I want to thank everyone who has helped with advice on this problem. Without your advice I probably would have just traded the vehicle off.
Two days ago a phoned the BMW complaint line and related my story. Several times I was on hold for quite awhile. At first they said it wasn’t a warranty issue. Armed with the EPA letter info from TDImeister, I started down a different course, and was put on hold again. At the end they reluctantly agreed that the DPF was probably an emissions component, although they had been only covering catalytic converters. They told me to contact the dealer again. The dealer had already stated that the DPF wasn’t covered by the CPO warranty or the emissions warranty.
Knowing that the entire purpose for the DPF was emissions, I called a corporate attorney friend of mine who is vey technical and discussed the situation with him. Although he doesn’t do this can of legal work anymore, he had a former partner who does, and indicated he would be interested to talk with me.
Before I got to talk with him, out of the blue the dealership called me yesterday, to inform me that they had determined that they would cover the part via an emissions warranty claim and asked me not to drive the car. They even offered a loaner. I suspect someone had talked to them because this was a total about face. They reiterated again that 40%of their warranty work was on diesels and they made up less than 10% of their service.
They told me they had ordered the converter from Germany, it would arrive in 3 weeks and not to drive the car.
I have some doubts as to whether this is really the problem based on the info I have gotten here, but I decided not to question them. They said the new DPF is on the way and BMW was going to pay the $6000 warranty bill and they like big ticket jobs so be it.
I think I should look around for a real diesel shop if I don’t have time to do the work myself.
It is unfortunate that although our 5 diesel vehicles have been incredibly reliable, it has been very difficult to get reliable and knowledgeable service locally.
Since I got the new clutch in the Jetta last year from a company who is on this thread, it has been a real pleasure to drive, so I won’t really miss the BMW for a month.
Thank you all again. Oh, one thing I did come to find out, the dealer indicated they had been charging others for this problem. I wonder if they get a phone call....