X5m engine rebuild

[mcm87m6]

Hi,

'13 x5m w/110k mi. The engine just failed 6months out of extended warranty. No warnings prior, oil level was apparently fine etc. BMW NA washing their hands of it and the dealership as well. New engine quote $20,800 plus $6k labor.

Question- does anyone have experience w/rebuilds (worth it/costs, etc.) when it could be a rod bearing failure (metal in the oil and oil filter), but no complete teardown diagnosis.

thx.

[pearlpower]

Originally Posted by mcm87m6

Hi,

'13 x5m w/110k mi. The engine just failed 6months out of extended warranty. No warnings prior, oil level was apparently fine etc. BMW NA washing their hands of it and the dealership as well. New engine quote $20,800 plus $6k labor.

Question- does anyone have experience w/rebuilds (worth it/costs, etc.) when it could be a rod bearing failure (metal in the oil and oil filter), but no complete teardown diagnosis.

thx.

Damage from a rod bearing go south depends on how long it was driven afterwards, and also how the engine was driven at the point of failure. So, if the rod bearing failed and you heard knocking, at idle, then shut it off, then damage is likely minimal to the crank and rod. If, and more likely, the bearing failed while driving, and it was driven a little bit longer or the engine was rev'd up high at failure, then the crankshaft, rod, and perhaps engine block/cylinder are damaged. The former is a rebuild of sorts, the latter a replacement engine. I have experienced both throughout the years on other cars. I have also just installed new bearings and life was great for 20k miles.

Unless you drop the bottom end, you will not really know the extent of damage, and solutions.

If the engine is locked up, that would be a worse case scenario as a rod might be bent or broke.

There is a motor on Ebay right now for $5500 or so. A few others in the $8k range. Depending on your plans with the X, you can either just drop an engine and sell it, or if you intend to hold onto it, rebuild the current if possible or rebuild a purchased motor.

Myself, I intend to replace the rod bearings when I fix my upper pan leak, since I am in there. Just as preventative. Best of luck.

[Colodano]

Jeez, I just checked out Ebay, and there is an engine for sale with turbos and all even, and looks to be a jb4 in the wiring, $4850.

[mcm87m6]

Originally Posted by pearlpower

Damage from a rod bearing go south depends on how long it was driven afterwards, and also how the engine was driven at the point of failure. So, if the rod bearing failed and you heard knocking, at idle, then shut it off, then damage is likely minimal to the crank and rod. If, and more likely, the bearing failed while driving, and it was driven a little bit longer or the engine was rev'd up high at failure, then the crankshaft, rod, and perhaps engine block/cylinder are damaged. The former is a rebuild of sorts, the latter a replacement engine. I have experienced both throughout the years on other cars. I have also just installed new bearings and life was great for 20k miles.

Unless you drop the bottom end, you will not really know the extent of damage, and solutions.

If the engine is locked up, that would be a worse case scenario as a rod might be bent or broke.

There is a motor on Ebay right now for $5500 or so. A few others in the $8k range. Depending on your plans with the X, you can either just drop an engine and sell it, or if you intend to hold onto it, rebuild the current if possible or rebuild a purchased motor.

Myself, I intend to replace the rod bearings when I fix my upper pan leak, since I am in there. Just as preventative. Best of luck.

Thank you. We believe it failed (if it in fact did) while driving but the car shut down completely. Wasn't even able to jump it. after an overnight charge it started, but making bottom end knocking sounds. Not ideal... Have to figure out whether a swap for a used on makes sense. Not sure how much labor would be involved. Shame is it has new rotors and pads (two weeks old), and was really fun to drive. Would like to save it but has to be under $10k all in.

[frankenm]

You need to breakdown the engine and see what can be done with it.

Find a shop willing to do this

26k is insane

Expect minimum 3-5 days labor @ standard shop rate

Depends on the engine state for how much it will cost to fix.

If you do it all yourself you can get away with under 10k for a replacement motor will be hard otherwise unless you find a shop with cheap rates, if you can save the engine it will cost significantly less and can be built out to ensure it lasts

Could save the engine and replace broken pieces with engine out and have piece of mind for a long time I think I remember another member paying around 13 or so for a fully rebuilt installed motor after failure - there is a thread somewhere if u search for it so I might be off

[pearlpower]

When my AMG E55 engine went south I was able to secure another motor, rebuild it, and recoup a lot of the cost by selling the good parts off the old motor.

[Dawgz]

Originally Posted by mcm87m6

Hi,

'13 x5m w/110k mi. The engine just failed 6months out of extended warranty. No warnings prior, oil level was apparently fine etc. BMW NA washing their hands of it and the dealership as well. New engine quote $20,800 plus $6k labor.

Question- does anyone have experience w/rebuilds (worth it/costs, etc.) when it could be a rod bearing failure (metal in the oil and oil filter), but no complete teardown diagnosis.

thx.

How many miles did you do oil changes at, what intervals?

3k? 5k? 10k?

[mcm87m6]

Originally Posted by Dawgz

How many miles did you do oil changes at, what intervals?

3k? 5k? 10k?

every 10k change and topped off as need during interval. last full change was at 107k in mid Nov before this happened first week of Jan.

[0-60Motorsports]

Originally Posted by mcm87m6

every 10k change and topped off as need during interval. last full change was at 107k in mid Nov before this happened first week of Jan.

These cars stay happiest with 5k oil changes.

[Sophisticated Redneck]

Only complete oil starvation will cause an engine to completely seize without warning like this. Considering how many stories you hear of the S63 failing like this across every platform it was used in combined with the fact there was an actual recall on the oil pump issued some eight years ago, I would put money that yours suffered from oil pump drive shaft failure also. I think anyone with a S63 or even the n63 for that matter should replace their pump if it has anything over or close to 100k on it. I have 150k on my n63 and will be replacing it soon just as preventative maintenance.

[Sophisticated Redneck]

I will add that the recall only affected a small amount of M5/M6's according to BMW.... Now if you do a search on the M5 forums, you will find it littered with engine failure posts over the years....It appears BMW missed some production months and this was not limited to just the M5.

[Dawgz]

Originally Posted by Sophisticated Redneck

Only complete oil starvation will cause an engine to completely seize without warning like this. Considering how many stories you hear of the S63 failing like this across every platform it was used in combined with the fact there was an actual recall on the oil pump issued some eight years ago, I would put money that yours suffered from oil pump drive shaft failure also. I think anyone with a S63 or even the n63 for that matter should replace their pump if it has anything over or close to 100k on it. I have 150k on my n63 and will be replacing it soon just as preventative maintenance.

Do you have the recall notice?

[laselvasurf]

Originally Posted by mcm87m6

Hi,

'13 x5m w/110k mi. The engine just failed 6months out of extended warranty. No warnings prior, oil level was apparently fine etc. BMW NA washing their hands of it and the dealership as well. New engine quote $20,800 plus $6k labor.

Question- does anyone have experience w/rebuilds (worth it/costs, etc.) when it could be a rod bearing failure (metal in the oil and oil filter), but no complete teardown diagnosis.

thx.

I'm all too familiar with this scenario. That said, the $26.8K cost for new engine including install is actually pretty low.

At 97K my engine also failed with plenty of oil about a month after an oil change. I had a rod bearing failure that seized the engine and bent the crankshaft.

Here's a link to my 9 page thread if you want to see what I went through to get back on the road": https://www.xbimmers.com/forums/show....php?t=1611893

In short, you have 3 options.

1) New engine +/- $40K installed
- Pros: Block is new, all internal parts new
- Cons: Cost. Only the internal parts will be replaced and you could still have rod bearing failures down the road.

2) Used engine +/- $10-20K installed
- Pros: Cost, time
- Cons: You don't know what you're getting and you likely will end up having issues with any used motor. You could opt to rebuild the motor before putting it back in but you're looking at another $5-10K depending on how deep you dive.

3) Rebuild currently engine +/- $15-30K
- Pros: You most likely won't have future problems with engine and if you do there's a 2 year warranty. Upgrade possibilities(forged rods/pistons, upgraded rod bearings).
- Cons: Cost, time

I went for option 3 and it cost me just shy of $29K in all. Thankfully I had an aftermarket warranty that covered a large chunk of it($16k). The reason it cost so much is I replaced everything under the hood that could give me trouble or showed any signs of wear. Every hose, most pumps, clamps ect... The engine and everything connected to it is now new and under warranty(engine rebuild for 2 years, everything else 1 year through my shop). I also rebuilt both the turbos even though they could of been reused. From my research the turbos generally start to fail between 120-140K miles, so it was worth the additional cost to get them rebuilt while they were out of the vehicle. I used Ghassan to rebuild my engine and also upgraded the internals to forged which cost a couple thousand extra. I wanted to absolutely bulletproof the engine. I'm about 2.5K miles into the rebuild and love it. I will warn though, if you go the rebuild route it will take a considerable amount of time. My X5M was in the shop for almost 7 months start to finish. It can be done much faster, especially if you ship the vehicle as is to the rebuilder and let them do it all, but do be prepared for a long process.

Here's a link to the engine rebuilder I used: https://www.ghassanautomotive.com/co...ns/bmw-engines The cost is for rebuilding your engine but since your failure was similar to mine you will likely have to replace the crankshaft as well which adds another $2.2K.

Another rebuilder I spoke to a bit and decided against using: http://www.troyjeup.com He's a good guy and does good work but was very busy.

The most expensive, but definitely high end rebuilder: https://carbahnautoworks.com/product...12-f13-f06-m6/

Hope all this helps! Good luck and feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions.

[mcm87m6]

Originally Posted by laselvasurf

I'm all too familiar with this scenario. That said, the $26.8K cost for new engine including install is actually pretty low.

At 97K my engine also failed with plenty of oil about a month after an oil change. I had a rod bearing failure that seized the engine and bent the crankshaft.

Here's a link to my 9 page thread if you want to see what I went through to get back on the road": https://www.xbimmers.com/forums/show....php?t=1611893

In short, you have 3 options.

1) New engine +/- $40K installed
- Pros: Block is new, all internal parts new
- Cons: Cost. Only the internal parts will be replaced and you could still have rod bearing failures down the road.

2) Used engine +/- $10-20K installed
- Pros: Cost, time
- Cons: You don't know what you're getting and you likely will end up having issues with any used motor. You could opt to rebuild the motor before putting it back in but you're looking at another $5-10K depending on how deep you dive.

3) Rebuild currently engine +/- $15-30K
- Pros: You most likely won't have future problems with engine and if you do there's a 2 year warranty. Upgrade possibilities(forged rods/pistons, upgraded rod bearings).
- Cons: Cost, time

I went for option 3 and it cost me just shy of $29K in all. Thankfully I had an aftermarket warranty that covered a large chunk of it($16k). The reason it cost so much is I replaced everything under the hood that could give me trouble or showed any signs of wear. Every hose, most pumps, clamps ect... The engine and everything connected to it is now new and under warranty(engine rebuild for 2 years, everything else 1 year through my shop). I also rebuilt both the turbos even though they could of been reused. From my research the turbos generally start to fail between 120-140K miles, so it was worth the additional cost to get them rebuilt while they were out of the vehicle. I used Ghassan to rebuild my engine and also upgraded the internals to forged which cost a couple thousand extra. I wanted to absolutely bulletproof the engine. I'm about 2.5K miles into the rebuild and love it. I will warn though, if you go the rebuild route it will take a considerable amount of time. My X5M was in the shop for almost 7 months start to finish. It can be done much faster, especially if you ship the vehicle as is to the rebuilder and let them do it all, but do be prepared for a long process.

Here's a link to the engine rebuilder I used: https://www.ghassanautomotive.com/co...ns/bmw-engines The cost is for rebuilding your engine but since your failure was similar to mine you will likely have to replace the crankshaft as well which adds another $2.2K.

Another rebuilder I spoke to a bit and decided against using: http://www.troyjeup.com He's a good guy and does good work but was very busy.

The most expensive, but definitely high end rebuilder: https://carbahnautoworks.com/product...12-f13-f06-m6/

Hope all this helps! Good luck and feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions.

Thank you for the detailed response and I am sorry you had to endure this as well. Not entirely sure what i'll do yet, but I may need to sell it as-is and move on. At least My '06 X5 3.0 still runs great.

[Ounders]

You can check in this website for rebuilt or used engine https://orbimotors.com/used-car-engines/bmw/ So you can compare prices and make a best decision

[X5 MAN]

Originally Posted by 0-60Motorsports

These cars stay happiest with 5k oil changes.

True

V8 drinks oil.

5k oil intervals is a must

oil is cheap, engine is 5000$$

Most people are penny wise and pound foolish, saving on oil changes

I would cut my loss and sell it in salvage.

For the cost of new engine plus labor, you can get a another X5M

[chris604]

Originally Posted by X5 MAN

True

V8 drinks oil.

5k oil intervals is a must

oil is cheap, engine is 5000$$

Most people are penny wise and pound foolish, saving on oil changes

I would cut my loss and sell it in salvage.

For the cost of new engine plus labor, you can get a another X5M

Yeah, definitely. Mine drinks a bit of oil. If I idle it or drive slowly for more than 15 minutes, when I slam the throttle, a huge puff of black smoke comes out, so I see it's constantly burning oil. And, the exhaust pipe is coated black now. But, my extended warranty is due to expire in July, but I may have the option of renewing it. And, I just checked the KBB value, it's $12K CAD at the dealer for trade in, LOL. I think if I sell it myself, probably $17 to $20k max is what I'll get for it. But, I wouldn't mind keeping it as I can beat the hell out of it, and it still keeps going, but still worried about engine failure they way I drive it. But, I do keep up with oil changes, when I remember to anyways, LOL.