[AmmarYasirA]

So a few days ago I felt a very rough vibration and lack of power from my car. Check engine light came on and the car became, for lack of a better term, a vibrator.

The car would violently vibrate around 2-3.5k and at idle the revs would go up and down really quickly.

Of course, I checked the forums and got an idea of what could be wrong. Although I'm not mechanically inclined, I do know a few things here and there and couldn't agree more with what the problem could be. (Coils and Spark plugs)

So with what information I had gathered I searched for a few indy mechanics near Atlanta and steered away from any dealerships (horror stories about those). Google search came up with Bavarian Imports as the best with the most reviews/best rating, and then a few others as well as Buckhead Imports.

So I called the top of the list and asked when I could stop by. "Anytime after 7:30 tomorrow morning" and of course, I said alright and woke up the next day and drove over there. Little did I know that NONE of the techs were there. As much as I love everyone being in the holiday spirit and enjoying their Christmas luncheon... someone could have notified me the day before about when that would take place...
What seemed to be the only guy there (main guy for the body shop) told me they would be back in about another hour and then 30 minutes to check me in and 30 mins to check out the car and give it back.... Seriously??
So I moved on with my day and thought it wouldn't hurt to go down the list and see who else could more... appropriately serve me. I have absolutely no doubts that Bavarian imports could do a fantastic job, or that they would give me the best possible service... but with that said, the first impression is the last. Definitely did not seem like the place someone could confidently walk into and know that everything with their car would be properly taken care of. I also know that one should never judge a book by its cover... but as a professional business, I wasn't expecting that.

either way, thats just my experience at that place. Im NOT telling anyone to steer away from there. Just what I went through.



So, then I went to the next "best" option, Buckhead imports. When I got there, I told the rep at the front specifically what it could be and what would be needed to get changed. He was kind enough to say he could check out my car and see what was up. Mind you, EVERYTHING I had suggested that could be the problem, was the problem.

Heres where the fun part comes in... $850+ for 6 coils/plugs. Now, Im not exactly sure if Im the stupid one and this is normal.. or if this is an absurd amount of money. The parts alone was quoted for me at $450 (or somewhere around there). So I hesitated for a second and asked to have a minute to call someone. He immediately told me that he was in a rush to get parts and that I had to tell him right away if I wanted to get it done or not.
Like, c'mon, a two minute phone call wont kill anyone. So I talked to a friend of mine who laughed at me and told me not to get it done there. I went back inside, told the rep I would hold off until later and then once again, he tried to make me feel obliged/desperate to get the work done immediately. I don't know what the guy's problem was, but from a business aspect, pressuring customers to do something is the last thing you want to do. So I kindly told him I wouldn't get it done today and was ready to walk out until he said "well ya gotta pay for the diagnostics"

WHATTTT?!?!??!?!?

At that point I was speechless. I had absolutely no words left in me to express how utterly shocked I was.

I get it, If you put the car up on the lift, look for 45+ minutes trying to look for a problem, or even if you had to spend 25-30 minutes trying to figure something out, I could understand a diagnostic charge... but for plugging up an OBD2 reader to the car and sticking your head under the hood, KNOWING WHAT THE PROBLEM COULD BE... $126 IS UN****ING-BELIEVABLE.

The dealership I had the horror story from was more sensible than this, they waved a $150 diagnostic fee because I personally wanted to talk to the tech and ask a few questions. Granted I wont ever go back there again for other reasons, but I do know that they didn't screw me over with price...at all, especially with them being a dealership.




Anyways, I went and had a friend order the parts for me.. which was $100 less than what was quoted for me, and that same friend said he could knock it out himself and said, "its so easy, even a caveman can do it." (ok maybe he didn't say that) but he did say it wasn't worth anywhere near what B.I. were quoting me.

So in conclusion to all this, If your car is idling/running rough, its most probably your coils/plugs. The 328 was at around 43k miles and you can order the parts yourself and probably change them out yourself too.

And do yourself a favor. DONT TAKE PEOPLE'S BS. Ask before you give them your car about unreasonable diagnostic fees and LOOK STUFF UP ON THE FORUM. The community is here for a reason, these people are amazing and most of your problems will probably be solved by asking questions.

First post here on e90post, so Hey! and thanks for the information.

[ThatRWD]

Welcome aboard sir

[Swizzie7]

Wow, welcome to the family ... And glad to hear your buddy Is helping out

[cpie168]

thanks for the sharing. So did the new plugs and coils fix your problem at the end?

[mike3000fl]

autozone will read codes for free.

buy coils and plugs and DIY, plenty of videos and threads on here about how to do it.

around $400

If you read the codes for free at autozone you can just buy the one coil that went out and do it for $50. Then do the rest as they fail.