F11 535D N57 Engine failure!

[JakeT]

Welshbeef said:

helix402 said:

Just seen two ex Police 330ds with the N57 for sale on the bay. Both with knocking engines....

You do realise there are thousands upon thousands of these engines in use in U.K. USA Europe.


Generally engines shouldn't go wrong but sometimes they do in exceptionally rare occasions. Possibly there is a much higher rate of failure on mapped engines than stock engines.

We know the police are hard on Engines with them being run under stress from cold, if a manual, labouring them and so forth even if they're trained to use the gears.

I would say the swarf from the failure of the first engine caused the demise of this one.

[Welshbeef]

JakeT said:

We know the police are hard on Engines with them being run under stress from cold, if a manual, labouring them and so forth even if they're trained to use the gears.

I would say the swarf from the failure of the first engine caused the demise of this one.

All 535ds are automatic so no worries about a stick shifter

As for cold starts - well sure high engine speed from cold isn't great for any car however it's up to temp in no time at all.

[Andehh]

Welshbeef said:

JakeT said:

We know the police are hard on Engines with them being run under stress from cold, if a manual, labouring them and so forth even if they're trained to use the gears.

I would say the swarf from the failure of the first engine caused the demise of this one.

All 535ds are automatic so no worries about a stick shifter

As for cold starts - well sure high engine speed from cold isn't great for any car however it's up to temp in no time at all.

I'm sure there is also an element of "not my car, not my fuel bill" in it as well. The old adage of "fastest car is a hire car" probably rings true of the police cars as well.

[JakeT]

Welshbeef said:

JakeT said:

We know the police are hard on Engines with them being run under stress from cold, if a manual, labouring them and so forth even if they're trained to use the gears.

I would say the swarf from the failure of the first engine caused the demise of this one.

All 535ds are automatic so no worries about a stick shifter

As for cold starts - well sure high engine speed from cold isn't great for any car however it's up to temp in no time at all.

The N57 was available with a manual, just not the 35d. The 25 and 30d models were available with a manual, and the police had manual and auto ones.

The oil will take longer to come up to temperature than coolant too, and that's the killer. Not to mention there's no temp gauge in the E60 or E90.

[Welshbeef]

JakeT said:

The N57 was available with a manual, just not the 35d. The 25 and 30d models were available with a manual, and the police had manual and auto ones.

The oil will take longer to come up to temperature than coolant too, and that's the killer. Not to mention there's no temp gauge in the E60 or E90.

I have oil temp gauge in mine (IIRC) - LCI don't.

[hornetrider]

Welshbeef said:

I have oil temp gauge in mine (IIRC) - LCI don't.

No temp gauge in my pre-LCI 550i. Just a thingy that moved around the rev counter to warn you not to go above it whilst it warmed up.

[Mr_Yogi]

Welshbeef said:

JakeT said:

The N57 was available with a manual, just not the 35d. The 25 and 30d models were available with a manual, and the police had manual and auto ones.

The oil will take longer to come up to temperature than coolant too, and that's the killer. Not to mention there's no temp gauge in the E60 or E90.

I have oil temp gauge in mine (IIRC) - LCI don't.

You've got an F10/ 11 haven't you?

[JakeT]

hornetrider said:

Welshbeef said:

I have oil temp gauge in mine (IIRC) - LCI don't.

No temp gauge in my pre-LCI 550i. Just a thingy that moved around the rev counter to warn you not to go above it whilst it warmed up.

You have an F10, which has a temp gauge as does the F30. The E60 and E90 don't have them, as mentioned just the ring around the tacho.

[Ninja59]

640D with MFD mine does have an oil temp gauge...

[JakeT]

Not an E60 or E90...

[Fox-]

Welshbeef said:

I have oil temp gauge in mine (IIRC) - LCI don't.

There was no change in the instrument cluster at the LCI - it retained exactly the same three options as the pre LCI (Partial Black Panel, Full Black Panel and Multifunction) all of which have oil temp gauges.

[Welshbeef]

Fox- said:

Welshbeef said:

I have oil temp gauge in mine (IIRC) - LCI don't.

There was no change in the instrument cluster at the LCI - it retained exactly the same three options as the pre LCI (Partial Black Panel, Full Black Panel and Multifunction) all of which have oil temp gauges.

Just in and can reconfirmed mine has the oil temp guage it's to the right of the rev counter. Note there is no coolant temp guage but I guess it's superior to have oil temp as you know when it's properly up to operating temp to give it the beans.

[Sameer8823]

Any updates on this? My N57 has failed due to a gudgeon pin on cyl3 coming loose scoring and damaging cylinder so they say but very similar symptoms to OP. BMW putting a new engine and now hpfp which I hope wasn't the original cause after they investigated further as ill be worried about swarf damaging turbos and other components. Did u ever have any problems again?

[helix402]

It’s terrible that more N57s are failing now. I spent so long recommending it as opposed to the N47. If only the N57 was as well made as the M57. Mines on 247k and 17 years old now.

[Welshbeef]

st hearing that bad news hope it’s covered by BMW not you.

[kikonibes]

Hi guys, I have a 2011 X5 40d 140.000 km and I was on the motorway when it started making the same rattling noise. The car was moved to BMW dealership and now they think it can be a "complete failure of the big end bearing of one cylinder"... then it breaks everything and now BMW want me to pay 12000€ for a new motor. I wonder if you have more documentation about this problem because I need to prove that already have been similar cases. Thank you.

[rayyan171]

Big thread revival!

In all seriousness, I think there is a bigger issue beginning to arise - on some Facebook groups and have seen the same thing as well. Really does seem like timing chain failure is starting to happen on the N57.

[Welshbeef]

rayyan171 said:

Big thread revival!

In all seriousness, I think there is a bigger issue beginning to arise - on some Facebook groups and have seen the same thing as well. Really does seem like timing chain failure is starting to happen on the N57.

I changed out of my 535d about 6 weeks ago on 13k to a S205 C63 . But that said there was not a single thing wrong with my car.

The engines which have faired were they mapped? Mine was totally standard

[Ninja59]

rayyan171 said:

Big thread revival!

In all seriousness, I think there is a bigger issue beginning to arise - on some Facebook groups and have seen the same thing as well. Really does seem like timing chain failure is starting to happen on the N57.

The underlying chain is the same, some of the guides and other bits are as well.

BMW in general kept most of the final n47 setup for the b47...the guides are in places the only change

[JakeT]

rayyan171 said:

Big thread revival!

In all seriousness, I think there is a bigger issue beginning to arise - on some Facebook groups and have seen the same thing as well. Really does seem like timing chain failure is starting to happen on the N57.

I'd agree. I think this was owing to the fact that in early examples, the N57 didn't have stop start, helped mask this. In addition to this, the 6 cylinder is a lot smoother than the 4 cylinder, so puts less stresses on the chain with the pulses of the crankshaft. I'm not sure I'd buy an N57 now, owing to the chain issues, unless it has been replaced. I'd rather suffer the higher fuel consumption of the petrol models than risk chain breakage.