Dealer claims faulty CAS unit, up to $900 to replace, what to do?

[Pietu]

Took my 2008 e92 M3 to the dealer this morning to have it's break pads and fluid changed.

I also asked them to address this issue I've been having where I can not change the settings for my M Button as they are grey'd out in the menu and when pressing the M Button I also get the function set in the regular 3-series steering wheel button that the M Button replaces, such as mute audio.

I thought this was going to be a simple reset or at worst reprogramming of the car. However got a call from the dealer in the afternoon saying that the car "thinks" it is a regular 3-series and not an M3 at all. They also said they can not reprogram the car back to an M3 because the CAS module is not responding. They even apparently tried a "backdoor" access to the system but got an error from the CAS module.

The dealer service manager went on to explain that they have to order the CAS module specifically tailored for the car from Germany and I could be looking at paying up to $900 dollars for fixing my M Button!

Everything else works fine on the car and I can set the power and edc presets for the key, just not for the M Button. The M Button does activate Power and Sport EDC that were previously set for it but it also says "Navigation System Operational" as that is set for the regular 3-series quick button.

Any advice how to sort out this mess without being out close to a grand? If I do have to replace this CAS module, is it possible to get a pre-owned unit or are they assigned to VIN?

Would greatly appreciate any input!

[Technic]

Please contact forum vendor BimmerTech for a second opinion...

[Pietu]

Originally Posted by Technic

Please contact forum vendor BimmerTech for a second opinion...

Thanks, sent them an enquiry.

I'm also wondering, what's the possibility that this could be covered by BMW? I don't think a part like this failing is regular in such a modern car and I haven't done anything to cause this, the car is stock and always maintained at BMW.

[///Mperative]

Originally Posted by Pietu

Thanks, sent them an enquiry.

I'm also wondering, what's the possibility that this could be covered by BMW? I don't think a part like this failing is regular in such a modern car and I haven't done anything to cause this, the car is stock and always maintained at BMW.

BMW will only cover it if you're still under warranty. I assume your car is out of warranty?

[Pietu]

Originally Posted by ///Mperative

BMW will only cover it if you're still under warranty. I assume your car is out of warranty?

Yep, I'm out of warranty. I do have a service plan that's still good but that won't help. Talked to the dealer today and they said that BMW won't do even "good will" warranties after the car is over 3 years old.

However I live in Finland and we have this law protecting the consumers and it considers different parts of the car having to withstand a certain period of time before breaking before it's completely the users problem. For example if my engine was to break after 60k miles with good maintenance, the law would consider that normally an engine should be good for 120k miles so the dealer has to cover at least part of the costs.

So, according to this I don't consider a CAS Unit that is not considered a "wearing part" something that would break on a 4 year old car.

I'd still appreciate input on if there are alternate ways to fix this. According to the dealer they get non-responsive CAS units relatively often though. Also they said they will order the CAS unit anyway to have one in stock even if I don't have it changed on my car. So I take it that the CAS Unit is not car or VIN specific.

[Johndong888]

Definitely contact Patryk since youre in Europe. He should be able to sort it all out for you.

[BPMSport]

I can likely fix this remotely as well buy Patrys might be closer to you.