RE: BMW: don't drive your M5, M6

RE: BMW: don't drive your M5, M6

Tuesday 25th September 2012

Oil pump problem hits UK M5, M6

Potentially terminal engine defect DOES affect UK examples of BMW's fastest cars



UPDATE: Since publishing our story on BMW North America advising F10 M5 and F12/F13 M6 owners not to drive their cars, following the discovery of a fault with the oil pump that could lead to ‘severe engine damage’, we have heard that as a result of further internal investigations, BMW has now discovered that 19 British cars have the same potentially defective oil pump. BMW UK had initially said the problem did not affect UK cars.

On Friday (21 September) BMW US dealers were sent a technical bulletin saying that owners of 2013 model year F10 M5 and F12/F13 M6 cars built between July and September 2012 were being contacted as part of a recall, and warned not to drive their cars until the problem is fixed.

BMW initially thought UK cars weren't affected
BMW initially thought UK cars weren't affected
The fault stopped deliveries of S63TU V8 turbo BMW M5 and M6 in the US until the repair has been completed. The issue was characterised as serious enough to potentially cause the engine to suddenly lose oil pressure.

The fault in the oil pump was picked up by BMW’s routine quality checks. Repair is simple: swap the faulty oil pump for a correctly manufactured one. There have been no reported cases of engine failure as a result of the fault.

‘We are about to start the process of contacting owners,’ said a BMW UK spokesman. The work will be carried out under warranty as part of BMW's usual car recall procedures.

Author
Discussion

morgs_

Original Poster:

1,663 posts

186 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
Are BMW collecting the cars from the customers then?

"I'm just on my way to you to bring my car in for the recall and my engine has blown up.."

SystemParanoia

14,343 posts

197 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
drop a wankel in there... should prove more reliable! biggrin

cure

231 posts

144 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
Strange the oil pump for the us and UK model is different then..

German

203 posts

146 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
Been a good few weeks for us then....cant drive your E60 M5, the local scrotes have had it away. Cant drive your F10 M5, it'll lunch the engine. Good stuff, will the next M5's engine blow up at the first sign of being stolen?

y2blade

56,029 posts

214 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
yikes

KaraK

13,177 posts

208 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
cure said:
Strange the oil pump for the us and UK model is different then..
If they are saying it's a manufacturing defect then it may be the parts are the same but it was only a batch sent to the US that was effected?

carreauchompeur

17,830 posts

203 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
Ouch, sounds serious. Expect plenty of delayed engine claims due to long-term oil pressure issues...

M Powered

349 posts

208 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
Seems very odd to have a market derivatised oil pump.

Grenoble

50,289 posts

154 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
cure said:
Strange the oil pump for the us and UK model is different then..
Indeed. Saab used to be very strange for this as well - lots of technical bulletins and recalls in the US that never got implemented in Europe.

The Black Flash

13,735 posts

197 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
SystemParanoia said:
drop a wankel in there... should prove more reliable! biggrin
hehe Very good

y2blade

56,029 posts

214 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
Not a good year frown

BMW S1000RR Recall

"BMW has issued a delivery hold and is recalling 1,414 2012 model year BMW S1000 RR motorcycles to inspect and correct a potential problem with loosening of the connecting rod bolts. As a result of a manufacturing process error, the bolts could loosen and fall out. If this happens, the engine may fail, seize, and/or leak oil. Approximately 900 of the affected motorcycles are still in BMW or dealer inventory and will be inspected and corrected prior to customer delivery. Owners of potentially affected motorcycles will be notified by mail in May advising them to bring their motorcycles to an authorized BMW Motorcycle dealer to have the recall performed. The connecting rod bolts will be replaced and installed with a thread locking agent."

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Hugo a Gogo

23,378 posts

232 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
is this an anti-theft measure?

if these cars are stolen they will seize up anyway

SmartVenom

462 posts

168 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
I actually think good on BMW for issuing the recall, not all German manufacturers have been so quick to acknowledge potential causes of engine failure.

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
Grenoble said:
Indeed. Saab used to be very strange for this as well - lots of technical bulletins and recalls in the US that never got implemented in Europe.
America, home of the class action lawsuits. In Europe BMW will just trust to luck.

The Jolly Todger

2,742 posts

179 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
M Powered said:
Seems very odd to have a market derivatised oil pump.
As noted above it seems more likely that there was an 'incorrectly manufactured' batch used in the US, rather than a different pump altogether.

surveyor

17,768 posts

183 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
SmartVenom said:
I actually think good on BMW for issuing the recall, not all German manufacturers have been so quick to acknowledge potential causes of engine failure.
Agreed. Most posters seem to think that it's a negative think that BMW are sorting the problem rather than adopt a wait and see approach. I suppose the cynical might think that the time bomb perhaps goes off earlier than most for them to adopt such a drastic step.

Probably lucky it was the M5/M6 not something more common.

BlackCup

1,231 posts

182 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
That rear shot of the M5 looks absolutely gorgeous, i would love to have one of those one day!

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

245 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
"There have been no reported cases of engine failure as a result of the fault."

Hmmmm, sounds REALLY serious. Not.

russkyh

12 posts

147 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
A BMW GB spokesman said the problem does not affect UK cars. ‘We have had no notice of such,’ they said.

Watch this space!

Captain Muppet

8,540 posts

264 months

Monday 24th September 2012
quotequote all
The Jolly Todger said:
M Powered said:
Seems very odd to have a market derivatised oil pump.
As noted above it seems more likely that there was an 'incorrectly manufactured' batch used in the US, rather than a different pump altogether.
There may be changes in engine spec (emission control gubbins, or something related to fuel quality) which mean BMW build batches of US spec engines, and one of these contains a batch of faulty oil pumps.

I dunno.