Two Dead Cylinders- Help - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

brianhardcore · 9th June 2006, 01:19

I bought a used 2000 M5 a year and half ago from a private party at the time it was still under warranty for 8 more months. I noticed right away that it was burning a lot of oil. when I mentioned it to the dealer ship thya said it was standard for the M5 to do that not a problem. Fast forward to 3 months ago and I get the feeling that it is burning way to much oil so I closely track it. average is 2 quarts burned per 1000 miles. I take it to a independent BMW repair and they recomment a LEak Down Test but they do not have the experience or equipment to do it on a M5 and they do not work with extended Warranty companies which I have (Standard Guaranty insurance company) one until 2009. So i go to Santa Monica BMW dealership and ask for a leak down test ($690). They do it and tell me I have two bad cylinders Number one has 80% leak through and #3 has 55% leak through the other cylinders are between5-10% which they say is normal. the leak is in the combustion chamber not the valve. They recommend a new engine $19700 plus labor $3--4k! the extended warranty company wants them to do a engine tear down=cost to me $1600 to see why the cylinders went bad. I am 95% sure the company will deny the claim if I do the engine tear down because most likely they will find carbon build up and they do not cover carbon build up related problems. The dealership says by the very nature of burning oil I will have some carbon build up. I was told to contact BMW directly to see if they could help seeing how the car has only 46000 miles on it and is only 7 months out of the factory warranty but when I spoke ot them all they said is they could call the dealership to make sure of what the problem is and that there is nothing wrong with that cars run of engines so anything beyond the warranty is not covered. I am thinking Lawyer at this point which is $750.00 to hear out my situation, but not sure even if i should be going after the warranty company or BMW? I do not want to spend $2300 on tests just to have the insurance company say it is not covered. Any Advice would be appreciated.

DIGI-AKIMO · 9th June 2006, 03:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianhardcore

I bought a used 2000 M5 a year and half ago from a private party at the time it was still under warranty for 8 more months. I noticed right away that it was burning a lot of oil. when I mentioned it to the dealer ship thya said it was standard for the M5 to do that not a problem. Fast forward to 3 months ago and I get the feeling that it is burning way to much oil so I closely track it. average is 2 quarts burned per 1000 miles. I take it to a independent BMW repair and they recomment a LEak Down Test but they do not have the experience or equipment to do it on a M5 and they do not work with extended Warranty companies which I have (Standard Guaranty insurance company) one until 2009. So i go to Santa Monica BMW dealership and ask for a leak down test ($690). They do it and tell me I have two bad cylinders Number one has 80% leak through and #3 has 55% leak through the other cylinders are between5-10% which they say is normal. the leak is in the combustion chamber not the valve. They recommend a new engine $19700 plus labor $3--4k! the extended warranty company wants them to do a engine tear down=cost to me $1600 to see why the cylinders went bad. I am 95% sure the company will deny the claim if I do the engine tear down because most likely they will find carbon build up and they do not cover carbon build up related problems. The dealership says by the very nature of burning oil I will have some carbon build up. I was told to contact BMW directly to see if they could help seeing how the car has only 46000 miles on it and is only 7 months out of the factory warranty but when I spoke ot them all they said is they could call the dealership to make sure of what the problem is and that there is nothing wrong with that cars run of engines so anything beyond the warranty is not covered. I am thinking Lawyer at this point which is $750.00 to hear out my situation, but not sure even if i should be going after the warranty company or BMW? I do not want to spend $2300 on tests just to have the insurance company say it is not covered. Any Advice would be appreciated.

Sorry about your drama.. also you may want to post in the main forum where more people will see it. It's kinda' burried back here.

You should be going balls out against your warranty company. I would not even the words "carbon build up" to them and I don't think you should not to have to pay anything out of your pocket. Bottom line, your car is broken and they supposedly supposed to cover broken parts. Make sure you read the fine print of your contract.

Also, If you have any aftermarket parts on your car, I would remove them. I just had the warranty voided on my Audi because I had an aftermarket suspension + exhuast.. Apparently these cause my AC compressor to fail. (rolls eyes)

Good luck!

also, santa monica has a pretty poor reputation, you may want to take it somewhere else or another indie like http://www.themshop.com/index.php

ard · 9th June 2006, 05:42

1. Send a message to a Moderator and ask them to move this.

2. READ your extended warranty contract.

3. Find a shop you can trust. Jon at the Mshop might be worth speaking to. They will need to be on your side.

4. I would try to get the language on the 'official shop diagnosis/report' to "fit" the definitions of 'covered failures' in your warranty agreement.

If you can get the mechanic to 'pre agree' to call it ring failure.... or they can get a borescope and identify cylinder scoring "secondard to mechanical failure' that may be all you need. The mechanic/shop NEEDS to be on your side.

Finally, did you EVER have a written complaint on a BMW work order when it was still under warranty? If so, I would use that to claim the failure occured under warranty and they identified it now.

I think this is going to be the extended warranty company's bill.

I would also not hesitate to get a lawyer involved sooner rather than later- once you've let them tear it down and document evidence that can be used against you it is too late. Should be able to find help for less than 750...

Anyway, get this in the main forum

Good luck

A

brianhardcore · 9th June 2006, 07:04

Thanks for the two quick replies I will try to move this to the main forum. Thanks brian

ard · 9th June 2006, 07:20

You might also look up a monster threat by MAH on his engine woes- good background and tactics on dealing with BMW.

Laidback · 9th June 2006, 08:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianhardcore

Thanks for the two quick replies I will try to move this to the main forum. Thanks brian

i feel your pain...take it to a different dealership if possible, patience and persistence is the key...goodluck!

Gustav · 13th June 2006, 01:28

Moved.