Phantom Overheating Engine?? E60 (N52) probs...
Discussion
So Wednesday night I return back from a trip, car was parked at LGW for 3 days since Monday morning. As I leave LGW, Air-Con starts blowing cold air, regardless of settings.
5 mins later, hitting 70 odd, I get the yellow/orange "Overheating" warning. I slow down to 55, and get red within 30 seconds.
I stopped the car, turned it off, started looking for BMW Assist number. After 5 mins of pointless looking, I decide to turn on the electrics to see if the Emergency Call/SOS function works. Lo and behold, the dashboard shows no warning. So I drive off again...after about 300 metres or so, warning goes straight to the red overheating warning. Pull over again, and start calling home and get family to look for BMW Assist number (for those that have been wondering - pressing the SOS button starts the Emergency call feature on the internal phone, but it never connected anywhere!)
Car is at Dealer for over 36 hours now, and even though the car has been on for most of the day today and gone under lots of testing (pressure, liquids testing), they were not able to reproduce the overheating error? They just rang and asked to be given permission to go on a quick drive to see if that would trip the error.
Any ideas on what else I should do or tell them if this also comes up negative? I don't fancy paying the charge for a day's worth of testing, simply because I don't believe overheating errors just come and go - there has to be something going on? Reading around on the web, stuck thermostats and broken water pumps seem to be the most common issues around overheating, but I would have thought a main dealer could ascertain its those things fairly quickly?
EDIT: Forgot to add, it's a 530i (N52).
5 mins later, hitting 70 odd, I get the yellow/orange "Overheating" warning. I slow down to 55, and get red within 30 seconds.
I stopped the car, turned it off, started looking for BMW Assist number. After 5 mins of pointless looking, I decide to turn on the electrics to see if the Emergency Call/SOS function works. Lo and behold, the dashboard shows no warning. So I drive off again...after about 300 metres or so, warning goes straight to the red overheating warning. Pull over again, and start calling home and get family to look for BMW Assist number (for those that have been wondering - pressing the SOS button starts the Emergency call feature on the internal phone, but it never connected anywhere!)
Car is at Dealer for over 36 hours now, and even though the car has been on for most of the day today and gone under lots of testing (pressure, liquids testing), they were not able to reproduce the overheating error? They just rang and asked to be given permission to go on a quick drive to see if that would trip the error.
Any ideas on what else I should do or tell them if this also comes up negative? I don't fancy paying the charge for a day's worth of testing, simply because I don't believe overheating errors just come and go - there has to be something going on? Reading around on the web, stuck thermostats and broken water pumps seem to be the most common issues around overheating, but I would have thought a main dealer could ascertain its those things fairly quickly?
EDIT: Forgot to add, it's a 530i (N52).
Edited by exronin on Friday 11th March 14:15
Well, the car was returned, no fault found, nothing had been replaced other than bleeding the system. To be fair, I didn't have to pay for the investigation fees.
2 weeks ago, I get the same issue, but this time I was in slow moving traffic. Overheating, pull over etc.
Different garage had the car, but the technician that came out checked and said half the cooling pipes were hot and the other half cold. He also checked coolant levels and they were what they hvae been in 18 months of ownership - topped to the brim, no evidence of spillage.
Despite this, garage decides to change expansion tank, claiming leak. Pick the car up, pay my £250 excess, off I go.
Last thursday, I break down again with overheating!! Due to bank holiday weekend, BMW Emergency service can only tow me home, then for 4 days I am without loan car and with broken car sat on drive. Interestingly, the tow guy also said the same about half the pipes being hot and the other half being cold.
Today they finally pick broken car up and send to original garage and I get my loan car. Went down to the dealership and made my feelings clear (spoke to the guy who sold it to me, and the service manager), and explained what technicians had found. Now they are thinking water pump or thermostat.
I made it clear that I wanted to return the car to them if it suffered the fault again, which they didn't seem to like much (finance is with BMW UK, so why do they care?). I also made it clear I wouldn't accept delivery if they didn't change either thermostat or pump at the very least. They seemed fine with that, but kept saying they have to see the part failing? Which worries me, as it doesn't seem to be a very repeatable issue?
I am quite angry that after three breakdowns it still hasn't been solved. Am I unreasonable? Are they?
2 weeks ago, I get the same issue, but this time I was in slow moving traffic. Overheating, pull over etc.
Different garage had the car, but the technician that came out checked and said half the cooling pipes were hot and the other half cold. He also checked coolant levels and they were what they hvae been in 18 months of ownership - topped to the brim, no evidence of spillage.
Despite this, garage decides to change expansion tank, claiming leak. Pick the car up, pay my £250 excess, off I go.
Last thursday, I break down again with overheating!! Due to bank holiday weekend, BMW Emergency service can only tow me home, then for 4 days I am without loan car and with broken car sat on drive. Interestingly, the tow guy also said the same about half the pipes being hot and the other half being cold.
Today they finally pick broken car up and send to original garage and I get my loan car. Went down to the dealership and made my feelings clear (spoke to the guy who sold it to me, and the service manager), and explained what technicians had found. Now they are thinking water pump or thermostat.
I made it clear that I wanted to return the car to them if it suffered the fault again, which they didn't seem to like much (finance is with BMW UK, so why do they care?). I also made it clear I wouldn't accept delivery if they didn't change either thermostat or pump at the very least. They seemed fine with that, but kept saying they have to see the part failing? Which worries me, as it doesn't seem to be a very repeatable issue?
I am quite angry that after three breakdowns it still hasn't been solved. Am I unreasonable? Are they?
exronin said:
Different garage had the car, but the technician that came out checked and said half the cooling pipes were hot and the other half cold.
Surely thats a given that its thermostat?? the age old test of thermostat is to check both sets of pipes get hot. VERY suprised if its not that.Got a call back, intermittent failure of the water pump, to be replaced. Thermostat to be replaced as well due to breaking down so many times already.
Result I guess?
Could the head gasket or other engine internals been affected by the overheating? Or does the iDrive have a tolerance built in so that the overheating warning doesn't immediately kill the engine? Can I ask them to check for heat damage?
Result I guess?
Could the head gasket or other engine internals been affected by the overheating? Or does the iDrive have a tolerance built in so that the overheating warning doesn't immediately kill the engine? Can I ask them to check for heat damage?
S3_Graham said:
exronin said:
Different garage had the car, but the technician that came out checked and said half the cooling pipes were hot and the other half cold.
Surely thats a given that its thermostat?? the age old test of thermostat is to check both sets of pipes get hot. VERY suprised if its not that.LOL at "intermittant water pump failure".
eliot said:
S3_Graham said:
exronin said:
Different garage had the car, but the technician that came out checked and said half the cooling pipes were hot and the other half cold.
Surely thats a given that its thermostat?? the age old test of thermostat is to check both sets of pipes get hot. VERY suprised if its not that.LOL at "intermittant water pump failure".
sorry sir the impellor blade keeps falling off and then back on again. Oh and the shaft is intermittently snapping along with the chain/belt drive.
And with regard to damage from overheating, its hit and miss. Depends totally on how hot it got. You can get head gasket issues and head warping etc if it got very hot. Depending if its warranty or not might be worth mentioning to the garage about if they will cover issues arising at a later date.
Its on the Mondial Extended Warranty so not sure if covered. I will ask them anyway.
So you're all lol'ing at the water pump - you reckon they are replacing both simply because I kicked up a fuss? Sad state of affairs, I thought paying so much money for the warranty would avoid this kind of hassle.
Comedy gold moment: when I broke down the 2nd time and was waiting at the BMW dealership for the loan car to arrive, I had a go at their web surf centre and tried looking for Lexus used cars. Internet Explorer crashed every time I tried going there!
So you're all lol'ing at the water pump - you reckon they are replacing both simply because I kicked up a fuss? Sad state of affairs, I thought paying so much money for the warranty would avoid this kind of hassle.
Comedy gold moment: when I broke down the 2nd time and was waiting at the BMW dealership for the loan car to arrive, I had a go at their web surf centre and tried looking for Lexus used cars. Internet Explorer crashed every time I tried going there!
Ok, had the car a few days back now. Garage replaced Electric Pump (they managed to find the intermittent electrical fault after a lot of difficulty) and the Thermostat (as a matter of course). I was asked to pay the excess again, however, the garage backed me up and got their manager to ring the garage that had replaced the expansion tank and got them to give me a refund.
Car seems fine now. Faith somewhat restored, though I don't understand why Avis need 2 hours to send a car on its way after receiving my details.
Car seems fine now. Faith somewhat restored, though I don't understand why Avis need 2 hours to send a car on its way after receiving my details.
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