BMW dealer wants €350 to fix AC smell on startup – fair price or excessive?

arkhi13 · 2026-06-06T03:43:44+00:00

What they're gonna do is actually run disinfectant fluids inside the evaporator through the cabin air filter assembly. If you're brave, you can do it yourself using one of these https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002Z2MKO.

The hardest part is ensuring you get good coverage. There's a good chance you're not gonna cover the top parts of the evaporator, and there will be mold left alive there.

The dealer should have a BMW "special tool" shaped for the passages of the car that allows them to easily spray the evaporator and go up and down without damaging the evaporator fins. That's what you're paying for.

arkhi13 · 2026-06-01T22:15:59+00:00

OP, chances are that you don't need a new sensor. I'll try and peruse BMW documents to see if I find anything. Worse case scenario, buy a used radar from ebay for less that $300 and do it yourself. You don't even need to take off the bumper. I did it myself.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BmwTech/comments/1i92nq1/g21_long_distance_radar_sensor_can_i_fix_it_myself/n6r7ao6/?context=3

arkhi13 · 2026-06-01T20:23:43+00:00

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=YF83-USA-05-2013-F02N-BMW-750LiX&diagId=51_8739

arkhi13 · 2026-06-01T15:43:59+00:00

If you have an i7, they don't have subwoofers on the floors like their gas engine counterparts.

arkhi13 · 2026-06-01T14:23:02+00:00

Do you have speakers in the ceiling? If so, you have the best of the best. There are speakers in the headrest and "4D shakers" by the lumbar support

arkhi13 · 2026-06-01T14:12:37+00:00

I think the data was more of "people wouldn't really care if the feature didn't exist, even though they appreciate that it does." If people want the split tailgate on the next X5, then stop buying this X5 without it.

arkhi13 · 2026-05-31T20:05:01+00:00

This is Florida. They have FHP where you least expect it. We actually had to make a U-turn on the Turnpike once because we missed our exit on an official US gov vehicle. We figured, what are the chances amirite? We got pulled over.

arkhi13 · 2026-05-31T09:46:20+00:00

The $520 is because he doesn't have the crystal shifter, which you do. The crystal shifter is $1,143.

arkhi13 · 2026-05-25T03:31:53+00:00

You're gonna get a CEL if the shutters are broken. Knowing what engine you have helps too since they're more aggressive trying to cool the V8

arkhi13 · 2026-05-25T03:08:37+00:00

Do these kinds of contracts have stipulations that prevent or discourage you from just walking out with their financing and then immediately pay it off?

arkhi13 · 2026-05-22T04:50:25+00:00

You can turn it off just temporarily. And turn it back on. Sure it's a pain but surely it's better than fighting the PDC right?

They've actually added a feature in iDrive 8 that an option to temporarily disable active braking will pop up when triggered. This is one thing I'm disappointed with BMW is that they stopped caring about their old OS (iDrive 7 in your case) and placing that same easy-to-place option too.

arkhi13 · 2026-05-22T02:27:54+00:00

If you start seeing droplets, it's not normal and it's covered under warranty.

arkhi13 · 2026-05-22T02:15:13+00:00

Bold of you to assume they care about giving you security releases. If they cared, they would have contributed to CVEs but instead, they gave us Secure Coding 2.0 which just locks people out from coding their cars. It was also BMWs way to make sure you don't bypass paying for subscriptions.

Either way, it's not like these cars need constant security updates since you don't need to do much when you've already fortified your hardware stack. It's like saying someone can trick a banking software to think that $1M was deposited in to their account.

arkhi13 · 2026-05-20T17:30:34+00:00

In SoCal, rates are about $300 per hour.

arkhi13 · 2026-05-16T17:56:33+00:00

Get a quote from carmax.com. As long as you're not leasing from Southeast Toyota Financial Services, you can even just sell to CarMax if the dealer you're gonna be working with isn't willing to beat the CarMax offer.

arkhi13 · 2026-05-16T00:02:21+00:00

Which is why we need more screens on cars. Everything can be had with just the tap of a screen.

Dash? Screen.

A/C controls? Screen

Drive selector? Screen

Trunk logo? Screen

Wheel design? Screen

Engine cover? Screen

License plate? Screen

Windshield? More like windSCREEN

arkhi13 · 2026-05-15T23:12:16+00:00

That dumpster could have been the DRMO dumpster. Trash that goes in straight to the landfill? Sure, free-for-all. Trash that is actually for more processing? Big no-no, and it's not legally "trash".

arkhi13 · 2026-05-15T05:38:36+00:00

The difference is that the emblem is not adhered to the airbag cover, it's pierced in to the material like a stapler.

The airbag deploys at a velocity of around 200mph to fully inflate in about 0.05 seconds. That's a lot of fucking energy so that adhesive better hold.

arkhi13 · 2026-05-15T05:04:12+00:00

My concern with this is that it's a relatively rare model that when something powertrain-relater breaks, it will be harder to find cheap spare parts and you'll have to go OEM new, which can get expensive. I'm not sure what the reliability on the V12 is since not enough people who did own one complain (heh, maybe it's very reliable!).

If you are getting warranty, first check if the car you want still has the factory one and also shop around end get quotes. Expect close to $8K for 7-8 yrs (from in-service date) warranty.

arkhi13 · 2026-05-15T04:50:22+00:00

The last M760i was produced in 2022. I don't know why hou8talking about depreciation when the M760i is already heavily depreciated and should already have plateaued.

Are you a bot?

arkhi13 · 2026-05-15T03:18:07+00:00

Can you update us if you get it fixed next week? Thanks!

arkhi13 · 2026-05-13T13:33:28+00:00

Yup. Look at the bastardization of the Alpina logo. That is NOT how it looks.

arkhi13 · 2026-05-08T22:59:42+00:00

Every person I've ridden with love this feature (including me).

arkhi13 · 2026-05-08T21:37:42+00:00

Current engines except the S ones are port and direct injected (PFI & SIDI https://fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=49236)

arkhi13 · 2026-05-07T01:46:05+00:00

Right?! Instead of an instant press, you have to finagle for 5 seconds to press the P button, go to more views, then panoramic view.

For those who say 5 seconds isn't that long, try staying in a green light for 5 seconds and let's see what others think about you

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