Please Help!!

AndrewZ4MC said:
Z4M-2006, Yes, BMW have already put in shells and oil pump but hasnt fixed the problem.

just got the bill as it stands at the moment £2,200 +VAT :thumbsdown:
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I strongly recommend asking for the parts that they have replaced. The bearing shells do look a little worn but I don't see anything in your pictures or the events you have described that would suggest this to be the cause of your problem. Indeed, that the problem persists and is readily localised to the cams / followers supports that being the site of failure. It seems to me that they want more than £2k for failing to diagnose and fix the problem and instead performing what is at best preventative maintenance and at worst unnecessary work.

I suspect you problem lies entirely with loss of the case hardening of the cam followers and consequent wear of the cam lobes. I would want them to clearly demonstrate how the work they have done was necessary and how it has contributed to solving your problem. This is separate from your other well-founded complaints regarding the provision of an AUC warranty for a car that hasn't adhered to the service schedule. I think you have a strong case for the (?unnecessary) work that has been done being paid for by the BMW dealer and for the cams and followers to be replaced under warranty.

By the way, sorry for the rant but I feel strongly about this as well as feeling sorry for you about the bad luck and rough deal you've had.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^


This....

Giving you a bill of over £2500 and effectively the car is exactly the same just isnt on..

Tell them your not prepared to pay for the misdiagnosis....

I take it that you didnt give them the go ahead to do the shell and pump work ? Did they do it thinking that it would be covered under warranty ?
 
What I singularly fail to understand is why these cars appear to be so fragile. Surely you would reasonably expect a premium brand to have something special about the way it is engineered. I'm just staggered when I can abuse company cars without no apparent damage and easily get them well into 6 figure mileage with no major or indeed minor mechanical problems whatsoever. 50K miles is a spit in the ocean and one simply should not have problems at that mileage or indeed 3 times that.
The grief this is putting the op through would be more than enough to put me off the brand forever. :thumbsdown:
Have to say come the day I sell my BMW I will be replacing it with something that is a bit more forgiving and frankly I may well go Jap.
 
So to sum up for anyone following the actual engine noise Andrew heard would appear to have been the worn cam lobes as with previous 2 forum members in recent weeks , nothing to do with the bearing shells which have been replaced , A completey wrong diagnosis from the garage in question who then want you to foot the bill for their work :o
Ins2 6k ago but could this trip have been the first that would have given any real stress to the engine ?
Who carried out the Ins2 Andrew ?
 
BRC said:
What I singularly fail to understand is why these cars appear to be so fragile. Surely you would reasonably expect a premium brand to have something special about the way it is engineered. I'm just staggered when I can abuse company cars without no apparent damage and easily get them well into 6 figure mileage with no major or indeed minor mechanical problems whatsoever. 50K miles is a spit in the ocean and one simply should not have problems at that mileage or indeed 3 times that.
The grief this is putting the op through would be more than enough to put me off the brand forever. :thumbsdown:
Have to say come the day I sell my BMW I will be replacing it with something that is a bit more forgiving and frankly I may well go Jap.
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Do the company cars you rag around in put out a naturally aspirited 110bhp/litre? No, I didn't think so. These things need looking after, and tolerances being so high mean they are suspeciptable to damage from incorrect oil servicing or mistreatment of engine when cold. Many would suggest getting a warranty for these reasons, clearly that would seem to be the biggest issue here for the op when it is not being honoured.
Porsche engines most certainly are no better, and fezza motors I'm sure will need a lot of fussing over.
 
BRC said:
What I singularly fail to understand is why these cars appear to be so fragile. Surely you would reasonably expect a premium brand to have something special about the way it is engineered. I'm just staggered when I can abuse company cars without no apparent damage and easily get them well into 6 figure mileage with no major or indeed minor mechanical problems whatsoever. 50K miles is a spit in the ocean and one simply should not have problems at that mileage or indeed 3 times that.
The grief this is putting the op through would be more than enough to put me off the brand forever. :thumbsdown:
Have to say come the day I sell my BMW I will be replacing it with something that is a bit more forgiving and frankly I may well go Jap.
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If you get 100bhp+ per 1000cc out of any engine NA engine it will come with risks.... Thats just the way it is with all manufacturers..
 
mr wilks said:
So to sum up for anyone following the actual engine noise Andrew heard would appear to have been the worn cam lobes as with previous 2 forum members in recent weeks , nothing to do with the bearing shells which have been replaced , A completey wrong diagnosis from the garage in question who then want you to foot the bill for their work :o
Ins2 6k ago but could this trip have been the first that would have given any real stress to the engine ?
Who carried out the Ins2 Andrew ?
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Hard to say Andy...

Renewing the bottom end may have only fixed half the problem,and with the knockback of warranty the job has stopped..


Like i said earlier.....BMW or not,it would make absolutely no sense at all to pull the bottom end out of the car if there was no reason to..

I cant see why they would do that...... Its certainly not an "earner".....
 
Have you considered incompetence?! They may not be terribly familiar with the S54 as its not be used in a new car for 6-7 years.
 
BMWZ4MC said:
Have you considered incompetence?! They may not be terribly familiar with the S54 as its not be used in a new car for 6-7 years.
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My thoughts RE the servicing are with Z4M-2006 previously mentioning the possibility the valve clearances could wrongly be set too tight after Ins1 or 2 service & a decent indy may offer a better service as they could be more likely to see S54s for major service work than a BMW main dealer ?
The indys will more likely keep a nucleus of experienced staff ( if not owner operators) as opposed to a main dealer who any decent mechanic would probably leave after a few years :?
 
Exactly, around 330bhp from a NA 3.2 is very impressive. This is a highly tuned engine and any such engine can have problems. Really sorry to hear of this problem for the OP. I'm no expert at all but I just hope we can get some understanding of why this has happened... and ideas for preventative measures.
 
Not forgetting that being capable of revving to 8k rpm isn't exactly normal on most road going cars. I would imagine if the rev limiter was set to 7k we would see very few if any of these failures, it's the 7-8k range which causes the engine the most stress without a doubt. It's also where the impressive power figures are achieved and that noise! Having said that in perspective I think very few of these cars have suffered major failures, you just don't have threads started about the reliable ones is all.

Sorry to hear of your issues though OP, hope it gets sorted without too much heartache. As others have said, a decent Indy who knows these engines well is very useful, glad I've not bothered with any BMW dealer servicing since I've had mine. Timely reminder that oil is key in these engines and a mid service interval oil change is a very good idea.
 
CornishRob said:
Is it me or does that oil look fairly dark. When was it last changed? I assume the cars has been serviced with the schedule?
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A bit off topic (though I'm glad at least part of my decidedly non-technical advice helped :D )... After a few of these threads recently, a conversation with my indie about interim oil services being necessary for these engines, and a pretty serious road trip in less than two weeks, I've decided to get my oil & filter changed next week even though I'm skint and I've only got 6k miles to the car's first inspection two. The point of this being - after between 7k & 8k miles that is the colour of my oil on the dipstick.

Much as it pains me, because I am a tight bastard, I'm going to do interim from now on - £100-ish to help reduce the risk of this sort of thing happening just makes sense when I'm doing enough mileage for it to need a serviced schedule every year. But next time with more time & planning I'll do it myself I think.

He'll be delighted at inspection 2 time though, as I now have a growing list of 'stuff to for you to check' in addition to the service :lol:
 
Bing said:
CornishRob said:
Is it me or does that oil look fairly dark. When was it last changed? I assume the cars has been serviced with the schedule?
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A bit off topic (though I'm glad at least part of my decidedly non-technical advice helped :D )... After a few of these threads recently, a conversation with my indie about interim oil services being necessary for these engines, and a pretty serious road trip in less than two weeks, I've decided to get my oil & filter changed next week even though I'm skint and I've only got 6k miles to the car's first inspection two. The point of this being - after between 7k & 8k miles that is the colour of my oil on the dipstick.

Much as it pains me, because I am a tight bastard, I'm going to do interim from now on - £100-ish to help reduce the risk of this sort of thing happening just makes sense when I'm doing enough mileage for it to need a serviced schedule every year. But next time with more time & planning I'll do it myself I think.

He'll be delighted at inspection 2 time though, as I now have a growing list of 'stuff to for you to check' in addition to the service :lol:
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Good plan mate. I just got mine back today from having an interim oil service and MOT at TWG Automotive. I asked Will about the shells and cams/follower wear and he said the two things that really kill these engines are thrashing from cold, and old oil, missed services etc!

Obviously with used cars, no one knows how the car has been treated by the previous owner. It's a shame the limiters weren't set to be much more restrictive when cold!

I'm so anal with the warm up, but hopefully it pays off!
 
I am also anal with the warm up of the engine. Fortunately I'm in the extremely rare position of knowing exactly how my car was driven & treated by its single previous owner.... But I'm putting a lot more miles on it in a shorter time than he did, and my paranoia is now at unprecedented levels :cry: :D
 
I wasn't allowed to take the car without passing a driving test :roll:
 
Bing said:
I am also anal with the warm up of the engine. :D
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Serious question , what does this entail ?
I start my car up , trundle it out of the garage , leave running a couple of mins while i lock the garage & house up , then drive off mindful of early changes never going above 2500/3k until dial on dash is vertical , the lights on rev counter i just watch disappear & in all honesty in the 1350 miles ive now covered i haven't been north of 5k , just not had the need :?
 
I normally keep revs below 3k until all of the lights are out and progressively increase revs as the oil temperature reaches its normal operating temperature.

You're missing out though Mr W not exploring North of 5k. The 5k-7.9k is a lovely experience and noise. There's also a lot more BHP to access too. :driving: :thumbsup:
 
That's pretty much it Mr Wilks. 2,000 max to 50 degrees & 3,000 max until about 90. I have adapted PVRs uber-cautious 2,000 RPM until warmed method slightly to accommodate the needs of my commute, which has a motorway at about the time the engine is at 50 degrees...
 
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