[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by VineetG

Also, can you please confirm if there is a visible vibration of the engine cover at idle in your car? Also, does the exhaust tip also visibly vibrate at idle?

To the best of my knowledge, no, these things do not vibrate at idle. But again, I have never checked idle vibrations from outside. I am always in the driving seat and from there I did not feel anything wrong.

Request you to please check in your car and let me know.

I will check these in my next drive and let you know.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by VineetG

Also, can you please confirm if there is a visible vibration of the engine cover at idle in your car? Also, does the exhaust tip also visibly vibrate at idle?

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

I will check these in my next drive and let you know.

Just checked this on a cold start and also after a short drive. No, there are no visible vibrations either on engine cover or the exhaust tip. Engine cover of course has mild vibrations on touch (tried only on cold start ), but that is normal and expected, especially for a diesel engine. The exhaust tip has absolutely no vibrations.

If you have visible vibrations on the exhaust tip, then that is certainly not normal. You should surely get that checked and fixed.

[VineetG]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Just checked this on a cold start and also after a short drive. No, there are no visible vibrations either on engine cover or the exhaust tip. Engine cover of course has mild vibrations on touch (tried only on cold start ), but that is normal and expected, especially for a diesel engine. The exhaust tip has absolutely no vibrations.

If you have visible vibrations on the exhaust tip, then that is certainly not normal. You should surely get that checked and fixed.

Thanks a ton. The vibrations on the exhaust tips and engine cover are visible.
I'll take it in tomorrow. Since it is under BRI, it's their headache to sort it out.

Rgds

Vineet

[VineetG]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Just checked this on a cold start and also after a short drive. No, there are no visible vibrations either on engine cover or the exhaust tip. Engine cover of course has mild vibrations on touch (tried only on cold start ), but that is normal and expected, especially for a diesel engine. The exhaust tip has absolutely no vibrations.

If you have visible vibrations on the exhaust tip, then that is certainly not normal. You should surely get that checked and fixed.

Hi,
Took it to BMW service center. They said it was normal. At first I argued, but then they made me see atleast 5 cars, including F30 LCI, the latest 3 series, even a 5 series. You could sense some vibration in all of them and the engine cover was also vibrating. The vibrations were more muted in the new 3 series, but that can be expected as it is a new model.

After feeling all the other cars, my car felt smoother after i sat back in it . So the problem was more in my mind than in the car.

When you started your car when cold, maybe it had a higher RPM at idle till it warmed up. Due to that, the engine cover may not be vibrating. Check it once the engine is hot.

Rgds

Vineet

[Dr.AD]

Diwali Drive to Taj Bekal (Kerala)

On the last day of Diwali holidays (with a couple of more days of additional leave), we drove to Taj Bekal, which is one of the nicest Taj beach resorts, near Bekal, Kerala. This was more of a family and friends party event rather than a driving event.

I enjoyed spending time with friends and partying with them. Absolutely enjoyed the great food and hospitality of Taj. In all the enjoyment, I did not bother to take any pictures as such. However, managed to click a few casual mobile phone photos on the way, and sharing those here.

Our convoy in the onward journey, somewhere in the forest near Karnataka-Kerala border:



Trip stats for reaching Bekal. Most of the drive was through ghats and slow roads, and considering that, we reached in good time:


This particular Taj resort is one of the finest Taj properties in India. It is a beautiful place with spacious villas/cottages surrounded by lush green trees and backwaters right next to the rooms, as well as a direct access to the beach. However, I did not take any photos there. Just a couple of clicks from the backyard of our cottage.

The morning views of backwaters and trees from the backyard of our cottage:



Somewhere in Coorg in our return drive:



A customary coconut water break on the side of the road:



A random shot there on the side of the road:



A coffee break at this Cafe Levista near Kushalnagar, Coorg (this is quite a nice coffee shop and we enjoyed our pit stop there):


This was a great vacation, a fun time with family and friends, and a lovely drive!

The weather is now fantastic for driving a sedan (hopefully the heavy rains and the water logged roads are over for this season), and I am hoping to do many more drives with the 320d soon. Let us see.

[Dr.AD]

Solo Drive to Hampi

With the onset of winter, the first destination I wanted to drive to was Hampi. Only for the magical sunrise and sunsets one can experience in Hampi in the winter months. I have been to Hampi several times, and thus, sightseeing was not the agenda. But the agenda was only to walk around and climb the hills during the sunset and sunrise time, and just enjoy the magnificent views the nature has to offer.

For such random explorations, it is best to go solo. My wife was traveling for a business trip, and I was anyway alone in Bangalore. So I used that opportunity to do a quick solo drive to Hampi and just walk around over the rocks and the stones, searching for the best views of the sun! That was a simple agenda for this trip.

I will probably write a separate report on this trip in the 'Travelogues' section, but for now, could not resist sharing a few pictures here, especially of the car (those belong more in this thread than the Travelogues section).

Before the time for sunset and hitting the walking trails in Hampi, I drove around on some of the rural roads (the underrated attraction in Hampi is the beautiful roads surrounded by rocks and green paddy fields).

Somewhere on the rural roads around Hampi:











"On the Rocks" in Hampi:


Please allow me to share a few photos of the sunsets and sunrises here (I will add a few more in the Travelogue).

Sunset time:



One of the most photographed spots in Hampi, a temple on Hemakuta Hill:



Another shot of the susnet:



Sunrise over the hills and the rocks, as seen from the highest point in Hampi, Matanga Hill:



While the trip was fantastic, and I did manage to get a few photos that I was happy with, and I did enjoy driving my 320d on the smooth and fast six-lane highways on my way there and the scenic two-lane roads around Hampi, there was a bit of a minor irritant that I must mention here.

Maybe because I drove around all day in those hot and dusty conditions, or maybe pure coincidence, in the evening when I started the car, I was greeted by an unexpected warning sound and this message on the instrument cluster:



The iDrive gave a more detailed description (I like these iDrive messages - they give enough information and not just some mystic fault code)


The most probable cause for this error is either the failure of an ABS sensor (quite common in BMWs driven for more than 75,000km like I have done - natural sensor failure at this age), or, sometimes just some dirt stuck on the sensor.

Thankfully, the warning message went away after a couple of minutes. It did reappear randomly once or twice for a minute or so each time, but went away soon. Then next day, there was no warning message at all. It will all fine. In my entire return drive, the warning message never came back. The entire return drive was fine without any error. Therefore, I assume it must have been just some dirt in the sensor due to driving in the dusty conditions all day, and then it went away on its own.

Anyways, I have a service due sometime soon and I will get it thoroughly checked during that time. As of now, there is no error whatsoever, and the car is running just fine!

Overall, a memorable drive and some memorable photography sessions for me. I will share more in the Travelogue.

Thanks for reading!

[Dr.AD]

Service and Repairs Update

You drive some, and you service some! Driving hard and enjoying the car to its fullest, and then servicing and ensuring maintenance on time are two integral (and equally important) parts of car ownership.

After the "hot and happening" drive to Hampi last week (mentioned above), and before another exciting drive coming up soon, it was time for me to spend this Saturday at the service center, taking care of a few essential service items.

As I mentioned in the above post, during my Hampi drive, I got a warning/error related to ABS sensor (or the "wheel speed sensor" to be more precise) failure. That warning came just for a few short moments that time and disappeared quickly and never came back in my return drive. However, when I started my car again after a gap of a couple of days, the waning came back and this time it was persistent. I immediately called my SA at BMW Navnit Motors, my usual and trusted service center, and also called their hotline for a service appointment. As is often the case these days, the BMW service centers have long waiting times for service appointments, and I was told that the appointments are full for next 15 days. This was a bummer for me since I have a few drives planned and can't wait for 15 days. Thankfully, the SA asked me to send him the error messages, and after seeing those, accepted that this requires immediate repairs and gave me an expedited appointment for the urgent repairs.

I reached the service center on time for the appointment, and they thoroughly inspected the car and checked all error codes. Turned out that both the rear wheel speed sensors (each of the four wheels have their own independent speed sensor) had gone bad and needed to be replaced. This is a common problem, and these sensors are almost like consumables in some sense. My SA told me that they usually wear out after about 40,000km of driving, and that my driving of almost 77,000km by now was more than good life that I got on these sensors. Thankfully, they had the parts in stock and the sensors were changed quickly and the car was programmed to accept the new sensors. Another fantastic service experience at Navnit BMW!

While I was there primarily for getting the failed sensors replaced, by then, the engine oil change was due in another 1,400km.

CBS showing engine oil life of 1,400km:


Notice that going by the 12 month period of oil change, the oil change was due only in May 2023 (because the last oil change was in May 2022). But because I have already driven a lot since then, the oil change by distance was just in next 1,400km. To be precise, I had driven about 9,200km since the last oil change. Adding the remaining 1,400km, I would get about 10,600km of engine oil life, which is quite good and on par with the expectation.

At first I thought I would do this after my next drive which would be about 1,000km in total. However, that would mean having to take another appointment and another visit to service center. Also, I believe that it is much wiser to change engine oil early, if required, than late for any reason. Therefore, I requested my SA if they could change the engine oil and the filters right away, instead of me having to take another appointment for this later. Thankfully, he agreed and did a quick engine oil and filter change. They also did a test drive of the car and told everything is fine now.

Oil change done, and now next oil change is due in 12,000km or in 11/2023, whichever is earlier:


I am sure I will reach this distance in about 6 months of time, and thus realistically, my next oil change will be sometime in May 2023.

The service history, showing oil change intervals of about 9,000km that I get on my driving (the service at 73km mark was brake pads and discs change, and the other three are oil changes):


Thus, I end up changing oil at somewhere between 9,000km to 9,500km of running (as shown above), and each time, the CBS shows another 1,000km to 1,5000km distance available before requiring the oil change. As I mentioned, it is better to change early than late, and that reflects in my oil change pattern above.

The total cost of oil change service plus both rear wheel sensor changes and fitment was about Rs. 42,700. Typically, for me, the oil+filter change costs about Rs. 20,000, and thus, the remaining Rs. 22,700 was the cost for new sensors (two sensors) plus installation and fitment charges. Again, these charges are quite par for the course and in line with other BMW 3 series owners' experiences. Given the age of the car (driven 77,000km now), these maintenance charges are quite reasonable.

Overall, a fantastic service experience at Navnit BMW! They gave me an expedited appointment for the urgent repairs, and completed all repairs and also oil change in quick time and to my satisfaction. They did a thorough test drive of the car after this service and certified that my car is back in ship shape now! It is always great to hear that from them, and I enjoyed driving my car back home after this fantastic service experience at Navnit BMW.

BSI or no BSI?: BSI is another topic that often gets discussed among BMW owners. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I have not extended by BSI after the first 3 years, and I happy to pay for my service as I use it, instead of the BSI package. The fact that I could change my oil at 1,400km before the CBS requirement is one example of how not having BSI makes life easier. If I had BSI, I am not sure if they would have agreed to change the oil this early. I would have most certainly required to take another appointment and go back there again for the oil change. That (multiple service visits for multiple service requirements) was my biggest pain point with BSI. Now when I pay as I use, I have the liberty to do service in advance (never late, but mostly in advance!) to minimize future trips.

Anyways, now that the car was serviced and repaired and back to ship shape, the only thing pending was a car wash. It was raining here this weekend, and it looked like there was no point in washing the car. However, jut to round up the day well spent in taking care of the car, I decided to get the car washed anyways, and visited my usual car wash place.

Ready to get a high pressure water and foam wash:



Getting a nice high pressure wash:



Clean after a nice wash, and some final detailing going on:



A parting shot of the clean car:


After this service, I ended up doing another 100km of city drive on Sunday, and the car felt absolutely fine again.

That is all from this service update, and stay tuned for more driving updates soon. Thank you very much for reading!

[VineetG]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Service and Repairs Update

BSI or no BSI?: BSI is another topic that often gets discussed among BMW owners. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I have not extended by BSI after the first 3 years, and I happy to pay for my service as I use it, instead of the BSI package. The fact that I could change my oil at 1,400km before the CBS requirement is one example of how not having BSI makes life easier. If I had BSI, I am not sure if they would have agreed to change the oil this early. I would have most certainly required to take another appointment and go back there again for the oil change. That (multiple service visits for multiple service requirements) was my biggest pain point with BSI. Now when I pay as I use, I have the liberty to do service in advance (never late, but mostly in advance!) to minimize future trips.

Hi,
BMW allows service under BSI to be done 2000 kms in advance.
rgds

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by VineetG

BMW allows service under BSI to be done 2000 kms in advance.

Not necessarily, at least based on my experience and experience of my close friends owning BMWs.

Within 1,000km is the standard acceptance of BSI service. For between 1,000km to 2,000km, it depends on the discretion of the Service Advisor. I have had services refused under BSI when they were due in about 1,600km, and I know examples from my close friends where they had to wait till 1,000km before the service for that to be covered under BSI.

[sagarpadaki]

I am curious to know how the CBS determines the left-over life of the engine oil. Do you have link to any documentation which describes how exactly the control module come to know the condition of oil? Searched for same in bimmer forums but did not get a satisfactory explanation

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

I am curious to know how the CBS determines the left-over life of the engine oil. Do you have link to any documentation which describes how exactly the control module come to know the condition of oil? Searched for same in bimmer forums but did not get a satisfactory explanation

I am not 100% sure myself, and I could be wrong. But below is what I understand.

The oil change interval is set to 12,000km or 1 year in India (it varies in global markets, and in developed countries this is set to 24,000km; even in India, in earlier BMWs it was 24,000km or 2 years, which was later revised down to 12,000km or 1 year, for the harsh Indian driving conditions) when fresh oil is put in. After that, a mathematical algorithm that track engine running time and engine load, driving conditions, even fuel consumption, and maybe a few more parameter, "estimates" the oil degradation. And based on this estimate, the remaining engine life is deducted from the initial 12,000km mark. Thus, this is purely an "algorithmic tracking". In addition, there is an engine oil level sensor (and engine oil level can be checked and displayed in the iDrive using this sensor reading), and also an "engine oil quality sensor" that estimates engine oil quality by measuring the electrical conductivity of the oil. These sensor readings are used in addition to that algorithmic tracking to more accurately predict engine oil life.

Here is one article that explains this, but this is for older generation BMWs. I assume that the modern BMWs use same or even improved versions of similar methods: https://www.underhoodservice.com/tec...ervice-system/

Quoting a relevant paragraph from the above article:

OIL REMINDER

Some vehicle manufacturers estimate oil by using mathematical algorithms. The oil monitor keeps track of hours of engine operation, temperature, distance traveled and so on to estimate how much oil life is left. When a certain point is reached, the oil service reminder light comes on.

BMW uses an “adaptive” strategy to compute estimated oil life based on how much fuel the vehicle has consumed (which BMW says is more accurate than tracking the number of miles driven and hours of engine operation). The CBS system also considers input from an oil quality sensor in the bottom of the oil pan. The oil quality sensor measures the electrical conductivity of the oil. As the additives in the oil wear out, the resistance of the fluid changes.

[kiran_aithal]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Within 1,000km is the standard acceptance of BSI service.

This has been my experience too. Right now, I need to clock another 400 odd kms before they accept my vehicle for servicing.

[Shubz]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Not necessarily, at least based on my experience and experience of my close friends owning BMWs.

Within 1,000km is the standard acceptance of BSI service. For between 1,000km to 2,000km, it depends on the discretion of the Service Advisor. I have had services refused under BSI when they were due in about 1,600km, and I know examples from my close friends where they had to wait till 1,000km before the service for that to be covered under BSI.

When mine went for front brake pads change - Oil service interval said 2400 kms. I requested the SA to combine the both. But he said he would've done it if the reading was 2000 or less.

so i will have to send it again for the oil service.

Yeah I am on the BRI/BSI pack.

[ritedhawan]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Service and Repairs Update

BSI or no BSI?: BSI is another topic that often gets discussed among BMW owners. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I have not extended by BSI after the first 3 years, and I happy to pay for my service as I use it, instead of the BSI package. The fact that I could change my oil at 1,400km before the CBS requirement is one example of how not having BSI makes life easier. If I had BSI, I am not sure if they would have agreed to change the oil this early. I would have most certainly required to take another appointment and go back there again for the oil change. That (multiple service visits for multiple service requirements) was my biggest pain point with BSI. Now when I pay as I use, I have the liberty to do service in advance (never late, but mostly in advance!) to minimize future trips.

This got me a bit curious. Your insinuation about any pre-emptive oil change falling out of the manual would have been difficult for you if your car had come under the purview of BSI. Thus the car not under the purview of BSI, enabled you to expedite oil change even though it was still 1400 km away. Before you read the next paragraph, correct me if I am wrong in my understanding regarding it is actually to your benefit that your car is off the BSI ramp and thus enables you to get a pre-emptive oil change?

If my understanding is correct and its without a doubt that as the car ages, the more mileage it accumulates. The owner of the car must accommodate himself with something which is an integral part of long-term maintenance : "Preventive Maintenance". In your case then as your car is off the BSI ramp, you should have no issues in terms of getting those jobs done on your car which come under the arbor of "Preventive Maintenance". For example, suspension OH done, drive belts replacement,..etc, jobs which are expensive not only in terms of the cost of the parts but the additional labor and taxes associated with it. The replacement of parts before they give up. In this sense, would it be far from truth to state that you are in a better position than someone whose car comes under the purview of BSI and thus if he intends to get replacement of parts done which may not have broken yet and the manual doesn't mention any such replacement. Then the SA can deny that replacement of the part to an owner of a car which comes under BSI.

Thus an owner of a BMW offering would be better off without BSI, if he has "Preventive Maintenance" which is an integral part of long term maintenance, on his mind.

[VineetG]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Not necessarily, at least based on my experience and experience of my close friends owning BMWs.

Within 1,000km is the standard acceptance of BSI service. For between 1,000km to 2,000km, it depends on the discretion of the Service Advisor. I have had services refused under BSI when they were due in about 1,600km, and I know examples from my close friends where they had to wait till 1,000km before the service for that to be covered under BSI.

All my services under BSI have been done when the CBS gives a notification 2000 kms in advance. Never has it been questioned. I was told by my service advisor that i can bring in the car as soon as the notification pops up. Since standard service notification is 12000 kms, i generally get a pop up at around 10,000 kms and that is when i take if for services.

However, if your running is low, and the 12 month period comes up before you can complete the kilometers required under CBS, the service is done only in the month that the CBS displays. They don't take in the car earlier than that.

rgds

Vineet