Yes. It is a simple matter that the dealers should have spotted immediately; and it is NOT a warranty item. A stone will have been thrown backwards by a car in front and rather than hit your windscreen, it will have gone through the gaps in the front of the bonnet and hit the condenser radiator of the A/C system. This can be 'holed' and the A/C fluid will leak out.

You cannot warranty for damage cuased by external matters (windscreens are not warrantied). You need to buy new condenser.

Sorry.

The not fit for purpose route may be worth pursuing although I would rate chances of success as low.

Firstly it opens the door to a flood of similar claims for stone damage irrespective of vehicle age - a massive risk for both BMW and other manufacturers

Secondly the design needs to ensure a good flow of air over the matrix. Providing protection would likely need a larger radiator out of direct air flow, and shrouding/ducting both of which add to weight and cost.

In truth just bad luck - you don't expect a new tyre to be replaced just because you got a puncture 2 miles away from the tyre fitter

engineers scratching their heads, their diagnosis is that there is stone damage to the radiator....which is apparently not covered by warranty.

I am facing a bill of £750 for the radiator replacement.

If the condenser has been holed then the refrigerant will leak out. The loss of refrigerant can be easily identified by measuring the pressure in the system. The difficult part is finding the component that's leaking.

A/C specialists used to put a dye in with the refrigerant that could be detected with U/V light. I believe it's illegal to vent refrigerent to the atmosphere, so I don't know if this is still done. I would've thought it would be possible to pressurise the system with air and use soapy water to find any leaks.

I'd go to an A/C specialist rather than a main dealer. They'll know what they're doing and probably be much cheaper.

I'd say it's rare for a condensor to be genuinely damaged like this. Most manufacturers fit condensors at the front - do you really think that would be the 'norm' if they were easily damaged?

"Engineers" - since when did dealers employ Engineers? Technicians.

"scratching their heads"? Yeah, trying to come up with a reason to reject your claim.

And frankly I don't trust most dealerships to service a walking stick.

Ask them to show you the hole.

And get a second opinion (not from another BMW dealer - they'll be in cahoots)

Hey,

Not sure if you are still following replies from this thread but this happend to me 2 days after taking delivery of my M140i from a dealer which will remain un-named in Buckinghamshire.

The stone went through the radiator and into the coolant pipe according to the technician, which was evident due to the coolant quite literally spraying out the front of my car like a supersoaker! The dealer did insist on trying to charge me 750 for a new radiator but I asked that they take in to consideration my 2 day ownership and they very very very reluctantly replaced it for free (Nice guys).

Problem solved you think? No! It has now happened again after a month and this time the air con no longer works (my thinking due to the stone) and my car no longer feels like a pocket rocket. In fact it feels like it's running on a few less cylinders. It's booked in tomorrow at the same dealer who when booking me in, said they had 4 - 5 cars in the workshop this last week for the same problem, so we'll see what they have to say. I was apparently a freak statistic when it first happened but now im finding out this is happening to a lot more people than i thought. I've driven dealer demo's since i was 18 for various brands and have never had this. Now all of a sudden twice in 2 months, plus lots more people too?? Something must be wrong.

Rant over... But just know, you're not alone, the problem is bigger here.

Hi there, my m140 has been in the garage for 4 weeks now after being diagnosed with a hole in the air con rad, being replaced on warranty, but it requires 2 x stone guards fitting. They are coming from germany, which is why its taken 4 weeks