Engine And Engine Cooling Problems of BMW M3 - part 1

Starting from a traffic light at woodlands parkway and gosling road in the woodlands, TX - vehicle accelerated normally during shifting from 1st to 2nd gear. When shifting from 2nd to 3rd - engine rpm went to zero and vehicle suddenly lost all power and died. There was a large Ford f150 behind the car. Thankfully, I was watching the tachometer and coasted to the shoulder before attempting to shift back to 2 and try a rolling start at which point vehicle came to an abrupt and sudden stop. Car was towed to an approved mechanic and was diagnosed as "another seized s65" engine. Opinion of expert engine builders and bearing manufacturers is that the original BMW s65 bearing dimensions result in inadequate journal clearance and has been thoroughly documented. This, coupled with any potential "tolerance stacking" (- clearance) can result in a final bearing clearance which is significantly tighter than ideal and is the reason why we have seen engines fail after only a few thousand miles. This was half a second or less from being a fatal accident.

See all problems of the 2011 BMW M3 🔎.

The crankhub on these cars are ticking time bombs and is likely to fail just outside of warranty forcing huge repair bills. In some cases, a "lucky" few just need to be retimed and only require 18 hours of labor. However, others have not been so lucky and have required an all-new engine. This is an issue BMW is fully aware of but has not taken responsbility for their insufficient engineering.

See all problems of the 2016 BMW M3 🔎.

Crank hub will be prone to spin and therefore will destroy engine which will require a full engine replacement.

See all problems of the 2018 BMW M3 🔎.

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.

See all problems of the 2008 BMW M3 🔎.

There's a known issue with 2015+ BMW f80 M3 s55 engine. The issue is the crank hub spinning out and damaging the car. It leaves the vehicle in a dangerous state when driving on the road and to others near by. This issue happens to stock vehicles and modded ones. If the crank hub spins while the car is moving, it can leave the car in a dangerous state with no power. . Read more...

There's a known issue with 2015+ BMW f80 M3 s55 engine. The issue is the crank hub spinning out and damaging the car. It leaves the vehicle in a dangerous state when driving on the road and to others near by. This issue happens to stock vehicles and modded ones. If the crank hub spins while the car is moving, it can leave the car in a dangerous state with no power. . Read more...

Two weeks ago, when the car was driving normally, it suddenly shut down and could no longer start. When automotive engineers took the engine apart, they found that the crankshaft and rod bearing bush were over-worn and burnt out. The engineer told me that the oil I used was too sticky to lubricate the rod bearing. I changed the engine oil 8,000 miles ago, using the 10w-60 oil supplied by BMW.

While shifting into 3rd gear, my engine threw a rod through the block, car has not been modified, has 43,300 original miles, original owner.

Approximately 5 miles after receiving the vehicle the rod bearings and crank suffered complete failure. I was in motion around 60mph on a rural highway when the engine suddenly lost power. After avoiding an accident I safely pulled over and shut the car off. The engine would not start. The seized engine was diagnosed based on an immobile crank and oil contamination by the manufacturer's dealership. I then had the oil pan completely removed at an independent shop to confirm the manufacturer's diagnosis, it was confirmed. All previous oil changes were done at the manufacturer's dealership by their technicians more often than the manufacturer recommends. The most alarming part is the vehicle has less than 23000 miles. I've reached out to the manufacturer, mentioning this very well-known issue and the fact that there are class- action lawsuits pending about this very issue, only for them to tell me they are not liable. Their product failed before 23000 miles, they know about the issue however they are doing nothing for me. The public should know about this failure because it can cause a sudden loss of power at any moment.

See all problems of the 2012 BMW M3 🔎.

Tl the contact owns a 2003 BMW M3. The contact stated that the electrical system shorted out and all the electrical devices failed to work. The vehicle decelerated without warning and the engine went into limp mode and lost power. All the warning indicators illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that a new battery was needed and a part on the fuse box needed to be replaced. The manufacturer and dealer were not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 98,000. The VIN was unknown.

See all problems of the 2003 BMW M3 🔎.

O2 sensors constantly go out replaced 3 times, throttle body acutators constantly go bad putting car in limp mode very dangerous my car cut off at 65mph on the freeway. I was with my family!!! something bad could of happened. Please look into this BMW M3 2008-2013 please look into this. Rod bearings go bad aswell.

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.

Hey my name is amrakh rustamov, I just recently purchase a used BMW M3 from a BMW dealership on 06/11/17. After a few months of using the car my motor gave a rod knock which is a common known problem according to the database. I really need help with this situation. This happened to be on the way from florida which was 500 miles from my house.

See all problems of the 2010 BMW M3 🔎.

At 63,860 mile the s65 engine in my 2011 BMW M3 failed. Dealer diagnosed engine bearing failure. Failure occurred while driving.

Engine knocking. Connecting rod bearing and main bearing failure resulting in required engine replacement. Engine not able to be rebuilt due to cracked main bearing saddles.

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.

Rod bearing failure.

Failed bearings engine had to replace engine happened while driving on the highway.

Takata recall driving my car for about 30 minutes on the local street and stopped at a red light, light turns green, I try to accelerate and engine felt sluggish and shuts off. Towed the car to mrf engineering and car needed an "engine replacement" as my rod bearings caused the engine to fail. Costed roughly around $19,000 in parts and labor.

See all problems of the 2009 BMW M3 🔎.

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 car suddenly vibrated and the wheels locked up and skidded slightly sideways before going into a reduced power mode. If it had been raining or snowing, or at a higher speed on highway the situation could have been deadly. I had the car taken to the dealer. I was told a the throttle actuator valve was defective. The car has only 44k miles but has surpassed the 4 years of warranty. This is a known issue with thousands of cars affected. BMW refuses to recall and repair the item if the car is not under warranty. The cost for repair is $3000. 00 the part alone is $1200. 00 which I was quoted. My vehicle is also affected by the takata airbag recall.

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.

S65 v8 engine in a BMW M3 e90/92/93 and m5's with a v10 has two throttle valve actuators that fail prematurely at 40-80k miles. Both the internal nylon gears and electronics will fail, affecting accelerator pedal response and causing hesitation, especially with the dct transmission. These parts are not a maintenance item. When failed, the engine malfunction, excess emissions, skid control, and abs braking warning lights are triggered. Engine goes into limp mode. This is dangerous when it happens while driving in rainy, snowy, and icy road conditions. The throttle valve actuator design defect should have triggered a BMW recall. Replacement parts are $1000-1300 each plus $1000 labor and have never been redesigned by BMW/bosch. So the replacement parts are also defective and will fail prematurely. Repairs occurred on Dec. 2012 at 80k miles for $2000 and on Jan. 2016 at 140k miles for $3000. A BMW M3 and m5 recall and redesigned parts are warranted. BMW technical service bulletins should be issued for this design flaw. 8yr/80km federal emissions warranty should cover these repairs as well.

When I accelerate quickly at an intersection when I get a green light, the engine looses all power but keeps running. BMW has no idea as no codes are being saved when this happens. The general manager said it probably computer part but we may never know.

See all problems of the 2013 BMW M3 🔎.

2010 e92 55k miles (88k km) the car is unmodified. The car has a full service history. The vehicle never tracked - almost all travel during my ownership were highway miles (23k). The cause of the incident was a failure of the number 1 rod bearing. The incident occurred on a wet single lane road in poor weather. I was lucky to avoid an accident when vehicles following me were caught unawares by my unexpected deceleration. The was little opportunity to pull over to the side of the road with safety due to the conditions. I lost power steering and power brakes which made the car more difficult to control.

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.

Driving in a parking lot, shifted from 1st gear to second gear and at 4000 rpms, the car stopped. It would not restart. Towed card to dealer and it needed an engine replacement which was covered under my warranty.

Tl-the contact owns a 2011 BMW M3. The contact stated that the engine's air intake was filled with water, which clogged the hydro lock to the engine. The vehicle was taken to a dealer. The vehicle was diagnosed with a clogged hydro lock. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 29,000. Pam.

I am filing this complaint on behalf of myself and the countless others experiencing this potentially fatal defect in BMW's smg pump unit. I was driving on the freeway for about 5 minutes when I noticed my car immediately shifted into neutral without me making that decision. I was in the middle of changing lanes when this happened. The smg warning light came on. I put my hazards on. The car abruptly slowed as it chose to shift back to 4th gear as I was going 65mph. I tried shifting back up to gear safely get to the shoulder but with no luck as the vehicle went back into neutral. The cars behind me came very rapidly and two almost hit me as a result of this pump failure. By this time I was travelling around 40mph in a 65+ traffic zone. I finally rolled my car down the shoulder to safety. I replaced the smg relay with a spare new one I always carried in the car. I waited 10 minutes for the vehicle to cool off as I knew this was the infamous smg pump issue. The car started back up with no light and drove me almost the entire route back home. Just about a mile from my home, same thing happened. This time leaving me completely stuck in a busy intersection. Luckily, the people behind me were kind enough to help push my car out of the way. I called a friend and we pushed the car all the way back to my garage. Now this is just the first time it has happened. It happens in less than 3 minutes of driving the car just when I try to move it never breaking 15mph. Bmwna ignores our complaints as their dealerships make money hand over fist with this $4000 repair. My complaint is not with the repair amount. Us M3 owners are aware of the maintenance and repair costs for our highly specialized vehicles. However, this pump malfuction is a very real danger to all drivers. We've seen this happen to vehicles with anywhere from 15k to 120k miles on them. BMW needs to issue a recall.

See all problems of the 2002 BMW M3 🔎.

P133 code has come up after driving 100 miles. I took the car to a local mechanic in which he replaced all oxygen sensors. A few weeks later the code came back up. I took the car back to the mechanic in which he said it has to do with a faulty ecm. This has caused me to fail smog test unless I erase the code. The ecm has already been reflashed by BMW back in 2012.

Vehicle drops out of gear randomly. As I was taking a left turn, the vehicle dropped into 0 gear and on coming traffic almost ran into me head on. I had no way of moving the car due to transmission being shifted into neutral. This is due to a defective temperature sensor on the smg pump. BMW ignores the issue.

See all problems of the 2004 BMW M3 🔎.

I have a BMW M3 which has an smg transmission. I was driving and all of a sudden my car loses power to change the gears and my car started to jerk while on the road nearly crashing into another car. It turns out that the smg pumps for BMW M3 have always a high failure design flaw. The cost to fix that is also unbearable which nears the $5,000 mark. There has been forums going around that this is indeed a design flaw for BMW. I almost nearly got into a car accident, but thankfully I was ok. Please look into this matter as I feel as well as everyone else in the BMW comunittee that it should be a recall. Thank you for your time.

My vehicle has 87,000 miles and I was just informed that the vanos had failed. This is the second time this issue has occurred with this car, however the vehicle is now out of warranty and they want to charge me almost $5,000 to fix. I've been the only owner for this vehicle and never had accidents or modifications to the car, it's in original state. I spoke to my service adviser to see what they can do, however it's been almost a month and won't even return my calls. I've called them at least 20 times during the past month, it's ridiculous for such a reputable company like BMW to not take responsibility of a known issue, which I've read on several BMW forums, and now they can't even return my calls. It's disappointing. I guess this is my last BMW.

See all problems of the 2005 BMW M3 🔎.