Nine problems related to engine and engine cooling have been reported for the 2008 BMW M3. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
While driving at approximately 70mph on the highway, cel came on, car went into limp mode, before losing power altogether while driving. Vehicle would not turn back on. Report of engine damage requiring an entire replacement.
I have a BMW e92 chassis. I have spoken to many, many owners of the same BMW and they have said the same thing. The throttle body actuators are defective on these Bmws. When the malfunction takes place the BMW goes into limp mode. The car is not able to rev above 3k rpm nor go a speed of over 55 mph. This is incredibly dangerous on the interstate when your car does this. I did not feel safe as well as many people I've talked to and this has happened to them. It is a known issue on the e92 BMW around 79,000 miles. The BMW M3 of this year is very popular and there are many owners. The rod bearings also go out in this car and create the same safety issue. I believe the throttle actuators and rod bearings going bad and putting the car into limp mode is an incredibly dangerous issue. I have called BMW na and they will not look into them as they are not an 'active recall'.
Received a loss of power warning for the car. Took it to the shop, shop was unable to diagnose the problem but stated that it was probably a bent red. Took it to get a second opinion. No compression in the 4th cylinder but there is obvious cylinder wall deformation and small piston shrinkage.
Connecting rod bearing failure. Well maintained at dealership and certified indy shop. Crankshaft was heavily damaged because lack of oil due to incorrect bearing and connecting rod clearances from factory. Engine is unrepairable. Check by BMW and refuse to assist in replacement. Car was stationary and had been idling for 1 min.
Failed bearings engine had to replace engine happened while driving on the highway.
Rod bearing failure! today while entering the freeway I heard a loud boom followed by the engine turning off. I towed the car home and after inspection I found the cylinder 8 piston has blown through the block. The car has just broke 100k miles,has always been serviced on time and showed no prior indication of any issues. I had this car in the shop for a check up from BMW's "master tech" with no notes of any noises or issues.
The 2008 me has the s65 engine which has been heavily reported to have rod bearing failures due to poor design of the factory rod bearings. My car engine has seized due to this and I am looking at from BMW $30,000 plus in repairs!! the new BMW M3s had an updated rod bearing material which prevented it from failure.
Driving on the highway in 4th gear, the motor seized. The piston rod snapped and blew aluminum parts through the oil pan.
The engine piston bearing wore out at less than 60k miles causing damages to the engine. Luckily car enginge did not lock up while driving or could have caused terrible accident in freeway.