[Surferarnie]

So this is a 2012 x5 with an n55 engine. I just bought this and put about 1000 miles on it when this happened. It just topped 121k.I think the motor is scrapped, not sure if it is even worth trying to take it to an indi shop to have them try to save it. Looks like I just put a big pile of cash on fire.
I was getting errors that the #5 cylinder was shutting down and limp home mode. I had replaced coils and plugs and still got the errors and limp mode. So I bought 6 new injectors, researched the swap and it seamed pretty straight forward. Started on #1. #1 thru #4 went flawless, without a problem.
#5 was tight coming out. So I sprayed it with penetrating oil and let sit. Tried to loosen it a tad turning the socket on the injector tool minimal amount trying to free it. After hours of this it finally broke loose.

After I got the injector out I looked at it and the decoupling element was not on the injector. It was shredded in the injector bore.

I tore apart and left a stainless steel birds nest in the bore.

So what caused this is the water retaining channels on the x5 were broken when I bought it. This allowed water and more damaging washer fluid to leak into the head causing corrosion. That has the #5 and #6 injectors basically fused into the head. This x5 had an extensive service history report when I bought it at a bmw dealer in Illinois. I can’t for the life of me figure how it was serviced and the channels were nor replaced.
So I called bmw dealer in rochester hills and talked to the service department.
The bmw tech was very helpful. First he said he has never herd of Such a problem. Then he said that a new engine would be the cheapest alternative. Around 15k.
I told him that a mechanically totaled car wasn’t worth fixing and he said at least they are paying top dollar for scrap cars right now.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Any one else had this issue.

Thinking maybe having a shop pull the head is the best option, or is a new engine the only way around this.
This I my second bmw, loved them both but if I scrap this in selling m e92 and never looking back.

[Aenantar]

The damage is pretty serious, so spending 15k on a new engine and making some money are two very different things. I don't even know what I would choose. Although it's unlikely that anything depends on the car owner, the guys from the body shop decide on it. I know my neighbor had similar damage to yours and immediately decided to connect with https://nationalcarparts.co.nz/car-wreckers-hamilton/. He didn't even start looking for an opportunity to repair the engine because he believed that he would spend more money and still not be able to get the desired result. What did you choose?

[HondaRC51]

I think if you took the head off and took it to a reputable machine shop/engine builder, tell them what happened, they can fix it. Even if they have to "bore" out the hole, insert a sleeve and cut a taper in it for a new injector it would still cost way less than a motor swap. Have you entertained the idea of a used motor swap with something from a lower mileage vehicle?

[GearHead335i]

Just went through this with my 2012 x5 that had unfortunately spun, a rod bearing. Here’s my post from another “injector ovaling “thread.


Thought it might be worth mentioning my issues with my e70 x5 35i with the n55. So the upper portion of the engine compartment has a partition that is supposed to keep put all water, mainly from rain runoff from the windshield when the car is at a stand still. Long story short my motor spun a rod bearing on cyl 1 after the oil filter housing gasket was done, I didn’t “prime” the engine before starting for the first time and I’m assuming that’s what did it in. When I went to remove the injectors, cyl 1, 2, and 3 came out no problem with the special tool I ordered. Cyl 4, 5, and 6 were a diff story, bc my engine compartment partition was broken. The car sat for awhile (almost 3 years) before I decided to tear into it and rebuild it myself. Cyl 4, 5, and 6 injectors were literally fused into the cyl head with corrosion. I ended up removing the head which I had to do anyways when doing the rebuild and had to “pop” them out from the bottom.

Now here’s where things got tricky. When I finally got the old injectors out, I realized cyl 5 and 6 didn’t have decoupling rings on them and thought the same as most of you, that the previous person installed them without them. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the decoupling rings were still stuck in the head! Was an absolute nightmare to get them out.

Moral of the story, when you get an injector out that was really in there and it comes out without a decoupling Ring, be sure to look back into the cyl heads injector port and be sure it’s not still in there. Will save you a bunch of time and headaches. Also if you have an e70 and your engine compartment upper partition is broken or not sealing anymore, do yourself a favor and replace it immediately!


Long story short, I ended up having to remove the head to hit the injectors out from the other side of the head. Mine we’re stuck in there so much that the injector tool that I bought that removed cylinder, one, cylinder, two, and cylinder three perfectly fine, ended up, bending almost in half with me, trying to pull the corroded cylinder four, five, six out. I hate to say it, but I literally tried everything, including welding one of the dent puller pins I have, and using a 2 pound slide hammer to get it out and still nothing. I couldn’t believe how stuck in there these injectors were and I know what spot you’re in right now, but just know that you can have the head removed. They’ll come out from the other end and you should be able to inspect the holes. Make sure there is nothing of the decoupling rings left and you should be able to put the head back on and be OK. A new engine is not necessary whatsoever. You just have to find a way to get the injectors out and if you’ve tried everything, the only answer is removing the head.