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BMW F30 Engine Failure - 35k Miles

5428 Views 11 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  CALWATERBOY TRE
I currently own a BMW F30 (2014) 3 Series car which was bought in March 2015 at BMW Worcester. The car has around 8000 miles and was around 1 year old. I bought the car on a PCP contract from BMW Finance UK. I had the finance agreement for 2 years before I refinanced via my bank.

I have had the car serviced when notified by the Condition Based Service (CBS) provided by the iDrive system. I had all services performed by the main BMW dealer since I received the car. My last service was a brake fluid charge and I believed all when fine.

On the 28th May 2018, I experienced a loss of power from my car. The car did not display any warning messages before this loss of power occurred. I called up the RAC who was unable to diagnose the issue and therefore delivered my vehicle to BMW Ruxly so they could investigate. After 2 weeks they diagnosed the fault was the Crankshaft Bearing failure and that the car needs a new engine at a cost of £13k. The car at this stage is 4 years old and had done 35k miles.

On further investigation, they noted that when the brake service fluid was changed they rest the CBS system to show that they had also performed a major service on the car even this did not occur. This meant that oil service change was reset without my knowledge. This could have been the contributing factor in why the engine failure occurred.

BMW UK has said they will cover some of the cost but the remaining balance is still extremely large (~7k). I am not sure what else I could have done as I have always taken the car to BMW for all services and issues?

Do I have a legal case this for?
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On the 28th May 2018, I experienced a loss of power from my car.?
You broke your car in the future!?!?!????????
You broke your car in the future!?!?!????????
Funny post. I didn't even realize the date said 2018.

Back on topic: You fail to mention how long the distance between oil changes was. This is important as it could be pertinent to the issue. In addition to that, it takes a quite negligent person to not realize that their car has not had an oil change in 10k+ miles (Or more, we have yet to get the mileage).
You broke your car in the future!?!?!????????
Heh, I missed that too :)

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Yeh that's no need to be like that. Its called a typo.

On Topic
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It is a 2.0-litre petrol engine. BMW oil services have a long period between them so I assumed that it was not required for at least another year.
Yeh that's no need to be like that. Its called a typo.

On Topic
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It is a 2.0-litre petrol engine. BMW oil services have a long period between them so I assumed that it was not required for at least another year.
First, you need to relax, it's called humor

Second, since you live in the UK no one on this side of the pond is going to be able to help you with legal advice. I would sit down with the service manager and see what he is willing to do since HIS dealership made the mistake. If they do not budge then seek legal counsel to help. When you talk to the service manager (not service advisor) just present the facts to him and leave any emotion out.
Yeh that's no need to be like that. Its called a typo.

On Topic
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It is a 2.0-litre petrol engine. BMW oil services have a long period between them so I assumed that it was not required for at least another year.
The oil needs to be changed at least once a year. What was the explanation from the dealership regarding the reset of the CBS?

Before jumping to the lack of an oil change causing this type of failure, COULD that have caused crankshaft bearing failure? How many miles between the last 'confirmed' oil change and the failure?

I would suggest getting BMW UK (or equivalent to BMW USA)) involved. I'm sure BMW UK wont be pleased to discover that the company is reimbursing a dealership for service that was NOT done!!
The last confirmed oil service was at 23k miles. I have scheduled a meeting with the dealer commencing next week.
To OP, your car is a Euro-spec 2014 320i, correct?

In the US, the N20 of 2014 US-spec cars have extended limited warranty on timing chain for 7 years/70k miles.

Was there any high pitch whining sound from the engine before the failure occurred?

Crankshaft bearing failure usually is not quoted as related to timing chain issues, but since those components are connected, it is possible the known TC issue could have caused the crankshaft bearing failure.

Do get in contact with the foreman at your dealer's service department, and request a PUMA case to be opened. In the US, such a PUMA case will then be evaluated by BMW field engineers, who may inspect in person, and my guess is UK has similar process.

The foremen and BMW field engineers will be your strongest allies to convince BMW UK to dole out for this repair as good will.:thumbup:
The last confirmed oil service was at 23k miles. I have scheduled a meeting with the dealer commencing next week.
12k miles between an oil change certainly is not good but to cause such catastrophic damage?? For reference my CBS oil change interval was 10k miles when my commute was 90 percent highway.

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No issue with the timing. Some BMW's were being run 15K miles on what was then the normal oil service interval.

Would guess it was just a defective bearing that slipped through QA or the oil level was low & there was a temporary loss of pressure to the bearing.
Yeh that's no need to be like that. Its called a typo.
Well, a typo might not be such a little thing....like the boo boo dealer pulled when they reset services.

However, you prob have an Oil Condition Sensor that monitors the condition of your oil and in concert with other data, car's computer sys warns when oil change is needed. If that's working, well, prepare to shell out 'cause your oil was good.

Bearing failure is extremely rare and we don't know what the cause of failure was. Avail data says: Out of warranty you are the entity that's gotta pay.

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