So here's what i typed up for BMW of San Diego to take care of for me. I cannot believe there's this many little (and some not so little) issues with a pre-owned CPO'd car. I discovered these within 10 days of owning the car:

1. VISUAL LOCK/UNLOCK CUE:
please activate visual cue (signal lights & clown nose) upon locking/unlocking as per following instructions:
1. hook up the shop computer (MODIC) to the car.
2. Go to the "Anti-Theft" activation section.
3. Activate the alarm, but uncheck the "DWA" option.
After this is done, your corner light should blink once when locked and twice when unlocked remotely. In addition, the clown nose will blink when car is locked just as if an alarm was present. Contrary to the previous version of the FAQ, there are no permanent fault codes that are generated for the latest E46's (at least for MY2001's and later) by programming this option.

2. ELECTRIC SIDE MIRRORS:
electric mirrors change position at random, usually when changing from one seat memory to another

3. CONVENIENCE OPEN:
convenience open top MUST work from remote -- it's in the manual! -- but currently only works by placing key in door handle

4. TRUNK:
open trunk w/key in ignition not working, even with handbrake up and everything unlocked

5a. WHEEL BEARING(S)?
rubbing/grinding sound suggesting worn wheel bearing(s) or perhaps try newer differential fluid? Possible rock in between brake rotor and shield?

5b. WHEEL BEARING(S) --> ALIGNMENT ISSUE?
Try driving perfectly straight ahead; notice the wheel is turned SLIGHTLY right of a perfect 12 o'clock position; in other words, if wheel is at PERFECT 12 o'clock position, car will bear left

6. "RUBBING/BLOWING" SOUND:
35-60 mph "rubbing/blowing" sound when windows down; above 60 mph inaudible due to wind roar; or perhaps try newer differential fluid?

7. BAD WINDOW SEAL
right-rear wind noise (bad rubber seals?)

8. BRAKE DUCTS:
Noticed that one brake duct is sealed up(?!); the other has a "quadrant" of holes punched open!

9. WATER IN DRIVER'S SIDE DOOR REFLECTOR
The small orange reflector on driver's door has water inside of it

10. TRANSMISSION SOFTWARE UPDATE
lots of bucking in 1st gear unless EXTREMELY careful on gas; tried SMG reset; please update SMG software

11. STEERING WHEEL VOLUME BUTTON
when "decreasing volume" the volume rocker button often gets stuck in the depressed position

12. CONVERTIBLE TOP STRANGE NOISE AFTER LOWERED
After top is fully lowered and (presumably!) locked in place, strange "locking/snapping/popping" sound a few seconds after start to drive forward

NOTE: PLEASE KEEP CAR AS LONG AS YOU NEED -- I DO NOT WANT THE CAR BACK UNTIL THESE ISSUES HAVE BEEN REMEDIED.

Thank you,

---Marc

 

That's wind.

1 down, 11 to go!

 

haha, smart ****

and im pretty sure the mirrors are set to each seat memory position. so thats probably why they are moving by themselves?

 

Agreed, #2 is no worry. Mirrors are linked to seat memory.

 

let me put it this way, cpo means jack....

my brother-in-law bought a cpo car and it had to be taken back for things that should have b een taken care of in the first place.

 

I think it really depends on the dealer.

My roomate just had every door seal and wheel bearing replaced on his 03 540i under CPO.

 

Wow.... makes me glad I only buy new cars. Not that new cars don't have their problems but sheesh what a list.

 

#2: the mirror position is also saved in the seat memory.

 

Bwahhhhh, his dealer is gonna love him ! And prolly fix 2 things and come back with everyone's favorite dealer response "Could not reproduce customer complaint"

Good luck !

 

#2 re: the mirror memory, no what i mean is that they are NOT remembering their stored positions .... like they'll either randomly go off in their own directions ever so slightly or they'll go bezerk: usually the driver's mirror will go straight to the sky ..... but if i want to see the sky i'll just drop the top!!

yeah i think #6 is actually wind blowing through the gap in the sideview mirrors!!

 

is that a good thing or bad thing??? every door seal was it replaced just for the hell of it or becuase it needed to. It's good when they stand behind their word and get the work done.

 

Everything depends on the dealer. I always thought that BMW service was the worst but then I bought a Range Rover ....

 

well i'll be taking hte car on in on monday, we'll see what happens........

and i figured out hte problem with #2: something's wrong with the KEY (?!?!!?) ... i tried the other key, to see if hte problem persisted ....... nope!!

 

Hope it gets sorted!

If it doesn't, get an Audi.

 

ok so everything has been sorted out, BUT........

no bmw dealership will fix my convenience open feature. they say that liability reasons preclude the option from being applicable, even though it's in the manual, and even though there's a TSB that FIXES it in cars which do not have the integrated garage door opener.

wtf?!