[kevm50d]

Good morning guys,

I've just got my X5 back from the main dealer and they seem to have messed up the service history in iDrive.

In January 2023, the car was fully serviced by the main dealer in Spain with 92k KM. They did Oil,Vehicle Check,Microfilter,Aircleaner element,Fuel filter.

Pic of Service at 92k



To me that seemed like a full service (Inspection II in old BMW language).

By November 2023 I was warned by iDrive and the app that a service was due. Having only added 20k KM to the car (now 112k KM) I took it into BMW in Como. Meanwhile I had imported the car from Spain to Italy.

BMW Como presented me with a quote for a full service including fuel filter, and air microfilter) which added about 200€ to the price (already 650€). I pointed to the invoice from January where it clearly states that both were done to which they said, "ok seems a bit soon but if the system says it needs to be done what can we do?" adding - obviously the dealer in Spain forgot to reset these checks - or charged and didnt do them. They suggested that I get these two items done at the same time as front brake pads in 2months/3500km - basically that would be now, now Feb 24'

So when I picked up the car back in November after the service there were still two red Exclamations next to the service that had just been done. I pointed this out immediately and they said - "don't worry these will disappear when we change the filters in February".

Pic of Service at 112k



Even if not convinced that after just 25k KM these items need to be replaced, I went along with it and had them done with the brakes this week.

In iDrive now I have the last service showing with Fuel and Microair filter showing as done, now - BUT the service in November is still showing this big red exclamation mark - so clearly resetting did NOT solve the problem.

Pic of Service at 115k



When I challenged the Italian BMW dealership about this they stated that they are not able to remove these (even if they had previously stated that they would disappear)- and only the dealer in Spain that had forgotton to reset them a the time of the service. I immediately called the dealer in spain and they (quite rightly) got quite upset and navigated me to that service in iDrive where it clearly shows that these were done. Clearly BMW Como have no clue what they are doing. My next call will be to Munich to see if they can tell these clowns in Italy how to correctly update the service history but I thought I'd also check here in case anyone has had a similar experience.

Hoping someone reading has had a similar issue, my questions would be :

a) Does it make sense that after just 20k I should have to change the fuel filter and air microfilter (anyway I've done it)? Some things I could understand being changed on a more regular basis on an M50d but not these.

b) Are these red exclamations now permanently written into the service history or can BMW clean them up? I'm super annoyed at having forked out 650€ after just 20k KM for a service, not going even 1km over the recommended interval and for this I am awarded a red ! in the service record. I found one post that seems to give hope : https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1839248 - but this related to a UK MOT

Of course I can explain the issue to a potential buyer, it's obvious reading the services before/after that BMW have cocked up somewhere - but at first glance it looks nasty - like a neglected car. Spending significantly more at a main dealer to maintain that FBMWSH status just to be rewarded with this really sucks.

Thanks a million for any advice or experiences that could help and sorry for the slightly long post.

Cheers. Kev

ps. I host all my jpg images on Onedrive - not sure why but this forum platform doesn't seem to like them even though the links I am embedding inside the "insert image" are working as links - any hints from the moderators ?

[TurtleBoy]

We don't use the service history here in the US, at least not that I have seen, so can't help you there.

As far as your pictures are concerned, it could have something to do with OneDrive as I couldn't get it to work either. Saving it to my computer resulted in a fie; l that couldn't;t be read. I had to drag to save it.

I would just attach them and they should be fine.

[kevm50d]

Thanks mate - I've managed to get the images sorted in my post now

A photo of the iDrive service history is something we tend to include in any advert to sell the car as it shows any prospective buyer that you've respected the BMW recommended service intervals and used only main dealer. In the old days, reading the service log book this would be have been picked up far less easily.

So BMW (and I guess most manufacturers now) have latched onto the fact that we are willing to pay something more for our servicing to maintain this. If they let me down now they'll never see my car again

At the end of the day it's just software. I'm pretty sure that BMW Headquarters can tell these guys in Como how to do their job properly and get this fixed - but I would be interested to know if there's any imaginable way that a fuel filter and aircon filter could need changing after just 10 months and 20k Km? I know servicing is now case-based, so if for example I'd used the wrong fuel or something like that maybe thay would explain it, but it isn't the case.

Thanks if anyone reading this has had a similar experience and could share.

Cheers, Kev.

[TurtleBoy]

In the US the fuel filters for diesels are 40k miles and the cabin filter is changed every 20k miles.

[kevm50d]

Thanks again for that. Yes I was thinking 60k km would have been about right - that's also what the spanish dealer told me.

My theory is that when the car moved from Spain to Italy it somehow forgot which service was due next and opted for the safe option. The alternative is that the dealer was just trying to rip me off.

Having said all this, in the meantime I've just realised that this service history record is just a file that's stored on the car and on the KAsIO/AOS Servers, so in theory it's not so difficult to eradicate the rrors (there's also a package called IsTA for manually updating the car as well as some non-official software packages out there to bypass the BMW servers and load manually edited history to the car - but this is out of the question for me - it has to be fixed on BMW end and then uploaded to the car.

With the car now approaching 5 years old, I'm wondering if it might also be time to consider non-BMW servicing but with a car this complex (not many cars out there with 4 turbos) I'm worried that an indy might miss something that a main dealer see during a service. Then again, with the clowns I've managed to find here in Como - probably I'd be in safer hands

[kevm50d]

Some progress finally. After calling/writing to BMW in Munich, they contacted their Italian HQ which were frankly quite useless. typical Italian lazy approach to customer service - copy/paste some BS about CBS (case based servicing) and no promise of follow-up from their side.

Went to the Dealership here in Como and sat down with the service manager. Explained that if this is the thanks I get after spending 4k€ + in a year on just maintenance tasks (no repairs) then I will never bring my car to them again.

Finally he checked on his computer (presumably AOS system?) where every single Service with the items covered is listed and found that at the last "brakes-only" service in Spain before I imported the car to Italy, the dealer had reset the service interval (from 6-7?) - hence why when they got the car it was showing that a full service was needed. Don't ask me why this simple check wasn't done last year - as said, they are quite a lazy race generally.

Next step will be to get BMW HQ in Munich to approve some kind of manual correction on their end in order that this can be loaded onto the car. He couldn't promise if/when - but seems they accept the error and are going to try.

Will let you know if I can somehow get a green service record having shelled out so much money with BMW.

[TurtleBoy]

Good luck!