E61 V8 Bearding
Discussion
smashie said:
It is possible to do it without heads off and would have been about 1/2 price, however I decided that with all the issues that I have already had with he car, at least with heads off, all the gaskets would be replaced and if there are any other issues with the engine, they would more than likely be seen and thus rectified with this work. I didn't want to have to be doing something like changing a head gasket 1 year down the line.
The symptoms that led my mechanic to believe that it was valve stem oil seals were that it was burning a lot of oil, and smoking. Th smoke smelt of oil. It was also lumpy on cold. He tested all the other likely candidates such as CCV valves, Crankcase vent pipe and vacuum pump. BMW are however also doing their own diagnostics on it prior to taking the heads off.
How many miles are on your car?The symptoms that led my mechanic to believe that it was valve stem oil seals were that it was burning a lot of oil, and smoking. Th smoke smelt of oil. It was also lumpy on cold. He tested all the other likely candidates such as CCV valves, Crankcase vent pipe and vacuum pump. BMW are however also doing their own diagnostics on it prior to taking the heads off.
What's the likely cause of this?
I'm scared by the prospect of something similar with my Bus.
ATM said:
How many miles are on your car?
What's the likely cause of this?
I'm scared by the prospect of something similar with my Bus.
Not sure what the cause of it is I am afraid. The car has 101k on it. There is still a small possibility that when BMW have completed their diagnostics, it may not even be that bad, but I feel it is. What's the likely cause of this?
I'm scared by the prospect of something similar with my Bus.
Will update on the outcome when it get the car back. Not sure if that will be end of the week/weekend or next week.
smashie said:
ATM said:
How many miles are on your car?
What's the likely cause of this?
I'm scared by the prospect of something similar with my Bus.
Not sure what the cause of it is I am afraid. The car has 101k on it. There is still a small possibility that when BMW have completed their diagnostics, it may not even be that bad, but I feel it is. What's the likely cause of this?
I'm scared by the prospect of something similar with my Bus.
Will update on the outcome when it get the car back. Not sure if that will be end of the week/weekend or next week.
I thought this was relatively common for this engine?
So, we all have the worry (though my car had at least one bank with the head off for some work at some point) but it's the same for virtually every car out there. Stem seals wear
You can live with it for a pretty long time, in all honesty.
No one got a good source for the right coolant???
Torque converter is annoying me now
So, we all have the worry (though my car had at least one bank with the head off for some work at some point) but it's the same for virtually every car out there. Stem seals wear
You can live with it for a pretty long time, in all honesty.
No one got a good source for the right coolant???
Torque converter is annoying me now
hornetrider said:
I wasn't aware of this being common at all, certainly nothing I've read about it, mine doesn't use any oil. As far as I'm concerned it's the engine that's the most reliable bit of the car.
Have a Google... I came across a lot of threads and comments on it when I was looking for something else!It still doesn't change the fact that it is a relatively common 'complaint' on higher miles car, anyway.
hornetrider said:
I did have a fair google before buying the car a few years back, but found the most problematic cars were the 545i, hence why I went for the 550i. Anyway, I'm alright Jack 
Sorry to hear of the other woes!
Well, that's a fair point... as a selfish 545i owner, I guess I was just worried about myself Sorry to hear of the other woes!
It does seem we have a little more to worry about than you guys but I am still very happy with the car.
2,000 miles-ish in and I probably paid a bit over the odds with some work to do but I do love it and am very happy with my decision
I probably do around 5,000 miles or less a year in it, so it should go on merrily for a good while yet (on 76/77k)!
ATM said:
How long have you had the car?
A few weeks! I kid you not.However GOOD NEWS. It turns out that one of the breather pipes had split. BMW are replacing both of them and it has cured the issues. This means it will be a lot cheaper for me and using my amazing man maths, I can go ahead and get the NBT upgrade done now.
I've read about the issue a bit on the US forums but there's not much about it over here, even if you search about it in relation to the 650i and 4.8 X5's etc...
I think a lot of it (as Smashie has confirmed) is down to costly misdiagnosis. I'm sure that breather pipe was a LOT cheaper to fix than doing the stem seals, it probably contributed to the reason why the car was for sale too!
Mine doesn't use oil or smoke either, in fact out of all the BMW's I've owned I think it's the only one that hasn't!
I think a lot of it (as Smashie has confirmed) is down to costly misdiagnosis. I'm sure that breather pipe was a LOT cheaper to fix than doing the stem seals, it probably contributed to the reason why the car was for sale too!
Mine doesn't use oil or smoke either, in fact out of all the BMW's I've owned I think it's the only one that hasn't!
smashie said:
A few weeks! I kid you not.
However GOOD NEWS. It turns out that one of the breather pipes had split. BMW are replacing both of them and it has cured the issues. This means it will be a lot cheaper for me and using my amazing man maths, I can go ahead and get the NBT upgrade done now.
The NBT looks great.. I'm a bit envious but I just couldn't justify £1200 on it unless my CCC dies.However GOOD NEWS. It turns out that one of the breather pipes had split. BMW are replacing both of them and it has cured the issues. This means it will be a lot cheaper for me and using my amazing man maths, I can go ahead and get the NBT upgrade done now.
Even then it would probably be wasteful, I can't remember the last time i used the I drive for anything.
smashie said:
ATM said:
How long have you had the car?
A few weeks! I kid you not.However GOOD NEWS. It turns out that one of the breather pipes had split. BMW are replacing both of them and it has cured the issues. This means it will be a lot cheaper for me and using my amazing man maths, I can go ahead and get the NBT upgrade done now.
philmots said:
Mine doesn't use oil or smoke either, in fact out of all the BMW's I've owned I think it's the only one that hasn't!
Same here, but it's the first V8 I've owned. I've had two 728i (E38) and a 530i (E39) and they all liked a drop to varying degrees. One of the 728s was like Ollie Reed on a stag do, did a litre every 1000 miles.texasjohn said:
The turbos (35i) like a drink of oil but NA V8 and specifically the N52 inline 6 don't seem to use any. Although I had a Z4 with the E46 330i motor and that didn't use any although a long time ago and thus very low mileage engine (had it from 9-16k miles, needed no top up)
I've done about 7,500 miles in my 535i since Feb, which has the N55 turbo engine. It doesn't seem to have used any oil at all, despite plenty of forays to 7000rpm. Wonder if it's like the M54 where you get good ones and bad ones for oil consumption?helix402 said:
Good man - Appreciate that!Just one question - The reason I asked was because there was talk of cars needing 'pink' coolant.
What's that all about?
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