The BMW is in the shop

Late last week the 3 picked up a rather good-sized nail in one of the front tires, and subsequently had to be changed. Layla had already taken the car when this happened and she called me from down the road to tell me that when she pulled into the parking lot, the tire was already mostly flat. I headed out there to help her take care of the tire—not because I'm a Man™ and I do things like that, but because her time was best spent not changing that tire at that moment.

Nevertheless, I have a few things to report.

• The jack system on the 3 is really ingenious. It's like a hi-lift but it's engineered so that the lift absolutely can't shoot out away from the car if it slips. The only way it can shoot is under the car, and that really isn't likely to happen. It's very clever.
  
• My BMW uses lug bolts instead of nuts. Damn those German engineers!
  
• There was a rather large oil leak under the front of the car.
  

I'm fairly sure the leak is pretty recent—the oil spray under the car was even without any signs of drying and was really fresh all over. I doubt that it has anything to do with the flat tire, but I'm not sure what caused it.

I set up an appointment yesterday to take the car in to the local fix-it shop, Autologic. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned Autologic before. Holy shit, the guys there are awesome.

Anyway, it turns out that it's the timing chain tensioner cover that was leaking, and it had leaked enough that the timing chain was damaged. Since my 3 is equipped with VANOS, changing out the timing chain is a royal pain in the ass and Autologic doesn't have the tools to do it—so they arranged for Strictly BMW to take the car instead.

I hear that the local BMW dealership sends their work to Strictly BMW when they don't have the tools or expertise to get the job done. Impressive.

Nevertheless, the 3 is going to be sent to Strictly BMW soon and the outlook isn't too good—it's possible that they'll have to pull the cylinder head to replace the timing chain. I knew when I bought this car that it would be expensive to service...and, well, here I am. Yay.