Heater Core fault and Warranty Claim?"

[MiniFr34k]

Hi Folks

I bought my mini 2nd hand and paid for extended warranty (so its not the brand new car warranty).

Last night my car overheated. i had it sent to BMW hoping it was something to do with the coolant expansion tank leaking as it was dead empty when i checked it this morning.

Just got a phone call from the service tech (nice bloke) who advised me it was the heater core which had split and broken.

This explains why there wasnt any fluid in the coolant tank as they share the same cooland (ie air con heater and the radiator).

This also explains the 'steam' that i was seeing on the inside of the car.

The bill im looking at to get the heater core fixed is about $860bucks ( i could fricking buy a new grs intercooler core for that).

They are saying this is NOT covered in my extended warranty as they specifically excluded! (sons of b..tches... they exclude these things cause they know they will fail?).

The help im seeking is:

- Anyone experience this? what course of action did u take.
- Anyone know this warranty stuff better than i do? is BMW correct and i have no claim?
- Donations excepted (im trying to stay positive ).

Cheers and it has been a rough past couple of weeks for me and my car

-Pete

[n00b]

This is exactly what I told you when you called last night steam in cabin + loss of coolant = heater core.

Call Sylvania up and see will they come to the party picking up the bill. Or call the parts dept, price up the heater core price (ask them for trade) then call Peak and see how much they want for labour. I got lazy last time getting a radiator done and paid $200 more than I should. At least it's got the dealer's receipt

[MiniFr34k]

Well im no mechanic (only good at following diy instructions) so dont really know these things.

Core is approx $300bucks apparently.

[MiniFr34k]

Peak has no idea how much it would to fix, but guesses around 500-1000 mark (not including parts).

What i dont understand is, what on earth causes a heater core to fail? i never use the bloody aircon heater !!!! >

Cheers to anyone that can shed some light, on this, or help with my problem .

[n00b]

If the part is $300ish and Trivett wanted $860 with their hourly rate of $120, they wanted 4-5 hours worth of labour to do it. Doesn't sound like a huge job..

Is it the heater core itself leaks or is it the pipes surrounding it have splited and leak?



Doesn't look like a pretty hard job and the heater radiator (the proper name for it according to ETK) is just next to your left foot. I am guessing just rip out the downtube and everything surrounding it then you'd be able to pull it out?

[MiniFr34k]

im told its the heater core itself.

Im told the job is heaps expensive because they have to pull apart the dash and who knows whatelse before they can access the core.

They didnt have any of these parts in stock, so one had to be ordered from the Melbourne vikings (). Should arrive overnight.

[n00b]

Ouch, $860 outta your mod money

Was gonna tell ya to take over and buy the twincharge kit

[MiniFr34k]

i know

im starting to think i should trade it in for a new mcs like what the oracle did .

[n00b]

Yeah and you get the LSD option as well..works out to be quite cost effective if you consider the LSD (like a Quaife) will cost you over $1k, install is another $700-1000..effectively that's a small chunk of a new MCS. Plus 3 years factory not half arsed extended warranty

[MiniFr34k]

True, but theres no way i can afford the options i got on my car now (dsc,leather,climate,xenon,roof,mfsw) with a new mcs. maybe when i get a promotion

anyhows bak on topic.. Solutions/comments folks??

[n00b]

There's no any other solution but to replace it. Other than that, look for someone else to do it or source the parts required cheaper than what they quoted you?

[MiniFr34k]

Well what i was hoping was input from others re: warranty cover. Seems like i gotta research this one alone.

[n00b]

You could request to see a copy of the extended warranty guideline/PDS kinda stuff and request this issue to be escalated to BMW Aust. Or do what ozmini did, pay for it first and eventually fight them to get your money back

It is a safety issue afterall, even though it's just as remote as the airbag being deactivated, you probably have a chance. Or start screaming and yelling they might charge you less for labour...or send a fax to Frank (the assistant manager there) saying you aren't happy blah blah you might get a free service outta it .

[IML337]

yeah speak to Sylvania where you bought the car and look at your extended warranty docs, to verify what you're being told. I don't recall the coverage of the third year of warranty being less than the standard two years.

Is it a BMW dealer warranty, or one of those aftermarket dodgy ones?

If you send a fax to that Frank bloke at Parramatta, tell him I said he's sleazy, and my name isn't Micheal.

[MiniFr34k]

Its bmw dealer warranty forsure.