BMW 320I SE needs a new engine

colino

I think your moving off the point here. You've already let them start the process of fixing the car, so you can't reject and beemers rarely burn oil so this one was clearly a bag of bolts. However, what is wrong with the trader putting another second hand engine in a second hand car. With the list price of a new one from BMW being ridiculously high, it wont be that and once an old engine is cleaned, you wouldn't, apart from the engine number, know the difference. (Gone are the days for looking for oozing brightly coloured Hylomar to confirm works been done).
Best course of action is to get on their case and get the car back on the road asap. It shouldn't be a problem sourcing an engine, there's 3 inches of snow here today so the ditches are filling up nicely with rwd newbies backing off the road.

kingstreet

Air_Cooled_75 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I want to pick your brains please. We bought a 57 plate in October and within a couple of weeks the engine light came on (local garage cleared the fault from the dash) 2 weeks ago the light came on and the dealer we bought it from has taken it in a they are replacing the engine. Now, they are putting a recon in. Would you be happy with this or do you think we should just cut our loses and get our money back?

Any comments gratefully received.

Thanks, AC

This is a five year old car.

What's the mileage?

Have you checked the online MOT history to see what the first couple of mileage readings were in 2010 and 2011?

https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history-vehicle

Is it possible the vehicle has been "clocked" and the engine has covered a lot more miles than you think?

Air_Cooled_75

The car has about 41k on the clock and the MOTs would suggest this is authentic.

The garage has been in touch today, they are going to put a second (not recon) in and OH has spoken to the engine place about it, it's a 2008 engine with 29k on it. How is this sounding?

The mechanic actually gave OH an engine number for one that was from a 318 until OH pointed this out, a genuine mistake though, I think...

Tobster86

318 would be way off; i.e. short of two cylinders!

Otherwise sounds reasonable, I'd want to be able to verify what they're saying somehow though.

Air_Cooled_75

Hi again everyone,

Quick update - the garage had the car for about a month and put a replacement engine in, we got the car back on the 14th December. OH was driving home from his night shift yesterday morning and guess what...the engine light is back on!

I have a feeling this could rumble on for a bit, he's going to ring the garage later when he gets up.

red_eye

Air_Cooled_75 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I want to pick your brains please. We bought a 57 plate in October and within a couple of weeks the engine light came on (local garage cleared the fault from the dash) 2 weeks ago the light came on and the dealer we bought it from has taken it in a they are replacing the engine. Now, they are putting a recon in. Would you be happy with this or do you think we should just cut our loses and get our money back?

Any comments gratefully received.

Thanks, AC

a recon is basicly a new engine, the block and the crank are machined and new bearing shells fitted

Air_Cooled_75

They didn't put a recon in, just a replacement. The car went back to the garage yesterday and they said the light's come back on for emissions (this had been a problem with the other engine). They are going to take it in for a day next week to look at it again. They are saying that the new engine needs to settle in etc. my dad thinks this is rubbish. What I do know though is it's all a massive pain in the !!!!!

bodgerx

The 2.0 direct engine in this BMW is notorious for problems. I had a 318i Efficient Dynamics and I got rid of it for this reason. Injector failures, coil-pack failures are its favourites. The late 2007, 2008 cars are the worst for this. See the E90Post forum.

With BMW dealer labour rates at £100+ it makes the whole car a farce. They don't even drive like the media portray. Harsh ride and numb steering on the electric assist ED models. The 3 series is probably one of the most overrated cars in history.

My advice would be to sell/trade in asap.

Air_Cooled_75

bodgerx wrote: »

The 2.0 direct engine in this BMW is notorious for problems. I had a 318i Efficient Dynamics and I got rid of it for this reason. Injector failures, coil-pack failures are its favourites. The late 2007, 2008 cars are the worst for this. See the E90Post forum.

With BMW dealer labour rates at £100+ it makes the whole car a farce. They don't even drive like the media portray. Harsh ride and numb steering on the electric assist ED models. The 3 series is probably one of the most overrated cars in history.

My advice would be to sell/trade in asap.

Cheers, this is what OH is thinking. He wants shut now.

londonTiger

a reconditioned engine may be better actually, it will have been inspected and cleared of any major fault signs and parts replaced. most cars around the 100K mark will have some sort of issues brewing so a reconditioned engine will have been cleared of them. depends entirely on the garage though - some will just put a used engine on. Make sure work is warranted.