Mechanic talking rubbish? "You don't use your car enough"

[LookatmyFatArseDP]

I have a 10 plate BMW 3 series M Sport (included that wanky M Sport as may be relevant). Shes my pride and joy and whenever she so much as squeaks she's in the garage to be checked. She's immaculate.

A while ago I had "low oil pressure warning stop immediately" warning flash up then disappear. Obvs I cried (nearly anyway).

Took it to my proper German specialist garage. They replaced the oil sensor as it was covered in crap, all good.

Except, it happened again a few months later 😩 warning on then off straightaway. DP took it back and mechanic clocked it had only done about 5k miles in 1.5 years 😳 he asked DP about my driving habits which are rather Miss Daisy - few miles to work, mway for about 0.5 mile, never really get up to 70mph expect maybe once a month for a few mins.

He said he'd love to take our money but the problem isn't the car, its because I never get it fully warmed up with my pootling about and if it was genuine low pressure the warning would appear a lot more regularly and stay on for a while. His fix was for us to ensure it goes on a "spirited drive" at least once a month on solid mway driving for 30 mins to clear stuff out as that's causing the oil sensor to, I dunno, get covered in shit or whatever?

Now cars been fine for about 8m. It did it again a few times last week. No i hadn't "spiritidly driven" it for ages. DP took it out for 40mins. Its been fine since.

While mechanic seems to have been right I guess (he's really old school, loves BMWs, in particular, is always doing training etc). I just find it incredible that a car can throw out such a scary warning every now and then because I don't drive it much??

Does this sound right or do I need another mechanic? I'm so worried about my prize possession 😩

I'm pretty confident with cars (and would love a fast one) and if any lights came on / or breaks down I'm fine however - my oil pressure warning light came on a few months ago with the "oil pressure high - stop immediately" words and it scared the daylights out of me - my dh and mechanic when I rang up said it was fine and just need topping up with coolant which I did and light came off but the warning itself was very scary - I think my head went to 'it's going to blow up' because of the pressure / stop immediately words - so I think I know where you are coming from OP?

He speaks the truth.
A car needs to be used and not kept for best 😁

Yes!! On the iDrive it said "engine damage, driving is not possible"....something about seeing that along with hearing that sodding noise that goes with it just sent me under 😔

Even now when its low on petrol and I hear the "ping" letting me know my heart stops for a split second and I can't look at the screen

I've just bought a new diesel and recall my dad saying his needed a good razz along the dual carriageway in a lowish gear to clear the particulate filter as a PP says. So my weekly trip to the knitting group should fulfill that function 😁

Two days after I bought it, a warning light came on for ALL FOUR TYRES as I was driving to a night out. I had a bit of a freak out but took it to a garage, pumped the tyres up (one was pretty low, which is crap of the garage that sold it), and no problems since, but it gave me a fright.

Yep it’s common knowledge cars need higher speed runs fairly regularly. Shorts trips all the time aren’t good for cars, or the planet or your health..::

He's right

My mum's car cost £3k in repairs when the particulate filter got blocked through lack of use. I've said repeatedly the car was mis-sold but likewise she didn't research either. A large diesel engine for a woman who drove a 5 mile round trip 2x week and the odd longer journey if visiting family.
It's my car now and my regular journeys are mostly all short little ones but I do make sure it gets a good trip every now and then and travel on the motorway at least monthly.

These warning systems are good i suppose but the mechanic said they can cause people to panic and its usually not a major issue its just the warning system cant differentiate between "oops the oil sensor is covered in shit" and "danger your engine is going to explode. Which helped a teeny bit (but not as much as this thread has!)

Yes, drive it fast. It clears pipes, filters etc through. Oil needs to get to the right temperature before it works well to lubricate properly.

ffs don’t get a focus. Ours is shit. The windscreen leaks, the heating system has an issue that forms condensation, it’s had a new engine under warranty as they used the wrong plastic for the pipes and for some unknown reason, the spare wheel well fills up with water every fucking time it rains.

Lots of short trips without hitting running temp and getting a good zoom will glaze your cylinders. Basically cylinders have lovely pattern in them that helps keep the oil up. Short trips build up a coating and they become all glassy, making the oil slide down. You can get the pattern back by rehoning if it's really bad. That involves stripping the engine down, removing the pistons and using a groovy little tool bit - if I remember rightly it fits on a drill. Then putting it all back together again. Rather costly for the mechanic to do.

So go for a good zip on a weekend to blow the cobwebs out.

An article that might be of interest about glassy cylinders
www.onallcylinders.com/2018/05/18/ask-away-jeff-smith-cylinder-wall-glazing-get-rid/

Are you using BMW recommended (low SAPS) oils and changing regularly and not to mileage? to account for your low use?

Its recommended twice annually for a car driven slowly and low miles as oil degrades faster in cars rarely used.

Oil pressure switch sits in the oil circulation system and will pressurise (light goes out) within a second of the car starting with stone cold oil, the oil doesn't need to be hot, oil pressure switches have a very low threshold, which is they go out almost instantly on start-up.

Personally, if the oil is sludging up as much as your mechanic says it is, all your doing by a fast run once a month is pumping that shitty oil through out the car engine, inc Turbo, you ve bigger things to worry about than a new oil pressure light, oil doesn't "unsludge" itself, it needs replacing.

I don't hugely trust mechanics tbh. My last car, an Astra, every time I took it in it came back with something else wrong- diff garage tbf - so I'm a bit distrusting

In fairness, that's called 'Being a Vauxhall'. You're mixing apples with oranges there.

I own a high performance car, a couple of times a week I revert back to being a teen and drive it like it’s been stolen 😂

Sadly these cars do need to be driven hard every now and again - what a shame…

I don't drive myself but I have always thought this also

Sounds like you need to get out more

May I suggest a monthly trip out to the coast or out into the country?

Your car will enjoy it and hopefully you will too.

i can afford that - bring it over. We can take it for a whizz down the Autobahn (1km from me) with no speed limit on it...

you know you want to...

This is true ! Me and my husband have the exact same car x 2 ( his and hers extra wanky ) his gets driven a lot of miles a week for work and has never had a problem mine does the school run and a weekly trip to the supermarket and I've have no end of problems so now me and the kids pile up in the car and drive to the supermarket thats 40 minutes away every Friday and its not had a issue since I've started this . And the kids love it because we get a Starbucks on the way there and a macsonalds on the way back

Are you the mechanic? 😃 tbf he did say we really need to keep up with the taking it out for a blast otherwise we'll be back sooner than expected with a problem.

It goes in for a full service every year and a partial one every 6m, id be very surprised if he uses crap in it he is honestly a real German car nerd. Once we had a bit of a scare with it rabbiting along and losing power, really scary, called him in a panic and he said he bet it was the DTC sensor, nothing dramatic. Told us to turn the traction control off to get us to the garage. He was spot on. Starting to wonder now why I've doubted him with this problem.

This is true 😬

I kind of do now im a bit annoyed im (allegedly) working today after this pep talk 😃

Looking forward to going out tomorrow in it now!!

But does yours have that button you can press that inflates the seats around your torso....cocooning you in a cloud of leather? 🤣

They are lovely cars aren't they. I've just had a quick look on auto trader and the same spec is now costing nearky £2k more than I paid for it 3 years ago - crazy!!!

I'm l

yup they need a good run every now and then - distance usually rather than "spirited" as such - but that may explain the preponderance of badly driven BMW on the rd if this is what they are all told. Maybe I am grumpy after SIX of the buggers, one after the other, cut through road works chopping everyone up in front of me yesterday creating havoc behind them

If it's a diesel then it's a problem with one of the parts needing someone to give it a good razz round every now and again.

I think a mechanic that refuses to take your money and gives you an alternative, free, explanation of what you should do, should be listened to.

Our local tyre place is known for being excellent as they don't take money off you if you don't need to spend it. They always estimate how many more miles you've got on your tyres and send you on your way. As a result, they're always busy with repeat/returning customers.

Cars have to be driven. My neighbour just changed her car as the old one got driving so infrequently it had moss growing on it and every time she went to use it she got error messages flashing up or had to call the AA to start it. The new car does seem to get driven a bit more, but really not often enough so I foresee similar issues again in the future.

Don't be surprised if you have to have a new battery at some point too as it won't get fully recharged without longer drives.

If your DH drives regularly, can you just get him to take your car to work sometimes? My DH asks me to take his sometimes. Mostly because I work right next to an excellent hand car wash, but sometimes just so that it gets a good run down the motorway as he WFH most of the time.

Oh, and the comment about BMW's must be driven hard means that I will be putting my car in to what I call "full sport mode" tonight (i.e. both sport mode on the button and sport mode on the gearbox!). You don't have to speed to drive it hard. You just get up to the speed limit quicker!