Man Down! 2008 M3 Rod Bearing Failed

[radiantm3]

Originally Posted by Flying Ace

Hmm this is interesting, at the end of the day, even with your known fix under warranty at 16k, they still initially denied your claim based on that you've used your car at the track as the sole reason?


My assessment of your situation is, that they couldn't find a legal way to wangle out of the fact that you still bought extended warranty.

thanks for the info!

Tracked and apparently my "over rev" recording as well. I just found it hilarious that they looked at a few HPDE videos on youtube and concluded that I was "racing". And then seeing BMW M division guys talking about how the M3 is designed for the track and street on the same site.

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by radiantm3

Tracked and apparently my "over rev" recording as well. I just found it hilarious that they looked at a few HPDE videos on youtube and concluded that I was "racing". And then seeing BMW M division guys talking about how the M3 is designed for the track and street on the same site.

I think they were trying to stick something on you, but I have to think what moved the fix forward were:

1. the fact you purchased extended BMW warranty
2. your purchase or lease of the i3
3. your current recorded BMW ownership

in this order of importance.


I have to say, most of us who are raw dogging it without protection is likely screwed...

[Beemdog]

Originally Posted by Flying Ace

I have to say, most of us who are raw dogging it without protection is likely screwed...

At least you get the pleasure of "raw dogging".

[SenorFunkyPants]

Originally Posted by radiantm3

Tracked and apparently my "over rev" recording as well. I just found it hilarious that they looked at a few HPDE videos on youtube and concluded that I was "racing". And then seeing BMW M division guys talking about how the M3 is designed for the track and street on the same site.

Wasn't the car supercharged at some time?

[radiantm3]

Originally Posted by SenorFunkyPants

Wasn't the car supercharged at some time?

Early on for not very long. Was a very low boost kit as well. Lots of cars here with tons of supercharged miles on their cars running strong. It's easy to drop blame on mods, but it doesn't change the fact that lots of stock M3's with zero track time are having the same issues. And I take very good care of the car (wait until the car warms up fully before getting on it and oil changes every 6-7k miles).

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by Beemdog

At least you get the pleasure of "raw dogging".

you know what I mean (no warranty), why are all my comments getting misconstrued?

[s85e90]

Originally Posted by radiantm3

Tracked and apparently my "over rev" recording as well. I just found it hilarious that they looked at a few HPDE videos on youtube and concluded that I was "racing". And then seeing BMW M division guys talking about how the M3 is designed for the track and street on the same site.

The owner's manual explicitly states that while the car can be prepped for use on track @ a dealer, it WILL void the warranty.

[BzsBimmer]

Originally Posted by Flying Ace

you know what I mean (no warranty), why are all my comments getting misconstrued?

Because you're not talking about hookers and blo. You're confusing us.
In for updates

[avantegardestyle]

Originally Posted by s85e90

The owner's manual explicitly states that while the car can be prepped for use on track @ a dealer, it WILL void the warranty.

So, a car that is made with pretty much a race car engine, marketing and promoted as one of the best all round cars for both track and street driving, comes with a manual that says if you track the car it will void the warranty?

Well......you know.........I think I need a moment to think about how i can politely say what i want......

[buddalun]

Originally Posted by radiantm3

1. Original owner, 2011.5 (November 2010 delivery). Bearings were making noise at 16-17k miles and the bottom end was replaced under warranty then.
2. Failure happened around 60k miles. Was getting on the freeway during traffic (no hard driving) and the car went into limp mode. Got off the freeway and parked in a parking lot. Tried to fire the car up and the engine wouldn't turn.
3. Standard warranty ends at 50k miles? I forget, but didn't hit the time expiration.
4. Failed around August or September of 2014.

I have BMW's factory extended warranty, but it was denied because they did research and "found footage of my car racing at the track and that is considered abuse". They also found my car's max redline recorded at 8500-8600rpm. Never miss-shifted and my software isn't set to raise the redline.

5. My car sat at the dealership lot for probably 2 months without any final word. Not surprisingly, the dealership kept saying BMWNA didn't want to fix my car and BMWNA would tell me that it's the dealership's call and they didn't want to repair my car under my extended warranty.

6. Not sure how far I had to go up. I dealt with the second contact after the initial customer rep for the rest of the duration.

7. I talked to a bunch of people who went through the same thing or had friends who did and the only real advice they could give is to push that I had bought so many BMW's recently and that I am a loyal customer who plans to keep buying in the future. In the end, all they really care about is money and your chance of future purchases.

At the time I was planning on buying an i3 and getting rid of the X5M to get a newer X5D. I talked about my BMW history (owned 7 new BMW's since 2009), and how I was planning to buy the new ones soon. If they didn't fix my motor I would not buy another BMW based on principle. But I decided to risk it and pick up the i3 during this whole process. I called BMWNA up after getting the i3 and told them about it. Like a week later, I got a call from my dealership that BMWNA has approved the repair and a new motor was ordered from Germany.

Wow, this is disheartening. As a 20 year BMW CCA member and multiple BMW owner, I am disappointed with the customer service and business ethos, despite the fact the engine was ultimately replaced. The repair seems entirely contingent on BMW being assurred that they will continue to rec'v a stream of capital from the owner.

Originally Posted by Flying Ace

I have to say, most of us who are raw dogging it without protection is likely screwed...

Raw doggin' it.

[s85e90]

Originally Posted by avantegardestyle

So, a car that is made with pretty much a race car engine, marketing and promoted as one of the best all round cars for both track and street driving, comes with a manual that says if you track the car it will void the warranty?

Well......you know.........I think I need a moment to think about how i can politely say what i want......

And the EVO, sti and every other "marketed" race car suffers from the same fate.

[MachinesWithSouls]

Originally Posted by nthretourNAFTW

It's been a long time since the last post about a B failure, actually.
Funny how some people let psychosis replace rational thinking. Check the OP posting count. Maybe 20% of M3 owners are forum members but 70% join just to report a B failure (which is the OP case). As a result it gets a lot of social media exposure and people get the wrong idea how often this occurs. The answer is still very few.

There is a leaked official B failure rate % from BMW. Don't try to ask me where I got it from, I cannot reveal it. So don't ask, i won't answer.
It's 2-4% including all supercharged and tuned cars (which are evidently more susceptible to engine failure). If you remove SC and tuned cars it's even smaller.

Off course one would like to see a number like 0.2% but 2-4% means 96-98% of people won't be affected. Not perfect but still very reliable.

This is internet culture. Think of any product you've bought and had no trouble with. You didn't bother to praise it online, you just went about owning it. But a bad experience? Right away everyone will know.

OP says car was babied. How do you know? I can change the oil every 1000 miles, but if I beat on the car when cold than bad things will happen. Buying used does not mean the history of your car is wiped clean just because car fax and a dealer say so.

And I'm sorry, but if you supercharge or tune your car, that's your prerogative, but than don't wine about bearing failure. Car was not meant to run like that.

And finally, again the owners choice, but why sell the car for something that MIGHT happen. This makes the entire ownership experience bullshit because you get no joy from the car.

I track my car, and I maintain it better than BMW reccommends. What more can I do? Nothing. So I enjoy the car.

[maloo]

[QUOTE=buddalun;17817182]Wow, this is disheartening. As a 20 year BMW CCA member and multiple BMW owner, I am disappointed with the customer service and business ethos, despite the fact the engine was ultimately replaced. The repair seems entirely contingent on BMW being assurred that they will continue to rec'v a stream of capital from the owner.


+1. Here's someone that bought 7 BMWs in 6 years and he got this kind of treatment. The purchase/lease of the brand new i3 while the rod bearing jury was still in deliberations had to be persuasive.

[nachob]

Originally Posted by IIAp3x

My 2008 E92 M3 with 55,000 miles just spun a bearing on the way work Friday morning... Just bought the car 2 months ago... No warning except for engine tapping, which turned into a knocking sound by the time I could get to the BMW dealership 5 miles away...

Build Date 01/2008

For those of you wasting money on Blackstone reports, I will tell you to save your money because my report from 1000 miles ago scored very well with only moderate metal indicators...

Sandy Sansing BMW has the car currently, and they have already indicated that it has indeed suffered a catastrophic crank bearing failure and a engine replacement is needed...

I bought the car with 49k miles on it, and I have a extended warranty good until 2017 through Premier Dealer Services Auto Warranty company....

Right now, Sandy Sansing BMW has contacted my warranty company to let them know that my car needs a new engine...

Not sure what to expect here!?

I am worried that my warranty company will try to push BMW to put a used engine in the car rather than a new engine...

Anyone have any good advice here?

Car has a very detailed service history with BMW dealers only, and it has been babied its whole life...

[IMG][/IMG]

I'm sorry for your loss, hope the warranty comes through for you.

I hear periodically about bearing failures as the cars get older. I believe some early M3s sometimes had issues with bearings. I spent some time working for an IMSA GTP team in the dyno while high race motors were broken in and tested before being carted out to the track. These motors were broken in with a lot of care. Within the last few years, you can search the forums here and you will see a shocking pattern where it seems like the majority feel that break-in is not necessary on these cars. Worse yet, some truly believe that breaking them hard is beneficial! Don't take it from me, look it up. You will see that many of these cars went to track the first day or were not broken in as requested.

I can't say for sure but this common belief that break-in is not needed despite BMW saying so, despite all M school cars being broken in, despite all M press cars (direct from the head of M marketing himself to me) cannot be ignored as a possible contributing factor to some of these failures. The early seating of bearings during the early part of its life can be a factor to longevity. I just hope that maybe something good will come of this and people will wake up and at least consider that the people that built these amazing motors, that are telling you to break in them in properly, are not just saying that to kill the fun or some CYA legal reason. They are engineers and while engine materials have gotten better over the years, the principles are still the same.

Keep us informed as to your warranty claim please!

Best wishes.

[heart_doctor]

[QUOTE=vastano]

Originally Posted by IIAp3x

Once fully warmed, there are several areas of my commute each day that gives me the opportunity to redline the car through several gears... the car gets redlined at least a few times at a minimum daily, and some days up to a dozen times... Spirited driving of course, not abuse...

you and I have different definitions on what 'babying' a car means...

I 'baby' my car which means i take it to redline MAYBE 1-2 times/week, if that...[

I baby my car also but I have a lot of fun with it. I don't know if it's normal but I barely ever have to add oil. Maybe 1 quart between oil changes at most. I change the oil every 7500 miles.

[nthretourNAFTW]

Ok, the OP replies on driving style bear no importance at all, the car was a 49K used car when he got it, only previous owner(s) really know what it really went through...Every speculation is possible.

OP: "Just bought the car 2 months ago... I bought the car with 49k miles on it."

I have read people saying there are B failure cases from original owners at low mileage who did everything right. But it's funny every time i read a thread on a B failure, the OP is not the original owner of the car, or if he is, that it was SC at some point, or you learn on page 13 that he was tracking the car, or participated in some driving "events".

Don't get me wrong i think the engine should not fail in all the above activities, but i wish there were more "blank page history" original owners with low mileage posting about a B failure. I have not seen a single one since the car was released .

I know some are going to say bmw tied their tongue in exchange for an engine replacement. But that doesn't make sense. If an original owner experiences a low mileage engine failure, he is fully protected by the warranty, he has the upper hand by far and certainly does not have to accept a gagging clause , it's him who could up the stakes like a refund for the car. They will tremble.
It never happened.

[radiantm3]

Originally Posted by SoManyBlueCars

And I'm sorry, but if you supercharge or tune your car, that's your prerogative, but than don't wine about bearing failure. Car was not meant to run like that.

You think these mild tunes really affect the bearings? What about all the stock cars with bearing failures? And my stock car (before I ever took it to the track) that had signs of early wear at 16k miles? Then there are many cars out there with ESS 625-650 kits out there getting driven hard daily for 40-50k miles and still running strong. It seems like it's just the luck of the draw to me. Doesn't really matter what mods you have or how well you take care of or baby your car. Your car could run for 20k or 150k before you might suffer from engine problems.

[Sco Cuddie]

Originally Posted by radiantm3

You think these mild tunes really affect the bearings? What about all the stock cars with bearing failures? And my stock car (before I ever took it to the track) that had signs of early wear at 16k miles? Then there are many cars out there with ESS 625-650 kits out there getting driven hard daily for 40-50k miles and still running strong. It seems like it's just the luck of the draw to me. Doesn't really matter what mods you have or how well you take care of or baby your car. Your car could run for 20k or 150k before you might suffer from engine problems.

I think this is the scariest part of all, its all luck of the draw. Unless I missed it, there hasn't been much consistency between cars with Rod failure. I really hope BMW does some kind of recall or atleast compensate those with the failure.

[Ezio]

It's a high Revving performance engine. mass amounts of people driving them with tons of different factors going into why problems happen.

For me it's simple. Either you buy slightly used, or buy new with cars like this. I drive my m3 without a single care of blowing a engine, or having a transmission meltdown. Why? Because it's stock and I got it new.

And if I wanted to keep it longer I would do a BMW extended warranty.

There is nothing wrong with buying higher mile used m cars. But don't cry when something breaks from the first owners who didn't care about the engine long term like me.

[double yu]

Is there a way to check if your car has been over revved without going to the dealer?

[SteveInfante]

This is the single reason that makes me NOT want to purchase this version of M car. I can replace everything else myself but RB's is a bit much. Could I do it in almost any other car? Yes. Could I do it in this one? I wouldn't want to try. I've built motors before and know the basic process and some in detail but that doesn't mean that I have the same skill as a BMW engine builder. I've been hearing about this since I first became friends with a ton of M owners here in Germany. All of them track their cars and they don't seem too worried about it to be honest. Most tell me that if I'm that worried about it to just have them done as insurance, which most likely will be the case. Good luck OP. I hope to hear about the extended warranty company and the results which will help me decide which warranty company to go with when I do pick up my own M car.

[SenorFunkyPants]

Statistically (of the failures have been reported here) tracking and most definitely supercharging significantly increases your chances of bearing failure.
Its hardly surprising that the harder you work your engine the more likely the bearings are to fail.