A couple of weeks ago, my BMW F10 prompted a low engine oil warning. I topped off the oil and kept driving. A week later, after parking the car, I stepped out into a pool of murky brown sludge - quite literally flowing out the car onto the ground. My heat exchanger had broke - the brown sludge a disastrous mix of engine oil and coolant. $10,000 later, I now have an engine that is almost completely new.
To date, this has been the most expensive repair I have endured with the F10 over my 2 years of ownership. The car has had a multitude of repairs in the past, but never one so catastrophic. With the broken heat exchanger, coolant had entered my engine, causing the engine to overheat, leading to a warped cylinder head and engine case. Terrible death for an engine I must say. Long story short, I had to erm, “repair” my engine, with many many many donor parts from another car’s engine, meticulously reassembled into my engine bay.
It’s hard to say what exactly happened and in which chronological order, but my mechanic reckons that engine oil and coolant have been mixing via the broken heat exchanger for some time, causing my engine to overheat. The excessive heat warped the engine base and cylinder head, which lead to the car dumping its fluid content’s all over the floor.
It’s regrettable , because had I detected the head exchanger issue earlier, it might have saved me an engine. However, the truth is that it isn’t likely I would have been able to tell. The car drove well and beautifully until it decide to regurgitate fluids onto the ground. An interesting train about BMWs - they get wounded and broken from time to time, but they almost never ever leave you stranded. This is true in my personal experience at least.
There are a few takeaways from this incident, some more specific to my situation, but here are my thoughts:
Do preventative maintenance on your heat exchanger. It’s a relatively inexpensive part change that can save you from more trouble.
If you suddenly lose engine oil, don’t drive it around for another week. The oil didn’t evaporate. There is an underlying problem and should be looked at immediately.
I’m not sure if a preventive overhaul would have helped avert this issue - but I’ve always held the sentiment of using something till it breaks. Perhaps this isn’t the best way to treat cars. Who knows, I might have come away with half the damage had I done an overhaul preventively.
As unpredictable and inconvenient as this situation is, these issues are still somewhat wear - related and should not be seen as a malfunction. In fact, the car continued to work beautifully even when it was severely compromised.
Do I have a little bit of PTSD when it comes to BMW ownership? - Yes, of course I do. There is nothing more unnerving than the BMW chime of death (even if it’s actually just a low fuel warning). Do I still love the brand? - Absolutely. For me, it’s always been about the 360 days of driving enjoyment the cars bring, not about the 5 days when they are in the workshop.
For anyone looking to own an older BMW, I think it’s important to first ask yourself if you have the maturity and resources to emotionally handle the handle of the car. Wear and tear issues aren’t malfunctions, and should not be treated as a sign of a bad car. Even a Rolls Royce needs an overhaul at some point. That said, if you are able to handle the maintenance demands on an old BMW, they really are quite magnificent machines to drive, even in their older age. They aren’t as quick, but they have more character than their newer counterparts by a mile.
Stay tuned to find out what happens next. This is a developing story.
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