So I bought a 2013 BMW X3 28i a couple of months ago from a used car dealership that is not specific to BMW. It has a 4 year/50,000 mile warranty, and currently has about 34,000 miles on it. Soon after purchase, I noticed that it would puff some blue exhaust upon cold start up. I never got a chance to see this prior to purchase as I never got to see it start up cold after sitting for many hours.
Either way, I knew right away it was a seal leaking oil from the turbo, but there is no impact on its performance otherwise so far as I can tell. I finally got the time to take it in to the local BMW stealership this week and they confirmed after looking at it that there is oil leaking from the turbo toward the intercooler. They didn't have any maintenance records in the BMW systems, so the service adviser pulled a Carfax but was only able to find one oil change on it, and that was from when the dealership I bought it from got ahold of it at 32,000 miles.
Long story short, after I insisted that their local BMW rep look at it during a visit yesterday, the service adviser called today and told me they weren't going to be able to repair it under warranty unless I can find record of at least one oil change prior to the 32,000 mile mark. I told him that was garbage and that we all know that the vehicle didn't go 32,000 miles without an oil change. Not only that, but we're talking about a leaking seal, not a locked up friction bearing in the turbo, crank, rods, etc. I'd listen to BMW's argument if this was a seized up turbo, but it isn't....it's a seal meant to restrain oil, not utilize it.
This was a fleet vehicle, and I knew it going in to the purchase. Problem is I don't know which fleet owned it, Carfax doesn't tell me and it isn't on the title. All I know is the fleet registered it in Georgia when it was brand new, and now I have it up here in Iowa.
What can I do with these guys? This is a $4,000 repair. I've already submitted a complaint to BMW NA and they've assigned a caseworker to it, but they haven't done anything with it in the 4 full business days they've had the issue in their court, only an acknowledgement e-mail confirming it has been assigned to the caseworker. Any advice on how I can escalate this issue with them and get them to take action? TIA.
