i seem to remember a recall on 2.2 hdi's concerning the camshaft timing chain- they have a belt and chain system- but as it was a second hand engine it would be nigh on impossible to find out if it was done- maybe this is the problem?

when were mercedes bought by the the french winkler72? its not a case of do not buy french- they seem to be a small step ahead all the time- its a case of wait and see if their technology comes good!!

when a manufacturer makes a car- the car is designed to give the best all round performance possible, taking into account fuel economy, reliability, power, torque etc. when a upgrade is carried out it is usually a software update to the ecu and alters the original settings. this may indeed lead to a increase in fuel econmy but against a slight drop in torque maybe. as rscott101 points out if fuel econmy was a greatest desire then maybe the original op should have researched the figures a bit better.

hirsch website seems to give the fuel economy figures for the modded vehicles.

there is a modification i have read about on some of the bmw owner forums, i think it involves removing some plastic flaps from the inlet manifold as these are the things that break and end up going through the turbo.

but you did briefly reach the figure quoted, therefore technicaly the vehcle is capable of reching that figure. a manufacturer- especially with a diesel- is going to quote the absolute highest figure they can achieve, as it is a sales point.

you say your car has an engine upgrade, i take it this is to give it more performance. therefore you obviously want your car to go faster- this unfortunately does not go hand in hand with fuel economy. to get any where near the manufacturers figures you need to drive so carefully it is unbelievable, wellying about won,t help at all.

any fleet car will be serviced exactly as the service schedule and they can have money thrown at them for repairs. i will give techs parts straight away for lease vehicles as we just know it will be authorised, but the private driver will probably um and arr about work that needs doing and shop around. so is it really such a problem with a fairly new low mileagevehicle, which as you say was a bargain?

bmw 3 series, what type of car is yours?

sometimes cars need to have the warning systems reset, ie i had new front brake pads on mine a couple of weeks ago, and as the warning light had come on a new sensor was fitted as well, when the car was started the low brake warning light was still on, a quick scout around the internet and i found out that if carried out a certain procedure the light would go off- hey presto it did.

£20 to change wiper blades nowadays is usual- and you don't even lift the bonnet!!!

a lot of the clear type indicator lenses have orange painted bulbs. these age and the paint falls off, so the garage changed them to get the car through the m.o.t. , a nail or other object in the tyre may not have gone through far enough to cause a puncture- however there is the possibility it may do so in the future, that is why it is reported on a mot. as riget posted, a cheap mot, well done.

like you say the dealer where you bought it did a service because it was now due, it is fairly easy i believe to reset the service counters nowadays. this is mainly due to the fact that you can take a car to any dealer, and as long as they use original parts the warrenty or service history should be intact. its a kickback from the days when you could only take a car to the franchise dealer to have work done to keep a warrenty etc. So it is possible your vehicle did have a full bmwsh when you looked at the vehicle to purchase it, but the dealer did not do anything wrong by servicing the car to the manufacturers schedule using the correct parts- if that is the case.

what bmw is it? if its a 3 series or similiar what is the mileage left showing when you start the car up, the service intervals on later bmws go on usage not age. eg mine was serviced in feb this year, but still shows just under 11,000 miles to the next service- it does not do many miles so the car does not think it needs a service! (it will get a service next feb anyway but will prob still show 8-9k to next service)

if a garage were to put a couple of gallons of fuel in every vehicle they had to drive for fault finding etc the costs would be prohibitive, the OP was given a courtesy car even though the vehicle was not undrivable-for the garage to correct the problem. i say that the garage went out of its way to help. They could have just said "you should have checked the keys when you bought the car."

the 10k is the total amount you are paying back including interest. makes it more frightening though doesn't it!!

what vehicle is it and the age? most fords have the cam belt changed at around 100,000 miles and it would usually have major services at 37,500 and 75,000 miles, the others are just an oil and filter change.

why not leave the courtesy car with less fuel in!!!

comm 2000 problems were huge when peugeot went to multiplex wiring, wrong side indicators flashing, or wipers coming on when switching headlights on etc. unfortunatly it is true that pug will not accept returns from dealers, totally unfair on the dealer, but that seems to be the way it is. it may seem to have fixed itself but as previously mentioned it will probably fail when you really need it to work.

every hole in the block i have ever seen has been caused by oil starvation, and in every instance it happened due to the engine being driven with no oil in it continuously, and all happened at fairly high revs, not the kind of slow speeds a car being driven around a bodyshop would do.

issued many seals and fuel pipes for these engines with smell of fuel, but can't honestly remember doing injectors. usual parts required are 4x fuel pipes, 1x leak off pipe, 4 x retaining spring for the injector leak off, 4 x retaining seal / bush, 4 x injector seal. thats off the top of my head but i am pretty sure thats all thats usually needed though.

what vehicle is it, ford transits for instance do not have the first service until 15,000 miles

sorry to but in, but as regards financial enrichment, please consider it from this point of view- you take your car to a main dealer and they use their diagnostic equipment that will be the most uptodate possible, and costs thousands, yes thousands of pounds, it will be used by a technician who will have been on many courses that each cost hundreds of pounds to the dealer. the garage tell you the fault- free, gratis, no charge, thanks a lot mate etc. you then take it to fred in a shed with a secondhand part from a scrappy that cost you a couple of quid and he fits it for a fiver, you may as well because all that very expensive equipment has told you exactly which part you need, bingo you have saved yourself a couple of hundred quid. is that not financial enrichment?

true about the warrenty, the warrenty on imported vehicles can start the day the vehicle is imported- "not sold"- i have seen a car that was supposedly less than 6 months old, but had in fact been imported over 2 years previously, and therefore was out of warrenty!

try everything else first, they really are a last resort company. go talk face to face with people and explain you have been using bfpo addresses to them, and it may help.