2008 BMW X3 engine block failure

[ssbjag1]

I have a 2008 BMW X3 3.o si, manual transmission on which I am told there is an "engine coolant line seepage" which requires replacement of the engine block. The car has just over 97k miles. The description given by the dealer is:

According to BMW this cannot be resealed and requires a new engine block at the cost of over $10,000. Has anyone encountered this problem, have a fix or advice?

[atcjorg]

wow engine block failure under 100k.... sounds like manufacturer defect.....seriously under 100k ffs, good luck

[dgcantrell]

10K? WTF is it made of, gold? Why would they use two dissimilar metals to make up the engine block? Sounds like an accountant helped design some of this crap...

[zedsn]

If it were me I would put out the feelers to find the lowest mileage bone yard 3.0 motor that you could find. You might get lucky and find a cream puff motor from a totaled body.

[djnolan]

I would get 2nd and 3rd opinions. The opinion of a BMW dealer is not necessarily the opinion of BMW corporate. Check with the BMW zone or regional manager to see if they have ever heard of this problem and what they did.

In short I would raise holy **** over this.

[emoore924]

Interesting problem. I hope you get it resolved.

We are full of all kinds of good ideas here but is someone going to tell him this is the Porsche 924/944 forum? BMW is down the hall, second door on the right.

[jhowell371]

Trade it in.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by jhowell371

Trade it in.

+1... 100% manufacture defect... Separation of alloys is bad metallurgy...

Used engine, new engine case, new engine, new car. probably in that order are your options...

[CatsEyes]

Of course, there is an obscure Porsche connection here (OP was aware of this or not?)

The 2.7 litre engines in the 911 of the mid-70s had problems on account of the different heating and cooling properties of aluminium alloy head and magnesium head studs.

Porsche learned its lesson a long time ago, mind you...

[Jfrahm]

So it's ruined, but you should not attempt to reseal it. Because you might ruin it.
I assume this is posted on the 944 board so you can learn how common it is for a motor to live through some oil mixing into the coolant. No big deal, you can flush it out. Reseal it and see if it works, if you get oil and coolant mixing you just need to flush the cooling system out, presumably to sell the head or migrate it to a replacement shortblock.

I would probably try resealing it with JB weld having drained the oil and cleaned the area thoroughly and then hit it with a torch to burn off residue and then cleaning it again. If not JB Weld there is an aluminum version of the "silver dog poop" epoxy stick you could try. Whatever feels right.

If you need to replace the motor, a good long block from a part-out or maybe LKQ (ebay or their website) should be quite reasonably priced.

Cheers,
-Joel.

[dgcantrell]

You could even drill out a bit of material in the separation (of crack) and flow some JB Weld into the larger opening.

[Gawernator]

lol 944 forum