engineer help
 

:mad: I found out that my camshaft is broken, a hole is in one of pistion and the cylinder head need to be rebuilt. My question is should I replaced the engineer or have the parts replaced? I was told that it is very difficult to put the X5 back together after a major rebuilt like this. This was caused by the previous owner not changing the oil.

Help

Engine is Probably Screwed.....
 

xan-

Sorry to hear about your engine failure. I'm new to X5world (picking up car Saturday) but have owned German cars before and even rebuilt engines. If you have that much damage to one cylinder, you would need to tear down the entire short block and check EVERY tolerance to see if it's salvagable. The lack of oil changes has likely done other damage that hasn't manifested itself yet. Mind you I'm a purist and alway like my serial numbers to match and would try to repair the original, but in this case it's doubtful. If you have the time, consider sending out the failed engine to a performance shop and have them do an estimate for a full performance rebuild to blueprint specs; they'll be able to tell you in short order if it can be made to work again and then you get a performance engine in the end. However if you're like the rest of us and time and money are an issue, either get a rebuilt short block or a salvage engine. Then have them installed by a reputable garage that specializes in BMWs; it will save you a lot of money over a dealer.

Now for my two cents on oil changes. On every car I have owned, I change the oil every 3,000 for standard stuff and every 5,000 for synthetic. Transmission fluids get changed every 25,000. Every fluid in the car gets replaced at 100,000, even if it is sealed and/or lifetime. I do this all no matter what the manual says and has served me well; I highly recommend it. I'm not lecturing you, it's just a general comment but in particular to the previous owner of your car. I'm kind of anal (okay, really anal) so I do it myself to be sure all the right pieces go in the right places and the right/best fluids get used.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

Oh, I'm an engineer so does that make me qualified to answer? (Little humor, I'm sure you need it.)

I think an engineer would recommend not hitting the correct all in spell check. :)