X5 N63 engine recall (Service Bulletin B001314)

[elmasry17]

Originally Posted by aloyouis

OK. Thanks.


How about in terms of the timing? It seems the date just passed?

No sir there is no deadline unless if your above 120k miles. So i suggest take it to the dealer and ask them to do a oil consumption test and they should do it for free of charge as mentioned in the class action lawsuit settlement.

[elmasry17]

Originally Posted by heatmizr

Wow, the amount of conflicting info on this is staggering.
Some (most?) Dealers know nothing about it.
Replace block vs total engine vs engine + turbos and all assoc parts
Some Some folks say its opt-in, my letter says by doing nothing you are part of the settlement.
I could swear my letter stated that the THREE oil consumption test had to occur AFTER Oct 10. How are ppl failing three tests in 3 weeks?
Got to say this state of affairs is nothing new though!


For those with a new engine deal, did they tell you what the total price of the remanu engine was, that your portion was calculated from?
As posted above someone stated the prices are dropping like a rock. However, most ppl have not seen the new engines, some have been returned to Germany, or waiting to ship. What a cluster. What good is a great deal on an engine that will arrive NEXT YEAR.

You are absolutely in regards failing oil consumption tests after Oct.10 but again its stated that its up to the dealer discretion to evaluate to see if it is worth keeping fixing and based on their diagnosis they can make that determine and say that its not worth the time to fix it and seek approval for engine replacement. My case was a little different because on July 7th i failed the oil consumption test and failed another one around end of august and they documented everything in the system. So when i went to the dealer again for a misfire on Oct.5 they told me leave the car and we will evaluate the situation and of course they gave me a loaner. Then on Oct.24 got a call from my service adviser and she said based on our diagnosis we will have to replace the engine with a remanufactured engine coming from germany which will carry a 2 year unlimited miles warranty. So i emailed her what parts exactly will be replaced so she emailed me saying we will replace the engine with remanufactured engine with both turbochargers and its associated parts. So i will hold them accountable if they change their mind later as i have proof email coming from my SA.

[aloyouis]

Originally Posted by elmasry17

No sir there is no deadline unless if your above 120k miles. So i suggest take it to the dealer and ask them to do a oil consumption test and they should do it for free of charge as mentioned in the class action lawsuit settlement.

Thank you.

[Hanebo]

Originally Posted by elmasry17

After you replaced the remanufactured engine how was the performance? Any issues you faced like oil consumption or any misfires? Hows the fuel consumption? Did you feel any difference in performance? Please let me know your feedback. Thanks a bunch

Answering elmasry17's questions.

After you replaced the remanufactured engine how was the performance? - I can't compare with before because I purchased the car right after the reman engine was installed. The previous owner said he felt a slight improvement over the old engine. However, I did test drive a lot of X5s before purchasing this one and I must say that this X5 had the best feel and performance and that includes a few 2014 and 2015 X5s.

Any issues you faced like oil consumption or any misfires? My oil level is still at 100% full after 1500 miles. No misfires, but the reman engine came with new spark plugs (pulled one last night to check it out)and the ignition oils were replaced less than 10k ago.

Hows the fuel consumption? I drive mostly in the city and right now my fuel consumption is at 15.7 mpg.

Did you feel any difference in performance? The previous owner said he only felt a slight improvement in performance, but the X5 only had 47k at the time of engine replacement.

Overall, after driving the X5 for four months now, I am very happy with it.

[heatmizr]

Originally Posted by elmasry17

You are absolutely in regards failing oil consumption tests after Oct.10 but again its stated that its up to the dealer discretion to evaluate to see if it is worth keeping fixing and based on their diagnosis they can make that determine and say that its not worth the time to fix it and seek approval for engine replacement. My case was a little different because on July 7th i failed the oil consumption test and failed another one around end of august and they documented everything in the system. So when i went to the dealer again for a misfire on Oct.5 they told me leave the car and we will evaluate the situation and of course they gave me a loaner.

This makes total sense to count previous oil consumption tests, and was a solid for you. Imagine if they told you you needed to fail THREE MORE new tests.
So apparently the oil consumption test already existed previous to this lawsuit...

[elmasry17]

Originally Posted by heatmizr

This makes total sense to count previous oil consumption tests, and was a solid for you. Imagine if they told you you needed to fail THREE MORE new tests.
So apparently the oil consumption test already existed previous to this lawsuit...

LOL exactly!!!

[celluloidheros]

I have a 2013 X5 N63 with 93K.

Can I get any benefits from BMW if I didn't sign-up ?

My car smokes at low idle always (it's embarrassing at the drive thru)., I use Mobil-One and have tried different weight OILS,

Is there anything that would stop the smoke or make it more transparent ?

Thanks, Don

[jiggz]

Originally Posted by celluloidheros

I have a 2013 X5 N63 with 93K.

Can I get any benefits from BMW if I didn't sign-up ?

My car smokes at low idle always (it's embarrassing at the drive thru)., I use Mobil-One and have tried different weight OILS,

Is there anything that would stop the smoke or make it more transparent ?

Thanks, Don

Your value seals are shot most likely. Symptoms are exactly what you're experiencing, and they all fail, especially at your higher mileage.

Very costly repair, especially at the dealer.

[cpr1969]

I took my X6 in for crankcase oil hose leaks and they kept it and did testing on it for oil consumption. Basically there are several things they are looking for and certian areas they are looking to see if there is oil. Then they take the required photos and fill out the paper work, smoke coming from the exhaust pipe was definately one thing they were looking for. The SA did not know about the the new specs on the rebuild , he had not been told by his boss. I guess alot of this is still trickling down. He told me all parts and labor will be at warranty prices. And I have noticed the N63 motor has dropped to 3K from the dealership. He did say one of my turbos atleast will be included in the new parts and that I will be part of the Jan group.

[heatmizr]

$3k for a motor is great! I wonder if they are starting to replace with these for other issues over fixing the motor in owners' cars just because its cheaper?

[Sophisticated Redneck]

Originally Posted by celluloidheros

I have a 2013 X5 N63 with 93K.

Can I get any benefits from BMW if I didn't sign-up ?

My car smokes at low idle always (it's embarrassing at the drive thru)., I use Mobil-One and have tried different weight OILS,

Is there anything that would stop the smoke or make it more transparent ?

Thanks, Don

Mine had the same issue, a cheap fix is to ditch the factory BULLSH*T Crankcase ventilation system and install a catch-can setup. (cost is under 100 dollars and about 4 hours of your time)

You see with the factory setup there is almost no crankcase vacuum. As the engine ages with increased blow-by and valve stem seal wear you will get excessive oil burning, especially at Idle (this can also come from worn seals on the turbos). Getting some actual vacuum in the engine crankcase like its supposed to have will greatly reduce this.

Mine was so bad at Idle, people would stop me and point it out, was also burning a quart every 300 miles. After installing the catch-cans, I no longer have any smoke at stop lights, even idling for 10+ min in dead traffic and oil consumption dropped to a quart every 1500-2000 miles. I have 130,000 miles on mine. I'll make a new thread with how I set it up in the next few days after I emerge from rebuilding the turbos wastegates, putting in downpipes & JB4. Oh and if you do this, DONT use silicone hose like I did, I thought I could get away with it as I had it on hand and figured that would not be that much oil in contact with it but nope, you can see the center hose discoloring from the oil attacking the Silicone....Ill be replacing it with 1/2" Fuel line as I should have done. Have approx 6000 miles with this setup so far.

[9vapors]

Originally Posted by Sophisticated Redneck

Mine had the same issue, a cheap fix is to ditch the factory BULLSH*T Crankcase ventilation system and install a catch-can setup. (cost is under 100 dollars and about 4 hours of your time)

You see with the factory setup there is almost no crankcase vacuum. As the engine ages with increased blow-by and valve stem seal wear you will get excessive oil burning, especially at Idle (this can also come from worn seals on the turbos). Getting some actual vacuum in the engine crankcase like its supposed to have will greatly reduce this.

Mine was so bad at Idle, people would stop me and point it out, was also burning a quart every 300 miles. After installing the catch-cans, I no longer have any smoke at stop lights, even idling for 10+ min in dead traffic and oil consumption dropped to a quart every 1500-2000 miles. I have 130,000 miles on mine. I'll make a new thread with how I set it up in the next few days after I emerge from rebuilding the turbos wastegates, putting in downpipes & JB4. Oh and if you do this, DONT use silicone hose like I did, I thought I could get away with it as I had it on hand and figured that would not be that much oil in contact with it but nope, you can see the center hose discoloring from the oil attacking the Silicone....Ill be replacing it with 1/2" Fuel line as I should have done. Have approx 6000 miles with this setup so far.

Can you post some closer pics and even a diagram or something of how you did this?

[Sophisticated Redneck]

Originally Posted by 9vapors

Can you post some closer pics and even a diagram or something of how you did this?

Sure thing, I'll snap some closer pics but here are the basics:

First order two of these, by far the BEST catch-cans for the money, true baffle design with a bronze filter, excellent quality. Small size to fit under our stuffed hoods with no mods (you need to loose your engine cover but you shouldn't be running with that piece of heat soaking crap anyway)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Next you want to cut off the old hose from the adapter end that goes to the valve cover and attach 5/8" hose from this to the catch can.

Then you want to take a dremel to the old CCV hose and cut off the ends that go to the pre-turbo intake and the end that goes to the actual intake on the engine.

Run a 5/8" hose on the pre-turbo intake end and a 1/2" fuel line hose to the actual end that goes to the intake on the engine. Then slap in a generic PCV valve from any autoparts store (VERY IMPORTANT) to prevent when the engine goes into boost mode from pressurizing the crankcase and hook these both up to the catch can and you are good to go.

Here are the valves I used: https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Old-Sto...-/162001398298 (You should be able to find these at Autozone and Orileys also)

Ill snag some pics and post them to help show all what I just described.

[Sophisticated Redneck]

Here is the before and after of the CCV tube:

[Sophisticated Redneck]

In the pics Above you want to connect the fuel line 1/2" hose on the smallest piece, try to do a better job then I did and leave more meat on it for a better hold on your hose as this line will see 12+ PSI and full boost and you dont want it blowing the hose off. This line will connect to the center port on the Catch Can. You will need to insert the PCV valve somewhere on this line, You can see in my original pic I have it right before the catchcan. This is a one-way valve so make sure you get it installed in the correct orientation.

Then connect 5/8" heater or fuel line hose (use rubber, dont be dumb like me and thinking you can get away with Silicone unless you fancy your garage smelling the inside of your engine) to the Valve cover connector and connect that to either outside port. (get a set of these to make connecting to the catchcan easy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

Then connect another section of the 5/8" hose to the pre-turbo intake connector (you have to stretch it a bit to fit and connect this to the other outside port on the catch can, tighten everything up and you are good to go

[9vapors]

Thanks so much for posting what you have so far! I understand how catch cans work, I've always had them on my Subaru's as well, so that going into this helps. I know those engines well though and where to put what hoses on what lines and which go where. This motor I dont have a good grasp of just yet, but I'm getting there. I think this would also help to remove some points of failure from the vacuum system in that some of the brittle plastic lines would be removed. I would love to use AN fittings and some Goodyear lines, more expensive of course, but might help with longevity and as you mentioned, handling the level of boost. I'd definitely love to see a video walkthrough or a step by step as time allows, if you're willing. I think a lot of us would benefit from it. Some of the steps in your post I could follow and some lost me since I don't know exactly which line you're speaking of. Lastly, have you checked the cans? Do they fill up and have to be drained or do they recirc? I wonder if a simple air/oil separator would work, like https://www.rallysportdirect.com/par...-oil-separator

or

https://www.rallysportdirect.com/par...iABEgJ1DvD_BwE

[Sophisticated Redneck]

Originally Posted by 9vapors

Thanks so much for posting what you have so far! I understand how catch cans work, I've always had them on my Subaru's as well, so that going into this helps. I know those engines well though and where to put what hoses on what lines and which go where. This motor I dont have a good grasp of just yet, but I'm getting there. I think this would also help to remove some points of failure from the vacuum system in that some of the brittle plastic lines would be removed. I would love to use AN fittings and some Goodyear lines, more expensive of course, but might help with longevity and as you mentioned, handling the level of boost. I'd definitely love to see a video walkthrough or a step by step as time allows, if you're willing. I think a lot of us would benefit from it. Some of the steps in your post I could follow and some lost me since I don't know exactly which line you're speaking of. Lastly, have you checked the cans? Do they fill up and have to be drained or do they recirc? I wonder if a simple air/oil separator would work, like https://www.rallysportdirect.com/par...-oil-separator

or

https://www.rallysportdirect.com/par...iABEgJ1DvD_BwE

If you look down a bit in the forums, you will see a thread a gentleman made about the S63 engine CCV system in the M version of our car. (Very similar to our engine) He went all out and had custom machined adapters made up to allow true AN fittings to be used instead of all of the goofy hoseclamps. If you have the $$$ or a Mill, this would be the way to go. Check out that thread when you have a chance.

Sure I will post up some more pics but everything is tore down right now since I am doing the Downpipes and I am in the middle of rebuilding the wastegates, will be towards middle or end of next week before Ill be at the stage of putting everything back together thanks to work, but will post then if your not in a hurry.

Here is a pic of one of the cans with approx 6K miles on it. Its doing its job as you can see and the muck that it catches is NASTY, I would NOT want that going back in the engine....I see why our engines are notorious for carbon build up. Keep in mind that this is the stuff it catches after the built-in air/oil separators under the valve covers..

You just have to empty them every oil change and you are good to go. It does have a set screw drain plug on the bottom if you mount them and thats easier to drain. Very impressive catch-cans for only 25 bucks, all kinds of colors too. Machining quality is excellent too however do take everything apart if you buy them and clean out any odd shavings from the machine processes. That was my only little nit-pick about them.

[Sophisticated Redneck]

Here is a quick pic I whipped up to help. This is a two-stage CCV system. Under normal engine conditions, the internal 2 way valve allows engine vacuum to pull direct from the connection to the internal oil/air separators. HOWEVER since the engineer who designed this system was clearly high as f*ck, it SUCKS.

The internal oil/air separators due a crap job and the 2way valve barely allows any flow at all, fine for a new engine but get some miles on it and it cant keep up and thus no crank case vacuum....but then again maybe this was all part of their plan....BMW engineers do such an amazing job with everything else...one has to wonder if this isnt part of some conspiracy just to get us back to the dealer for service..... #ILOVEMYTINFOILHAT

During boost conditions this 2 way valve will block the incoming boost and prevent Crankcase pressurizing which would be very bad. This is why you have to use a PCV valve when you put in the catch-can as you eliminate the stock 2 way.

The one way flapper valve takes over under boost conditions to keep the crank case under vacuum using the passing airflow to suck in the air from the crankcase (the name for this effect escapes me right now) so its important to keep this function and thus the need for a catchcan with 3 connections for our dual stage system. Hope this helps and I will post some pics later this upcoming week as time allows.

[9vapors]

Thanks, I'll get caught up in the other thread so I have a better idea what everyone is doing... I'll look forward to your pics, good luck with the downpipes, mine sucked to install.

[Sophisticated Redneck]

Originally Posted by 9vapors

Thanks, I'll get caught up in the other thread so I have a better idea what everyone is doing... I'll look forward to your pics, good luck with the downpipes, mine sucked to install.

How do you like the downpipes, performance? Is it much louder under normal cruise conditions (80-90mph on freeway?)

Ya Mine are REALLY going to suck to install, I got an amazing deal on some for a 550i, so I have to cut and weld it into the original pipe as the 550i as you can imagine is a bit different where it connects to the rest of the exhaust. These have built in mini-resonators on them too, should be interesting....Hope to have enough time off work tomorrow and Wednesday to finish...

[9vapors]

Originally Posted by Sophisticated Redneck

How do you like the downpipes, performance? Is it much louder under normal cruise conditions (80-90mph on freeway?)

Ya Mine are REALLY going to suck to install, I got an amazing deal on some for a 550i, so I have to cut and weld it into the original pipe as the 550i as you can imagine is a bit different where it connects to the rest of the exhaust. These have built in mini-resonators on them too, should be interesting....Hope to have enough time off work tomorrow and Wednesday to finish...

Shouldn't be too much louder if you're running an exhaust already... plus I see yours have some cats built in, so might make it a little quieter. Mine were the VRSF, under $500 and have the flex pipe as well. I wrapped them and am running the Velos stg2+ tune. I couldn't live without them now. I had a tough time getting the top vband lines up on the turbos, that was the hardest part since intakes so far in you can't get much leverage to force them in. No need to take the exhaust off, just unhook the hangers.

[roman705]

Hi everyone! New to the forum. I have an 2009 X6 with 60k miles and had all the same issues everyone else was having. Burn a quart of oil once a week and white smoking coming out the pipes when idling. Took the car in as soon as the lawsuit was approved in October. They tested it ONLY once and said I would be getting a new engine. Was told the engines were on backorder till January. Called them end of December to just get an update and they said the lawsuit has changed and I needed to bring my car back in again to get tested. Now BMW will only cover things related to OIL CONSUMPTION. Nothing else. So instead of getting a new engine (which they now say is still backorder for 90days) I got all new valves instead. Didn't even get a choice. They said "BMW will fix your engine to what ever is cheapest for them to do so to fix the oil consumption problem." Hence, no new engine. But it was ALL FREE and I got a loaner for 2 weeks. They told me my turbos were ok, but the turbo lines needed to be changed. Would cost about 3k but they offered me 10% off. Can't afford to do that. F'n BS. Love the car. Hate the problems. I just put it up for sale. Hope everyone else is having better luck!!!