E30M3 ABS problem Solved!- Repair shop in Dallas Found!

[Mark Williams <williamh@xxxxxxx>]

For the uninitiated, my car has had a long time problem with the ABS system
under panic (read: autocross) braking situations. The specific symptom was the
left front wheel locking up under ABS conditions. No problems at any other
time. No yellow ABS fault light on the dash at any time.  To confuse matters
 more, this problem made itself known at the first autocross I had ever 
attended, 6-9 months after repairs to my car after my own (at fault) collision. 
I swapped ABS front wheel sensors, cleaned the wheel hubs, changed to stainless 
steel lines, swapped ABS brains, bled and rebled the system all to no avail.
    I have had BAD experiences with the only BMW dealer in my former city, 
Lafayette, IN and desperately needed to find a competent shop in my new home 
city of Dallas, TX. I was pointed to John Roberts BMW by Paul Marshall. 
The techs at JR inspected the ABS pump and it's connections and found a slightly
kinked steel line and replaced it to no avail. They provided a loaner for me 
at their expense as they experienced parts delays. They used the diagnostic 
computer and re-grounded two grounds, removed and checked both front calipers
and pistons, rebuilt the calipers, and then swapped ABS pumps (I had provided 
a used one for this purpose) and still the problem occurred. Finally, they were
fortunate enough to have another E30M3 come in the shop for repair and after 
inspecting it's ABS pump they discovered that the repair shop had installed 
two of the steel lines into my ABS pump in the reverse order. The lines
actually cross over on the way to the pump from the master cylinder and 
obviously the repair shop did not do this. My car was down for 2 weeks (5 
days due to parts delay) and in my opinion the folks at John Roberts have 
shown to be honest, fair, knowledgeable, determined, and CUSTOMER SERVICE
ORIENTED. This is my second experience with them and I am very satisfied.
BTW, my final labor tab was only 5.5 hrs (!) and will likely be billed back
to the repair shop that improperly installed the line.
    I would like to thank James Clay, Matt Brumwell, Paul Marshall, Neil Hitze,
and Asst Service Manager Joe Braeutigam and Service Manager David Lubertazzo 
of John Roberts (and their techs) for their roles in assisting me. In the case 
of the people at John Roberts, they have shown to be a first class BMW dealer
and I STRONGLY recommend them if anyone is looking for a dealer in the DFW area.
Ask for Joe B, and tell him that Mark sent ya. John Roberts BMW may not be
perfect (who is?), but they certainly endeavor to make things right. Their
discount for BMWCCA club members on parts AND labor also helped ease the sting 
of big city labor rates.

Mark Williams
Lewisville, TX
91 ///M3 (ready to autocross)

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