Newbie here, prompted by events detailed herein. 2004 BMW 330CI, manual, 120,000 miles. “Rns gd.” Maintained by the book at dealer. I gas up at national chain Tuesday night. Wednesday I drive sixty miles with starts and stops. Thursday AM; engine turns well but no kick at all, and no gas smell, and no start. Tow to dealer. Fuel pump output pressure is zero. It is replaced. I pick it up and drive about twenty miles Thursday night, with a stop. This morn(Friday) I go to garage, turn the key, and it’s Thursday morning all over again. Car is towed back to dealer. I await their call.
So, what’s going on? Is it the gas? AAA won’t comment on the situation. Is there such a thing as a forensic mechanic?
Is there someone who analyzes gas from your tank? Who, where? You can’t mail flammable liquids, can you?
What do I do, depending on what dealership tells me? How do I protect my rights? Do you think they still have the pump removed yesterday? Is it important? Thanks in advance for any clues here.
Happy resolution. the gas in the tank, purchased from a station that no longer sports red white and blue colors, was 16%+ ethanol with a little extra water for good measure, per the dealer. They see problems routinely with this brand. Since they did not consider this as a possible cause yesterday, and did not evaluate it, they are giving me a new fuel pump under warranty today. They also drained the tank and filled it up on their dime. Excess alcohol apparently swells the seals of Beamer fuel pumps. Gosh, an auto story with a happy ending! Or should I wait till tomorrow am to draw any final conclusions?
Wait until tomorrow to see if you’re done buying bad gas.
Tell that station owner your findings and threaten to hang a few signs around his property to ward away others.
I’m not totally buying into the story you were given at this point. Some points for consideration might be:
- A gasoline sample should be saved. If not, hmmmmmmm…
- These mysterious pump seals they mention…
- If the gasoline is so bad as to cause a new pump to die a death that quickly due to Number 2 then there’s the question of why the equally rubberized fuel pressure regulator and fuel injector seals have not gone belly-up…
- If this alleged new pump failure was a BMW dealer parts warranty then BMW’s regional office should have a warranty claim on file for that pump…
I would not go dancing in the streets just yet.