2007 X5 3.0D engine failure?

A friend has a 2007 newer shape X5 3.0D with 79,000 miles.

It starting running rough and the garage diagnosed 2 faulty injectors, this was changed with 2 news ones from BMW and it still ran rough and on testing found low compression on cylinder no 1.

The garage have since taken the head off to look inside and told him it has cylinder liner / pistone damage and needs a short motor (or rebuild).

Seems odd to have such a major problem as it has not overheated or suffered any abuse.

Is this a known fault on these? (I have not heard of this).

Garage has told him it needs a replacement bottom end / engine or rebuild.

He might have to go for a 2nd hand engine from a breaker.

What other models use the same engine as a 2007 x5 3.0D?
Will a 2nd hand engine from a 330D or 530D fit?

1. Friend owned it from mile one, without ever a single issue??? If yes, he SHOULD have gone to BMW, as this is extraordinarily unusual, and they've been known to help out. Now it s (I assume) in pieces at some no name shop....

2. I can recall maybe two reports of motor failures over the last 4 years, 50,000 posts read.

3. Personally I'd do a rebuild, but I'd REALLY need to trust the shop....


GL

A

What is wrong with the cylinder liner/piston? Did an injector tip blow off causing damage, did the cylinder suffer from fuel wash, did a piece of valve burn off, are all the vanes still on the turbo, any signs of carbon chunks laying around (from a poorly functioning EGR valve), is there evidence of overheat as ard asked....details please?

What does the undeside of the cylinder head look like? If smooth and looks good then he needs to concentrate on fuel wash or overheating....both will look very similar but overheating will have several "wide" areas of gaulding whereas, fuel wash will be many "small" scribe-like lines going up and down the cylinder walls. A beat-up cylinder head underside typically means something was bouncing around in there...injector tip, piece of valve, carbon, small dogs, etc.

If the garage cannot answer those questions with a definitive yes or no (most likely it will be more like "um, oh yeah, sure, we checked all that") then it is definitely the wrong garage to be working on this engine.

I would imagine the BMW electronics would/could show if the injector(s) were/are firing and if they are then a compression test would be the next course of action. Throwing parts at an engine in an attempt to fix it will get very expensive very quickly. Simply installing injectors to cure a misfire is a recipe for a wallet-draining.....at the very least and one that smacks of barnyard repairs (although I'm guilty of this one at times!) is to swap several injectors around and see if the misfire follows them to different cylinders.

I agree with ard, you need a GOOD garage with diesel experience to fix this one and unless the block is beyond repair, I would also go with rebuilding this one.

well, I do not have deep mechanical knowledge about the engines and I am not sure whether this could be the source of problems, but I read a few times on European forums about mechanical damages in turbocharged diesels. This refers especially to the diesels produced between 2005-2010 (only my guess).

The problems resulted from turbo failures. Parts of the turbos falling apart might be soaked up by the engine making some internal damages.

Originally Posted by Fleetman

What is wrong with the cylinder liner/piston? Did an injector tip blow off causing damage, did the cylinder suffer from fuel wash, did a piece of valve burn off, are all the vanes still on the turbo, any signs of carbon chunks laying around (from a poorly functioning EGR valve), is there evidence of overheat as ard asked....details please?

What does the undeside of the cylinder head look like? If smooth and looks good then he needs to concentrate on fuel wash or overheating....both will look very similar but overheating will have several "wide" areas of gaulding whereas, fuel wash will be many "small" scribe-like lines going up and down the cylinder walls. A beat-up cylinder head underside typically means something was bouncing around in there...injector tip, piece of valve, carbon, small dogs, etc.

If the garage cannot answer those questions with a definitive yes or no (most likely it will be more like "um, oh yeah, sure, we checked all that") then it is definitely the wrong garage to be working on this engine.

I would imagine the BMW electronics would/could show if the injector(s) were/are firing and if they are then a compression test would be the next course of action. Throwing parts at an engine in an attempt to fix it will get very expensive very quickly. Simply installing injectors to cure a misfire is a recipe for a wallet-draining.....at the very least and one that smacks of barnyard repairs (although I'm guilty of this one at times!) is to swap several injectors around and see if the misfire follows them to different cylinders.

I agree with ard, you need a GOOD garage with diesel experience to fix this one and unless the block is beyond repair, I would also go with rebuilding this one.

++++

OP, you should thank fleetman for taking the time to give you some color and depth to this issue.

A high quality shop should be able to diagnose why it failed- and with that determine if it was damaged beyond repair. But the talent to open a motor and restore it to factory specs is not readily available. Have your friend do their homework. The prospect of buying something from a breaker, with unknown history, is equally troubling.... I can toss out a wild suggestion..contact Sal at Evolve Automotive and see WHO he might recommend. Who knows...

A

Originally Posted by rallycross

Seems odd to have such a major problem as it has not overheated or suffered any abuse.

I know for gasoline engines there are many PEA detergents such as Techron, Redline SL1 and Regane that maintain the fuel injectors etc.

I guess this is a diesel version:

http://www.gumout.com/ourProducts/di...ubmenuheader=1

Thanks for the replies, the car was bought recently from an independant dealer and has done over 70,000 miles / 5 yrs old so BMW are not interested in helping.

I havent seen the car so have no details on the extent on the bore / piston damage, have asked for a photo.

Originally Posted by rallycross

Thanks for the replies, the car was bought recently from an independant dealer and has done over 70,000 miles / 5 yrs old so BMW are not interested in helping.

I havent seen the car so have no details on the extent on the bore / piston damage, have asked for a photo.

If it was recently purchased from a used car dealer, it looks like that particular dealer may have "pulled a fast one" on your friend. How do you KNOW it has only those 70K miles. How well known/respected is the used car dealer he bought it from? As you pointed out, buying used isn't always a solid thing. Sorry to hear of the problems but I too would recommend a different shop but then again I would have NEVER have allowed that shop to take the engine apart in the first place.