[acslater]

Add my fiance's daily driven 2012 F30 328i to the list. Car went into limp mode, no CEL or anything...slowed to a crawl and a low oil pressure light came on and a knock. Shut it down and towed it to a shop, but it was too late - bad rod knock around 2k rpm. Pulled filter to find a TON of metal particles. We think the last oil service neglected to change the filter because this thing is plugged up. Was at about 10k miles after the oil change, FYI. Two bad rod bearings and one overheated/warped conrod. We don't believe the low oil pressure was the cause, rather the symptom of the metal particles f#@$@ng up the oil pump. Car is about 6 months out of CPO and still just 46xxx miles on it. This is my fourth BMW, and second to have rod bearing issues. I'm done with BMW. Too many catastrophic issues on too many engine platforms. Might as well spend a little extra and get a Porsche.

[englishguy84]

Sorry to see this. Yes, if I had had catastrophic engine failures on two different cars by one make, I'd be done, too.

[madmonkey]

What interval were you using for oil changes?

[bavarianride]

There is a lot of metal particles. Even if the filter had been changed, the engine failure might have still occurred. What is the cause of so much metal in the oil?

[Polo08816]

Which other car did you experience a rod bearing failure?

2014 N55 here with 74k miles and no issues knock on wood.

[acslater]

Originally Posted by bavarianride

There is a lot of metal particles. Even if the filter had been changed, the engine failure might have still occurred. What is the cause of so much metal in the oil?

The image you're looking at is just the oil filter and the oil that was in it, and all of it is bearing material. This is cumulative over a decent period. The dealer changed the oil when they did the turbo line recall last summer, and its been about 9-10k miles since then. What we think is that they didn't change the filter at that time, meaning the filter would have closer to 20k miles on it or so.

Regardless, this is clearly a case of super premature bearing wear, and there likely is something that caused it (e.g., blocked journal oil passage being most likely).

[acslater]

Originally Posted by Polo08816

Which other car did you experience a rod bearing failure?

2014 N55 here with 74k miles and no issues knock on wood.

S65, of course, at 60k miles.

[KGB_123_99]

Did you ask if BMW will goodwill the repair even if it is outside of warranty?

[acslater]

Originally Posted by KGB_123_99

Did you ask if BMW will goodwill the repair even if it is outside of warranty?

Called and asked them, and they said they would need the car to be taken and diagnosed by their staff before they would even consider discussing goodwill. That would mean paying them to drop the subframe, re-verify, and then tell me they aren't going to help. From my S65 experience, I'm not willing to take that risk. I found an N20 out of a 2014 528i on eBay with 15k miles about 150 miles from me, so I bought it and will swap that into the car.

[sygazelle]

Sorry to hear about your bad experiences. You seem to be a really knowledgeable guy about cars so you probably know that the other German auto makers, including Porsche has had their share of premature engine failure problems. You can spend a little money and get a Porsche but that doesn't ensure you of anything except getting a great ride and higher monthly payments. After doing a bit more research it turns out that other brands like Hyundai and Dodge have class action suits against them for premature engine failures. So, just leaving German brands does not help either.

I'm not suggesting you stay with BMW. If you're fed up, you're fed up. Just know that the grass is not always greener. A possible consideration, whatever brand you buy is to sell it before its out of warranty or get an extended warranty.

My personal experience is exactly the opposite. I've been driving BMWs since 1988 and they've been in the family since 1972. Never once have we had an engine issue on any of them. We are lucky I know. My turns coming!

Good luck with the N20 engine swap. All the best.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by acslater

The image you're looking at is just the oil filter and the oil that was in it, and all of it is bearing material. This is cumulative over a decent period. The dealer changed the oil when they did the turbo line recall last summer, and its been about 9-10k miles since then. What we think is that they didn't change the filter at that time, meaning the filter would have closer to 20k miles on it or so.

Regardless, this is clearly a case of super premature bearing wear, and there likely is something that caused it (e.g., blocked journal oil passage being most likely).

My guess even with a new filter at the last service(for the turbo line recall) would not have helped that much. This amount of metal looks like a major issue within the engine, and probably BMW will goodwill it provided the car has not been modded/tracked.

[acslater]

Originally Posted by bavarianride

My guess even with a new filter at the last service(for the turbo line recall) would not have helped that much. This amount of metal looks like a major issue within the engine, and probably BMW will goodwill it provided the car has not been modded/tracked.

No mods whatsoever. My S65 was 100% stock and NEVER tracked and it was still a "no" from BMW with a far more common issue. I've already made my peace with it and am prepared and can afford to deal with it myself.

As far as Porsche, that was a bit tongue in cheek. Despite my S65 woes, I loved the car.

[BMW11]

sorry to hear this news. I can not believe that BMW expects their customers to accept that the engine could die at 46k miles and we should be happy and just buy another one. I would get a lawyer and push BMWNA to pay for a new engine warranty or not. BMW is not ethical saying NO to fix a MANUFACTURER DEFECT at such a young life of 46k miles. I just can't believe it. Makes me so mad.

[bavarianride]

Originally Posted by acslater

No mods whatsoever. Im an experienced track driver and did take it out for one 15-min session at Laguna for shits and giggles. Regardless, that's not what caused this. My S65 was 100% stock and NEVER tracked and it was still a "no" from BMW with a far more common issue. I've already made my peace with it and am prepared and can afford to deal with it myself.

As far as Porsche, that was a bit tongue in cheek. Despite my S65 woes, I loved the car.

My guess is BMWNA can argue that track use is not what the engine is spec'ed for, but obviously that would be an alternate definition of "Ultimate Driving Machine".

My worry is that what if this happens without mod nor track? Will BMWNA good will the repair or not?

It feels as if BMWAG engine design these days are spec'ed for leases that won't go above 50k miles or something. E.g. the N20 timing chain issue, even if very rare, is still somewhat worrisome, how can BMWAG keep messing up basic bread and butter engine tech?!? This is very discouraging.

Mine is a N26 SULEV, hopefully those are built tough enough to last 15 years and 150k miles per warranty.

[eluded]

Originally Posted by acslater

This is my fourth BMW, and second to have rod bearing issues.

Ouch.

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by acslater

S65, of course, at 60k miles.

That sucks.

[otay]

Arrggh, that really does suck. N20 looks to be about $4k? Plus the labor...even if you can do it yourself, it's a crap ton of work. I think I'd press BMWNA a bit more, tell them they have to pay for the diagnosis. Engine failure at 46k miles is total BS.

Good luck!

[Rick4345]

There's always a Mercedes. Maybe an AMG C63.

[acslater]

Originally Posted by Polo08816

That sucks.

Luckily for the S65 I had it checked before a failure because everyone was talking about the bearings being problematic. Had them replaced for <$3k (again, mainly labor...) and the car was totally fine.

Originally Posted by otay

Arrggh, that really does suck. N20 looks to be about $4k? Plus the labor...even if you can do it yourself, it's a crap ton of work. I think I'd press BMWNA a bit more, tell them they have to pay for the diagnosis. Engine failure at 46k miles is total BS.

Good luck!

I was able to talk the guy into selling the motor for $3k, but yea it's in no way a DIY job. Front sub-frame has to come out with the engine in it, you HAVE to have a lift to do it economically. Labor per BMW is 16 hours, but realistically its more like 20. All-in, should be around $6-7k so I'm thankful that the motor is such low mileage, I can pretend that I'm buying back some of the depreciation on the car.

[cptcrunch]

Only 46k miles? What a load of shit. It sounds like the N20 engine is a problematic engine unless you have the new chain design, after January 2015 I think. Sorry to hear about your troubles OP.

[acslater]

Originally Posted by sygazelle

I'm not suggesting you stay with BMW. If you're fed up, you're fed up. Just know that the grass is not always greener. A possible consideration, whatever brand you buy is to sell it before its out of warranty or get an extended warranty.

My personal experience is exactly the opposite. I've been driving BMWs since 1988 and they've been in the family since 1972. Never once have we had an engine issue on any of them. We are lucky I know. My turns coming!

Good luck with the N20 engine swap. All the best.

Appreciate the kind words. I agree with you about extended warranty - I've always tried to weigh probability and cost from an EV perspective, and unfortunately I've come out on the wrong end a couple of times now. Extending is worthwhile if you can get a good price, and I have been undervaluing that.

In the interest of mitigating any bias I'm showing, my E36 M3 was the most reliable car I have ever owned, and I loved both the E90 M3 and the 228i M-Sport; I feel particularly bad about this situation because I helped my fiance pick the car and I assured her they WERE reliable. I also ended up selling my 228i to my own mother because she loved the car so much! I will likely buy her an extended warranty when hers goes out in late 2018.

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by acslater

Appreciate the kind words. I agree with you about extended warranty - I've always tried to weigh probability and cost from an EV perspective, and unfortunately I've come out on the wrong end a couple of times now. Extending is worthwhile if you can get a good price, and I have been undervaluing that.

In the interest of mitigating any bias I'm showing, my E36 M3 was the most reliable car I have ever owned, and I loved both the E90 M3 and the 228i M-Sport; I feel particularly bad about this situation because I helped my fiance pick the car and I assured her they WERE reliable. I also ended up selling my 228i to my own mother because she loved the car so much! I will likely buy her an extended warranty when hers goes out in late 2018.

I extended my warranty out to 5 years/100k miles.

I've found that sometimes the price for the extended warranty is different depending on who you talk to at the dealership.

At the dealership that I bought my extended warranty, the finance department would mark it up. The service department, however, was selling the warranty at invoice.