[eyim1988]

Long story short. I have a 2011 335i coupe. I was driving my car one day and i smell something burning and a whooshing sound. I drive my car back home and see that my pulleys/tensioners exploded and saw that a bunch of oil spilled on top of it. Anyways i tow it to the dealership and i paid 1150$ to replace the pulleys/tensioners. They said that the problem came from a after market oil filter/o ring that a body shop put in when i got a oil change. Saying it wasnt the exact size and oil slowly started leaking out and then one day just exploded out causing the pulley damage etc.. So this fix came from my own pocket.. And then the next day i realize im having extremely rough cold starts with check engine light/ oil light coming on and then when the car warms up its completely fine. I take my car to the dealership again and they said that they had to replace an engine seal causing oil to leak out and they said that a pulley somehow went into the engine seal and into the engine. Anyhows they took the pulley out and replaced the engine seal. That was another 700$. I get the car back and the engine still has the lights come on (only on cold starts) and immedietely goes away after the car warms up a little. So i drove it around a little and the car stalled on me on a red light the other day. So i took it to the dealership once again. I call them today and they now tell me i have two choices.. To replace the VANOS and Oil pump for 6200$ or replace the whoel engine for 21,000$. They said that little pieces of the pulley are still in the engine causing the problem on cold starts and stalling etc.. I dont know what to do!!!!

[eyim1988]

sorry for the bad grammer and such. I was in a hurry typing this up.

[335 oClock]

that story is pretty long bro

[335 oClock]

wow but I just read it.. WTH... first of all; you should never have agreed with BMW that warranty should not cover it, I would of found a way to dispute that; if worst comes to worst, sue that place that did your first oil change for everything they've got. then some

[eyim1988]

Fuckkk...

[eyim1988]

I really don't know what to do.. I thought of that about suing the place that did my oil change..

[335 oClock]

how is this not under warranty? did you take it in with all your mods?

Originally Posted by eyim1988

I really don't know what to do.. I thought of that about suing the place that did my oil change..

[grandmoff]

Lawyer up, will cost less than a new engine. That really sucks

[eyim1988]

They said it wasn't under warranty because the cause of this was because of the body shop that did the oil change..

[FrankiE90]

what dealer are you going too?

wtf! after market oil filter and o-ring!!! ----
did you tell em u get ur oil changes somewhere else besides BMW?

for all i would know, I would say only BMW touches the bimmer.
It's a brand new bimmer new engine - 1st year!

feeling ur pain -
---i see ur list of mods, u may have to get it bone stock
and then proceed.
they may have got u with that aftermarket oil filter though.
unless u got proof from the bodyshop they used an OEM part.
and it was a f' up on delivery. - sounds like u need to discuss with
the bodyshop.

[eyim1988]

I have the oil fiter they used. The dealership saved it for me. It was indeed a aftermarket oil filter.

[FrankiE90]

Originally Posted by eyim1988

I have the oil fiter they used. The dealership saved it for me. It was indeed a aftermarket oil filter.

what bodyshop and dealership?
just name them -

was ur bimmer in for an accident recently?
the cause of damage could of been from the
accident if that was so. Why u going out of pocket here.

you need to get in contact with a lawyer -
discuss ur options. - get a hold of the bodyshop
check to see what part they did use, get it in writing if
possible.

change the VANOS or the entire ENGINE - WTF!
that dealer could be f'n with you.
that is lame - dude.
what's your work order say from bmw?

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

Dealers tend to try to rip people off. I would grab the car and take it to an independent shop ASAP. Perhaps the body shop that caused this problem should be the one paying for the damage? It's really a stretch that a bad oring in the oil filter caused all these problems though. What are your exact codes and symptoms?

Mike

[eyim1988]

I am going to take the car tommorow to an independent shop. Also i did get into an accident a couple months a go. I ended up replacing the hood/bumper/left headlight/airbags/driver and passenger windows. You think this might've been caused by the accident? The dealership i went to is Pacific BMW (closest dealership). And the body shop i got my oil change from is sports imports on olympic i think.

[eyim1988]

Now i feel like the accident was the cause of this. You think insurance would cover this? I had a feeling the dealership didn't know what they were talking about so thats why i am asking you guys on here.

[VIPLINE]

Why would u take ur car to an outside shop for oil change? Doesnt ur car have free maintenance from BMW?

[335 oClock]

total it

[eyim1988]

Originally Posted by 335 oClock

total it

if this is accident related and not that aftermarket oil filter. Than i might have to do that if I indeeed have to replace the engine..

[CSM3]

Originally Posted by eyim1988

if this is accident related and not that aftermarket oil filter. Than i might have to do that if I indeeed have to replace the engine..

THIS is downright ridiculous. The dealership is really full of .... coming up with such excuses. You gotta check if there have been other cases like yours that can result in the engine having to be replaced. What was the amount of miles u drove since that indy workshop did your oil change to the time the car broke down?

Front collision + airbags deployed, was there any visible damage to ur engine?

[eyim1988]

i probably put a good 5000 - 6000 miles on the car after the oil change before the accident. No visible damage to the engine. But i did see a crack on the radiator support the day before i brought it in to the dealership. I can't believe the insurance inspectors didnt see that.. I was going to have that looked at right after this dealership non sense was over but now this..

[CSM3]

Originally Posted by eyim1988

i probably put a good 5000 - 6000 miles on the car after the oil change before the accident. No visible damage to the engine. But i did see a crack on the radiator support the day before i brought it in to the dealership. I can't believe the insurance inspectors didnt see that.. I was going to have that looked at right after this dealership non sense was over but now this..

i may be no mechanic, but i know that the smell of burning oil is pretty distinct, so if oil has been leaking like ur dealership says, you should have definitely smelt it long before.

might not really be the seals but the accident that caused the leak.

[boostd92]

Originally Posted by Mike@N54Tuning.com

Dealers tend to try to rip people off. I would grab the car and take it to an independent shop ASAP. Perhaps the body shop that caused this problem should be the one paying for the damage? It's really a stretch that a bad oring in the oil filter caused all these problems though. What are your exact codes and symptoms?

I'm an SA for a dealership, and though I'm sure there are plenty of dealers that DO try to rip people off, on the whole, they'd much rather DO WORK than not do work. The likelyhood of getting someone to pay $21,000 for an engine versus getting BMW to warranty it on a brand new car is a no brainer. If I could warranty it, I would. It's still awesome money for me and the dealership even as a warranty job and it's far less likely the guy will lay down $21,000 out of pocket (versus trading it in, totalling it, etc).

That being said, there must be a good reason they won't warranty it and *certainly* BMW/Puma will ask that the oil filter be inspected. If it were me as an SA, my job is not worth committing fraud and saying it's an OEM filter and cap ring, or putting one in there after the fact so I could warranty it.

This is a very REASONABLE diagnosis for the events the OP is describing. I've seen a handful of aftermarket oil cap rings leak, that is not too uncommon. I've also seen at least half a dozen belt failures that caused theses symptoms. What happens is that oil gets on the pulley, then the belt slips off the pulley and gets jammed up behind it. This results in the pulley seizing/cracking/exploding and the belt gets shredded and tangled up behind the pulleys. This is usually not the end of the world but in a few cases I've seen, it's gets shredded and jammed behind the crank pulley. This is the worst case because then bits of shredded rubber belt get sucked/forced in the front crank seal and end up in the oil pan where they can (if they're small enough pieces) get stuck in the oil pump screen and in very unfortunate places. If it gets past the oil pump screen, chances are very slim you'll ever get it all out of the motor and it will need a new one.

I'm not saying this is the OP's fault... it's certainly the body shop's fault who installed the aftermarket filter/ring, HOWEVER.... why was the body shop doing an oil change to begin with? And why were they using non-OEM parts?

It gets tiresome to read thread after thread of "the dealers is satan" posts, I'm only chiming in here because I think in your case, the dealer is actually right, and going after BMW for this would be wrong.