E60 M5 Rod Bearing Failure! - Advice Really Appreciated

[Schermerhorn]

Lazyjames said:

Hello, I am writing as I am experiencing some difficulties with one of your dealerships - Westerly in Yeovil.

I have recently privately bought a 2007 E60 M5 (MD57 YCZ). On the day I bought it I paid for a Mondial comprehensive warranty to ensure I was covered for all eventualities. The car has a full BMW service history and has 81000 miles. It had an oil service at a main dealer at 79000 miles and received a clean health check.

I was driving the car when the engine management light came on and advised me to go to a garage to seek advice. I had the car recovered to Westerly in Yeovil. They took the engine out and diagnosed rod bearing failure. The technician stated this was not a warranty issue and they declined to even contact Mondial to check if this was the case. I was then presented with a bill for £2400 of labour to take the car apart, plus an estimate of £20k+ to replace the engine.

I have since done a lot of research which has determined rod bearing failure to be extremely common in these S85 engines, and that they should certainly not be failing at 81k when the service requirements have been followed exactly.

I have now got my M5 in pieces with no engine at one of your garages, i'm out of pocket by £2400, plus i'm still paying for a very expensive 'comprehensive' warranty which has let me down badly on something i could never have allowed for nor be expected to service myself. I am feeling really let down by the experience, and I am reaching out in the hope you may be able to offer advice or help me. I feel the dealership is not on my side or attempting to assist me, and i'm hoping you can.

Thank you for your time

Perfect. Do not just rely on BMW UK though too. Seek some legal advice too and present it to the manager of said dealership. Keep squeezing.

[RossP]

Helicopter123 said:

REALIST123 said:

RossP said:

This is the wording from the BMW website:

"Comprehensive Insured Warranty covers all mechanical and electrical components of your vehicle for defects - except the items listed below:

All exhaust components (except catalytic converter)
All service items which will require periodic replacement
Any item that has worn out rather than suffered from a defect
Auxiliary drive belts
Batteries
Brake and clutch facings
Bulbs and fuses
Channels and guides
Cleaning or adjustment of any component
Coolant and fuel hoses
Discs and drums
Glass
Handles, hinges and check straps
Trim, upholstery and cosmetic finishes
Wheels and tyres
Wiper blades and arms
Weather strips and seals"

The key here is "Any item that has worn out rather than suffered from a defect". You would need some evidence that the bearings haven't just worn out.

That's relevant to a car bought from a BMW dealer as an AUC, isn't it? The OP bought this car from an eBay seller, apparently.

This is the list of exclusions for the Mondial warranty purchased via BMW, and shown on it's site. The warranty can be purchased distinct from the car, on any used BMW?

The BMW extended warranty is provided by Mondial.

[darreni]

Lazyjames said:

The seller of the car did sell it privately as his own car for cash, from his home address. I also was driving it for over 5 weeks and 800 miles, so i assumed the Mondial warranty was my first port of call.

That ad looks like a dealer ad, showing dealer facilities.

The only thing I can think of that would make a tech say that there is no point it logging it as a warranty claim, is if the car was previously known to BMW & the fault already recorded. This may have shown up on the BMW history or diagnostic when checked.

[marting]

Sorry nothing helpful to add OP - but I wish you best of luck.

Keep fighting, absolutely terrible behaviour from the dealer.

[thatsprettyshady]

darreni said:

Lazyjames said:

The seller of the car did sell it privately as his own car for cash, from his home address. I also was driving it for over 5 weeks and 800 miles, so i assumed the Mondial warranty was my first port of call.

That ad looks like a dealer ad, showing dealer facilities.

The only thing I can think of that would make a tech say that there is no point it logging it as a warranty claim, is if the car was previously known to BMW & the fault already recorded. This may have shown up on the BMW history or diagnostic when checked.

Call me cynical but I think the dealer knew of the problems so sold it as his own car to avoid the impending warranty work.

[eztiger]

Sounds that way - very sketchy.

[Shaoxter]

thatsprettyshady said:

Call me cynical but I think the dealer knew of the problems so sold it as his own car to avoid the impending warranty work.

But is rod bearing failure something that's possible to diagnose without taking the engine apart? Bits of metal in the oil maybe?

[Lazyjames]

It crossed my mind as well about whether he was aware. But if so, its a very risky strategy to take it to a main dealer 2 days before you sell it. Plus the dealership then gave it a clean bill of health

[IATM]

If truth be told I think you have been very very unlucky in landing your M5 with a crap dealership. Only way to get them to pull their finger out is to try and get BMW UK to speak to them.

I would be shocked if Mondial did NOT pay out as everything from what I can gather means you should get a pay out - your bottleneck is getting the dealerhsip to make the claim.

If I were you I would call a few local dealerships ask them for their help and seek advise. After you find a more frienly dealership call a tow company and pick up your car and take it to the next place - even if it means taking with the engine stripped in parts.

I know that sounds crazy but if dealership is not helping you them your screwed! Once it's all resolved I would then try and get to court and get your 2,400 back as they have basically ripped the piss out of you

[cosworth330]

Don't forget with the Mondial warranty theu will pay out on a single claim upto and including the purchase price you paid for the car. If it needs a complete engine through BMW dealer then it will probably be more than you paid for the car. Crazy money for an engine at BMW.

Hope you get a result and your money back.

[RS Grant]

I'd also be asking citizens advice/your solicitor how you stand as far as trying to reject the car entirely, it's clearly advertised as a trade advert on ebay and wasn't fit for purpose when you bought it.


Cheers,
Grant

[sheepdip]

Just a thought - is the ecu clever enough to log the revs against warm up temp - after all the rev counter red line changes with temp and the launch control is also logged. I wonder if the BMW Tech has seen something on the engine log to suggest it has been miss treated?

[jcolley]

sheepdip said:

Just a thought - is the ecu clever enough to log the revs against warm up temp - after all the rev counter red line changes with temp and the launch control is also logged. I wonder if the BMW Tech has seen something on the engine log to suggest it has been miss treated?

In short, no.

Expounding on that, there are a few parameters which are logged in the mss65 DME such as number of times exceeding various load levels, RPMs, etc., but nothing related to oil temperature. These are viewable form the most part in INPA for the mss65 and accessible via INPA (with custom written .IPS script to poll the 'rennstart' parameter) for the SMG. All these are overwritten however (including launch control for the SMG module) when flashing a software update.

In regards to a tech being able to read it, I would wager that less than 1% of dealer technicians even know what INPA is and their current regime of diagnostic software (ISTA/D) is not capable of polling that data.

[cossy400]

Any updates on this OP??

[pidsy]

just to add my hope that you get this sorted out OP.

the fact that the dealer you bought it from sold it as his own car would worry me.

what have BMW UK said?

[Lazyjames]

Thank you for all the advice and support. I've now been assigned a customer service manager, Myra Gray. She is reporting back to me today or tomorrow after speaking to the dealership and Mondial. I've forwarded her a few links to the largest forum threads regarding rod bearing failures, so she is aware this is far from an isolated incident.

[RossP]

Good luck!. Hopefully BMW will come up trumps.

[JMBMWM5]

Lazyjames said:

Thank you for all the advice and support. I've now been assigned a customer service manager, Myra Gray. She is reporting back to me today or tomorrow after speaking to the dealership and Mondial. I've forwarded her a few links to the largest forum threads regarding rod bearing failures, so she is aware this is far from an isolated incident.

Hope it works out for you, but if all fails take legal action, BMW UK hate the thought and bad publicity.

[jonah35]

darreni said:

Lazyjames said:

The seller of the car did sell it privately as his own car for cash, from his home address. I also was driving it for over 5 weeks and 800 miles, so i assumed the Mondial warranty was my first port of call.

That ad looks like a dealer ad, showing dealer facilities.

The only thing I can think of that would make a tech say that there is no point it logging it as a warranty claim, is if the car was previously known to BMW & the fault already recorded. This may have shown up on the BMW history or diagnostic when checked.

This is most important point.

It's a trader so trader should be first port of call.

Whose name was log book in? His personally? How long had he owned it? If his own name at his own address owned for 3 years then maybe private but I suspect not.

Sorry to hear of your woes

[jamoor]

What exactly went wrong? Was the engine knocking or is it toast?

I replaced the rod bearings in my s62 and just carried on as usual.