Engine Noise Problems of BMW 528

BMW 528 owners have reported 2 problems related to engine noise (under the engine and engine cooling category). The most recently reported issues are listed below.

1 Engine Noise problem of the 2012 BMW 528

Failure Date: 07/03/2020

My 2012 528xi has 117k miles on it. While I was on a long road trip, driving on I-95 at 1am on a Friday night, without any weird engine noises or anything out of the norm, the car displayed a warning message that said "drivetrain malfunction" immediately followed by warning "engine oil pressure low" warning. Within a few seconds, the engine shut off and the car told me to pull over safely. Luckily, there was a nice big shoulder and there was no traffic around, so I was able to safely coast to a stop. Had the car towed 100 miles to an independent mechanic, and he said there was no oil pressure, so there was too much friction due to lack of lubrication, which seized the camshaft and caused jumped timing. I've had a lot of "very unusual" (mechanic's words) issues with this car, of course all out of warranty. And now the engine is completely fried. I can spend another $11k to put a brand new engine in there, but the car itself isn't worth $11k anymore. Lots of other people have the same issue. Hasn't been reported to NHTSA but can find it on BMW enthusiast forums (like bimmerfest dot com).

See all problems of the 2012 BMW 528 🔎.

2 Engine Noise problem of the 2012 BMW 528

Failure Date: 01/10/2020

Six months I started hearing a high pitch noise and it only got worse over the few months. Two weeks ago (01/10/2020 and 01/17/2020), in the night around 8pm, my BMW 528i car stalled at a traffic light in culver city, califirnia. It flashed an error message on the display very briefly and it appeared to be "drive train malfunction". Stalled in the middle of the street, my first reaction was to turn on the hazard lights and hope nobody hits me from the back, as I was not able to drive forward. Before I could take my phone out and take a picture of the screen, the error screen vanished. I presumed the "error" would be saved in the system and shut the engine off, restarted and started to drive and proceed. At both these times there were cars behind me and I turned on the hazard light to warn the other drivers of my inability to drive. I took the car to two BMW service centers. One of the service managers said he cannot say what the issue is without doing a diagnosis, but the probable cause is something to do with tha oil-pump or the cam-shafts and related to timing. I took the car to another service center and here I left the car behind for a specific diagnosis. I was told the issue is related to timing chain and plastic parts that hold the chain in place, deteriorate over time. I was told that it is a common issue and it is my luck that the timing chain did not rip apart and cause an engine seizure, which would have cost me $15000 in repairs than what I was billed around $6000. Incidentally, few months ago there were other plastic parts that hold the engine in place also deteriorate and it was shaking the car. I had replaced them at a certified mechanic. This had costed me another $2000 plus in repairs. I have maintained the car in good condition and never missed any service appointments. I have bills of all the services performed on the car.




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