1996 BMW 318 Complete Ignition Cylinder Replacement

JONNYOG

MEMBER
1996 BMW 318
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
104,000 MILES

Does the following estimate sound right to replace the entire ignition Cylinder/tumbler will take 5 hours and $650 in labor costs (1996, 318i BMW)?

Per my dealer quote, they say it requires this many hours to completely disassemble the steering column and replace the cylinder.

3 Replies

DOCHAGERTY

MECHANIC
9,601 POSTS

The replacement of the ignition tumbler in your car is 1.5 hours. I am quoting BMW published repair time. KSD says the operation code is 32-32-001 for 12 flat rate units. One flat rate unit is 7.5 minutes and this is changing next year to 6 minutes so it would be 1.2 hours. It does not take 5 hours to do this and even giving them the benefit of the doubt and allowing 2 hours, it still quite a stretch to get to 5 hours. Is there anything else I can help you with?

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Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 AT 4:35 PM

JONNYOG

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Thanks Dr. Hagerty for you insightful response! One quick question is the ignition "tumbler" and the ignition "cylinder" one and the same thing?

The dealer said he need to replace the entire ignition cylinder. So is replacin the cylinder a 5 hour job?

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Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 AT 4:56 PM

DOCHAGERTY

MECHANIC
9,601 POSTS

Negative, the cylinder replace alone is a 15 minute job if you take a smoke break whilst doing it. The cylinder replacement alone is 3 FRU and can be a bit tricky to the inexperienced hand, but this is the dealer and they aren't supposed to be inexperienced, are they? Cheers mate and let me know if I can help you out with anything else.

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Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 AT 5:05 PM