2012 BMW 528XI

MY 2012 528XI HAS 117K MILES ON IT. WHILE I WAS ON A LONG ROAD TRIP, DRIVING ON I-95 AT 1AM ON A FRIDAY NIGHT, WITHOUT ANY WEIRD ENGINE NOISES OR ANYTHING OUT OF THE NORM, THE CAR DISPLAYED A WARNING MESSAGE THAT SAID "DRIVETRAIN MALFUNCTION" IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY WARNING "ENGINE OIL PRESSURE LOW" WARNING. WITHIN A FEW SECONDS, THE ENGINE SHUT OFF AND THE CAR TOLD ME TO PULL OVER SAFELY. LUCKILY, THERE WAS A NICE BIG SHOULDER AND THERE WAS NO TRAFFIC AROUND, SO I WAS ABLE TO SAFELY COAST TO A STOP. HAD THE CAR TOWED 100 MILES TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC, AND HE SAID THERE WAS NO OIL PRESSURE, SO THERE WAS TOO MUCH FRICTION DUE TO LACK OF LUBRICATION, WHICH SEIZED THE CAMSHAFT AND CAUSED JUMPED TIMING. I'VE HAD A LOT OF "VERY UNUSUAL" (MECHANIC'S WORDS) ISSUES WITH THIS CAR, OF COURSE ALL OUT OF WARRANTY. AND NOW THE ENGINE IS COMPLETELY FRIED. I CAN SPEND ANOTHER $11K TO PUT A BRAND NEW ENGINE IN THERE, BUT THE CAR ITSELF ISN'T WORTH $11K ANYMORE. LOTS OF OTHER PEOPLE HAVE THE SAME ISSUE. HASN'T BEEN REPORTED TO NHTSA BUT CAN FIND IT ON BMW ENTHUSIAST FORUMS (LIKE BIMMERFEST DOT COM).

VEHICLE MESSAGED ME WHILE DRIVING THAT OIL PRESSURE WAS LOW. STOPPED, AND RESTARTED WITH NO ISSUES. INVESTIGATED ONLINE AND DISCOVERED THAT THE ENGINE HAD A WELL KNOWN PROBLEM WITH THE TIMING GUIDES BECOMING BRITTLE AND DISINTEGRATING SENDING PARTS INTO THE SPROCKETS AND THE OIL SENSORS. ALSO CHAIN MAKES A WHINING NOISE IF AFFECTED. HAD THE VEHICLE TOWED TO DEALERSHIP WHERE THE TIMING CHAIN GUIDES WERE DIAGNOSED AS BEING THE PROBLEM. OUT OF EXTENDED WARRANTY (7YR/70K) BY ONE YEAR AND 5K MILES. BMW KNOWS OF THE PROBLEM AND REFUSES TO VOLUNTARILY RECALL AFFECTED VEHICLES. COULD RESULT IN CATASTROPHIC ENGINE FAILURE AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS AND RESULT IN A SERIOUS ACCIDENT.

I BOUGHT A CERTIFIED BMW AND HAD CONTINUOUS ISSUES WITH MY ENGINE, CONSTANTLY REFILLING THE OIL, EVEN AFTER SERVICE. AFTER TAKING THIS TO THE DEALER, I WAS TOLD THAT EVERYTHING WAS FINE AND THERE WEREN'T ANY ISSUES. ALL OF THIS FINALLY CAME TO A HEAD-ON SUNDAY, 6/21/2020 WHEN MY CAR FINALLY CAME TO AN ABRUPT STOP. AFTER TOWING, I WAS TOLD THAT THIS IS A TIMING CHAIN ISSUE AND WOULD COST ME $7,400 WHICH WOULDN'T NECESSARILY REMEDY THE ISSUE, I HEARD THIS COULD REACH TOWARDS 15-20K. I FIND THIS HARD TO BELIEVE AFTER HAVING ONLY DRIVEN THIS CAR ON AVG 8K/YEAR AND HAVING ROUGHLY 84K MILES IN TOTAL. MY EXPERIENCE WITH BMW HAS SINCE BEEN PAINFUL TO SAY THE LEAST SINCE. I'VE HAD THIS TOWED TWICE IN 2 DAYS, BEEN GIVEN AN ULTIMATUM ON EITHER FIXING THE VEHICLE OR BUYING A NEW ONE - WHEN ASKING FOR A LOANER, I WAS TOLD THAT I NEEDED CONTACT ENTERPRISE AND RESERVE ONE ON MY OWN. I'VE OWNED MULTIPLE GERMAN CARS AND NEVER HAD TO DEAL WITH THIS LEVEL OF UNPROFESSIONALISM. *TR

MY 2012 BMW 528 XDRIVE SUDDENLY GOT A WARNING LOW OIL PRESSURE FOLLOWS BY DRIVE TRAIN MALFUNCTION, AND SLOWS DOWN-WENT ON NEUTRAL AND STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. ALL THAT HAPPENED WITHIN LESS THAN A MINUTE. I GOT IT TOWED TO THE BMW DEALERSHIP FOR A DIAGNOSTIC AND THEY TOLD ME THAT THE TIMING CHAIN GUIDE HAS BROKEN APART, TIMING CHAIN CAME OFF, JUMPED TIME, STARVED ENGINE FOR OIL & CONTAMINATED ENGINE AND WILL REQUIRE A WHOLE NEW ENGINE REPLACE WHICH WILL COST AROUND $13756.56 +LABOR+TAX MY TOTAL WAS $ 16456. I FOUND OUT I AM NOT ALONE AND THIS IS A KNOWN PROBLEM WITH BMW OF THIS MAKE AND MODEL. I ALSO CALLED THE BMW NORTH AMERICA THEY TOLD ME THAT THE EXTENDED WARRANTY WAS ONLY UP TO 70,000 MILES AND THEY CAN NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, MY CAR FAILS AT 105K MILES. I THINK BMW MUST STAND BEHIND THERE PRODUCT. WE CAN NOT BUY AN EXPENSIVE CAR LIKE BMW WITH AN ENGINE LIFE IS LESS THAN 8YRS.

TURBO CHARGER SYSTEM IS AFFECTED DUE TO THE ENGINE OIL FILTER HOUSING FAILING WHICH CAUSED OIL TO TRANSFER THROUGH OUT THE TURBO SYSTEM INTO THE COOLANT RESERVOIR RESULTING IN BLACK SLUDGE THAT CAUSED MY CAR TO STALL AND NOT RUN AND HAVE TO BE TOWED. EVERY SINCE THIS RECALL ISSUE MY CAR GIVES THE DRIVE-TRAIN MALFUNCTION WARNING WHICH WHEN DIAGNOSED INDICATES LOW TURBO BOOST PRESSURE WHICH I'M CERTAIN HAS TO DO WITH THE BLACK SLUDGE THAT RAN THROUGH THE TURBO SYSTEM AND COOLANT SYSTEM BECAUSE OF THE ENGINE OIL FILTER HOUSING FAILING. A SOFTWARE UPDATE WAS RECOMMENDED THAT BMW IS NOT WILLING TO PAY FOR OR I NEED TO PAY $3660 TO REPLACE THE TURBO CHARGER WHICH I TRULY BELIEVE IS THE RESULT OF THE OIL FILTER HOUSING FAIL AND OIL LEAKING INTO THE TURBO SYSTEM AND THE COOLANT SYSTEM.

IN OCT. 2015 I PULLED OUT OF MY STREET INTO TRAFFIC AND LOST ALL POWER. " DRIVETRAIN MALFUNCTION" DISPLAYED ON DASH, THE CAR LOSES ALL POWER AND GOES INTO "LIMP" MODE, GOES LIKE 5 MPH MAX. THANKFULLY I GOT IT OFF THE STREET WITHOUT BEING HIT, TURNED IT OFF AND RESTARTED IT, DISPLAY WAS GONE AND I WAS ABLE TO DRIVE IT NORMALLY. AFTER MY HEARTRATE SLOWED AND I GOT TO THE OFFICE I CALLED AND MADE AN APPT. TO HAVE IT LOOKED AT. IT HAD 48K MILES AT THE TIME OF THE FIRST INCIDENT AND STILL UNDER WARRANTY. AFTER LEAVING IT WITH THE DEALER FOR OVER A WEEK, THEY TOLD ME THAT THEY REPROGRAMMED THE CAR TO THE LATEST SOFTWARE AND SHOULD BE FINE. NOW FAST-FORWARD TO JAN 2016, 54K MILES, MY WIFE WAS DRIVING IT ALONG AND SAME THING HAPPENED, "POWERTRAIN MALFUNCTION" DISPLAYED ON DASH CAR WENT INTO LIMP MODE, THERE WAS NO WHERE TO PULL OVER IN MORNING RUSH HOUR, HAD TO PUT HAZARDS ON UNTIL SHE COULD GET TO A SAFE LOCATION TO PULL OVER. TURNED IT OFF, RESTARTED AND WAS ABLE TO DRIVE AGAIN. SHE WAS VERY SCARED AND SHAKEN. CALLED THE DEALER FROM WHICH WE BOUGHT IT NEW AND AM TAKING IT IN TODAY. THUS, AFTER RESEARCHING THIS ISSUE IT SEEMS TO BE A COMMON OCCURRENCE WHICH HAS BEEN GOING ON WITH BMW'S. BEFORE SOMEONE GETS HURT OR KILLED SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE TO MAKE SURE THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN. FROM WHAT I'VE READ I AM NOT THE ONLY BMW OWNER WHO HAS EXPERIENCED THIS PROBLEM!