Help! 2008 BMW x5 4.8 Engine Failure

[Emden]

So here is the story and I appreciate you all taking the time to read it. . .

On 2/9/15 I purchased my first BMW, a 2008 x5 4.8i from Mercedes of Naperville in Illinois. The car was purchased with 68,000 miles in very good condition for $21,000. A sixty day warranty was also issued with the car.
I also asked the dealer to do a complete inspection of the car, and do all the required maintenance.

Here is where the problems begin. . .

Barely a week after purchase the car was vibrating severely and was almost un-driveable. I called the dealer and asked them what to do. They said during the winter snow can build up in the wheel-well and cause problems and that I should take the car to a carwash. I was skeptical but I gave this a shot and for a few days it worked. Then I started having issues where the car would go into limp mode for no reason and shake violently again. I took the car to BMW in Madison Wisconsin. They checked the car over and found that Mercedes had rotated the tires, which you cannot do on an x5, I assume because of camber and whatnot. They said the two front tires were shot and charged me $800 for new tires. They also discovered that the engine was misfiring and going into limp mode because the coil packs were shot and I needed new ones. Those were covered under warranty luckily (they cost roughly $500)

I got the car back and noticed that my steering didn't feel as tight as it had before. I decided not to take it back in because I wanted to actually use the car which I was not yet able to do.

Two weeks later on the way into work I suddenly lose power and the car goes into limp mode the idrive says ENGINE MALFUNCTION, AWD MALFUNCTION, DSC MALFUNCTION, BRAKE MALFUNCTION. I pull over to the side of the road and turn the car off. I then turn the car back on and it runs perfectly. It runs just fine for the next week, then does the same thing again but this time dies in the middle of traffic. I shut the car off and turn it back on and everything is fine again. At this point I decide that it needs to go back into BMW so they figure out what the problem is.

I drop it off at BMW, their techs go over the car and decide that it is a faulty throttle wiring assembly. I am now just barely out of warranty, they charge me $450 for the wiring assembly and give me the car back. In the meantime I asked them to check the oil and oil filter, they only checked the oil level and nothing else.

I have the car back, I drive less then a mile and the service engine light comes on. I turn around and give it back to BMW. BMW says the check engine code is nothing (they never ran a test) they clear the code and give it back to me.

I start driving home and around twenty miles later I start hearing a horrible grinding and knocking noise coming from the engine. I put the car in park and shut it off. I call a towing company, because the car clearly should not be running and ask them to TOW it back to BMW in Madison which they do.

I tell the techs about what I heard and then I go home and wait for a call.

BMW calls me a few days later and says my engine is completely shot and that they found metal filings in my oil-filter. They also say that the oil filter is collapsed and that it is a cheap aftermarket oil filter and that it looks old. This confuses me since Mercedes was supposed to have put in a new oil filter less than 2,000 miles ago. BMW says a re-manufactured engine from BMW will cost me $25,000 and that labor will cost another $4,000. Add this to the $21,000 I paid less than three months ago and I am now driving around in a car that cost me $50,000 and is on its second engine at 70,000 miles. Needless to say I am displeased with the service I have received.

I go into BMW in Madison to complain. I feel that I have been ripped off by BMW because they did not look at the oil filter like I asked them too and they cleared a check engine code that might have been saying the engine was going to fail if something wasn't fixed.
BMW service manager claims that there is no way a check engine sensor could have predicted that the engine was going to fail. I ask him why no one test drove my vehicle and he claims it is my responsibility as the owner to test drive the vehicle, not theirs. I push him on the engine sensor issue and he says all the sensors are simply for emissions testing. They tell me I should ask Mercedes of Naperville to pay because I am so close to warranty and because I have had so many issues with the car. (Other minor issues, the passenger thigh support stopped working and the liftgate will no longer open)

I call Mercedes of Naperville and they claim that the oil filter is not the cause of this and that I am out of luck because they won't do anything. They claim that I should have purchased an extended warranty for an additional $5,000 for two years. They say that there is always danger when buying a used car and that it is not their responsibility.

I cannot afford $25,000 for a re manufactured engine. I just spent most of my money buying the car (I paid cash). I also cannot afford a used/salvage engine. BMW says that will cost me $15,000 to buy and put in. BMW says it will cost just as much to rebuild the engine.

Do you guys have any ideas for things I can try? I don't want to lose $21,000 on a car in less than three months.

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.

(1974 Jaguar XJ12)
(1994 Jaguar xJ6)
(2005 Dodge Cummins)
(2012 Dodge Cummins)
(2008 BMW X5 4.8i)

[lanbrown]

This is where your problems started:
I also asked the dealer to do a complete inspection of the car

Always, always have a PPI done by an independent in the transaction. Ever heard the saying, it is like asking the fox to watch the henhouse?

Sorry to hear about your plight.

[Emden]

Yes, you are clearly right. I just thought a certified inspection meant something.
I would do it differently if I could.

Thanks for taking a look.

[14thbmw]

I would have one serious conversation with the Mercedes dealer followed quickly by another very serious conversation with a good attorney. Know the outcome you want: Mercedes dealer buys car back and reimburses repairs, new engine, whatever. Listen to the attorney and be aggressive.

Good luck.

[lanbrown]

Most states when buying a used car, it is sold as - is. If the vehicle was purchased in WI, he would have had some additional protections as it requires a dealer to list all known issues. IL does not have such provision. Talking to an attorney isn't a bad idea as the consultation will be free, but they are going to want money to represent this. It could also take a year or so before it ever makes it to trial. Time is on the dealers side as the longer it goes on, the less likely the plaintiff will want to continue.

If the OP does go the attorney route, you do not want to keep this vehicle.

[lanbrown]

Also, did the BMW dealer notate that the tires were rotated and shouldn't have been? If not I would and request the Mercedes dealer pay for their mistake and then also mention the other items again. You want get far with the Mercedes dealer though. Next, you need to get the old oil filter off of the vehicle and look for who manufactured it. Get the part number off of it and make sure that it is listed for your vehicle. If it is, then you need to talk to the oil filter manufacturer about compensation for their failed part.

[Doug Huffman]

I am paying close attention.

04/10/2015 just a month a go I bought a 36K mile CPO 2012 X5 35d with no known issues from the Rimrock Madison dealer.

Best wishes.

[Emden]

Originally Posted by trader4

I don't understand the timeline, seems there were some missing
weeks in those 60 days of the warranty. But here are some questions
and points:

1 - With the understanding that MB was to do the "required maintenance"
on the car, do you have anything that shows what they said they actually
did? I'm not sure what that even means. For example, if they took the
car on trade, the car shows that the oil was changed about 2K miles ago,
what would they do? What should they have done, etc. Hopefully you
have documentation as to their inspection and maintenance. If they say
they changed the oil/filter, that would be key.

2 - The rotating the tires issue, IMO, is BS. I know BMW doesn't
recommend doing it, but plenty of folks are doing it, without anything
bad happening, let alone the car becoming undrivable in a week
and the front tires being ruined. Did you look at the tires before
you bought the car? After BMW told you they were shot from
being rotated?

3 - With the car losing power and coming up with severe messages like:

idrive says ENGINE MALFUNCTION, AWD MALFUNCTION, DSC MALFUNCTION, BRAKE MALFUNCTION

I wouldn't have waited for it to happen a second time, a week later,
I would have called BMW for an appointment. Especially when you
only had a 60 day warranty and the clock was ticking. That's where
the timeline doesn't add up, because it appears that right after this
the entire 60 days was gone.

4 - "I asked them to check the oil and oil filter, they only checked the oil level and nothing else."

IDK what your expectations of checking the filter were. If you asked
them to do that, I would think the service advisor would have said
that they don't typically check oil filters, only change them.

5 - Do you have the oil filter they say was old/collapsed? What does
MB have to say about that?

6 - I think your best argument here is that BMW misdiagnosed the
problem, including when you returned after driving just a mile
and that by telling you to continue to drive it, they are responsible.

But good luck proving any of that. To start with, it sounds like BMW
doesn't even know what the actual failure is, besides that there is
metal in the oil. It's possible it's something that is clearly unrelated
to the oil filter. Also BMW is obviously BSing you by saying that
codes only have to do with emissions.

Personally, I wouldn't touch a BMW V8 with a ten foot poll. But
if I did, I'd make sure it had at least a one year warranty. Given
the repair history and cost on these, even that $5k for two years
doesn't sound bad, depending on what it covers. I also agree with
what someone else said, which was it would have been a good idea
to get a PPI from someone not connected with the seller. But there
is a good chance even that wouldn't have caught this internal problem.
Besides complaining, escalating within the two dealers, with the
warranty company, etc, your options aren't too good. You can
bluster with an attorney, but to take it to trial, you're going to
have to throw a lot of money into that, with no assurance of being
able to prevail, and they know that.

Where is the car now? I'd have it towed to an authoritative, expert
mechanic for an opinion of what happened. If you have paper that
shows MB says they changed the filter, then before you totally piss
off the BMW dealer, I'd ask them to put their findings about the
collapsed filter, it being old, aftermarket, etc in writing. I wouldn't
be surprised that they won't do it. But if they will, that's important.
Then if you have proof that MB changed the filter, you have BMW experts
saying MB screwed up or lied, which could be your whole case.
You might be able to get some kind of solution where the two
dealers and the warranty company all pony us something to try
to fix this. But.... I doubt it will be easy.

To address your issue with the timeline and the tires. . .

The tires showed premature wear on the insides, the wheel-weights were also incorrect and the vibration in the steering-wheel only stopped when new tires were put on. Who knows, maybe they were bsing.

As for the timeline I didn't even think about the warranty the first time the idrive had an issue. All the Jags I have owned in my life do lots of funky things with the computer system but there is never actually a problem. The second time I realized this was going to be an ongoing issue and immediately took it into BMW.

I have documentation that shows Mercedes Benz did an oil change and an inspection.

BMW currently has the oil filter, but I can get that anytime I want. The car is still at BMW while I fight with them and MB about what to do.

I feel as though this should have been diagnosed when I brought the car back in. I only drove twenty miles before their was a major issue and it was not rough driving.

I have not owned the car long enough to mistreat it so I also feel that MB should stand behind their product.

I would like your opinion on whether or not this is a problem that BMW should have diagnosed and whether or not you think MB is at all liable for the installation of an oil filter that might have caused the engine to fail.

Thanks for the help so far.

I will keep updating on the situation.

[14thbmw]

Trader4 the only thing I disagree with in your post is the comment about BMW V8s. I own two now (e53 and e70) and have had three previously. Only one was purchased new, all put on at least 50k miles while I owned them except the e70 which I bought a couple of months ago (with 85k on it) and all were trouble-free. I know others have different experiences, but if well maintained, they are great engines.

[Skyline]

You can get a really good engine from a junkyard for about $5,500. Some will include a guarantee, usually 90 days. Some independent shops will warranty their labor as well when installing a junkyard motor...so if it's bad they put in another for free. I would count on a bit more than a grand for swapping motors.

Check out this web site for used motors as an example, (there were quite a few in the Midwest, including one with 15k miles):

Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market