Buying a car with a replaced engine

[otjones]

Morning all,

After a bit of opinion and experience hopefully;

I've come across a 2014 BMW Z4 that I fancy but it's undergone an engine replacement. It's 1 owner, 37k miles, FBMWSH, etc with the engine replaced by BMW just over 3k miles ago. I've spoken to the current owner and he gave me the whole run down on why it was done. This is the shortened text version as to why BMW chose to replace:

"there was bits on metal in the sump which seemed to come from the bottom end bearing shells. BMW said a new engine was required as bits of metal would be in the oil travelling round the engine, the only sure way if stopping this was to change the engine".

The car was of course out of warranty but BMW gave him a contribution towards it and he paid over £2k himself on top of that. BMW replaced the engine which has a warranty on it until 2021. He's given me all the invoices etc so it's all above board.

Would it put anyone off? Very interested to know what other people think. Would it decrease its market value as well?

Thanks in advance.

[steveo3002]

new genuine engine is a good thing , its put more life on the car with a 0 miles engine

[KungFuPanda]

Has the got paperwork to confirm that BMW have done the engine change?

[RazerSauber]

As long as it was run in properly then you should be fine.

I only had 1 car that had a replacement engine, 520D with 177k on, engine replaced 24k before I bought it. Had a little niggle with the car's idle which turned out to be a glow plug control module. Garage happy to fix for free, yippee. Then I get a phone call 2 days later telling me that they'd tried to regen the DPF on the local roads and missed a gear, engine blown, pandemonium. Got my money back on it at least. Still, engine was as sweet as a nut for the very short period I owned it.

[Jamescrs]

Assuming the seller has proof of the new engine i.e invoice from BMW dealer I'd see it as a big bonus, wouldn't put me off at all.

[DuraAce]

otjones said:

Morning all,
Would it put anyone off? Very interested to know what other people think. Would it decrease its market value as well?

New engine, fitted by proper bmw dealer with all supporting paperwork present and valid warranty on it? Huge bonus.

Used engine of unknown vintage fitted by sellers mate with no paperwork? Run a mile.

[Green1man]

In general this would add value rather than reduce it. In this case with only 30k on the old engine it isn’t going to add a huge amount, just buy as you would normally, if you trust the seller and they have the appropriate docs then all good IMO.

[griffter]

So the guy selling the car managed to blow an engine in 37k miles from new?

Let’s hope he hasn’t treated this one the same way in the last 3k (on the assumption it was him, not a fault).

Whole engine or short engine?

A replacement engine can be a good thing and being replaced by a dealer with paperwork is probably as good as it gets. But don’t underestimate the hardware, pipework, wiring and sensors involved, some of which (in my experience) will not have been replaced properly. The technician who did it will not have been plucked from the factory floor.

Also see “whole engine or short engine” comment above if the head was swapped for example.

It might be a good thing, it might have niggles. I would t let it put me off the right car, but I’d proceed with low expectations and caution if I were you.

[otjones]

All excellent feedback and opinions, thanks very much.

It was done by BMW, all paperwork present including the itemised invoice with everything that was changed which the seller sent pictures of. He sounds like a lovely bloke all round to be honest so I'm completely happy with him.

The invoice is full of shortened part names but they're all itemised as I say. In relation to the engine itself, the line is 'replace engine with exchange engine' so I assume it's the whole unit.

[Trevor555]

otjones said:

Morning all,

After a bit of opinion and experience hopefully;

I've come across a 2014 BMW Z4 that I fancy but it's undergone an engine replacement. It's 1 owner, 37k miles, FBMWSH, etc with the engine replaced by BMW just over 3k miles ago. I've spoken to the current owner and he gave me the whole run down on why it was done.

Are you not concerned it could happen again?

Presume it's the 35i model.

[untakenname]

I'd make sure that they had replaced the ancillaries as well, know someone who had a reman under warranty after their engine catastrophically failed, the reman did the same and after further investigation it turned there was debris from the original engine in the oil cooler lines which caused a blockage and oil starvation.

[otjones]

Trevor555 said:

Are you not concerned it could happen again?

Presume it's the 35i model.

I'm not sure if I would be. It'd be mighty unlucky for it to happen twice particularly to a replaced engine. Would suggest a bigger problem with the motor rather than the specific car. It's the 28i so the 2ltr 4 pot engine. Main problem with these tends to be the timing chains so I understand.

I'd obviously ring the garage before going ahead with a purchase. The invoice includes oil pipe (in & out) as well as gaskets, sensors, turbo, injectors, plugs, all sorts so it looks to be a thorough job.