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This forum had been a tremendous source of information while I have owned my 2008 997.1 C4s. With that said one thing I have disliked is the histeria around engine failure, i’s causes and those involved with it in any way. I just have always felt that it was over blown ( no pun) and that it can happen to any car, at any time. I think Jake has dropped the line a couple times that as soon as a motor is started it begins the process of destroying it self. That statement is truth.
The point of this post is not to tell you about my 911 though, thankfully it’s about my daily. My 2017 x5 a car that is almost 10 years newer with 67k miles. The BMW legendary in line six, near built proof at this point, my motor seized the other day while we were away at Mt. Washington New Hampshire. It stranded my family and I about 200 miles from home on a Sunday of a holiday weekend. The car gave no signs or indication that anything was wrong leading up to its decision to just stop doing its job.
After several attempts to start it, jump it and pray I gave up. I called in a tow and made arrangements to get my family and I home with all our ski gear. The car was bought in 2017 as a low mileage CPO. It was a courtesy car for a dealer that only had 4K miles on it. The car came with a 5 year 75k mile warranty. First thing I did when I got home was check the status of that CPO as I knew it was expiring soon. I had a feeling that what had went down was not minor and the thought of uncovered major repairs was unsettling. Luckily the coverage on the CPO runs through the end of the month!!
After speaking with service my thoughts were confirmed on the motor being toast. Seized up and in need of replacement. A new long block was sourced and covered under CPO. The new long block is 18k alone. I would imagine the labor to be another 5-6k to pull and swap all accessories on it. All told I’m guessing it’s close to a 997 rebuild. I should have the car back early next week. A rather quick turnaround given all the factors.
The point of my post is all motors can and do fail. It’s not a 997.1 thing or a 997.2 thing or a f16 x5 thing. It can happen. If you don’t have warranty coverage the prospect of footing the bill is real. Owning a high end German car is expensive. You can pay up front or on the back end. You can gamble with no coverage and you might win, or you might lose. As an owner of a almost 20 year old 911 the thought of this creeps into my mind from time to time. I’m just glad it happened to expensive German car with the warranty, not the one with out.
Wow. You are right, expensive German cars repairs can happen to any of these brands. Heck, we have a Hyundai engine failure thread here somewhere, and there have been plenty of Honda transmissions that have gone out over the years.
YEP! My wife has a 2010 335iC - love the car and got a great deal on it. About 2 years after we bought is (used), engine just plain ol' seized up. No warning, nothing, dead, toast. Given what used cars are going for, instead of junking the car (no warranty obviously), opted to source an engine from Texas with less miles on it than our car (39k on the engine, 44k on the car). Ran me about $10k all in but worth every single penny for me.
Yep, same thing just happened to my friends 2013(?) BMW X5 M package with 125k miles, meticulously maintained. His wife was driving and it just threw a rod or something, engine was toast, He was out of warranty so he had to junk it. Not what they used to be as I understand....
Yep Audi's also have known engine issues that cause their cylinders to pop ..... BMW and Audi have a few battle proven designs and a lot of very unreliable engines also ..... Just like most mfg's I guess .
It would be interesting to understand with greater clarity why the '17 X5 6 cyl seized. What would cause that engine seize for seemingly no apparent reason?
This forum had been a tremendous source of information while I have owned my 2008 997.1 C4s. With that said one thing I have disliked is the histeria around engine failure, i’s causes and those involved with it in any way. I just have always felt that it was over blown ( no pun) and that it can happen to any car, at any time. I think Jake has dropped the line a couple times that as soon as a motor is started it begins the process of destroying it self. That statement is truth.
The point of this post is not to tell you about my 911 though, thankfully it’s about my daily. My 2017 x5 a car that is almost 10 years newer with 67k miles. The BMW legendary in line six, near built proof at this point, my motor seized the other day while we were away at Mt. Washington New Hampshire. It stranded my family and I about 200 miles from home on a Sunday of a holiday weekend. The car gave no signs or indication that anything was wrong leading up to its decision to just stop doing its job.
After several attempts to start it, jump it and pray I gave up. I called in a tow and made arrangements to get my family and I home with all our ski gear. The car was bought in 2017 as a low mileage CPO. It was a courtesy car for a dealer that only had 4K miles on it. The car came with a 5 year 75k mile warranty. First thing I did when I got home was check the status of that CPO as I knew it was expiring soon. I had a feeling that what had went down was not minor and the thought of uncovered major repairs was unsettling. Luckily the coverage on the CPO runs through the end of the month!!
After speaking with service my thoughts were confirmed on the motor being toast. Seized up and in need of replacement. A new long block was sourced and covered under CPO. The new long block is 18k alone. I would imagine the labor to be another 5-6k to pull and swap all accessories on it. All told I’m guessing it’s close to a 997 rebuild. I should have the car back early next week. A rather quick turnaround given all the factors.
The point of my post is all motors can and do fail. It’s not a 997.1 thing or a 997.2 thing or a f16 x5 thing. It can happen. If you don’t have warranty coverage the prospect of footing the bill is real. Owning a high end German car is expensive. You can pay up front or on the back end. You can gamble with no coverage and you might win, or you might lose. As an owner of a almost 20 year old 911 the thought of this creeps into my mind from time to time. I’m just glad it happened to expensive German car with the warranty, not the one with out.
Originally Posted by Ironman88
It would be interesting to understand with greater clarity why the '17 X5 6 cyl seized. What would cause that engine seize for seemingly no apparent reason?
Maybe the belts backed up into the block like mentioned @ 1:39?
It would be interesting to understand with greater clarity why the '17 X5 6 cyl seized. What would cause that engine seize for seemingly no apparent reason?
Car had been running fine. No CEL of any kind. It was exceptionally cold, -17 the day before and around 0 that morning. Car started, stumbled and died. I did not think much of it other then it was cold and maybe the battery was struggling. Started a second time and it stumbled again and this time there was a faint back fire sound. After that it never turned over again.
I don’t expect to really ever know what happened. Now I’m trying to figure out what to don once it’s repaired. I can extend the CPO for two more years, they want 4K for that. I also need to know what coverage the repair has as well as what it’s worth in trade. Once I have all those data points I can figure it out.
This forum had been a tremendous source of information while I have owned my 2008 997.1 C4s. With that said one thing I have disliked is the histeria around engine failure, i’s causes and those involved with it in any way. I just have always felt that it was over blown ( no pun) and that it can happen to any car, at any time. I think Jake has dropped the line a couple times that as soon as a motor is started it begins the process of destroying it self. That statement is truth.
The point of this post is not to tell you about my 911 though, thankfully it’s about my daily. My 2017 x5 a car that is almost 10 years newer with 67k miles. The BMW legendary in line six, near built proof at this point, my motor seized the other day while we were away at Mt. Washington New Hampshire. It stranded my family and I about 200 miles from home on a Sunday of a holiday weekend. The car gave no signs or indication that anything was wrong leading up to its decision to just stop doing its job.
After several attempts to start it, jump it and pray I gave up. I called in a tow and made arrangements to get my family and I home with all our ski gear. The car was bought in 2017 as a low mileage CPO. It was a courtesy car for a dealer that only had 4K miles on it. The car came with a 5 year 75k mile warranty. First thing I did when I got home was check the status of that CPO as I knew it was expiring soon. I had a feeling that what had went down was not minor and the thought of uncovered major repairs was unsettling. Luckily the coverage on the CPO runs through the end of the month!!
After speaking with service my thoughts were confirmed on the motor being toast. Seized up and in need of replacement. A new long block was sourced and covered under CPO. The new long block is 18k alone. I would imagine the labor to be another 5-6k to pull and swap all accessories on it. All told I’m guessing it’s close to a 997 rebuild. I should have the car back early next week. A rather quick turnaround given all the factors.
The point of my post is all motors can and do fail. It’s not a 997.1 thing or a 997.2 thing or a f16 x5 thing. It can happen. If you don’t have warranty coverage the prospect of footing the bill is real. Owning a high end German car is expensive. You can pay up front or on the back end. You can gamble with no coverage and you might win, or you might lose. As an owner of a almost 20 year old 911 the thought of this creeps into my mind from time to time. I’m just glad it happened to expensive German car with the warranty, not the one with out.
All Porsche model engines have had issues starting with the 356.
As long as you buy 997 smart with PPI/Bore Scope and proper service/maintenance performed, as well as proper warm up after stating in cold climates, all should be ok
Last edited by groovzilla; 01-21-2022 at 02:13 PM.
Car had been running fine. No CEL of any kind. It was exceptionally cold, -17 the day before and around 0 that morning. Car started, stumbled and died. I did not think much of it other then it was cold and maybe the battery was struggling. Started a second time and it stumbled again and this time there was a faint back fire sound. After that it never turned over again.
I don’t expect to really ever know what happened. Now I’m trying to figure out what to don once it’s repaired. I can extend the CPO for two more years, they want 4K for that. I also need to know what coverage the repair has as well as what it’s worth in trade. Once I have all those data points I can figure it out.
In your initial comment there was a reference to being on a ski holiday. Did you happen to be climbing any very steep / long grades in the car during that trip?
Doesn't really matter of course - your car was covered by the CPO, but if there is a cause that is revealed during the repair process, it would be interesting to know what it is. (I've had many BMW's over the years and experienced problems of course, but never an engine seize event.)
As far as your warranty coverage on the repaired / replaced engine - I think it may have a 2 year warranty.
Nothing out of the ordinary. We drove into the mountains up 93 like hundreds of others, parked the car in the hotel lot. Only difference is my car decided it was done.
I had a 2011 135i that seized its motor at 29k. I bought that car CPO with maybe 18k on it back in 2013, and daily drove it for about 7 months. I took it to a track day at NHMS and the car died coming out of turn 3, wouldn't restart, and because it was a DCT, would not go into neutral. The neutral bypass didn't work so it got dragged onto the flatbed and off the flatbed and onto a trailer. Dealer covered it under warranty, and I think the total cost on the replacement was about $23k.
This was not a track bitch, either, I drove it that day because my race car was in storage and my work schedule didn't give me time to get a trailer and all that fun stuff. I ran on the OEM run flats, which are about 400 treadwear and not too grippy, so I think the motor just died. Dealer said it spun a bearing and seized when they tore it down. No way would ~ 1G kill a low mileage N55, it was a fluke. Point is, I agree with the OP, motors fail and there isn't a manufacturer who is immune. BTW I took that car to the track two more times on the new motor, and had zero issues.
Sorry to hear about your engine failure, but glad you were covered. I know all about being 200 miles from home on a family vacation on a Sunday and having a vehicle issue.
After owning our first BMW an X5 (2007 inline 6) for 2 years now (it's my daughter's car), I would never own another. It has 115k miles on it and we've owned it for 25k of those. I've spent more time and repair money on that car in that short amount of time than I've spent on my wife's 997 that has the same mileage but that we've driven for 3x as long (75k miles). In fact, I've spent more time and money on the BMW in 25k miles than I've spent on my GMC pickup in 215k miles. Other than the tire failure above, her car is our only car that has stranded it's driver and it's happened with the BMW twice.
My brother had an older M5 a few years ago in the 3 years he owned it, he spent $9k on repairs.
01-21-2022, 08:30 AM
It can happen to any car….
