[AtlasM]

I never got a reply to my email to Zimbrick. Kinda weird that I've called and emailed and can't get a clear answer.

I'm going to keep looking around for options here locally, and not the solvent thing. Somebody around has to do it for a reasonable price. Not really in a big rush to get this done though.

[08335xi6mt]

How far would you consider local? I saw in Milwaukee CL, there is an add for someone doing blasting for $300, you provide the gaskets. He is in Mukwonago which would be a bit more than an hour from Madison. Search N54 in auto parts on Milwaukee CL.
I can't say what kind of work he can do but thinking I would see if he would be willing to help me do mine sometime. I'm about 15 miles from Mukwonago and have all the stuff but wouldn't mind having someone help that knows what they are doing.

[AtlasM]

Well, this topic is officially moot (for me at least) because a flash flood killed my motor and I'm likely getting a fresh BMW remanufactured one. At least that's the plan once my insurance claim is finalized. I'm going to do a catch can to go with the new motor.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by AtlasM

Well, this topic is officially moot (for me at least) because a flash flood killed my motor and I'm likely getting a fresh BMW remanufactured one. At least that's the plan once my insurance claim is finalized. I'm going to do a catch can to go with the new motor.

Damn it! So sorry my friend. I hope that it will work out and that rest of the car is OK.

[AtlasM]

I'm pretty sure the rest of the car is ok. I got surprised by some standing water that I couldn't see with the rain coming down so hard, and the motor sucked up a bunch of water. But I was able to make it through the water before the engine died, and get the car parked on higher ground. No water got in the interior. The motor runs, but it's not healthy. Mechanic ran a compression test and cylinder #5 is 20% lower compression than the others. He thinks it's a bent rod that's not bent badly enough to fully sieze up the motor.

The insurance appraiser did his inspection yesterday, he's uploading his estimate tonight, and supposedly I'll get the final answer on my claim status tomorrow or Friday. I may contact him directly one more time to see what info he can give me so I'm not sitting here waiting a couple more days wondering what the status is.

My best-case scenario is the insurance company doesn't total my car (which is always a concern with water damage but less of a concern since no water got in the interior) and the estimate comes in higher than the actual cost for the fix. As long as it's not totaled, the insurance company will cut me a check for the amount of the estimate and if the actual cost is lower, the difference is mine to do with as I please.

Salvage motors with similar year & miles are in the range of $4000-4500, and that's what they base the estimate on. The BMW remanufactured long block is "only" $3000 shipped from Tischer, and my mechanic's labor rate is pretty cheap. I'm hopeful there will be some extra money in there for fun stuff like a downpipe, charge pipe and intercooler. Because hey, if the motor's going to be out of the car anyway, might as well get those on there instead of pay for extra labor down the road, right?

[feuer]

Bent rod? I don't think so! Cyl#5 always takes the most beating on n54. No suprise is lower than the rest. Probably just needs a little work to run good again.

[AtlasM]

There's a bunch of misfiring and other stuff going on too, I suppose that could all be ignition related. Also I have an N55, don't know if that makes a difference regarding cylinder 5. We'll see what happens with this insurance appraisal.

But practically speaking, no matter what I do to have this fixed, there's going to be a flood claim on the Carfax, and the insurance estimate is going to be based on replacing the motor, unless the appraiser came to a significantly different conclusion than the mechanic.

So I look at it as, when it comes time to sell the car, how will I get more money out of it? Maybe I'm wrong, but to me, if I can show that the whole motor was replaced after this incident, that'll resell better than if the original one was patched back together in some way.

[feuer]

Sorry but just the contrary. Flood title on moder car that has miles of optical cables scares customers away. More so tha salvage due to body damage. I know cars have sentimental value but you would love the next car just as much if not more especially know is clean title. That is what I would pursue.

[GATORB8]

I would think that they would have to total and resell the car for it to get a flood title.

[AtlasM]

It's not going to be a flood title, that would only be the case if the car were totaled. I filed a comprehensive claim with my insurance and the likely outcome is they're paying to repair the car because the repairs aren't expensive enough to total the car.

What I'm getting at is, if someone runs a Carfax on the car, it'll show a clean title, but a comprehensive claim for water damage. So the best possible outcome if the car won't be totaled is a fresh motor.

[feuer]

My coworker recently purchased a car from Elmhurst,IL dealer. Upon applying for title he received a letter from Springfield,IL regarding the status of the title as supposedly it had a claim for damages, flood storm or tornado, something freak of nature. Turns out it was originally St.Louis,MO and the original owner made the effort to drive 300 miles just to trade it in. Now it was purchaser burden to prove car was not completely damaged in storm. Not the dealer because the make you sign non disclosure and the previous owner. If you do not prove then state of IL will brand the title, flooded, rebuilt or similar. Nevertheless my coworker did not receive any help from the dealer and since did not wanted a car with branded title treaten them that he will contact the news and they took the car back. Probably same thing will happen when you get rid of it.

[AtlasM]

I mean, I'm not an expert on vehicle titles, and I already filed the insurance claim. As far as I know, the car's not going to be totaled where it would be a salvage title. I looked into this some more, and according to the Wisconsin Dept of Transportation's title brands page,

State law requires the vehicle owner to disclose the following title brand information if it is not already on the current Wisconsin title:

Flood damaged - A vehicle that is not considered junk, and damaged by water to the extent that the estimated or actual repair costs, whichever is greater, is more than 70% of the fair market value. A vehicle that has been submerged in water will receive a flood damaged brand. If the vehicle is less than seven years old it will also receive a Wisconsin salvage vehicle brand s.340.01(18p).

In my case, even with a new BMW remanufactured long block, the repairs are well below 70% of fair market value. More like 35%.

The car wasn't submerged in water. All that happened was I drove through a big puddle that splashed a bunch of water over the hood. Because it caused engine problems that my mechanic said would be fairly expensive to fix, I filed an insurance claim. When I look at my insurance online, it says flood loss. Based on what the WI DOT website says and what I know about the insurance claim, it looks to me like there won't be any kind of title brand.

I could be wrong, but either way, I'm all about documenting any work that happens on my cars and disclosing that when it comes time to sell. I always scan all my receipts and keep them in a Google Drive folder that I can share with a buyer. So when it comes time to sell, I'm planning to be up front with people about this insurance claim and that the car got a fresh BMW remanufactured long block as a result.

[ragyan03]

kummrow in milwauke does a great job for a great price..it was $200 bucks for the blasting, but i also had them change my injector and a few other things, but very good shop

[AtlasM]

Well, turns out I won't be needing this anytime soon. After way too much nonsense with my insurance, I now have a fresh BMW remanufactured motor, and I added a BMS catch can, amongst a few other goodies that the insurance claim left extra room for.

[feuer]

This is awesome news! Was the engine remanufactured thru BMW directly?

[AtlasM]

Yes, I ordered a BMW remanufactured long block from Tischer BMW. Even with freight charges to ship me the new motor and ship my core back to them it was about $730 less than from my local dealer who would've charged MSRP + sales tax. Between that savings and some cheaper labor cost compared to what all ended up in the insurance estimate, I pretty much went FBO for free. Got a BMS intake & catch can, and VRSF charge pipe, 5" stepped FMIC and cast catless downpipe. So...it all worked out.