Dealer Messed Up Valve Adjustment?

[Coi]

Hey, so I have a recently-acquired Z4M with ~75k miles and was getting a bunch of Vanos work done (as well as having the cracked timing chain guide replaced and a bunch of worn pulleys/belts changed out and having some oil leaks addressed). My mechanic, who is excellent and extremely through, decided to quickly check the intake valve clearances since the cover was off with the thickest feeler gauge and found several out of spec. I had him do a full valve adjustment as a result and he found that 9 of the 24 needed adjustment.

A valve adjustment was done about a year ago at ~65k miles at a BMW dealership in the Midwest; I have the service record. So the car has done just under 10k miles since then. I've heard some dealers just listen to the engine and if there's no excessive valvetrain noise then they don't even check the clearances. I don't believe this was the case because the record shows a new valve cover gasket at that time. Also they charged the previous owner a pretty high cost: total for that service was $2000. The cam bearing caps also oddly have little X's scratched into them but that could've been done at 30k miles for the first adjustment instead.

Additionally, the dealer used some sort of strange sealant on the valve cover gasket instead of the normal RTV. It permanently adhered to the gasket, ruining it, and was apparently a pain to clean up. Strange that a dealer would use the wrong stuff. I also had to get a new gasket as a result.

Anyone else heard of a dealer messing up a valve adjustment this badly? My mechanic suspects either they didn't do the adjustment and just replaced the gasket or they did it when the engine was hot. I guess most dealerships probably don't have someone who's skilled with working on S54s these days but it still boggles the mind. I thought I did my due diligence but buying a car with recent dealer service history but now that the car is so old that may not be the best.

[pungo]

The problem is, there are excellent mechanics, extremely bad mechanics (that shouldn't even be touching a vehicle) and mechanics everywhere in between. This is both at the dealer and independent shops. If you find an excellent mechanic, hold on to them since they are becoming harder to find. Since I don't know of any excellent mechanics, have no trust in the mechanics near me and I can do nearly any work on a vehicle, I just do all my own work since I know it will be done correctly.

Example, when my vehicle was under the full factory maintenance warranty, I took it to the dealer for an oil change, brake fluid flush, air filter and cabin filter (both dirty). Got the car back, the oil access panel was missing, air/cabin filters were not changed and the brake fluid was not touched (I used some white-out on the bleed screw covers and master cylinder cap). Then a month later, I get a ticket for running a red light from the mechanic going for a joy ride at lunch. I raised hell, never went back, F the so call mechanic that did a half ass job on my vehicle. Sure, there are some great mechanics out there, but then there are many that are a joke and shouldn't be allowed to even change oil.

[bwright657]

Unfortunately that seems to be a common issue with older cars at BMW dealers. The bulk of their work is oil changes on much newer leased cars. When I bought my coupe, I took it to my local dealer with a test job to have them replace my 3rd brake light. Several of the hatch trim clips broke (not surprising for a 12 year old car), but the dealer tech didn't mention it or replace them. I would have been fine paying for some new clips, but not replacing them and not informing me is unacceptable. Since then I do what I can myself and found a great M specialist for the jobs I can't take on.

10K doesn't seem like high enough mileage for that many valves to need adjustment. Moving forward, I would always ask for a copy of the adjustment sheet. That way you've got proof it was actually done and it's useful information for the next person to do an adjustment.

[elerner61]

My desire when having complicated work done on my car is to have a mechanic that has performed the exact work on the exact car (or engine) somewhat recently and with regularity in recent years. I don't particularly trust dealership mechanics unless I have inside knowledge that the dealership is a respected place to work, respects their service employees and pays them a respectable wage. Because that's getting rarer to find, I tend to use indy shops.

WRT the valve cover gasket on the S54, those seem to be sometimes tricky to get them to seal up correctly on the back of the engine. Possibly as the engine gets older "things change" and the mating surface changes. For the past two valve jobs by shop has had to resort to more RTV than they previously used on my car.

[Coi]

Originally Posted by pungo

The problem is, there are excellent mechanics, extremely bad mechanics (that shouldn't even be touching a vehicle) and mechanics everywhere in between. This is both at the dealer and independent shops. If you find an excellent mechanic, hold on to them since they are becoming harder to find. Since I don't know of any excellent mechanics, have no trust in the mechanics near me and I can do nearly any work on a vehicle, I just do all my own work since I know it will be done correctly.

Yeah, my car has some signs of less-than-ideal work from indy mechanics too. The curved UUC short shifter was installed backwards so it tilts towards the passenger instead of the driver. The diff pinion seal was replaced and either was installed incorrectly or the mechanic didn't bother to clean it up because there's still a bunch of diff oil there. A different mechanic uninstalled an E85 kit and didn't tuck the injector wires back into the shroud... I have service records from all these shops who charged a lot in labor.

An excellent mechanic is definitely a necessity. The only issue I find is that the really good mechanics or good shops in my area are always booked weeks in advance!

[Coi]

Originally Posted by bwright657

Unfortunately that seems to be a common issue with older cars at BMW dealers. The bulk of their work is oil changes on much newer leased cars. When I bought my coupe, I took it to my local dealer with a test job to have them replace my 3rd brake light. Several of the hatch trim clips broke (not surprising for a 12 year old car), but the dealer tech didn't mention it or replace them. I would have been fine paying for some new clips, but not replacing them and not informing me is unacceptable. Since then I do what I can myself and found a great M specialist for the jobs I can't take on.

10K doesn't seem like high enough mileage for that many valves to need adjustment. Moving forward, I would always ask for a copy of the adjustment sheet. That way you've got proof it was actually done and it's useful information for the next person to do an adjustment.

That sucks that they messed up your hatch like that. I hope they made it right.

Yeah, my mechanic thinks the dealer either didn't perform the adjustment or did it when the engine was still hot. Basically impossible that it was done properly then so many went out of spec that quickly. I do have a copy of the new adjustment sheet from the service that was just performed.

I agree that it's important to take these cars to an M specialist, or even more ideally an S54 specialist. I'm very lucky to live in an area where people can actually specialize like that.

[Coi]

Originally Posted by elerner61

My desire when having complicated work done on my car is to have a mechanic that has performed the exact work on the exact car (or engine) somewhat recently and with regularity in recent years. I don't particularly trust dealership mechanics unless I have inside knowledge that the dealership is a respected place to work, respects their service employees and pays them a respectable wage. Because that's getting rarer to find, I tend to use indy shops.

WRT the valve cover gasket on the S54, those seem to be sometimes tricky to get them to seal up correctly on the back of the engine. Possibly as the engine gets older "things change" and the mating surface changes. For the past two valve jobs by shop has had to resort to more RTV than they previously used on my car.

Absolutely. I took my car to an S54 specialist to have all the recent work done. The mechanic was actually suggested to me by Raj at Beisan Systems. He knows these engines inside and out and that made such a big difference.

On my car it seems like the dealer used something else that wasn't even RTV. It filled up all the grooves in the valve cover gasket and could not be removed, even with a plastic scraper. It's not just an issue of too much RTV but rather something else entirely that's too sticky being substituted. Ridiculous that a dealership would do that when they must have the right stuff on hand. I also found out they screwed up some other stuff like not replacing the crank position sensor wire into its housing, over-tightening the studs for the valve cover, and no lubing the new valve cover stud seals so they leaked.

[elerner61]

Originally Posted by Coi

Absolutely. I took my car to an S54 specialist to have all the recent work done. The mechanic was actually suggested to me by Raj at Beisan Systems. He knows these engines inside and out and that made such a big difference.

On my car it seems like the dealer used something else that wasn't even RTV. It filled up all the grooves in the valve cover gasket and could not be removed, even with a plastic scraper. It's not just an issue of too much RTV but rather something else entirely that's too sticky being substituted. Ridiculous that a dealership would do that when they must have the right stuff on hand. I also found out they screwed up some other stuff like not replacing the crank position sensor wire into its housing, over-tightening the studs for the valve cover, and no lubing the new valve cover stud seals so they leaked.

Some mechanics/dealerships have a program of taking advantage of trusting people that have more money than brains (luxury cars) and no mechanical sense at all.