[Fritzer]

Good thing the mechanic put in an insurance claim, right thing to do. With that amount of work and then having the engine seize, I would say it is very likely something he or one of his employees messed up on.

[CTinline-six]

" I received a call from him 2 days later. He said it was a bad coil pack. He replaced it and said the car was running perfectly. He said he was roughly 20 mins into his test drive and the car just shut off on him. He had it towed back to his shop and bottom line is the engine is seized and it needs a new engine.
"


That part seems suspicious to me. Replacing a coil pack and running perfectly then suddenly it seizes? You'd have to get a lot of sand into the crevices of the head when doing an OFHG to cause an issue I would think. A lubrication failure wouldn't cause a vibration that goes away and gets better then causes the engine to seize 20 min later.

If I had to guess I'd say an oil cooler line or something wasn't installed correctly, causing a leak that emptied the engine of oil during his 20 min drive.

[MartinWake]

Same thing happened to me

[YGazis109]

What shop in CT? For fellow other CT members to avoid lol

[Pladi]

Originally Posted by YGazis109

What shop in CT? For fellow other CT members to avoid lol

Bashing shops publicly without any facts is not cool. Esp since seems like they are manning up to their mistakes. Mistakes happen.

Not many cars seize up after routine maintenance ..

[EdieC]

Originally Posted by Pladi

Bashing shops publicly without any facts is not cool. Esp since seems like they are manning up to their mistakes. Mistakes happen.

Not many cars seize up after routine maintenance ..

Agreed. I don't want to give out his info. As I mentioned, I've been going to him for a few years now and he's always done right by me. They made a mistake and they are owning up to it.

[nissubaru]

When I was calling around getting quotes for my N54 replacement one of the people I spoke to asked if I recently replaced the OFHG and said that these engines need to be "primed" or "primed with oil" after an OFHG job. However I had done my OFHG probably over a year ago so this couldn't be the case.

Also I have an N54 and this seems to be happening on N55s, but priming the engine was something I hadn't heard of before on either platform. It's something to consider

[EdieC]

Originally Posted by nissubaru

When I was calling around getting quotes for my N54 replacement one of the people I spoke to asked if I recently replaced the OFHG and said that these engines need to be "primed" or "primed with oil" after an OFHG job. However I had done my OFHG probably over a year ago so this couldn't be the case.

Also I have an N54 and this seems to be happening on N55s, but priming the engine was something I hadn't heard of before on either platform. It's something to consider

Interesting. I wonder if that could be the culprit.

[YGazis109]

Originally Posted by Pladi

Bashing shops publicly without any facts is not cool. Esp since seems like they are manning up to their mistakes. Mistakes happen.

Not many cars seize up after routine maintenance ..

Wasn't bashing...and I agree if the mechanic does take blame that's a good thing....but I also think making a post about it and not informing the public on who it is doesn't really help the public they are informing....what's the point of the thread...I am from CT and I always look for reviews or acknowledgements from people before I do business somewhere. OP can also pm me...

[Bimmer_Engineer]

Originally Posted by nissubaru

When I was calling around getting quotes for my N54 replacement one of the people I spoke to asked if I recently replaced the OFHG and said that these engines need to be "primed" or "primed with oil" after an OFHG job. However I had done my OFHG probably over a year ago so this couldn't be the case.

Also I have an N54 and this seems to be happening on N55s, but priming the engine was something I hadn't heard of before on either platform. It's something to consider

I don’t have an n55 but if it needed to be primed I would think that would happen after an oil change too...or when the car sits for a few days for that matter. Any car that sits for a few days drains much of the oil into the pan...

[smass]

This is also an issue with the N55 in the E70. OFHG gets changed and the engine dies shorty after. I have seen more reports on those forums than here. E70 owners run their miles up faster than E90s so the problems bubble up faster on that model. BMW sold a ton of E70s with the N55 from 2011-2013. It was the E70 version of the 328i. I expect BMW to issue a bulletin once they figure out the root cause.

[nsjames]

Originally Posted by Bimmer_Engineer

I don’t have an n55 but if it needed to be primed I would think that would happen after an oil change too...or when the car sits for a few days for that matter. Any car that sits for a few days drains much of the oil into the pan...

how exactly is one going to accomplish this priming is my question.
It's not like this is a pushrod v8 that you just shove a drill and adapter into the dizzy hole and spin the pump.

pull the fuel line and spin it with the starter?

[PhaseP]

Maybe the coolant bleed operation wasn't done good and somewhere in the engine left a good size of air bubble causing hot spot and seizure eventually?

[wanna325i]

Originally Posted by smassey321

This is also an issue with the N55 in the E70. OFHG gets changed and the engine dies shorty after. I have seen more reports on those forums than here. E70 owners run their miles up faster than E90s so the problems bubble up faster on that model. BMW sold a ton of E70s with the N55 from 2011-2013. It was the E70 version of the 328i. I expect BMW to issue a bulletin once they figure out the root cause.

Do you know what was causing the problem?

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by nsjames

how exactly is one going to accomplish this priming is my question.
It's not like this is a pushrod v8 that you just shove a drill and adapter into the dizzy hole and spin the pump.

pull the fuel line and spin it with the starter?

Exactly and what exactly needs to be primed. Isn't removing the oil filter housing causing the same drainback? The ammount of oil in the actual housing is minimal

Plus there is no mention of that in any service manuals so

[robthewrench]

I don't believe any priming is required when doing the OFHG. Doing the OFHG is no worse than just changing the oil and the oil filter is dry. How many OFHGs have been changed over the years and we hear a handful of engine failures?

Now I do believe that a bunch of both N54 and N55 engines have injested the serpentine belt after the OFHG is changed. I've seen pictures of jobs where the left the belt on and coated the belt with oil while doing this job! Pulling the serp belt behind the crank will cause oil issues for sure.

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by robthewrench

Now I do believe that a bunch of both N54 and N55 engines have injested the serpentine belt after the OFHG is changed. I've seen pictures of jobs where the left the belt on and coated the belt with oil while doing this job! Pulling the serp belt behind the crank will cause oil issues for sure.

+1
That makes sense and most plausible explanation.
The OFHG was leaking already on those that required the gasket change, which means the belt and pulleys were already slippery with oil. Add more oil and coolant on them with the OFHG change spilling there and it can happen.

In any case if the belt was already soaked in oil or gets oil or coolant on it during OFHG replacement, it is better to put on a new belt. And clean off the pulleys. Belt is cheap and easy to replace.

Draining both engine oil and engine coolant first before OFHG replacement is also more prudent I think. I will have to replace my OFHG the second time soon, it started leaking again. First time I had drained both fluids, this time I am planning to do same. And remove the belt first not to let any oil or coolant spill on it, and then put it back on.

(It is recommended to mark the rotation direction of the belt before removing it, and put it back at same rotation direction if reusing belt)

[Pladi]

Originally Posted by robthewrench

I don't believe any priming is required when doing the OFHG. Doing the OFHG is no worse than just changing the oil and the oil filter is dry. How many OFHGs have been changed over the years and we hear a handful of engine failures?

Now I do believe that a bunch of both N54 and N55 engines have injested the serpentine belt after the OFHG is changed. I've seen pictures of jobs where the left the belt on and coated the belt with oil while doing this job! Pulling the serp belt behind the crank will cause oil issues for sure.

These cases are different. No one has mentioned any belts. That would be an obvious cause we would not be debating this to death if that was the case. These are engines with original belts in tact.

We know of the belt slipping issue. This is different.

[Bufalo]

So the actual physical Oil Filter Housing on the N55 has gone through several part number revisions over its years. It's conjecture for sure, but do we think any of that is to overcome this issue? Would there be any way to determine if this problem correlates to having or not having the external cooler fitting and that additional gasket (fitted to cars with option 840 - increased speed limiter)?

[nsjames]

but the mating surface on the head hasn't changed, so I don't see how revisions to the housing would change any of this, if indeed the issue is things getting dropped into the oil passages in the head.

which I don't believe it is.

[juld0zer]

You have to almost be deliberate to block the passage - like some have suggested, pouring solid contiminants or not removing a cloth or paper stuffed in there. Which is all unnecessary anyway. Pull off the housing, clean the head and cover it with a clean rag then carry on with the rest.

Interesting point about the oil cooler vs no oil cooler. I am not aware of any such failures in the past 5 years and there has been no discussions at local technical meetings. All affected engines in Australia have oil coolers/heat exchangers

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Bimmer_Engineer

I don’t have an n55 but if it needed to be primed I would think that would happen after an oil change too...or when the car sits for a few days for that matter. Any car that sits for a few days drains much of the oil into the pan...

I have to agree. I don't comment on the turbo engines much since I'm not familiar with either one, but the basic architecture between the N52 and N54/55 is shared. I did my oil pan gasket over 2 days time. So the engine sat completely drained of oil for at least 24 hours. I put it back together and filled the sump, installed new filter and fired up the engine. No issues. There is always a residual amount of oil in the oil pump. Also, I let my engine drain of oil for 45 minutes or more until it stops dripping (OCD I guess). 28 oil changes using that technique. Oil sits on metal surfaces for quite some time and provides sufficient lubrication for the few seconds it takes the oil pump to build pressure and deliver oil.

I think what happened here was when the tech swapped out the VANOS solenoids, he dropped one of the mounting bolts down the cam drive and it eventually lunched the engine.