder resulting in the failure. Good luck proving it didn't. Still nice to hear a story of a dealership doing the right thing.

Originally Posted by Rocket455

This. Responses are very dealer-dependent, and unfortunately outcomes like this are rare and usually go the other way.

it's not as rare as you think, I had my car's turbo replaced under warranty as well (335). My M4 is fully modded and still gets work done under warranty.

If the damage is not caused by your mod, the dealership will repair it under warranty. That's the law.

[DenHaag3er]

Law wise its very region specific and even then they have such a strong argument. Mods put undue stress on parts that they could not account for. I reckon they repair stuff free just out of good will.