Re: 97 M3

[Jim Ochi <jochi@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From: dowens01@domain.elided (David Owens)
>
>I pulled over and the black plastic cover thingy under the engine
>had all but come off.  There was another smaller piece that came completely
>off.  I have read in the past that this has happened to other people and
>I am trying to get more information on why this happens.  
>

David - 

What usually happens is that at some point in time you scraped the bottom
of the air dam on a parking block or a curb - this loosened up the screws
that fasten the splash guard in place or started to tear the little ears
that the screws go through on the splash guard.  Or, you scraped the
triangular pieces that are in front of the wheels - these seem to act like
levers, pulling directly on the fasteners.  Then, every time you either
scrape another parking block, or get up to speed, the fasteners loosen up
more and more, until the panel blows off.  This could be weeks after your
initial scrape, and usually happens when you get the car up to freeway
speed or beyond.

It's pretty tough to get this covered under warranty, since 99% of the time
it's caused by operator error.  One thing your dealer may do is inspect the
bottom of your air dam, looking for scrape marks - any scrapes, and you'll
end up paying for the repair.

If you're mechanically inclined, it's fairly easy to buy all the parts and
put it all back together.  If you take this route, you might want to
reinforce the mounting points on the splash guard with some metal angle -
there's a good picture of this on Suzy's M Power site
(http://www.bmwmpower.com).

Hope this helps,

Jim Ochi
jochi@domain.elided

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