Final Drive unit failure - Differential bracket

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Jonttt
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Final Drive unit failure - Differential bracket

Post by Jonttt »

I know this issue is well documented but I thought would give an update for all those with cars outside of the BMW warranty and high mileage.
I picked up my Z3m a few weeks ago. I was aware of the spot weld telltale re the diff bracket problem and had inspected these before purchase and all seemed fine.
However, I had read more about the problem afterwards and decided to have another look. I then discovered one of the spot welds had indeed failed. I must have missed this when I looked at the dealers :head: (its under the CD changer so you have to feel it and shine a torch to see).
I had arranged for a specialist to look over the car anyway so asked him to check the diff bracket. He said that it looked ok but it bugged me. So I managed to get a dealer to print off the cars history (its a 1999 build with 79,000 miles). There is a record of an "inspection" of the final drive unit back in 2003. I decided to ask my local dealer to look at the problem explaining that a spot weld had failed. They suggested I bring the car in for them to look at it. I turned up to hand over my keys and they wanted me to pay for the "inspection". I objected to this on the basis that they had suggested I bring the car in. I signed the paperwork stating FOC for initial inspection so there would be no doubt when I picked the car up. I then got a phone call saying that there was a problem but that they were unable to say what it was because I was not paying for an inspection :head: :head: :head: I picked the car up thanking them for confirming there was a problem and expressing my frustration that they would not say what it was or suggest what needed doing to fix it. I then emailed BMW customer services explaining what had gone on and asking them for a suggestion. I gave them the cars VIN number and that was all. To be honest I was not expecting much from this and on the basis the independant had said not to worry I was going to leave well alone and just keep an eye on it (I plan on keeping the car fo a long time which is just used for fun).
The interesting thing is that I have just had a phone call for BMW UK saying that the dealerships service manager would be contacting me today to arrange for the car to be brought in to their workshop. A BMW UK technical advisor will then report a warranty claim to BMW germany. Depending on BMW germany's response a claim will then be raised to BMW UK who have been made fully aware of this. It was obvious they had done a fair bit of work on this and spoken to both my local dealer and the original dealer who had carriedout the inspection over 5 year ago. The guy I spoke to confirmed that BMW do offer a "product enhancement" for this fault irrespective of warranty / history unless the cause is obviously due to neglect / bodged remedial works carried out other than by BMW.
BMW have really surprised me and obviously this must be a policy for them with this problem. I'm still not sure what will happen but I am just pleased I don't have to pay my local BMW dealer ££££££ to tell me what the problem is. I will keep this post updated with my progress. :rtm:
Last edited by Jonttt on Fri 06 Feb, 2009 10:19, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Kiwi »

This is very interesting - please do keep us updated.
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Post by stu »

Excellent result!

Looking forwards to the updates.
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Good result

Post by ZZZEMMCO »

Good news--- and its what loyal BMW owners would have hoped would be the response of a manufactorer, who has traded in the world market place as a leader in quality and technology.

Some of the decisions from AG in the past on warranty matters, have not been as responsible when inbuilt defects take years to surface.

We have to thank our American cousins for their actions against AG/NA to get a change of thinking, after legal action was threatened on another defect--engines not structural.


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Post by Jonttt »

An interesting update today.

I had not been contacted by the local dealer as advised by BMW UK last week so chased them up today. A guy from the bodyshop confirmed that he was currently compiling a quote for BMW UK for the "goodwill" remediation works required. However, as they had not seen this problem before he was still trying to establish exactly what was required. They did not need to actually see the vehicle to do this :shock: .
The intersting bit is that as I was talking to him about the differential bracket he confirmed that from December 1999 a different "strengthened" bracket was used. My car was a september 1999 production run. :rtm:
So that may imply that if your car is post December 1999 production run this problem should not be experienced?
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Post by Deano1712 »

A new diff bracket (pt no 41118398664) is made from 0.2mm thicker material so this may be what they refer to as the 'strengthened' bracket. If they propose to simply fit this as your fix its a waste of time since the root of the problem is insufficient welds to the boot floor, and not the strength of the hanger bracket. There is a bigger repair part available(41117033491) which is probably worth proceeding with. Fitting that is more intrusive and gives opportunity to make a stronger job of it. If you are going to proceed with this I suggest you insist that more welds are added to the boot floor, as well as the broken weld(s) repaired. You also need to make sure they do a good job of repainting it all.
Last edited by Deano1712 on Mon 26 Jan, 2009 17:44, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Jonttt »

Thanks Deano

I will contact the dealer and let them know
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Post by Jonttt »

Contacted the dealer and asked what parts he thought would be needed. He quoted the correct part 41117033491 identified by Deano. He also said that weld strengthening would be carried out but a replacement boot floorpan would not be required as the damage was not extensive ie relatively early stages. The replacement strengthened bracket + welding would both repair and stop from happening again. This at least gave me some confidence that they are thinking about whats needed the correct way. I will give them the rest of the week to complete their estimate and chase them on Friday if I have not heard any more :D
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Post by offyourmarks »

hi john

sounds interesting - its good to see that bmw are finally getting round to helping you out!

i will keep a keen eye on mine :)

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Post by Jonttt »

Matt

Yours has only just done enough mileage for its first service! :D
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Post by Jonttt »

Will try and keep this post updated as events take place.

Chased up local dealer bodyshop today to see if they had finalised the quote for BMW UK.

They had already told me that as they had not done this work before they were having trouble identifying exactly what had to be done. I was happy that they had identified the correct parts.

The guy in the bodyshop has been quite open and admitted that although they know the parts they are struggling to precisly identify the exact process to be carried out o finalise the quote. He said that they wanted to get this right so the job could be done correctly. They had had to raise a technical query to BMW UK using a system called PUMA. They don't use this system very often and submitted the query yesturday and are waiting for a reponse.

As I'm in no rush to get this sorted (so long as its not off the road for weeks in summer :bawl: ) I will go with the flow for now and chase them again for an update Tues/Wed next week.
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Post by offyourmarks »

thanks for the update John - sure this may prove beneficial to many in time.

Its fair enough that they are being open and honest rather than the usual bull associated with large corporates. Plus i bet when they do it, it will be done correctly too. :)
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Post by Jonttt »

Had an update call from the local BMW bodyshop on way home from work tonight. (as they promised they would last week which is good, I didn't have to chase tomorrow).

They confirmed that they have completed the quote and submitted it to BMW UK. They will await further instruction from them.

I asked what the quote included and how much it totalled. They did not have the quote in front of them but confirmed that it enailed replacing the boot cross member and associated differential bracket. They cross member also be strengthened.

This is in line with what I was expecting and from previous notes I have researched I don't think I will ever get anything in writing from BMW.

I will sent BMW UK customer service an email tomorrow to ask for confirmation of receipt of quotation and indication of next stage in the process. I bet they phone me back rather than reply to my email, any takers :lol:
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Post by Robin »

There's a picture of the stronger diff bracket here.
http://www.zroadster.net/forum/viewtopi ... sc&start=0
The improved diff mount bracket comes welded to a 'U' section to double up the metal on the cross member/axle carrier to prevent cracks there as well.
As you can see my cross member had cracked even more than the diff mount bracket.
You can just see the part number on the label :-)
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Post by Jonttt »

Robin

It was your post referred to and the pictures of your car that encouraged me to take mine in and raise the issue with BMW in the first place.

I am also expecting them to ask me to contribute as they did to you.

Will be interesting as mine is older than yours was with a lot more mileage and well out of all warranties. BMW have not "seen" the car since 2004 but it does have a full specialist service history since then.

I'm actually looking forward to the arguments with them over contributions. I would like to be able to set a precedent for other Z3 owners who identify this problem on older cars.

Out of interest do you still have the car and has it been OK since? Also did you ever get any paperwork / warranty with the work.

Fortunately I deal with a litigation specialist as part of my daily job who is a bit of a car nut. He has said he will happily get involved "as a bit of fun" if they start playing games over costs.
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Post by Robin »

jonttt wrote:Out of interest do you still have the car and has it been OK since? Also did you ever get any paperwork / warranty with the work
Didn't receive a written warranty for the work.
I haven't done a visual check of the mount. Haven't noticed any problems in driving the car. I regularly enjoy the rapid acceleration of the car, so it get's quite a high loading. Will inspect the new mount when I get a chance & get back to you.
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Post by Jonttt »

Had a phone call from BMW UK Customer Services (no reply to my email then :roll: )

Fantastic news (I think) :D

They have confirmed that they received a quotation from my local dealer in conjunction with technical advice from the regional technical advisor.

The quotation has been approved 100% under BMW's "product enhancement scheme" and "funds" have been released to the dealership.

The dealership will be in contact with me shortly to arrange for the car to be brought in for the repairs.

All sounds superb but.....

I asked for confirmation that "I will not have to pay anything then?" and was told "there may be a slight diagnostic charge, but it will not be too much". When I queried this I was told that the dealer would clarify when they contacted me. :head:

mmmm I can see the argument now (am I just a pessamist :shake: ). Dealer says brilliant news your work has been approved 100% BMW is paying BUT you need to pay us £££££££ for something before we can start :head: :head:

Anyway, will play it cool and treat this as great news.

I contacted the dealer and they said they had not heard back yet but would check. They seemed surprised that a decision could have been made so quickly and I got the impression they thought I was "pesturing" them.

I will leave it until next week.

So far I have thought the worst and been proved pleasently surprised. Lets hope this continues and I can sing BMW praises fully, fingers crossed final hurdle to come I think.

Oh nothing in writing of course but I will continue to email confirmation of our conversations as no denial is as good as acceptance in my book (don't tell the mrs I said that :lol: )
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Post by Jonttt »

Its official - I am a pessamist :D

Local BMW dealer bodyshop phoned me within an hour of the above post to confirm that the work had been approved 100% funded by BMW UK.

I asked "will there be anything for me to pay?" and was told

"absolutely not all fully funded by BMW UK"

:D :lol: :D :lol: :D :lol:

I am a very happy camper, can't believe how accommodating BMW have been over this.

They have said that the Diff bracket is showing one in stock in the country and there was a chance it may be a back order taking 10 days. If they can get the one in stock they can start next Tuesday.

As I only live 2 miles from them I agreed to bring the car in one evening when they confirm part is in. I will then walk home (couldn't be bothered asking for a replacement car as I don't need one and would be a bit cheeky?)

I asked how long the job would take and they said that it could be up to 2 weeks! That is in line with previous examples and reflects how major a job this is. I'm fine with that - would rather them have it for longer and do a good job (so long as I get it back for summer 8-) )

I will post up my original email to BMW UK to give people an idea how to start this process off.

This is a 9 year old vehicle with 80k miles and no BMW service history in the last 5 years.

The problem is only just noticible from a couple of broken spot welds in the boot. The car drives superbly and I would not have known there was any issue but for people who have taken the time and trouble to post about this previously on this and other forums, so thank you to them all.

I would encourage anyone with first sign of this problem to contact BMW Customer Services rather than ignore or try and sort out themselves.

I really think I have benefited from all the hassle people have had with this issue in the past and BMW obvious acceptance that they need to rectify the problem free of charge no matter how old the vehicle. (there is an old saying that "design is for life")

Hopefully my experience will add to peoples knowledge in a positive and productive way.

As has been said elsewhere "let the welding begin" :D
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Post by Jonttt »

Original Email sent to BMW UK Customer Services

email address
customer.service@bmw.co.uk

Dear Sir,

I am contacting you regarding a problem I am experiencing with my Z3m roadster.

Details are:

1999/07 production date
Chassis number LBXXXXX

I am aware that there is a potential design problem with regard to the final drive unit bracket on the Z3 model.

Initial obvious signs of this problem seem well documented and consist of the “spot” welds on the boot floor failing (above the final drive unit bracket).

Several of the spot welds in this area have failed on the above vehicle.

I have established that some years ago the car was inspected for this problem by a main BMW dealership.

I arranged for my local BMW dealership (Halliwell Jones – Warrington) to inspect the car. They have confirmed that there is a problem. They are unwilling to take any further action at this stage and suggested that I contact yourselves.

In my view “it is common knowledge” that there is a design flaw with the welds on the Z3 final drive bracket and indeed the bracket itself. It is even suggested that the spot welds originally used in this structural area are illegal in the UK.

Whilst I appreciate that this vehicle is now outside of the standard BMW mechanical or corrosion warranty I am concerned that if left as is the problem will worsen with potentially serious safety implications due to an inherent design flaw. Given that it seems obvious that BMW has inspeced for this problem previously but unfortunately it has since materialised I would be grateful if you could suggest a course of remedial action.

Regards
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Post by PERRIN Z3M »

Jonttt

I was wondering if you could post some photos of the failed spot welds in your boot floor, this may give others the chance to report the fault earlier, i thought one of mine had gone but when i took it into bmw they said it was ok.

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Post by Jonttt »

Perrin

Will do tonight.

Despite me missing it the first time it is quite easy to spot. The spot welds are the size of a hole punch hole (if you know what I mean) and are normally covered in paint. If they "pop" ie the weld is broken then water enters from the underside. This is not a leak as such but is enough to turn the weld orange with rust.

Some of the welds are under the sealent seam on the left side of the boot floor and so can't be seen without striping the sealent. However, the first ones to go are the 3 under the CD Multichanger which are easy to see if you know what to look for.
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Post by EDD57 »

a look in the boot of my 2.8 caused me to trade my z3 for another car a couple of weeks ago. im afrayed when this becomes common knollage it ,ll hit prices very hard
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Post by Ian_C »

It already is common knowledge. Look on any of the z forums and you'll find lots of references. It was even mentioned in the recent Classic & Sports Cars magazine where they had a feature on buying a used z.
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Post by EDD57 »

most dealers and the man in the street dont know yet thats what i ment
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Post by Jonttt »

Here goes.

A picture of the broken spot welds on my car. Obviously I had to use flash.The picture does not really show how these are under the CD Multichanger. In normal daylight you have to shine a torch to see or feel with your fingers.

There are spot welds running across the boot floor in a line. The left hand ones are the ones that seem to fail. Below these welds the differential housing bracket is attached. This obviously holds the differential which is part of the final drive assembly from the engine to rear wheels. I am no engineer but I believe the stress on the differential causes its bracket to crack. This in turn leads to the spot welds failing above (in the boot floor). Therefore these spot welds breaking and subsequently rusting is a pretty sure indicator that the differential bracket has cracked.

Mine is apparently not a bad case. In extreme cases major welds are broken and an enire new boot floor is required. I have seen pictures on the web if you search. You can see that there is a spot weld to the left of the 2 that have broken which is still intact. In the more extreme cases this would also be broken and also the spot welds which are hidden under the sealent.

This problem is not just with ///M versions. It has been reported on 1.9's but I think from what I have seen it is more common in the larger engine versions.

BMW have indicated to me that cars with a slightly later production date than mine (mine is 09/99) had a reworked differential bracket installed. I don't know if there are any cases of later production cars with this problem?

The good news is that BMW seem to have unofficially recognised this design fault, have engineered a solution and will fit free of charge irrespective of age.

Dealers do not seem aware of it as it is not an official BMW recall.

This has not put me off my car at all. In fact I am quite pleased that I will get it back stronger than ever and it will hopefully be give me many years of pleasure for little outlay. :D
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Post by PERRIN Z3M »

cheers jonttt

Thanks for the picture, even with the two broken spot welds does it really effect the driving or is it just that it will get worse

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Post by Jonttt »

Perrin

Does not affect driving at all.

I would not have known about this at all but for advice on what to look for. To be honest when I first realised my car may have this problem I was not too concerned as I did not notice when driving and will do less than 5,000 miles pa in the car.

I had an indie garage look at the diff housing and he said it was not too bad. I would have left the car as is and just kept an eye on the remaining spot weld on the left. If that had broken then I would have known that the problem was getting worse.

I decided to approach BMW more out of curiosity than anything. I have been really surprised how they have reacted. Of course I'm chuffed to be getting this fix done free of charge but I would have left the car and been happy with it as was.
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Get it fixed ASAP

Post by Guest »

My advice would be a little different. Anyone that sees a single spot weld broken should get it inspected, recorded and then seen to ASAP. Once one spot weld goes there is movement, movement break another causing more movement and so on....... If this happens over time you might not notice the slow degredation of performance, but those that had bad ones fixed usually report the car actually handles better.

This is a good example of what happens when a spot weld or two goes un-noticed for too long. - http://www.rfdm.com/gallery/album124

There are plenty more where that came from.
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Post by Jonttt »

siwilson

I agree totally. Given that BMW based on my experience will repair this issue free of charge there is absolutely no reason not to take it into them when you first spot the issue. No matter what age / mileage / service history (they did not even ask me for proof of regular maintenance).

All I was trying to say was that on my car it did not perceivably affect how the car drove. The was no "knocking" noise or aparent detraction of handling.

If I had been faced with a £3000+ bill to repair then I would not have had it done at this stage. I would have kept an eye on the problem. If it got worse or started to affect driving then I would have got it sorted. For all I know it has been in the same state for the past x years. It would have been easy to monitor via further deteriation of the spot welds.

Given that I have only had the car for a few weeks I had no bench mark to comare handling against as the problem was already there. But I was more than happy with the way the car handled when I bought it.

It will be interesting to see if I notice an improvement in handling when the repair is finished but I am not expecting to. 8-)
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Post by Jonttt »

Update

BMW bodyshop called me this morning to say part had arrived :D

I have arranged to leave the car with them the end of this week :D

So won't have it for 2 weeks and I didn't get chance to "play" with it last weekend due to me being a wuss in cold weather :(

So far so good :D
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Post by Ross_H »

Are they providing you a loan car of any type? :?
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Post by Jonttt »

Ross

No loan car.

I did not ask for one as only 2 miles from my house and I need the exercise :lol:

I don't need a car to replace it as it not my daily drive.

Would have been interesting to see if they would have. Judging by the efficient and uncontended way they have dealt with this so far I would have been disappointed if they had not. I would have made a point of requesting one before they completed the quote though in case the dealer needs to recover this cost from BMW UK (not sure?).
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Post by Jonttt »

Update:

Droped car off at BMW bodyshop this afternoon. They were expecting it as arranged.

I reconfimed that there was oting for me to pay and signed worksheet goving them authority to carry out the work.

Interestingly there were some written costs on the worksheet totaling about £3k. I assume that this is what hey quoted to BMW and would be in line with what you would expect for this work.

They said it should be ready for collection by end of next week (today is Thursday).

:D
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Post by pangster »

EDD57 wrote:a look in the boot of my 2.8 caused me to trade my z3 for another car a couple of weeks ago. im afrayed when this becomes common knollage it ,ll hit prices very hard
good to see you did the honourable thing then EDD!.. :roll: :shock:

any chance you can stick your reg up so I don't unwittingly purchase a 2.8 that the previous owner couldn't be bothered fixing!.. :wink:
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Jonttt
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  M roadster S54
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Post by Jonttt »

The reg is on the floor with the rest of the boot :lol:

I know what you mean though, would be funny if the buyer looked on here and realised :shock:

...but then they would know what to do to get it fixed for free and hopefully got it cheap because he was desperate to sell :D
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Location: DAVENTRY

Post by EDD57 »

i traded my z with a dealer and lost a lot of money as a result! i would not have palmed it off on some one who shouldent have knowen better TYPICAL PIOUS JOCK
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Post by pangster »

EDD57 wrote:i traded my z with a dealer and lost a lot of money as a result! i would not have palmed it off on some one who shouldent have knowen better TYPICAL PIOUS JOCK
So who do you think dealers sell their cars to?? :head:

I might be Scottish(not sure why that matters?...) but in anycase at least I have some integrity about me! :wink:
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Post by EDD57 »

So What Would You Have Done? Bering In Mind I Didnt Want The Car Any More Having Seen That. No Point Welding Up The Two Poped Spots Cos One You See That The Lot Must Be Weakend! Id Lost Faith In The Car So What Would You Do????????????????/
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ajones13
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  Z3 roadster 2.0
Location: Belfast

Post by ajones13 »

Guys, this new stronger bracket is not the magic fix for the boot floor problem, in any case a stronger bracket with even less flex will put even more strain on the boot floor spot welds. Hate to be a bearer of bad news.
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Post by EDD57 »

i see pious pangster has a 2.8 my car was a 2000 2.8 so if he keeps it long enough he,ll have to make the same choise. cos trere all going to do it! the back end was never strong enough it started with z3ms (more power) now the 2.8s 2.2s next? i got onto bmw NOT INTERESTED!!!! its a disgrace and such apitty cos it blighting sutch a great car
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Jonttt
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Post by Jonttt »

ajones13 wrote:Guys, this new stronger bracket is not the magic fix for the boot floor problem, in any case a stronger bracket with even less flex will put even more strain on the boot floor spot welds. Hate to be a bearer of bad news.
I think you are correct because the fix is not just a new strengthened Diff bracket. They will also be strengthening the cross member and welds around the boot floor to make sure the whole subframe can handle the stress from the differential :D

That is why it took them time to get the quotation correct. If it was just a matter of ordering a new diff bracket to be fitted they could have completed the quote in an hour. They had to get clarification from BMW technical regarding the additional strengthening required.

I really can't see what the problem is with this. BMW will fix it for free. There really is no excuse for people not to get it fixed.

Let not turn this thread into a slanging match.It is meant to be informative and bring up to date the majority of info on this problem which date back to 2005/06.
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Post by EDD57 »

i agree with you and it sounds like you had more luck with bmw than me i just was,nt up for the fight with them. i dread to think what it will cost them to fix all the z3s that were made. mine was probly like that when i got it as i only put 1500 miles on the clock ended up costing me a couple of grand but at least the problems gone now traded it for a merc slk 320 (no it did,nt come with a set of scisors) rust on the arches and wings mercedes said no problem and there doing it for free very diferent to my experiance with bmw
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Post by Jonttt »

Edd

Can't really say I had a fight with BMW,they just said yes. I was actually all geared up for a fight but could not have been easier :D

I used to have an SLK ( not current shape). I loved the roof but could never really get used to the auto box it had. I much prefer the BMW auto boxes.

To be honest with my day to day car I keep swapping and changing between Merc and BMW. I currently have a new shape S class but have put nearly 80k on it now (same as my Z3m :D ) and I fancy a change. I am seriously looking at a 530d M Sport, but thats for another forum :wink:
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Post by EDD57 »

My Slk Is The Face Lift 5 Speed Tiptronic Box Fantastic!
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Post by EDD57 »

Speaking Of Other Cars Iv Allso Got A 08 Plate 320d And Im So Dissapointed Had New Shape Passat Before And Thought It A Much Better Car Realy Dont Think The Bmw Was Worth The Money
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Post by stu »

Johnttt, you're a legend and thanks for this.

Eddie, hope you enjoy your SLK & have a nice life now and wishing you the best of luck with your new keyboard too. :roll:

Having looked at all of these pictures again and in light of this very positive result, I'll be checking the Z over again thoroughly before the summer arrives and certainly before the BMW Car Club Better Driving Day at Cadwell Park in May!
Last edited by stu on Sat 14 Feb, 2009 14:26, edited 1 time in total.
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pingu
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Post by pingu »

stu wrote:Having looked at all of these picures again and in light of this very potitive result, I'll be checking the Z over again thoroughly before the summer arrives and certainly before the BMW Car Club Better Driving Day at Cadwell Park in May!
Stu, I thought this problem is only a problem for the ///Ms. Does your supercharger bring the torque up to M level?
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Post by stu »

pingu wrote:
stu wrote:Having looked at all of these pictures again and in light of this very positive result, I'll be checking the Z over again thoroughly before the summer arrives and certainly before the BMW Car Club Better Driving Day at Cadwell Park in May!
Stu, I thought this problem is only a problem for the ///Ms. Does your supercharger bring the torque up to M level?
More than M levels of torque actually!
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  M roadster S54
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Post by Jonttt »

Pingu

There have been reports of the problem in the 2.8 engined cars as well. So far as I am aware and from historical posts both in the UK and america this is an inherant design fault in the Z3. As the same parts where used across the range and are stress related around the differential bracket they first materialised in the more powerful ///m versions but can be experienced in any Z3 so worth checking for no matter what engine you have.

BMW have told me that the bracket was changed from the Dec 99 production run (mine was built just before this). I'm not sure how many cases of post Dec 99 cars there are but given the engineering solution is not just replacement with the stronger diff bracket but also strengthening of the cross member and supporting welds, this would suggest that post Dec 99 cars may also be affected.

Would be interesting to know if anyone with a post 99 production build has experienced this problem?
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Post by Ballie »

Jonttt - Thanks taking the time to write up, in detail the above mentioned issue. Mine is a 98 model M, and will be checking my boot first thing tomorrow.
Thanks again. :wink:
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