E39 - V8 engine failure

My 540i at 90,000 has a bad engine..

My mechanic tells me that the 1997 540 8 cylinder engine has a history of malfunction around 100,000 miles. Mine is dead at 90,000. I have found some proof of this at www.cartrackers.com/forums/live/yourlemon/71.html but no other proof that I can locate on the web.

Does anyone have access to or can lead me to a source of information to gain some insight as to whether or not I may have a beef with BMW?? I am told that #4 and #8 are misfiring and that I have oil in the spark plug tubes. Smells of gas, probably has ruined the catalytic converter and smokes so bad I was pulled over. It is presently parked at a BMW dealership and they want to spend $2000 replacing parts on a diagnostic adventure.

I really appreciate any insight that you may have or can find….I really have enjoyed the car and thought I would have it for another 90,000!!

Sincerely,

Greg Corson

some of the early v8s had trouble with the engine blocks. i think it was something to do with the coating on the zylinder walls. any way what was happening is that the engines were failing prematurly. there is a recall for this. you can check to see if your car falls under this recall by the vin numbers. call another dealer they should give this info. do not ask the dealer that has your car, they probably want the work and wont tell u about this. i know because i have first hand experience with this.bmw cars are good- dealers bad. the dealer u call will also be able to tell u if your car has had the engine replaced or not.

:mad:

I also have been informed that my 98 540i will require an engine rebuild. It has 133,000 Kilometers about 90,000 miles. If anyone has any information about problems with the E39 engine please advise

Thanks

Bought my 540i new in 1997. In 1998, one week after a sched. maintenance at the dealership (Allison BMW in Mt. View, CA) my car overheated for some reason. Dealership took it about three times to fix it, finally re-machined the heads and worked fine for a few years. Well, except for the recurring "Check Coolant" light that always came on off. By the way, on the Sched. maint. prior to it oveheating, that light was also on. Didn't understand how a new BMW would be leaking or low on coolant. Anyway, dealer said it was fine and topped it. Well, you know what happend next.

So, this year (2002) about a couple months ago my car overheated again! This time it warped the cylinder heads so bad they need to be replaced. $12,000 at the dealership.

The dealership and BMWNA have said "too bad, not our fault". Even though the original overheating and work was done under the OEM warranty. Their stance is that the original work was completed successfully and the car ran fine for three years (except of course the on-going "check coolant" light which they gave up on at Allison BMW and attributed it to a software glitch).

That's where I am. If anyone has any info. that can help me out, or any lawyers that they can recommend I would love to hear about it.

Oh, and by the way, my car only has 60k miles on it today.
Thanks.

I have a 98 540i with a sick engine. Had stalling problem once a few months ago. No cause was ever found by the dealership. The only code they said was in the computer was an errant code for a faulting camshaft position sensor. Now the car has died again. The check engine light began to flash within a few seconds of the engine dying. The engine began to sound very ill and proceeded to die like a diesel truck. After the tow to the dealership I was told that both catalytic converters collapsed plugging the exhaust. They replaced the converters and now can't get the engine to start. :confused:

The dealership is now on a wild goose chase to find the cause.

The car has 45000 km and is well pampered. Anyone have any thoughts.

FYI: I am pleased that I have a very courteous service team... and of course valid warranty.

More than likely a plugged/clogged backplate. Little guy bolted to the backside of the intake manifold. I see quite a few of these with these M62 engines. Vehicle runs rough, misfiring in numerous cylinders, check engine light on. These go bad on these vehicles quite often and are misdiagnosed.

Guess what? I pulled my car from the dealership after they told me my cylinder heads needed to be replaced for $12k. Took it to another BMW Mechanic. Had the heads checked again.....uh........the heads are fine!!!! The saga continues. That is one for the good guys. I now have the heads at an independent checking them there to see what they say. We'll see. Meanwhile, BMW says too bad and so. Soon, it will be the other way around.

There is something so pleasurable about catching these guys lying to you, or causing fraud, whichever you prefer, and then being able to tell the world about it? I can't wait.

I have a 1998 540i six speed with 52k that I bought used at 36k and have had both cat converters replaced by dealer in last 10k miles, at different times. The check engine light came on when the cats went bad both times and the car ran rough, and it has done this other times as well...running rough for no reason with check engine light. Dealer said both cats going bad in such a short time was "just coincidence"! I wonder if this could be the "backplate" also. I have extended warrantly but am also wondering if the engine will be a source of more problems. Also just had water pump go bad too, though I guess this is not related. Anybody??

The impeller in the water pump is a known problem. It's plastic and wears down. Apparently you can get pumps with a metal impeller now. In regards to the cat converters, I'd suggest posting the issue at: http://bimmer.roadfly.org/bmw/forums/e39/forum.php

There are quite a few people on this board at all times and these guys really know their stuff. Good luck.