Car overheated after Dealer performed coolant flush

[Pheonix]

Hello guys, i need some advices. My brother-in-law brought his 328i to the dealer to have the coolant system flush done. The car was got overheated and put on Limp Mode after a week. I was suspecting they screwed up the coolant service and left air bubbles in the coolant system which caused overheat and damaged to the water pump and Thermostat. We brought it back to the Dealer and they confirmed the Water Pump and Thermostate needed to be replaced. However, they denied responsibilities and said we have to pay to get it fixed.
We are trying to get them to own up to it and take care of the problems and now they said we will have to wait til monday for the Service Department Manager to make the decision.

What do you guys think? What are our options?

[the dink]

Did anyone check the coolant level after the overheat issue, before returning it to dealer? If not you have no way of proving that they left air in system. Sometimes things just break at the most suspicious or worst times.

[Pheonix]

That is a good suggestion! We did not check the fluid level. However, i dont think fluid level would tell us too much (unless it is very very LOW). From what we read on other Bimmer forums, it didnt take much air trapped in the coolant loop to cause overheat and lot of damage. The 328i has electric water pump and has very specific procedures for bleeding/venting after coolant flush.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24818

[papitosabe]

I'd raise hell. Ask for the GM and/or email corporate, and post it on the dealerships facebook page as well. It was working fine before the service and it goes out right after the flush? I call bullshit. I get that things break down, but c'mon, right after you take it in for service? screw that, I'd be livid.

[Yvette]

they are common to be fail after 50K miles. Just something to bear in mind.

[yousefnjr]

Originally Posted by papitosabe

I'd raise hell. Ask for the GM and/or email corporate, and post it on the dealerships facebook page as well. It was working fine before the service and it goes out right after the flush? I call bullshit. I get that things break down, but c'mon, right after you take it in for service? screw that, I'd be livid.

judge Judy doesn't believe in coincidences either lol

Which dealer was this at?

[Pheonix]

Originally Posted by e90sexion

they are common to be fail after 50K miles. Just something to bear in mind.

I know things could fail at anytime but come on, it was working perfectly fine until they flushed the coolant!
We are waiting to have a serious conversation with the GM tomorrow.

[Pheonix]

Originally Posted by yousefnjr

Which dealer was this at?

The one in the East bay!

[jdoublehcubed]

Please keep us posted on the results.

[elerner61]

Hold on, a week passed between when you got the car back and it overheated? How many hours/miles was the car used during that week and was it put into a situation previously during that week where it might have overheated (stuck in traffic or high outside temperature)?

If the dealer screwed up the coolant service, my thought is that it would have failed earlier in the week.

[Pheonix]

Originally Posted by elerner61

Hold on, a week passed between when you got the car back and it overheated? How many hours/miles was the car used during that week and was it put into a situation previously during that week where it might have overheated (stuck in traffic or high outside temperature)?

If the dealer screwed up the coolant service, my thought is that it would have failed earlier in the week.

Great question! We would not even bother the dealer if that was the case. He drove for maybe 50 miles for couple days (mostly on highway with light traffic). The car overheated when he was in city traffic; ambient temp was in the 50s.

[Living Dead]

If there was air in the system the car would have overheated in a matter of minutes of driving it, just sitting and idling it would take conciderably longer but driving of any type would cause and overheat situation probably in just one or two miles. If your car experienced vapor lock there is no way you would drive 50 miles before overheating unless you did it in 1 mile increments. It happened to my Z4 in December when I had the system flushed. The temp gauge pinned to the right and a red idiot light came on, I shut it off waited ten minutes and the air bubble moved, the temp went down immediately and the radiator was down about a half gallon, refilled it and no problem after that. The water pump did fail suddenly a year and a half ago at about 80K the car had 100k when I had the system flushed. At that time the car overheated within a half mile of the pump going.

[Pheonix]

Originally Posted by Living Dead

If there was air in the system the car would have overheated in a matter of minutes of driving it, just sitting and idling it would take conciderably longer but driving of any type would cause and overheat situation probably in just one or two miles. If your car experienced vapor lock there is no way you would drive 50 miles before overheating unless you did it in 1 mile increments. It happened to my Z4 in December when I had the system flushed. The temp gauge pinned to the right and a red idiot light came on, I shut it off waited ten minutes and the air bubble moved, the temp went down immediately and the radiator was down about a half gallon, refilled it and no problem after that. The water pump did fail suddenly a year and a half ago at about 80K the car had 100k when I had the system flushed. At that time the car overheated within a half mile of the pump going.

Appreciated the input but the two cars have different type of water pump. The e92 has electric water pump and the procedure specifically called for having the pump running fora full 12 minutes to purge. The dealer admitted that they used vacuum system to purge it instead.
Anyhow, seeing that is possible that the water pump could have fail on its own and will need to be replaced anyhow. We agreed to pay for the parts and the dealer provide free labor. The bill came out to $656! We thought that was fair and dont want to drag it out any longer. Needless to say, we wont coming to that shop anymore.
Thanks everyone for the inputs.

[jdoublehcubed]

Pretty gracious of you to accept that compromise I think. Thanks for warning us about that dealership, I'm hoping to move out there soon and I'm really bummed that I'm going to lose my absolutely stellar indy mechanic here in PA. He's probably the only mechanic I've ever trusted enough to preauthorize work without cost estimates.