[WULFFZA]

I thought it was worth posting that no matter how well you look after, maintain and respect your car, there are them bad apples out there that may bite you for no apparent reason.


As the title states my 2011 335i went bang last Friday at about 30,000 miles.
No tune, no mods
Purchased in March at 25,000miles as a CPO car from a BMW dealer
I drive gently when cold and have never revved to the rev limiter and certainly never money shifted. My mpg log will tell the story that the car is not driven hard.
Oil service was performed at 20,000miles under maintenance plan and again at 27,500 miles (in May) out of pocket where I requested 10w-60, performed at a BMW dealer.
2 weeks ago it had a scheduled inspection service.

On Friday afternoon at running temp I felt power drop off and noticed the yellow oil icon appear on the instruments, the I-drive flashed something about engine hot or engine temp, but they went away just as quickly that I didn't have time to look again and process what it was saying. The car was in limp mode but did not have any red lights or gongs that indicated I should pull over and turn off.

After a few hundred yards the power came back and I figured it must have been a bad oil sensor or something, so I continued on. This was again followed by power loss that would allow me to rev up to 4,000 or so, them shudder like I was running out of gas.

When I pulled over and pulled away again there was an engine knock, not horrifyingly noisy, but there. I called BMW Assist and scheduled a tow for Saturday morning as it was safe where it was and I didn't want to spend hours waiting for a tow truck. Oil reading was full, no loss of coolant and temp gauge was at running temp.


I tried to restart before leaving the car and it wouldn't fire, the engine turned, but as though the battery was dying....this wasn't going to end well.

Saturday morning it started up...but with an engine knock and it got towed to the dealer.

After removing the oil pan the dealer found "metal everywhere" (their words) and were instructed to send pics to corporate, I suspect a warranty department of BMW NA. A few days passed and they have approved a new engine under warranty. Dealer does not have any more info as they have to follow instructions and may not strip the engine at will, it will be sent to the lab for investigation.

Perhaps the only reason I am posting is as a warning to those who perhaps don't have the means the cover a replacement engine and your warranty is about to expire, that extending it may be a good idea, you can get zero % financing on BMW extended vehicle protection plans if you need the assistance. Ask your local dealer.

I am annoyed that I will no longer be able to claim that no car I have owned, new or old, has ever had a catastrophic issue, because I look after them. Despite this, I will probably continue buying BMWs...

FYI, this is my 4th BMW, live BMW, and cars in general, avid bimmerpost reader and contributor and BMWCCA member, you think it'll never happen to you.

Every car ever made on a production line will have a premature engine failure, your one of the unlucky ones, look at the positive side, you are getting a new motor, no such thing as a production process with 0 percent defects, this is why we have a warranty.

[techietaichi]

As the old adage goes, "To err is human" and to expand on that, "At some point in time, what humans create will no doubt err". Glad you're getting a new engine at no cost. Whew!

[WULFFZA]

Originally Posted by index1489

Every car ever made on a production line will have a premature engine failure, your one of the unlucky ones, look at the positive side, you are getting a new motor, no such thing as a production process with 0 percent defects, this is why we have a warranty.

Agreed. I am quite excited that I get to run in a new engine myself this time, haven't done that since I bought my 4Runner 8yrs ago. I just don't know how I would stomach this if it was out of warranty.

[theriz]

every car has to break down one time.. mine did.

[Roleez]

[/SIZE]

Originally Posted by WULFFZA

Oil service was performed at 20,000miles under maintenance plan and again at 27,500 miles (in May) out of pocket where I requested 10w-60, performed at a BMW dealer.

What was the deciding factor in using thicker M-spec oil in a non-M motor that was designed to run on 5W-30?

[-Wingman-]

Interesting...

[Kolyan2k]

10w-60.....that's the first time I hear someone using it on 335. Am I missing something?

[J02 335i]

Hopefully the warranty department doesn't look at your service history, because I would be surprised if they covered that with 10W60 being used. A little too heavy for the N54/55. Good luck either way, I would be prepared though........

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by J02 335i

Hopefully the warranty department doesn't look at your service history, because I would be surprised if they covered that with 10W60 being used. A little too heavy for the N54/55. Good luck either way, I would be prepared though........

Agree. What needs to be understood is bearing clearances are designed with a specific oil viscosity in mind. It is best to follow the manufacturer's recommendations for oil viscosity. Heavier weight oil does not equate to better lubrication performance.

[John 070]

imho you have no idea what happened with this vehicle for its first 25k.

I'm the original owner of my 2007, and I purchased a 7/100 extended warranty, and never used it even once.

CPO means nothing, it's a means of charging more for a car. My advice is if you buy a car new, you absolutely do not need an extended warranty, that money that goes to the warranty can be spent when/if repairs arise. Too bad I had to learn the hard way.

Imagine, a N54 with zero issues in the entire extended warranty period. I flipped FB stock to make up for it (made 7,600, lost 2,900 on the warranty), such is life.

[drexplode]

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

10w-60.....that's the first time I hear someone using it on 335. Am I missing something?

This. This is not listed as an approved oil weight in the owners manual.

[GreekMaverick]

Very odd and WRONG that you requested the ///M Spec oil for the 35.....! But what is even more troubling is that they agreed to go ahead and service it with the specd oil you asked for as if they don't know even better....!

by the way, 140K here, original owner got it in sep of 2006 been modded since 4K with turbo tuner and now Rev3 Aggressive e85 FBO, NOT A SINGLE problem. it's all about maintaining your vehicle the RIGHT WAY.

[WULFFZA]

Originally Posted by John 070

imho you have no idea what happened with this vehicle for its first 25k.

I'm the original owner of my 2007, and I purchased a 7/100 extended warranty, and never used it even once.

CPO means nothing, it's a means of charging more for a car. My advice is if you buy a car new, you absolutely do not need an extended warranty, that money that goes to the warranty can be spent when/if repairs arise. Too bad I had to learn the hard way.

Imagine, a N54 with zero issues in the entire extended warranty period. I flipped FB stock to make up for it (made 7,600, lost 2,900 on the warranty), such is life.

I have had the joy of owning only 1 brand new car so far, my 2005 4Runner which I still have with zero issues at 130,000miles. The next BMW needs to be brand new, ED and all ;-), the additional upfront cost is earned back in the longer period of ownership of a trouble free car that you specced just as you wanted it and perfectly maintained from new.

Nice to hear of a trouble free 335 as it has a pretty bad reputation for reliability generally speaking, and I had hoped to have a story like yours.

[WULFFZA]

To those commenting negatively on the use of 10w-60. I did so after some research, Mike Miller's responses in Roundel, discussion with my BMW master tech, a personal friend, and consideration of the high temps it was going to operate in, reaching 100F here this week.

In short, this is not what caused it. I suspected some responses would jump on it and if you have an engineering background to explain how this difference in viscosity would most certainly have caused the problem, then please share it. The forum should be used for sharing constructive knowledge in a collegial manner.

[pgaplayerless]

Why would you ever demand dealer to put TWS in it???? You probably created your own problems.....

[John 070]

Originally Posted by GreekMaverick

Very odd and WRONG that you requested the ///M Spec oil for the 35.....! But what is even more troubling is that they agreed to go ahead and service it with the specd oil you asked for as if they don't know even better....!

by the way, 140K here, original owner got it in sep of 2006 been modded since 4K with turbo tuner and now Rev3 Aggressive e85 FBO, NOT A SINGLE problem. it's all about maintaining your vehicle the RIGHT WAY.

You're proof that I got rightfully burned on my BMW extended warranty! LOL

I too have had zero issues since April 2010, and I got the warranty around July 2010.

[John 070]

Originally Posted by WULFFZA

To those commenting negatively on the use of 10w-60. I did so after some research, Mike Miller's responses in Roundel, discussion with my BMW master tech, a personal friend, and consideration of the high temps it was going to operate in, reaching 100F here this week.

In short, this is not what caused it. I suspected some responses would jump on it and if you have an engineering background to explain how this difference in viscosity would most certainly have caused the problem, then please share it. The forum should be used for sharing constructive knowledge in a collegial manner.

I agree that while the 10W60 is not the factory recommended oil, I don't see how that would destroy the motor. The 60 implies thinner, right?

But what I never got was back when there was 10W30 and 10W40, 10W40 implies a greater range, yet people said it was "too thin." How so?

But the reality is you can't have it all. Say a torque wrench to do the plugs, 5 to 75 is better than 10 to 100, even though you want 17 which is within both ranges. Because the torque wrench is not accurate at the low end, say below 20% of it's range. I suspect there is something along those lines with oil.....

[pgaplayerless]

Originally Posted by WULFFZA

To those commenting negatively on the use of 10w-60. I did so after some research, Mike Miller's responses in Roundel, discussion with my BMW master tech, a personal friend, and consideration of the high temps it was going to operate in, reaching 100F here this week.

In short, this is not what caused it. I suspected some responses would jump on it and if you have an engineering background to explain how this difference in viscosity would most certainly have caused the problem, then please share it. The forum should be used for sharing constructive knowledge in a collegial manner.

The surface tension of heavier oils is higher, which means they cannot naturally flow into certain size clearances due to this. The oil pressure is more than likely adequate to force them there.....but at much lower velocity. Lower velocity means lesser heat exchange of heat from the components to the oil.... Over heat your bearings are you are done.

[miker2013]

Originally Posted by pgaplayerless

The surface tension of heavier oils is higher, which means they cannot naturally flow into certain size clearances due to this. The oil pressure is more than likely adequate to force them there.....but at much lower velocity. Lower velocity means lesser heat exchange of heat from the components to the oil.... Over heat your bearings are you are done.

bingo

[N55Jamaican]

Noob question : If say one had lost a N55 engine and had to replace it at own expense. How much would it cost? Would the DME need to be replaced as well with the new engine?

[John 070]

Originally Posted by Totalelectronics

Noob question : If say one had lost a N55 engine and had to replace it at own expense. How much would it cost? Would the DME need to be replaced as well with the new engine?

The answer is like an open-faced sandwich, varies depending on where you go. BMW is like Apple, they make it very hard to compare. For example, call up dealers to find out how much to replace a battery on a E9x 335i. The reality from the forum is $280 to $550, but very few dealers will quote you on the phone.

I had a buddy replace an X5 motor and the dealer wanted $16k. He was 4k out of warranty. He argued until he was blue in the face, waited a few days, and suddenly he was out only 8k.

My wild guess is more than 10k and less that 16k.

Oh wait, there's a member on this forum who claims edmunds knows everything because they track stuff and junk. Wonder what emdunds says?