WylM5

My parents 1990 535i with 78,798 miles had from what I can tell from the bill a complete head job. Total bill $3,317.45 the job took from July 1st to September 24th YES that is correct not a typo. New parts included
14 head bolts 74.34
1 head gasket set 295.10
1 cam shaft 763.75
12 rocker arms 357.00
1 vent hose 10.97
cleaners 10.00
coolant 11.18

rebuild cylinder head 647.40

labor 950.00
tax 132.71

grand total 3,317.45

Does this sound right? I mean the car only has 80 thousand miles and my Mom mostly drives it around town. It has it's oil changed at least every 3 thousand miles. WHAT THE HE**!! All the parts prices seem to be about DOUBLE what I can find them at. The car is really pampered and the only times it sees anything close to the redline is when I drive it (which is almost never). I could see the clutch giving out the way my Mom "rides" the clutch at red lights but nothing to warrant a rebuilt cylinder head and new cam shaft! Did my parents just get ripped off or are we just unlucky? Please give me your comments. Thanks.

WylM5

raymondw

Wyldon,

We are facing a similar repair for my fathers E32 735i right now for the second time in 2.5 years and 22k km (13.5k miles). I am interested in what the reason was why your parents car needed a new cylinder head. Can you tell us more? You can also EMail me privately on woertman@locamation.nl

Prior to the discussion with the dealership of who is responsible and who pays for the repairs on our E32, I have asked around for some prices. Based on my enquiry, your prices seem about right though (see list below, prices are ex VAT).

Some prices: (Germany, source ETK CD (not from a dealer, so trustworthy))

AT engine 34 6ec (P/N 11 00 1 730 826) -> EURO 3315
AT engine 34 6kb (P/N 11 00 1 730 849) -> EURO 3315
Cylinderhead new (P/N 11 12 1 707 150) -> EURO 915
AT Cylinderhead (P/N 11 12 9 068 849) -> EURO 765
Head gasket 1.72mm (P/N 11 12 1 730 223) -> EURO 95.50
Head gasket 2.07mm (P/N 11 12 1 730 224) -> EURO 102.50

Added to that, I can fax you a copy of the cylinderhead revision that was done 2.5 years ago at a BMW dealership in Holland. The only difference with your parents 535i is that we did not need a new cylinder head and that many rockerarms (only two). The total repair bill was approx. EURO 1450. If you are interested in a copy, just provide me with your fax no where I can send it to. If you like, you can EMail me that off line by Email. However, based on the time difference between Hawai and Europe, this can take around 24 to 36 hours.

Last week on monday, we discovered that the 735i lost about 1 litre of coolant. That was to much for not worrying about so we decided to have the engine tested for leakage. Last Friday, a test indicated that the cylinderhead gasket was blown at 170k km. As I said, we have had the same 2.5 years ago at 148k km. We where not pleased at all to hear that and my father told the dealership that if they could not give a valid reason why the head-gasket blew for the second time in a small period, he expected a good settlement on the repair.

Yesterday, I have heard that the dealership performed a leakdown and a compression test. Both tests did not indicate that the cylinder head was cracked. They tried to blame the engine block itselfe, but as the leakage test of last friday prooved that only exhaust gasses escaped in the coolant channels, we did not accept this. The service manager had to agree that the failure was either caused by a poorly machined and cleaned head two years ago. I don't know for sure who is paying for the repair cost, but my wife told me the dealership is taking over the repairs as they agreed that for the cost of the repair, we could expect a longer life of the head gasket.

Rgrds,

Raymond

WylM5

Raymond,

I'll have to ask my Father as to why it needed the work done.
As far as the price on the parts I checked online with some reputable OEM parts dealers like BMP and BAV Auto and the prices were at least 50% less. They may have used actual factory BMW parts but I doubt it.
Thanks for the offer to fax over a copy of your invoice but I do not have a fax machine. The invoice my Dad recvd was just a regular invoice with no part numbers.
I also noticed today that the area where I believe the VIN# used to be on the engine is gone. Not sure if it got removed when they rebuilt it because the alum looks really clean and brand new. In fact it actually looks like a brand new cylinder head!
I'm beginning to wonder if they didn't severly screw something up and had to order a new one. It would explain the nearly 3 month time to fix it.
Hope everything fares well with your fathers 735.

WylM5