Hydrolock Anyone? NEED HELP!!! please.

[ih82lose]

I spoke with the local indy shop that has a good relationship with the local dealership. They quoted me $650-$700 for the "Cold weather repair kit" as the dealership calls it, plus labor. That's not bad at all, but the BMW tech told my indy shop that ANY hydrolocked engine, even if it just died at idle is a dead engine.

I have read on other boards that similar situations (hydrolocked at idle) on other BMWs does not mean I need a new engine. People have claimed to just repair the crankcase vent/valve cover leaks after removing the oil out of the cylinders and the car is as good as new. Are there any people here that know of such stories for the E53? Could I be that lucky? Is it likely that my engine is damaged, or does the BMW tech just want to sell my indy shop a new engine?

Thanks for the help.

[primetime]

Originally Posted by ih82lose

I spoke with the local indy shop that has a good relationship with the local dealership. They quoted me $650-$700 for the "Cold weather repair kit" as the dealership calls it, plus labor. That's not bad at all, but the BMW tech told my indy shop that ANY hydrolocked engine, even if it just died at idle is a dead engine.

I have read on other boards that similar situations (hydrolocked at idle) on other BMWs does not mean I need a new engine. People have claimed to just repair the crankcase vent/valve cover leaks after removing the oil out of the cylinders and the car is as good as new. Are there any people here that know of such stories for the E53? Could I be that lucky? Is it likely that my engine is damaged, or does the BMW tech just want to sell my indy shop a new engine?

Thanks for the help.

No not all engines that hydrolock are dead engines...Not sure what he's trying to do..but I would get the seperator issue taken care of and go on from there.. Get a trusted second opinion on the dead engine issue. A second unbiased opinion (not BMW dealership) should be your next move for sure. Thats the only way to be sure.

[ih82lose]

Thanks primetime. I evacuated all of the cylinders yesterday and performed a compression test. All cylinders gave even compression, so that's a start. I buttoned it all back up and will be having it towed to the shop on Monday for the "cold weather repair kit" to be installed. Hopefully this will be the end of the story.

[ih82lose]

In the interest of following up, here is an update to my hydrolock problem...

The shop started the car and it died due to residual oil in the intake manifold. Being cautious (scared), they removed the spark plugs and saw oil on the tips. Their conclusion - dead engine. Morons. They called around for engine quotes, new and used, and came back to me with $13K for a used engine installed and $18K for a rebuilt shortblock from BMW installed. Thieving morons.

After a minor heart attack, I had the car towed back home. I ordered the oil separator parts and replaced it myself and the car now starts and drives just fine... with one catch. There is a tapping noise that seems to be coming from the valve cover towards the front of the engine. It does not go away when the engine is warm and is dependent on engine RPM. My first thought was a lifter, but I'm not yet sure if this is a lifter tap or something more $erious - rod or main bearing.

I've already flushed the oil ssytem and put in fresh oil, which helped quiet the noise a bit, but it is still present. I'm going to try a bottle of Rislone to see if it helps stop the tapping. I've heard it works wonders for lifters...if this is just a lifter noise.

Any comments/suggestions are welcomed.

[mdpowered]

same thing happened to my car i opted to put the s54 back into mine instead of the m54 3.0 engine that had originally came in it.....

[crowagner]

Mine died last week, 88K miles, 03 X5 and BMW is accepting no responsibility, same systems as I have read on line, really stinks, it really sounds like a frozen oil separator valve.....anyone have any ideas, had success getting anything out of the "ultimate non-driving paper weight manufacturers"???

chris

[mdpowered]

theres no way i would put back a m54 3.0 engine just ganna do the same thing next winter sounds to me bmw need a better fix than a insulted valve?!!!!!!!!!!!