AAA Cross-jumped my 95 540i

[NikonJeff]

Last Monday it was -4F in Albany, NY and the 540 sat outside all day while I worked - went to start it and it churned slowly and lowly - Bad battery. A friend of mine and I tried to jump start it but the battery was too far gone.

AAA came out and with a small handheld battery booster which the guy immediately hooked up in reverse to the jump point in the engine compartment! Sparks flew! After that we could barely get a click and turn from the starter - Did I mention he insisted we keep trying for almost 15 minutes.

Next came the tow truck driver who again tried to jump it - nothing better than the last attemp except he hookedd it up correctly. Had the car towed home to a fresh battery my wife got me from Advance Auto.

Put the battery in that night and the car cranks but no start... Charged the battery overnight and tried this morning - same deal - cranks a lot faster but no start. Temp in the garege is about 35 degree Farenheit BTW.

Checked the fuse box - the rear window defroster fuse was blown, but I didn't see any of the others blown.

So all the above information was accurate until Wednsday when my mechanic called and said - you have (3) fuseable links blown! Not to mention that the engine was flooded so bad that the gas was in the crank case. So the repair bill came to $466.00 including my oil change and fuel filter change (which I supplied the filters for).

I contacted the Road Service Manger at AAA on Tuesday morning before my mechanic looked at the car and he was going to make a trip to the garage to have a look. When my mechanic was akes if a cross-jump could cause this kind of damage he said "Hell yea..." and be glad that these Germans put fuseable links in - these computers go for $1000 and up! He asked the mechanic to have me fax him the repair bill after I settled it with the garage.

So..... What do I do??? Do I have a leg to stand on??? I'm planning to ask for the repayment of my bill minus the oil change that I was already planning to do and the gas filter that I was already planning to do. Am I asking to much??? Or not enough since I was without a car for 4 days?

Jeff Guntert
95 540i
Schenectady, NY

[winfred]

id be on them like flys on **** to pay for it, i don't think they have much of a leg to stand on as their guy broke it

[NikonJeff]

id be on them like flys on **** to pay for it, i don't think they have much of a leg to stand on as their guy broke it

Thats pretty much the way I view it - but wanted some reasurance that I wasn't being too unreasonable...

Good to see a name I remember too! I haven't had much chance to participate in the forums since my transmission fiasco with Penn Warranty...

Jeff

[632 Regal]

screw insurance companies, thats what their for, get the whole amount and dont settle for less.

[Bill R.]

2 fusible links on the 95 540 that i'm aware of and it takes less than an hour to replace both at a parts cost of less than 10.00.... and any mechanic worth his salt would know to look at these fusible links first thing

Last Monday it was -4F in Albany, NY and the 540 sat outside all day while I worked - went to start it and it churned slowly and lowly - Bad battery. A friend of mine and I tried to jump start it but the battery was too far gone.

AAA came out and with a small handheld battery booster which the guy immediately hooked up in reverse to the jump point in the engine compartment! Sparks flew! After that we could barely get a click and turn from the starter - Did I mention he insisted we keep trying for almost 15 minutes.

Next came the tow truck driver who again tried to jump it - nothing better than the last attemp except he hookedd it up correctly. Had the car towed home to a fresh battery my wife got me from Advance Auto.

Put the battery in that night and the car cranks but no start... Charged the battery overnight and tried this morning - same deal - cranks a lot faster but no start. Temp in the garege is about 35 degree Farenheit BTW.

Checked the fuse box - the rear window defroster fuse was blown, but I didn't see any of the others blown.

So all the above information was accurate until Wednsday when my mechanic called and said - you have (3) fuseable links blown! Not to mention that the engine was flooded so bad that the gas was in the crank case. So the repair bill came to $466.00 including my oil change and fuel filter change (which I supplied the filters for).

I contacted the Road Service Manger at AAA on Tuesday morning before my mechanic looked at the car and he was going to make a trip to the garage to have a look. When my mechanic was akes if a cross-jump could cause this kind of damage he said "Hell yea..." and be glad that these Germans put fuseable links in - these computers go for $1000 and up! He asked the mechanic to have me fax him the repair bill after I settled it with the garage.

So..... What do I do??? Do I have a leg to stand on??? I'm planning to ask for the repayment of my bill minus the oil change that I was already planning to do and the gas filter that I was already planning to do. Am I asking to much??? Or not enough since I was without a car for 4 days?

Jeff Guntert
95 540i
Schenectady, NY

[winfred]

yea really, i wasn't paying attention and didn't catch the $400+ bill the first time, he coulda seen insurance money and popped a chubby. gotta love those insurance jobs, we just did 2 bmws for that shell high sulfer gas problem in new orleans a month or so ago, something like $800 a pop and it's all work that they request, not whats actually wrong with the car (that takes me about a hour and a half total per car) nobody else in the area wants to do them for some reason, ill do em all day long for that, the only real problem is if your fuel level sender has silver in it, the sulfer eats it

2 fusible links on the 95 540 that i'm aware of and it takes less than an hour to replace both at a parts cost of less than 10.00.... and any mechanic worth his salt would know to look at these fusible links first thing

[NikonJeff]

Since the car was flooded, he did an oil change, replaced all (8) spark plugs since he felt they were fouled beyond belief, replaced both fuel filters. The mechanic is NOT a BMW wrench, but I've found him to be fair and honest when working on our Windstar. so the labor total was $305.00 and parts were $102 not including the LOF and the cost of my oil and gas filters. So all tolled was $431.33 + 35.59 tax= $466.92.

Jeff