Help me, Bimmerites....
Discussion
I've never posted on this board before - I haven't had a BMW for a long time. That said my father has a 2003 540 Estate that he's owned from new. He lives in France, I live in the US and tonight I was bulls
tting with him on Skype and he mentioned that his dealer had recently serviced his car and suggested that he bring it back in for some extra work.
As I said, the car in question is a 2003 540i Estate, manual trans, with 110,000kms on it.
From what we can determine (his French is passable, mine limited to ordering beer) the BMW dealer, who supplied the car and has serviced it from the get-go, wants to remove the cam covers (not the cylinder heads, unless 'couvre coulasse' means otherwise and 'water-proof' them (literal translation means, make watertight.) The dealer is planning to charge him around 200 Euros to do this job.
I guess my question (apart from, 'Eh?') is, is this a routine service requirement for the 4.0 litre BMW V8 - and if so, why? I'm sure that replacing cylinder head gaskets would be as a result of some kind of big motor failure - the car is running as strong as it ever has - he has no check-engine light on - but the dealer is saying that although not urgent, this work needs to be done.
Is this right, or is this a case of a theiving garlic-munching surrender monkey trying to pull the wool over dear old Dad's eyes? (mine too).
Can any of you BM ninja's enlighten me? The car's service record is as it should be, no leaks, no smoke.
Thanks in advance.....
tting with him on Skype and he mentioned that his dealer had recently serviced his car and suggested that he bring it back in for some extra work.As I said, the car in question is a 2003 540i Estate, manual trans, with 110,000kms on it.
From what we can determine (his French is passable, mine limited to ordering beer) the BMW dealer, who supplied the car and has serviced it from the get-go, wants to remove the cam covers (not the cylinder heads, unless 'couvre coulasse' means otherwise and 'water-proof' them (literal translation means, make watertight.) The dealer is planning to charge him around 200 Euros to do this job.
I guess my question (apart from, 'Eh?') is, is this a routine service requirement for the 4.0 litre BMW V8 - and if so, why? I'm sure that replacing cylinder head gaskets would be as a result of some kind of big motor failure - the car is running as strong as it ever has - he has no check-engine light on - but the dealer is saying that although not urgent, this work needs to be done.
Is this right, or is this a case of a theiving garlic-munching surrender monkey trying to pull the wool over dear old Dad's eyes? (mine too).
Can any of you BM ninja's enlighten me? The car's service record is as it should be, no leaks, no smoke.
Thanks in advance.....
No, I think the dealer could be telling the truth. I think what may have been lost in translation is "oil-tight" rather than "water-tight".
These engines commonly leak oil around the gaskets that the dealer will be referring to. The oil then pools around where the spark plugs go in and the ignition coil packs sit. If enough accumulates it can cause misfiring.
These engines commonly leak oil around the gaskets that the dealer will be referring to. The oil then pools around where the spark plugs go in and the ignition coil packs sit. If enough accumulates it can cause misfiring.
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