When BMW motors go bad - advice needed

MojoMaker

steve06 wrote:

you could bid on this... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-523-I-SE-SALOON-1998-S-ONLY-74-000-MLS-LEATHER-TRIM_W0QQitemZ300109609452QQihZ020QQcategoryZ9837QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

take the engine and some more extras and break the rest for parts to get some money back.

Would be better off importing that car to drive than to break. Could be landed here all in for 5k I'd imagine.

Andrewf20

Cheers guys for the contact details. I may need them after all. My fan is definetly faulty. I tried to replace it to today but I couldnt get the bloody thing off. It seems though that I also have a 2nd problem - the coolant in the overflow tank goes low (drops about 1 cup full). I topped it up today, drove it about 1km, and the level dropped again by a cupfull again! No white smoke from the exhaust, no whiting of the oil, oil level stable, no sign of major leaks (although under the rad is a little damp on the floor tray). Perhaps the initial overheating boiled off some water? I will bleed the system in a few hours & watch the water level in the overflow tank as the engine is idle & stopped until it gets up to normal temperature.

unkel

Borzoi wrote:

and the bill is split 3 ways between himself, the dealer & BMW

Fair play to him. He only paid a third of the bill while he was completely and well out of warranty. Then again, a quality car like a BMW should not have serious engine problems, even after 5 years.

MojoMaker

Andrewf20 wrote:

It seems though that I also have a 2nd problem - the coolant in the overflow tank goes low (drops about 1 cup full). I topped it up today, drove it about 1km, and the level dropped again by a cupfull again! No white smoke from the exhaust, no whiting of the oil, oil level stable, no sign of major leaks (although under the rad is a little damp on the floor tray).

Don't wish to sound like a nay-sayer but this was exactly the first symptom of the problem that turned out to be a cracked block in my car. I had persistant coolant-level fluctuations since January which I could not diagnose properly. Might be as well to book it into a main dealer and have them perform a coolant pressure test AND a cylinder compression test to be sure - it's an hour @ €150ph but peace of mind it's not something more serious facing you.

Edit - I also had no prior whiting of the oil and the oil level remained constant the whole time the block was starting to rip itself apart.

Andrewf20

Wow. Thats scary. I topped it up yesterday, then I beld the system last night by running the engine with the expansion tank cap off. After reving the engine a little the water rose from the middle of the expansion tank to the top, and then settled down to the normal value again over a period. I checked a few hours later and the level was still okay. I drove it home from work, then after 8 hours I rechecked and the level was still normal. I hope it was just an air lock that has now been bled out, but im still very nervous. Fingers crossed. Ill probably get it checked out on Monday.

MojoMaker

Mine started very very slowly - that was the reason the independent garage didn't spot the real problem. I had the system bled several times and I was getting approx 3 weeks of driving between coolant fluctuations. This window narrowed as the months went by and eventually came down to a daily occurance. Meanwhile I had spent guts of a grand replacing water pump, thermo, fan coupling, and a few other bits 'n pieces which failed to cure the problem. I had an exhaust gas test done which assured me there was no leak from the cylinder head - so you can imagine how gobsmacked I was when the real issue came to light.

Mind you mine was an extreme case and the 5-series still rates as well above average on the reliability index. So much so I think I will simply take the hit on this one and move on to the next 5 promptly. It's my 4th now and zero issues with the others.

Andrewf20

I checked the level there again, and its stable ever since I bled the system last night. The lumpy idle (like low level misfiring) is bugging me as well, although that cropped up for the 1st time when I changed the spark plugs recently. Ill probably give those Maxwell motors a call.

Ive been think the worst here myself, and compemplating what to get next if the worst comes to light. I really dont want a 1994 1.4 corolla, but limited finances limit choice.

maidhc

unkel wrote:

Fair play to him. He only paid a third of the bill while he was completely and well out of warranty. Then again, a quality car like a BMW should not have serious engine problems, even after 5 years.

The girlfriends brother got a new engine in his Focus free of charge when it was 5 years old. Main bearings failed in it, and Henry paid the cost of a new engine. The dealer went half ways on the labour.

UrbanFox

Hard lines. That is very bad luck for such a car.

OP is your insurance cover comprehensive ? If so, try making a claim for accidental damage. Insurers may argue that it is wear and tear and the usual insurance company twaddle but I reckon that you have a good argument on the accidental damage basis.

A few years ago a mate's car suffered similar damage due to a severe frost and was able to make a successful claim for accidental damage.

Worth a try.

BostonB

A friends 3yr old Porsche had the engine fail (a common failure with 996/Boxsters) and eventually Porsche covered the cost even though it was out of warranty.

DublinDilbert

Andrewf20 wrote:

Cheers guys for the contact details. I may need them after all. My fan is definetly faulty. I tried to replace it to today but I couldnt get the bloody thing off. It seems though that I also have a 2nd problem - the coolant in the overflow tank goes low (drops about 1 cup full). I topped it up today, drove it about 1km, and the level dropped again by a cupfull again! No white smoke from the exhaust, no whiting of the oil, oil level stable, no sign of major leaks (although under the rad is a little damp on the floor tray). Perhaps the initial overheating boiled off some water? I will bleed the system in a few hours & watch the water level in the overflow tank as the engine is idle & stopped until it gets up to normal temperature.

Andrew did you get it sorted??? I have one of them long 32mm viscus fan coupling spanners if you need it... remember it's a Left hand Thread, so it will loosen clockwise.... also the pulley is quite hard to hold when doing it...

I had to take a viscus fan off yesterday to replace a water pump in a M52 engine... yep plastic impeller again, it was lucky the impeller literally broke in 1/2 so once i got the pump off i was able to take the other bit out with my hand, no nasty bits of plastic floating around the cooling system...

Andrewf20

Thanks for the offer of the spanner Dublindilbert. Next week I will retry to take the fan off when I have my brothers assistance, where he can hold the wheel touching the pulley with a screwdrver and I rotate the reverse threaded nut. I was using a vicescrips, a block of wood, and a lump hammer to try and shock the nut open to no avail even with WD40. Crude, but I heard of that technique working before. If I have no luck with the brothers help in the next week, I can give you a bell, so thanks again for that. Space is rudy tight bown there between the fan and engine front.

After bleeding the system, the water level is still fine, with no drop off at all. Im planning to drop it in to Alan Carroll on Monday to do a pressure check & fumes test of the coolant.

I installed a metal impeller water pump last year and its working fine it seems. You can see coolant flow well into the expansion tank when revving the engine.

DublinDilbert

Hi Andrew,

No worries, i have it in the boot of my car from yesterday anyway....

Yea i used the "big" screw driver method yesterday... just a word of caution the pulley on the M52 engine i was working on yesterday was plastic / ceramic / composite, but not steel so go genttlely with it, i took a little knick out of it with the screw driver...

Another method, which i would probably use again would be, open up 2 of the M6 bolts on the water pump pulley slightly with a 10mm spanner, this will give your "big" screw driver something to push against...

Let me know,
d

MojoMaker

UrbanFox wrote:

Hard lines. That is very bad luck for such a car.

OP is your insurance cover comprehensive ? If so, try making a claim for accidental damage. Insurers may argue that it is wear and tear and the usual insurance company twaddle but I reckon that you have a good argument on the accidental damage basis.

A few years ago a mate's car suffered similar damage due to a severe frost and was able to make a successful claim for accidental damage.

Worth a try.

Update on this. After weighing up the various options, including selling/scrapping/trading/repairing the car I struck a deal with the crowd that sold it to me last year and am adding €3k to switch to a '98 535i Auto with 46k miles. Irish car from the off so hopefully no Nikasil issues.

The prospect of either breaking/parting the car or dealing with the logistics of high mileage replacement engines from the UK/NI and then fretting over short or non-existent warranties was less than 100% appealing. Was looking to change anyway, so hopefully luck has turned for the better.

Roll on the switch to V8 motoring