335i Blew up!!

There is 424kms on the odometer, and today after leaving a little car show I was on the highway cruising home, stepped on it a little to get into the lane then in my rear view mirror all I could see was tons and I mean tons of white smoke, then the red check engine light came on and the car stalled. I got it towed to my local BMW dealership, and its a holiday, but my salesman met me there and gave me an X5 to roll while they check my car out. It is going into service at 7am tomorrow mornig so I will keep you all updated. I have stepped on it a few times but nothing hardcore. Anyone have any ideas as to what may have happened? It was clouds of whiteish smoke coming from both exhaust tips, and even after sitting for a few minutes it was still coming out without the engine running. There was no warning or any noises or anything. The oil temp guage seemed fine and no warning sensors until this happend. There were no leaks of fluid and at glancing in the engine compartment everything looked fine. Any one have any ideas?

Originally Posted by 335TT

There is 424kms on the odometer, and today after leaving a little car show I was on the highway cruising home, stepped on it a little to get into the lane then in my rear view mirror all I could see was tons and I mean tons of white smoke, then the red check engine light came on and the car stalled. I got it towed to my local BMW dealership, and its a holiday, but my salesman met me there and gave me an X5 to roll while they check my car out. It is going into service at 7am tomorrow mornig so I will keep you all updated. I have stepped on it a few times but nothing hardcore. Anyone have any ideas as to what may have happened? It was clouds of whiteish smoke coming from both exhaust tips, and even after sitting for a few minutes it was still coming out without the engine running. There was no warning or any noises or anything. The oil temp guage seemed fine and no warning sensors until this happend. There were no leaks of fluid and at glancing in the engine compartment everything looked fine. Any one have any ideas?

Sorry to hear that, that sucks bad. What sucks worse is the mechanic that works on your car will never have seen one of these things before On the bright side we may all be looking at a 6 year 100K mile extended warranty on the engine.

Kind of reminds me of the Connector Rod Bearings in the e46 M3

Can you say Kaboom!!

wow, that sucks. I have about the same km's and everything seams fine so far.

i hope it's isolated.

Originally Posted by radgator1

Sorry to hear that, that sucks bad. What sucks worse is the mechanic that works on your car will never have seen one of these things before On the bright side we may all be looking at a 6 year 100K mile extended warranty on the engine.

Kind of reminds me of the Connector Rod Bearings in the e46 M3

Can you say Kaboom!!

I don't mean to laugh but that was funny to read almost like rubbing salt on the wound

WTF.... F'n b*tch.... sorry to hear that bro....

Originally Posted by schley

I don't mean to laugh but that was funny to read almost like rubbing salt on the wound

Yeah, it was intended to be delivered with some humor, but only because I personally went through the CRB recall on my M3. My car was at the dealer for like 2 weeks and they didn't even give me a loaner. But seriously there are worse things than getting a free extended warranty so if this is a sign of things to come we will all suffer together. I hope they get you fixed up quickly 335. This is definitely worrisome for all of us 335i buyers. Maybe ther's a reason everyone always warns against buying a first year model but I say F-that, we pays our money and we takes our chances.

Wow this kinda makes me scared to have one of the first batch E70 X5's that I will order in the next few days I guess it has to be expected with any first year models. Good Luck. And rubbing salt on the wound was pretty funny too, sry....lol. At least you got a X5.


P.S. Does anyone else get confused when they see 335i thinking its a sedan; I guess I am still used to the old BMW Ci thing. I liked it that way!




-e60lover

Well, in the old days on regular engines white smoke usually indicated a blown head gasket. I'm not sure what it may be with this engine but it sure sounds like antifreeze being burnt to cause the white smoke.

The 1999 Boxsters had a known engine flaw that would cause the engine to do something similar to what you described. The problem was a slipped cylinder sleeve. Mine died while accellerating from a stop sign. A puff of white smoke, then nothing. My car only had 24,000 miles on it, but a few months out of warranty. Porsche replaced the engine for free anyway since it was a common problem and it was cheaper to replace the ones that died for free than recall all of them.

BTW, I came very close to ordering my E90 335i this weekend. I drove by the local dealership today and they were closed. I'm gonna do it eventually, but I can't bring myself to replace a perfectly good car that I enjoy so much.

thats a little scary keep us posted on the progress.

I've got a question for brand new bmw owners? Do they stil give you run in instrctions?

On my old e30,she's got a big sticker on it saying,do not opereate kick back and no full throttle untill you gone over 2,000 kms,see thing is alot of people get in drive brand new car only got a few hundred km's on them and take it right to red line! Bad for motor as it has not been run in yet.

Being familiar with turbo cars, I think the turbo seals blew. You seem to have low miles, are you sure you properly broke-in the engine and turbos prior to flooring it?

Originally Posted by Celsius

Being familiar with turbo cars, I think the turbo seals blew. You seem to have low miles, are you sure you properly broke-in the engine and turbos prior to flooring it?

Didn't really get a chance to floor it out, I took it up to like 140km or so but seriously, not properly breaking in an engine usually means decreased performance and reliability in the future, imo 424km does not = future. I assumed the turbo seals blew also, but that is just what a friend told me and I really don't have a clue what that means, or how it is fixed, anyone have ideas?

Originally Posted by 335TT

Didn't really get a chance to floor it out, I took it up to like 140km or so but seriously, not properly breaking in an engine usually means decreased performance and reliability in the future, imo 424km does not = future. I assumed the turbo seals blew also, but that is just what a friend told me and I really don't have a clue what that means, or how it is fixed, anyone have ideas?

Basically the turbos will need to be rebuilt, if they're the cause. A turbo motor needs to be babied more than a N/A car. Usually you need to take it easy until atleast a few thousand miles and a oil change.

.

so what is the proper way to break in a turbo motor? for those of us that don't have experience with these cars? given that alot of us will be doing ED, the temptation is there to really get on the throttle on the wonderful autobahns.

Originally Posted by disden

so what is the proper way to break in a turbo motor? for those of us that don't have experience with these cars? given that alot of us will be doing ED, the temptation is there to really get on the throttle on the wonderful autobahns.

I would think that BMW would have the motors properly broken-in durning assembly. But, you may have had a bad set of turbos that just needs to be rebuilt...

The guys over at the Volvo boards have been overboosting by adjusting the wastegate for years and the motors don't explode. I have 170,000 miles on my T5 turbo "winter beater" and the motor is still tight. All I've done is maintain it "by the book" and change the oil every 5000 miles, like Volvo said to do. I just can't believe that Volvo could build a more bulletproof motor than BMW. More likely some unique flaw in one of the first few produced escaped QC. As for the "break in" process for a new turbo, I'll just try to keep it under 150mph for the first 1000 miles....

The car is a BMW, not a 1954 Chevy.

well..... this isn't going to be good for sales for people like myself that are on the fence.

I was thinking about flipping out of my G35 in the spring....
I think I'll wait for a little more history on this before I buy.

WOW

-problems already....hmm maybe Ill wait a bit longer before ordering a 335i or not order one at all and just get the NA 550i.....

Regarding Break in when we went to the factory tour, we were told that every engine is tested to Redline many times over.....and that if you redline it a few times here and ther it will be ok...the main thing is not to drive on cruise control and to keep changing the speed....

when i did ED I took my car to 140-145MPH and even redlined it once I already have 3k miles and no problems except one that as not engine related......

Please keep us posted on the progress.....

Thank You.

Originally Posted by bmwmikes

Well, in the old days on regular engines white smoke usually indicated a blown head gasket. I'm not sure what it may be with this engine but it sure sounds like antifreeze being burnt to cause the white smoke.

Same technology today. White smoke is usually antifreeze. Blue smoke is oil. Could be anything from a popped head bolt to a porous casting, poor machining, head gasket failure, turbo failure etc. I would hope that if the fix is major BMW would take the engine/car back and investigate the failure. Hopefully this is an isolated incident. The next few weeks will betell ingus.

Originally Posted by Celsius

Basically the turbos will need to be rebuilt, if they're the cause. A turbo motor needs to be babied more than a N/A car. Usually you need to take it easy until atleast a few thousand miles and a oil change.

I was curious about "the babying" myself. A friend of mine use to have a TT RX7. After we would drive it somewhere and stop he would let the engine run idle for about 30 seconds before turning the engne off. He said something about letting the oil circulate in the turbo, or something along those lines. I forget exactly what it was since this was about 10 years ago. Does that make any sense? I know turbos do need special attention, especailly when it comes to lubrication.

ouch



I've got an Audi TT.

It is 4 years old, and I didn't even break the car in before I red lined it (I was impatient).

The engine has NEVER had any problems and the car feels as fast today as it did the day I bought it.

That being said, I am going to baby my new baby for the first 1200 miles just to be on the safe side.

Wow, sorry to hear. Hopefully it is something relatively minor. Please keep us all posted to the outcome.

Does BMW break the engines in on the bench/dyno prior to installation in the car? Porsche does this, but they are a much lower volume manufacturer than BMW. Alas, it would solve potential improper break-in issues.