Smoking Engine Bay

[Ant94]

Sadly, less than 48 hours after purchasing my used Z4 from BMW, I had burning smells coming through the cabin and smoke from the engine bay.

Roadside assistance excellent - escorted me to my local (and trusted) dealership, which is where it started smoking.

Checked by service manager who has been absolutely brilliant - camshaft belt needs replacing as well as the seals and he noticed water pump making strange noises on startup so is replacing that all under warranty too. Rest of the car in excellent condition.

Not sure how a BMW dealership has allowed this car to leave their site in a condition which could have potentially been more dangerous. Though I do understand these moving parts can have sudden faults.

 

[Pondrew]

Not sure how a BMW dealership has allowed this car to leave their site in a condition which could have potentially been more dangerous.

Because these days dealers do nothing to a used car other than give it a rinse with a bucket or water.
They all say they do "150,000 point checks" but that is rubbish. They do next to nothing.
The days of a dealer (even a main dealer) looking properly at a car and correcting any faults before it goes on sale are long gone. It's all about keeping the profit margin as high as possible.

Any warranty is covered by the manufacturer, so the dealership doesn't care if it has to be fixed, as they get paid handsomely for the privilege. They all have a "fingers crossed it will be OK until our responsibility period has run out" attitude.

I have seen many (from different manufacturers) "approved used" cars on main dealers forecourts that should never be there IMO.

The last one was a five year old Audi A4 which was being sold as "Audi approved" by JCT600 (bunch of muppets they are) which they had zero service history for. It did have a service history but they couldn't find it cos it wasn't done by Audi dealers (and didn't care), so muggins here did the work for them and found it. I didn't buy it.

 

[Ant94]

Because these days dealers do nothing to a used car other than give it a rinse with a bucket or water.
They all say they do "150,000 point checks" but that is rubbish. They do next to nothing.
The days of a dealer (even a main dealer) looking properly at a car and correcting any faults before it goes on sale are long gone. It's all about keeping the profit margin as high as possible.

Hopefully not the case with all dealers, but absolutely awful that this can be the case anywhere - and I do believe this is more than likely at far too many dealerships.

 

[Pondrew]

TBH if I had to have a car 'recovered' with 48 hours of hours of buying it from any dealer, I would reject the car, get every penny back from them and chase for extra for costs incurred and inconvenience, then report them to trading standards.

But most don't.....so the dealers can play the 'percentages' game and make lots of money at our expense with no incentive to change their practices.

 

[Pondrew]

Checked by service manager who has been absolutely brilliant - camshaft belt needs replacing as well as the seals

Well he ain't that brilliant....you either have a B48 or B58 engine in your G29. Neither of those has a cambelt, they are both chains! :?

 

[Ant94]

Checked by service manager who has been absolutely brilliant - camshaft belt needs replacing as well as the seals

Well he ain't that brilliant....you either have a B48 or B58 engine in your G29. Neither of those has a cambelt, they are both chains! :?

B58. I could see a belt going around and smoke coming up as it moved. Perhaps I’ve got the name wrong - there was something about a bush and some seals. I’ll know on Tuesday when I get a full report.

 

[Pondrew]

Checked by service manager who has been absolutely brilliant - camshaft belt needs replacing as well as the seals

Well he ain't that brilliant....you either have a B48 or B58 engine in your G29. Neither of those has a cambelt, they are both chains! :?

B58. I could see a belt going around and smoke coming up as it moved. Perhaps I’ve got the name wrong - there was something about a bush and some seals. I’ll know on Tuesday when I get a full report.

A 35k mile B58 shouldn't have any 'issues' with anything TBH. They are regarded as very good engines.
Just reject the car and look for a better one.

 

[Ant94]

Well he ain't that brilliant....you either have a B48 or B58 engine in your G29. Neither of those has a cambelt, they are both chains! :?

B58. I could see a belt going around and smoke coming up as it moved. Perhaps I’ve got the name wrong - there was something about a bush and some seals. I’ll know on Tuesday when I get a full report.

A 35k mile B58 shouldn't have any 'issues' with anything TBH. They are regarded as very good engines.
Just reject the car and look for a better one.

I appreciate the honesty and I see where you’re coming from.

Do you know the next steps to take if I were to reject the vehicle? It’s part financed, so would I call BMW Financial Services and say the vehicle was sold as not fit for purpose and unsafe to drive or would I just ask the dealership I purchased from to collect the vehicle and reject it seeing as it’s still within a potential 2 week cooling off period? I’m not sure how timespans work and still haven’t got the T&Cs of the finance agreement emailed to me.

 

[Fady]

B58. I could see a belt going around and smoke coming up as it moved. Perhaps I’ve got the name wrong - there was something about a bush and some seals. I’ll know on Tuesday when I get a full report.

A 35k mile B58 shouldn't have any 'issues' with anything TBH. They are regarded as very good engines.
Just reject the car and look for a better one.

I appreciate the honesty and I see where you’re coming from.

Do you know the next steps to take if I were to reject the vehicle? It’s part financed, so would I call BMW Financial Services and say the vehicle was sold as not fit for purpose and unsafe to drive or would I just ask the dealership I purchased from to collect the vehicle and reject it seeing as it’s still within a potential 2 week cooling off period? I’m not sure how timespans work and still haven’t got the T&Cs of the finance agreement emailed to me.

IMHO rejecting the car is not something that you are going to be able to do at least not without a very very big fight. Dealer still holds all the cards regardless of what any Consumers Rights Act might say at a high level - now in possession of your money, they are never going to make it easy for you to simply just return the keys.

Essentially car was seemingly alright when you bought it but has 'developed a fault' which dealer is addressing as they are bound to. Inconvenient and obviously not what you had anticipated (Google seems to point towards the serpentine belt?), but once resolved, you should hopefully be able to enjoy your car.

 

[Ant94]

IMHO rejecting the car is not something that you are going to be able to do at least not without a very very big fight. Dealer still holds all the cards regardless of what any Consumers Rights Act might say at a high level - now in possession of your money, they are never going to make it easy for you to simply just return the keys.

Essentially car was seemingly alright when you bought it but has 'developed a fault' which dealer is addressing as they are bound to. Inconvenient and obviously not what you had anticipated (Google seems to point towards the serpentine belt?), but once resolved, you should hopefully be able to enjoy your car.

Fair enough - the dealer hasn’t had to address anything themselves as it’s all being done under warranty by a different dealership in a different franchise, but I suppose they would have addressed it themselves had I been local to them. I might still pose the question and ask where I stand with my rights under consumer protection and stating the vehicle not being fit for purpose within that timeframe.

 

[Pondrew]

B58. I could see a belt going around and smoke coming up as it moved. Perhaps I’ve got the name wrong - there was something about a bush and some seals. I’ll know on Tuesday when I get a full report.

A 35k mile B58 shouldn't have any 'issues' with anything TBH. They are regarded as very good engines.
Just reject the car and look for a better one.

I appreciate the honesty and I see where you’re coming from.

Do you know the next steps to take if I were to reject the vehicle? It’s part financed, so would I call BMW Financial Services and say the vehicle was sold as not fit for purpose and unsafe to drive or would I just ask the dealership I purchased from to collect the vehicle and reject it seeing as it’s still within a potential 2 week cooling off period? I’m not sure how timespans work and still haven’t got the T&Cs of the finance agreement emailed to me.

TBH I don't know the legals, but that shouldn't matter.
I would just say to the supplying dealership that the car has 'broken down' within 48 hours of purchase and needed to be recovered, so am rejecting the car. You don't need any other reasons.
They should deal with it from there. The finance situation WILL cost you money, as will things like insurance and road tax. That is where I would ask for a re-imbursement of any costs on your part as it has been such a short period of time. You may not get anywhere without court proceedings, depending on the dealer's attitude

The system is sort of geared up for you to NOT reject a car as it would, on the face of it, be financially detrimental to you. But you can fight. If more people fought in this situation, the systems would change and dealers would maybe be more vigilant about the cars they sell.
Too many people (IMO) just go with the flow of how the car trade want to deal with these issues because it seems easier and less costly to them.

 

[Pondrew]

IMHO rejecting the car is not something that you are going to be able to do at least not without a very very big fight.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that this car cost the OP £33,000. That is a fecking lot of money (even in 2025) for a used BMW.
If I was spending that sort of money, I would expect it to last more than 2 days without breaking down, wouldn't you?

I would expect a £500 car to last more than 2 days from a dealer TBH. That is why people buy from dealers at a huge premium....for peace of mind and some comeback.

 

[Pondrew]

The auxilliary belt on a B58 only runs the oil pump and a/c compressor IIRC. The water pump is electric, as is the power steering.

A 35k auxilliary belt should not be knackered. If it were 135k I would say OK. And if the belt were knackered it would fray and snap, not smoke.

 

[Ant94]

The auxilliary belt on a B58 only runs the oil pump and a/c compressor IIRC. The water pump is electric, as is the power steering.

A 35k auxilliary belt should not be knackered. If it were 135k I would say OK. And if the belt were knackered it would fray and snap, not smoke.

Called roadside assistance to get a detailed report in writing.
They’re working on getting the report to me but the notes they could see on the system were that I (customer) had a slipped crankshaft pulley and I was followed to the nearest dealership.

It’s going to be a long day of phone calls.

 

[deltasierra]

The auxilliary belt on a B58 only runs the oil pump and a/c compressor IIRC. The water pump is electric, as is the power steering.

A 35k auxilliary belt should not be knackered. If it were 135k I would say OK. And if the belt were knackered it would fray and snap, not smoke.

Oil Pump ?? Is the engine oil pump really belt driven.

I havn’t looked yet but somewhere there is a starter/alternator driven at the front

 

[deltasierra]

I checked mine the auxiliary belt drives the alternator, Aircon compressor and a water pump.
This is not the main engine cooling pump it’s a pump to cool the electronics and alternator, any smoke could easily be from this belt, maybe a seized pump, tensioner or even alternator.

 

[Ant94]

I checked mine the auxiliary belt drives the alternator, Aircon compressor and a water pump.
This is not the main engine cooling pump it’s a pump to cool the electronics and alternator, any smoke could easily be from this belt, maybe a seized pump, tensioner or even alternator.

I'll get the full report on Tuesday with detail but it's something to do with the slipping of the camshaft belt. I could pretty much see it moving, rubbing and creating the friction and smoke at higher revs with the hood open.