I got the letter a couple of days ago for my F56S. Since I DIYed it for $5 I guess I'm not missing much reimbursement from having DIYed it. But glad to see the letter both step up and provide paths for reimbursement of to folks who paid an arm and a leg to get it done by dealer service / equivalent. For those not able to DIY, it's a lot of $$$$ pain to deal with such a remarkably cheap part.

 

Yep, got my letter too just this past week. I purchased some replacement springs, but haven't gotten to the project yet. Looks like I won't have to get to the project now, just a dealership visit or two...will have to see about getting this done on their nickel. Wonder how many of us are out there that this prompted an extended warranty addendum, certainly a significant amount.

 

Yep this is the spring and it looks like they replace the whole shifter with the fix. Its a little bit of a job from what i have seen to replace that shifter unit: https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Sit...h/25168483097/



Little fix spring is not much of a spring. Its a little bit or work to get to it. Glad they are covering it.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-bremmen-...168483098~brp/

 

So I guess it depends on what "replace the whole shifter" means.

I've done the spring replacement on my F56. Getting the main shifter assembly out of the center console on the F54 is more work than on the F56. But on both cars, you have to get the main shifter -- that big chunk of plastic assembly -- out of the center console and that's it.

One does NOT need to replace, remove, or otherwise service the cable or anything "downstream of" the cable. The big chunk of assembly is detachable from the shifter cable -- by design (not using improv, wire cutters, creativity, etc).

The shifter assembly itself can be detached, reattached, detached, reattached to the cable over and over again. And the shifter assembly is a single unit, held in place by six bolts/screws/you get the idea, if memory serves.

With that in mind, here are the work tasks:

Shifter assembly replace:

- Get center console out of there, de-anchor (bolts) old shifter assembly from car, detach shifter assembly from shifter cable. Then reassemble in reverse order, but with new assembly instead of old.

Spring replace:

- Get center console out of there, de-anchor (bolts) old shifter assembly from car, detach shifter assembly from shifter cable, open up shifter assembly, remove spring. Then reassemble in reverse order, but with new spring inside old assembly instead of old spring.

The spring replacement has more steps because you are cracking open the shifter and fiddling with its internals. From a raw time and work steps standpoint, replacing the entire shifter assembly outright is faster, easier, and requires far less precision. Physical hardware-wasteful and more part-cost expensive, but easier to execute and harder to screw up.

Unless by "shifter assembly" one means shifter assembly+cable.

Shifter assembly+cable is a whole other kind of exercise. Doing that would totally be a lot more work. But it would be really unwise to get into replacing that cable for no reason. It isn't part of the problem at all, and it again is detachable from the shifter assembly by design. It's as un-clippable as your seat belt is un-fastenable.

FWIW.

 

I just checked our invoice and the replaced the full assembly. Also, I am not sure if it is a normal process, but they did a video walk around the car showing them doing an inspection. They looked at tire wear, brake wear, pointed out a leaking motor mount as well as a couple other things. Overall good experience with our local Mini dealer in Indianapolis Indiana