Leak down and compression are good actually. The flange is damaged where the bolt broke. It appears they got the bolt out, tried to retap it and broke the tap, did a drill out down to the broken tap then used JB Weld over it and put a helicoil in the JB Weld. So... Wow. Really frustrating considering how good and even the compression is. I've talked to a number of welding types who say the JB Weld penetrates the metal and makes it unweldable. In order to sell the used head it has to be chucked/pressed with a similar material into the hole and then retapped. Not a wonderful solution.

I would not sell it without doing the work - not my style. But after 4 months of hunting down what was going on and knowing now it was severely overheated, I have to wonder if it will ever really be super reliable. It's an 05 so the valve seal issue is supposed to be resolved - haven't noticed anything else. Mechanically the car seems pretty sound.

Did I mention when I talked to BMW NA they told me I wasn't the kind of clientele BMW dealerships wanted?