Engine Failed - extreme overheating?

[neilm3]

Hey Guys,

I recently experienced engine failure on my dream car--a E92 M3. Third party warranty has denied coverage citing an ‘extreme overheat’ as the cause of the head/block being warped which led to a spun bearing. Overheating is a reason to deny coverage. The car has *NEVER* overheated, BMW agrees says no overheat faults logged in its DME (ecu).

The warranty company sent out a third party adjuster who states the following “head gasket shows breaching at water jacket will cause oil and coolant intermix from warpage of the engine block and possible head warpage. The coolant intermix causing rod bearing pitting and scoaring of the rod and crank journal. No external coolant leaks.” I don’t dispute these findings.

I am not a mechanical expert, but am going to fight the warranty company and have technical Questions:

1. Is overheating the only thing that could cause a head/block to warp?
2. Could an aftermarket x-pipe with high-flow cats cause engine overheating?
3. Assuming the Ecu is flashed to remove the CEL warning from the x-pipe, would this disable any bmw overheat warnings?
4. Would anything else under the hood be damaged if the car suffered an overheat?

Thanks for helping a fellow M3 owner.

-Neil

[WingZeroX5]

do you have any mods besides cel removal/xpipe/hfc?

[Killerfish2012]

Originally Posted by neilm3

Hey Guys,

I recently experienced engine failure on my dream car--a E92 M3. Third party warranty has denied coverage citing an ‘extreme overheat’ as the cause of the head/block being warped which led to a spun bearing. Overheating is a reason to deny coverage. The car has *NEVER* overheated, BMW agrees says no overheat faults logged in its DME (ecu).

The warranty company sent out a third party adjuster who states the following “head gasket shows breaching at water jacket will cause oil and coolant intermix from warpage of the engine block and possible head warpage. The coolant intermix causing rod bearing pitting and scoaring of the rod and crank journal. No external coolant leaks.” I don’t dispute these findings.

I am not a mechanical expert, but am going to fight the warranty company and have technical Questions:

1. Is overheating the only thing that could cause a head/block to warp?
2. Could an aftermarket x-pipe with high-flow cats cause engine overheating?
3. Assuming the Ecu is flashed to remove the CEL warning from the x-pipe, would this disable any bmw overheat warnings?
4. Would anything else under the hood be damaged if the car suffered an overheat?

Thanks for helping a fellow M3 owner.

-Neil

Neil, are you the same Neil who posts as MDORPHN, and used to drive a 1M? Did you just recently trade in for this M3?

[neilm3]

WingzeroX5: The rest of my mods are all cosmetic, nothing performance wise besides X-pipe, exhaust, CEL Delete.

Killerfish2012: Different Neil sorry!

[Killerfish2012]

Originally Posted by neilm3

WingzeroX5: The rest of my mods are all cosmetic, nothing performance wise besides X-pipe, exhaust, CEL Delete.

Killerfish2012: Different Neil sorry!

You both sign off your posts in the same way:

-Neil

[neilm3]

Originally Posted by Killerfish2012

You both sign off your posts in the same way:

-Neil

Hah. Unfortunately, a coincidence. Did this person live in Ft. Lauderdale like me as well?

[Killerfish2012]

Originally Posted by neilm3

Hah. Unfortunately, a coincidence. Did this person live in Ft. Lauderdale like me as well?

Niel, you can't have two different accounts on this forum.

[Wei718]

Which warranty company is this that denied it?

[gatorfast]

What year is your M3? Is it currently at a BMW dealership? Might be able to get a "goodwill" repair.

[kawasaki00]

Is the coolant reservoir empty?

[neilm3]

Wei718: I can tell you it was not BMW. It was one of those third party companies. If I cant get this resolved/settled I will happily write a seperate post warning everyone!

Gatorfest: The dealer and BMW NA have already stepped up to help out. But to me its more of a matter of principal, and i still have to kick in a significant amount.

kawasaki00: Coolant reservoir was not empty. They did find coolant mixed into the oil so there was an internal leak. The leak was because of the head or block warpage coolant was mixing with the oil. The car was at the dealer when all this was discovered.

I purchased the warranty contract for a reason. To deny coveraged based on extreme overheating as the cause of the damage to the engine is complete BS. I just want to get my facts straight and make sure the x-pipe, exhaust, and possibly a CEL delete does not cause overheating, or disable a overheat warning to me.

[whats77inaname]

Can you provide a little background as to how you knew the engine let go? And why not tell the name of the company?

[saeedg48]

I wouldn't even bother mentioning your mods.. end of story

[Lorde]

LAWYER.

[IND-Distribution]

Originally Posted by neilm3

1. Is overheating the only thing that could cause a head/block to warp?
2. Could an aftermarket x-pipe with high-flow cats cause engine overheating?
3. Assuming the Ecu is flashed to remove the CEL warning from the x-pipe, would this disable any bmw overheat warnings?
4. Would anything else under the hood be damaged if the car suffered an overheat?


-Neil

1. Extreme overheating is the most likely cause for a warped cylinder head.

2. An aftermarket x pipe and high flow cats will not have any effect on the operating temperature of the engine and will not cause overheating.

3. An ECU flash should not disable any overheat warnings. What tune do you have?

4. Typically no additional damage would be found, but if the car was overheating for an extended period of time it should have boiled the coolant inside the cooling system. If that's the case, you should see whitish spots across the engine bay where the coolant dried once it boiled out, especially near the car's expansion tank.

[Wei718]

Originally Posted by neilm3

Wei718: I can tell you it was not BMW. It was one of those third party companies. If I cant get this resolved/settled I will happily write a seperate post warning everyone!

Gatorfest: The dealer and BMW NA have already stepped up to help out. But to me its more of a matter of principal, and i still have to kick in a significant amount.

kawasaki00: Coolant reservoir was not empty. They did find coolant mixed into the oil so there was an internal leak. The leak was because of the head or block warpage coolant was mixing with the oil. The car was at the dealer when all this was discovered.

I purchased the warranty contract for a reason. To deny coveraged based on extreme overheating as the cause of the damage to the engine is complete BS. I just want to get my facts straight and make sure the x-pipe, exhaust, and possibly a CEL delete does not cause overheating, or disable a overheat warning to me.

The reason I'm asking is because I'm also on a aftermarket warranty contract. Just wanna see if we both have the same one or not.

[DannyMthree]

Apologies if I'm getting a little off topic here but you mean to say there are companies that will give you a warranty outside of BMW?

[aus]

Originally Posted by neilm3

Hey Guys,

I recently experienced engine failure on my dream car--a E92 M3. Third party warranty has denied coverage citing an ‘extreme overheat’ as the cause of the head/block being warped which led to a spun bearing. Overheating is a reason to deny coverage. The car has *NEVER* overheated, BMW agrees says no overheat faults logged in its DME (ecu).

The warranty company sent out a third party adjuster who states the following “head gasket shows breaching at water jacket will cause oil and coolant intermix from warpage of the engine block and possible head warpage. The coolant intermix causing rod bearing pitting and scoaring of the rod and crank journal. No external coolant leaks.” I don’t dispute these findings.

I am not a mechanical expert, but am going to fight the warranty company and have technical Questions:

1. Is overheating the only thing that could cause a head/block to warp?
2. Could an aftermarket x-pipe with high-flow cats cause engine overheating?
3. Assuming the Ecu is flashed to remove the CEL warning from the x-pipe, would this disable any bmw overheat warnings?
4. Would anything else under the hood be damaged if the car suffered an overheat?

Thanks for helping a fellow M3 owner.

-Neil

The above sounds pretty suspicous for a know issue with this car. Could it be the rod bearing went out and caused the head and block damage?
Someone recently got a lawyer to help them convince BMW to buy the car back for a blown engine.

.

[Wei718]

Originally Posted by DannyMthree

Apologies if I'm getting a little off topic here but you mean to say there are companies that will give you a warranty outside of BMW?

Yes! I'm currently with Zurich NA and they just picked up the tab for a throttle actuator costing $2120.78.

[Malek@MRF]

Sounds like the head gasket may have failed if the oil and coolant are mixing as you are being told. Yes a failed head gasket can cause overheating as well.

[neilm3]

Originally Posted by Malek@MRF

Sounds like the head gasket may have failed if the oil and coolant are mixing as you are being told. Yes a failed head gasket can cause overheating as well.

Head gasket was leaking and was replaced under warranty. Unfortunately I still had a coolant leak and on the second visit to the dealer 100 miles later they determined the head and block were warped. Head and block was probably warped the first time I visited the dealer when the gaskets were leaking. Coolant was in the oil on that visit.

[neilm3]

Originally Posted by aus

The above sounds pretty suspicous for a know issue with this car. Could it be the rod bearing went out and caused the head and block damage?
Someone recently got a lawyer to help them convince BMW to buy the car back for a blown engine.

.

Sorry to seem ignorant but can you elaborate on the known issue so I can start researching it. Thanks