Please help Z4 engine seized: E89/S20i Drive 2L M-Sport - late 2012 model

S

sambrad1

Member
Hello Z4 forum,

Firstly can I say, I'm really looking for any advice around why this happened and what I can do about it and am also happy to answer any questions, etc.

I brought this BMW from a garage in July last year, it came with a brand new MOT and service and had 58k miles on the clock and a 6-month warranty. It really was love at first sight when I saw it and until doomsday which was 3 days ago, it was seemed perfect.

I was driving along and the car just goes, it switched off and I couldn't restart it with leads or jump starting it at all. I got the car to a garage and they said the engine had seized which to my knowledge usually means it's run out of oil. The thing is the garage drained 4L of oil out the engine and also said there was petrol in the oil so it had mixed somehow. The garage tried to start the engine manually with the crank bar thing but that also didn't work.

The car is 7 years old, had full mot and service 7 months prior to the incident and drove fine as far as I was aware then it just goes. Does anybody have any experience with this happening with this model, etc? I really need advice on what to do with regards to the car, the finance, the garage I brought it from, who is to blame? Surely it's not wear and tear..

E89/S20i Drive 2L M-Sport - late 2012 model

Any help or advice would be much appreciated, I can also get any pictures of the car in the garage that you might want. I have attached a picture of the Z4 when it was all good.

Thank you for your help.
 
Hi Nictrix,

The oil was on the lower end of the range but was not flashing me to top it up immediately if that makes sense. Either way 4L should be more than enough to keep it running, right?
 
First occurrence I have ever heard of this. When you say it seized what do you mean exactly?? If you were driving along in gear that would imply all the wheels locked up and you skidded to a halt? When you tried to restart did the engine turn over at all? Sounds more like a snapped timing chain to me. You’re right that if you were driving along with no low oil warning then it doesn’t sound likely that was the culprit.
 
If there was petrol in the oil, and the oil is 2L down, its likely that oil was also in the petrol. Perhaps the engine was burning oil too, which isnt good for them.

I would say not having the 2L would cause an issue.

Also, how much petrol was in the oil mix, this could have tricked the oil level sensor, petrol isnt as lubricating, so you may have less oil in the car than you think.

If your car was approved used BMW, it should have a year warranty as standard. If so, you can just make a warranty claim. I would read over your contract to make sure its included if its an AUC (approved used car)

Failing that, if the garage are examining it and can prove the fault was due to negligence from the last service at bmw, you may be able to claim that way.

Not a nice thing to happen.
 
Nictrix said:
Sad news.
I think the oil capacity should have been around 6 litres though so it was 2 litres short.
Click to expand...

The 20i doesn’t take 6litres of oil, it’s 4.5 from memory so the oil level shouldn’t have been an issue.
The oil pump’s chain driven on these so that’s something that needs checking along with the timing chain.
It needs some exploratory work to determine the cause & effect a repair.
Rob
 
Thanks for the response.

Seized is the language the garage used to describe the engine not 100% sure what it means, I was driving along in gear and when it went, it was like when your engine just cuts off - the wheels still roll etc. I feel like if it was a snapped timing chain the garage would have been able to spot that quite quickly, is that right? they've said nothing about a timing chain.

The car was brought from CSG motor company ltd so not aware of the year warranty. Will check the contract to see if it was AUC. Interesting point about the neglience on last service from BMW, thing is how can they prove something like this, I just don't get how it can happen and means I'm £14k out of pocket if the garage or finance company doesn't sort it out.
 
You won’t be £14k out of pocket, worst case scenario is you get a used engine for 2 or 3 grand as a replacement.
They need to find out what’s wrong.
Rob
 
That's not to bad, the only one I found was 4k plus labor talking 5 minimum I thought.

Does it sound like a manufacturing error to you? Just seems so strange, I don't drive it like an idiot and mostly use it for an 8-mile daily commute to work only put 3k miles on it over the 7 months I've had it.

Thanks again.
 
If too much fuel got into your engine oil that would indicate an injector problem.

The N20 takes 5l of oil and so I don’t think the fact that yours having 4l comes into this.

It’s unfortunate but I don’t think you’ll get anywhere by going back to the dealership where you bought the car from, as you are out of their 6 month warranty period.

However I suggest you get a proper diagnosis (preferably from a BMW specialist garage) so that you are better equipped in making the right decision going forward.
 
Miyli said:
nozzles leaked and cylinders ruined, type fault in n20 engine.
Click to expand...

As an avid follower of the N20 version can you show me where there are reports of this nature?
 
Pbondar said:
Miyli said:
nozzles leaked and cylinders ruined, type fault in n20 engine.
Click to expand...

As an avid follower of the N20 version can you show me where there are reports of this nature?
Click to expand...

I’ve not seen a single report of leaking injectors on an n20 engine? There must be some confusion here.
Rob
 
Nictrix said:
Could it be the same as this
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=112488
Click to expand...

Hi, that's the 'infamous cam chain / tensioner' issue on N20s..there have been many reports of that, I suspect that the OP may have suffered that one, although no metal was alleged to have been found in the oil..and not the pre warning cam chain whistle of doom!

There seems to be a general correlation between extended oil changes / poor oil and the cam chain failures.

I've pressed the button on a super duper cam chain replacement kit with an alleged much better design /quality.

I plan to get that fitted next winter along with maybe an auto box filter /oil change!
 
Pbondar said:
Miyli said:
nozzles leaked and cylinders ruined, type fault in n20 engine.
Click to expand...

As an avid follower of the N20 version can you show me where there are reports of this nature?
Click to expand...

we have a few cases in Finland. The injektor leaked gas into the oil and the cylinders were damaged
 
Miyli said:
Pbondar said:
Miyli said:
nozzles leaked and cylinders ruined, type fault in n20 engine.
Click to expand...

As an avid follower of the N20 version can you show me where there are reports of this nature?
Click to expand...

we have a few cases in Finland. The injektor leaked gas into the oil and the cylinders were damaged
Click to expand...

The owners must have ignored the rough running caused by the leaking injector & just driven on regardless :roll:
Not heard of a single case of it with the n20 here, only on the n54 engine.
Rob
 
Smartbear said:
Miyli said:
Pbondar said:
As an avid follower of the N20 version can you show me where there are reports of this nature?
Click to expand...

we have a few cases in Finland. The injektor leaked gas into the oil and the cylinders were damaged
Click to expand...

The owners must have ignored the rough running caused by the leaking injector & just driven on regardless :roll:
Not heard of a single case of it with the n20 here, only on the n54 engine.
Rob
Click to expand...

just like this
 
Bit of an update:

Firstly, I wasn't 'running it rough' - it was running smoothly as far as I could tell, I wouldn't neglect an issue like that...

The N20 engine has a problem with the thrust bearing and it has caused this problem in other examples, It's going into a BMW specialist who said he's almost certain this would be the issue as he's seen it before in the N20 so will let you know when the final diagnosis is done. I have an independent engineer doing a report for the claim to prove that is was an issue that was developing at the time of purchase or when it was in the warranty (6 months). So far from the people I've spoken to the consensus is that the engine in this car is not reliable, apparently, the stock thrust bearing pressure is not set right and that's what's caused various problems. Either way, it's getting a full engine re-build just hope I can recoup the losses by proving this issue was developing at the time of purchase.
 
Smartbear said:
The owners must have ignored the rough running caused by the leaking injector & just driven on regardless :roll:
Not heard of a single case of it with the n20 here, only on the n54 engine.
Rob
Click to expand...

You don’t know that for certain mate, also just because it hasn’t been mentioned on this forum doesn’t mean it’s not an issue on the N20 engine. After all the N20 was also used for the 2 Series, 3 Series, 5 Series and X Series...

Perhaps, inspecting and or replacing injectors should come under preventative maintenance items on these.
 
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