Its just its way of letting you know its time to preform maintinance on it. That's why I love BMW. The early warning system consists of a light that is always on and catostophic failure.
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2004 Honda S2000
2001 F-150 4X4 6" lift on 37" tires
2007 GSX-R 600
2008 SX-R 800
1992 (slammed by PO) 240sx Coupe (SOLD)
1999 BMW POS ///M3(SOLD)
1998 Honda Civic EX beater (SOLD)
You know, I can't speak for anybody else, but I've been driving a BMW for the past 3 1/2 years and I have never been stranded on the side of the road or experienced a catastrophic failure that kept me from getting a safe place. In my 325i with like 75k on it I lost powersteering all at once in a parking lot when the impeller sheered right out of the pump. I've had the me from 140k to 170k and it the one time it stranded me is actually a pretty good story.
It was last summer when I was working at Martin's. My tensioner pulley was clearly on its last leg, idle squeak was so loud it sounded supercharged and the pulley was noticeably worn out. I ordered another one (the biggest benefit about working there was decided you need a part at 4:30 PM and having it by 9 AM) but because I'm lazy I let it sit on the parts shelf for about a week. As I was going to leave one day I doubled back into the parts room and grabbed it while I was thinking about it. My buddy and I drove the same route for the like the first 10 minutes everyday, so I'm following him onto the interstate, hit it in 3rd gear and at about 5k I hear POP-pa-pingpingpingping and every light comes on, temp gauge starts to climb and I've got now powersteering, so I know exactly what happened. I called Ben, told him what happened and asked if he could get me some tools since his house was close. I limped it to the civic center right off the highway, and tried to get it to cool down. As he shows up we look up and see the biggest fucking thunder cloud you've ever seen, on a steady roll right towards us.
Ben is like a tool Jesus. He runs a spec miata with his dad, he's built like 4 or 5 super high horsepower evos and Hondas, etc etc. So we start attacking this thing, swapped the pulley in about 2 minutes, re-ran the belt in another two, which was a bitch because it had wrapped itself up into a ball when it threw it. We did it at NASCAR pit crew speeds, and rain drops were falling as we closed the hood. Got back in our cars and as I turn the key a good old southwestern VA July thunderstorm completely opens up, like the kind where you can only see the car in front of you. Drove home like nothing happened. So the first and last time my car "stranded" me, I had just put the replacement part in the car, and it just so happened to be where a professional BMW mechanic could help me, seconds before an epic thunderstorm, total downtime of maybe 20 minutes.
Of course, I've had thousands and thousands of dollars worth of non-stranding issues...
Now: 07 Porsche Cayman S | 18 VW Tiguan
Then: 18 VW GTI Autobahn | 95 BMW M3 | 15 VW GTI SE | 12 Kia Optima SX | 2009 VW GTI | 00 BMW 540i Sport | 90 Mazda Miata | 94 Yamaha FZR600R | 1993 Suzuki GS500E | 2003 BMW 325i | 95 Saab 900S
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02' BMW 330i
20' CX-5 GTR