[Scottwag]

Hello
I’m looking for advice and if anyone else has had similar issues. I have a 3.5 yr old i8 with just over 10K miles. It had a 3 yr service pack on it that expired Dec 2017. It has always been to the main dealer for all servicing and oil checks and 1st MOT. It is now 6 months out of warranty and the drive train came on on Monday and oil pressure to high lit up. A chain link sound appeared for a few seconds like it came from the belt on the engine. The car is now at the bmw dealership and awaiting the diagnostic test on the computer to bring up the faults. They are so busy till next week, So I’ve left it with them. I have spoken to a friend who has a specialist bmw independent garage and he has said it sounds like the engine and timing/cambelt and could be a strip down of the engine. At the moment just waiting to see what the computer and tec guys say. I’ve been doing research into the B38 1.5 3 cylinder engine and it’s the same in a mini and a similar situation occurred in 2016. As you can guess I’m fuming that an i8 of 3.5 yrs old and just over 10k miles is showing faults like this. I’m definitely going in with info I’ve found and the internet and wanting BMW to foot the bill as this should not be happening on this car. I know I’m out of warranty by 6 months but surely they should show some good will and pay bill if it’s going to be a major job. I will spk to customer services and I could easily go to the press and auto magazines to say that a car of that age and mileage should not be having those type of engine issues.
Any advise would be welcome.

[NGR]

Originally Posted by Scottwag

Hello
I’m looking for advice and if anyone else has had similar issues. I have a 3.5 yr old i8 with just over 10K miles. It had a 3 yr service pack on it that expired Dec 2017. It has always been to the main dealer for all servicing and oil checks and 1st MOT. It is now 6 months out of warranty and the drive train came on on Monday and oil pressure to high lit up. A chain link sound appeared for a few seconds like it came from the belt on the engine. The car is now at the bmw dealership and awaiting the diagnostic test on the computer to bring up the faults. They are so busy till next week, So I’ve left it with them. I have spoken to a friend who has a specialist bmw independent garage and he has said it sounds like the engine and timing/cambelt and could be a strip down of the engine. At the moment just waiting to see what the computer and tec guys say. I’ve been doing research into the B38 1.5 3 cylinder engine and it’s the same in a mini and a similar situation occurred in 2016. As you can guess I’m fuming that an i8 of 3.5 yrs old and just over 10k miles is showing faults like this. I’m definitely going in with info I’ve found and the internet and wanting BMW to foot the bill as this should not be happening on this car. I know I’m out of warranty by 6 months but surely they should show some good will and pay bill if it’s going to be a major job. I will spk to customer services and I could easily go to the press and auto magazines to say that a car of that age and mileage should not be having those type of engine issues.
Any advise would be welcome.

I think I'd be slightly dis-chuffed as well.

It will be very expensive if timing chain (I think they're chain driven engines), but seriously push this with BMW for some goodwill. The dealer will apply to BMW UK on your behalf but I'd be in touch with them myself as this will be costly. Hopefully BMW (if it is this serious) will do an engine swap and take the old one for analysis.

A friend of mine had his V8 M3 engine go south due to the bottom end falling apart (it was a rod or bearing problem) and BMW gave him a NEW engine (£20k), they had some costs for fitting but nothing like 20k. The car was 4 or 5 years old at the time and out of warranty.

[Scottwag]

Thank you for getting in touch. I’m calleing then today to see when they can get the car in to do all the checks. Yes I’m definitely going down the good will line. Cheers

[DDave]

Isn’t the factory drivetrain warranty covered for many more years and miles than the 4/year warranty?

[Scottwag]

I’m not sure I’m the Uk the warranty is 3 yrs. USA is bumper to bumper warranty 4yrs. One of the faults that showed up was to do with the Vanos max adjustment being stuck. After googling the tec term it could be a seal on the Vanos part of the engine as the engine oil pressure was showing as well which is part of the Vanos mechanism. When they do the diognostic on Wednesday I should hopefully know more, but I’m definitely not paying for it when it’s on only just gone out of warranty and just over 10k miles.

[zagaboo]

Push for goodwill, I'd be amazed if they do not contribute.

However, for the love of god, why did you not extend the warranty on such a complex car?
From another thread on here, its quite reasonable at around £1K. (Eg Audi charge £2k+ on the R8)

[FrequentFlyer]

I hope there is some goodwill for such a low mileage. I had the Vanos seals suddenly go on my M5 a few years back at 30k miles and it made quite a mess with Oil at very high pressure all over the cylinder head and contaminating the air intakes/MAFs/filters. Driveable to the dealer after the BMW Assist technician checked it out but it took 4 days to get it cleaned up and fixed (under warranty thankfully). 10k Miles seems very low for BMW to walk away from so fingers crossed.

[NGR]

Originally Posted by DDave

Isn’t the factory drivetrain warranty covered for many more years and miles than the 4/year warranty?

UK warranty is 3 years, you can extend by paying - I would recommend everybody to do this.

BMW are usually good with supporting high-end cars out of warranty but you have no guarantee.