Loose bolts inside a motor

[31Hertz]

No mechanical object will last in perpetuum; how much $$$ would you be obliged to pay for that? Every vehicle purchase is a calculated risk. Every turn of the ignition key on ANY vehicle could be its last. Every time you drive down the road could be your last. (jeez I should've stayed indoors) It does not matter so much WHAT you drive, but HOW you drive. Enjoy what you drive and drive what you enjoy; no matter what the marque is... We are fortunate to have vehicles whether we appreciate it or not...

[Evan]

and those who don't appreciate can buy a toyota

[Scott C]

and those who don't appreciate can buy a toyota

Naw, toyota has a oil sludge problem

[genphreak]

Yes, BMW's aren't perfect but they are known for one thing building magnifacent engines. I dont have expereince in the M30 so I dont know, but I dont think its a common problem. And the Nikasil was just a experimantal thing to save weight it didn't work so they stopped. The cooling system is annoying because you have to use $20 coolant but hey its better than a $1500 dollar engine.

Banjo bolts are an easy fix, and if tightened to spec and regularly maintained do not come loose, except perhaps on a few vehicles. Ultimately the problem was addressed.

You can't be perfect when building complex machines in a production process.

Toyota throws design, quality, panache and practically everything else to the wind to avoid these problems. BMW edoes the opposite, which is why I own, and enjoy my e34. I adjust my valves every 40,000km and loctite my banjo bolts. Haven't loosened yet, but Gale's bolts are going in next time for added insurance. $5 worth of hassle. big deal.

Nick

ps I agree the oil pump bolts looked bad, but- did it fail? And how many does this happen in? It can't be the first as lots of poeple have them- but are there many?

[rob101]

You can't be perfect when building complex machines in a production process.

man i could tell some stories about that stuff.
there is a reason that there are scientists and engineers.
Because everything has errors in it to differing magnitudes.
scientists say this is how it is, engineer says well lets see no, no and no thats not exactly right, but we can still make it work if i assume A B C and D.
perfect example, newtonian physics has been disproven, however everyone uses neutonian physics to design virtually everything around us.
and guess what everything still goes and generally stays functioning as it should, even though those theories aren't correct.

you will find the majority of engineering is science with assumptions thrown it to make the science possible to work with. so in essence the engineer still knows there are problems with everything it is nature of reality everything is wrong to some degree.
which leds me to the fact that BMW did release replacement banjo bolts in a recall to fix the problem because they did pick it up didn't they?

[chris_e34]

I've never heard of Toyota having this problem... or any other Japanese carmaker

The few times I have dealt with blown head gaskets in my own cars, have all been in Japanese cars. One exception... I blew the hg in my m60 but I knew it was going to happen (no working cooling system) and I was broke with now access to a tow truck to bring it a mile home. I was planning an engine rebuild anyway.... my point.... out of all my cars ive ever owned in similar condition, the only head gasket failure ive seen through normal use have been in Japanese cars. I drove my Pontiac 6000 over 500 miles with the temp floating around the red. Never once had a blown head gasket on that bad boy.

As for the oil pump bolts, I have not once heard about an oil pump falling off or failing due to this problem...probably because it wasn’t a wide spread issue. I just pulled my oil pan and the only thing floating around in there was a 3/8 socket that didn’t belong to me.

[yaofeng]

I don't understand some of you guys' comment, like buying a Toyota, or no mechanical object will last forever. They are beside the point. A properly designed engine should not have to be opened up to check or tighten the oil pump bolt every 50k or even 100k miles. We accept a timing chain inside an engine as not a maintenance item. By the same token, an oil pump, chain driven or otherwise, is also not an maintenance item. It should last the life of the engine.

This is clearly something BMW missed which it never admitted to be at fault, like the Nikasil issue. Fortunately the symptom seems to be limited to the V8. We owners of handmedown M60's naturally have no recourse. I just hope BMW learned this and improved the design in later poduction engine models.

Sometimes I think the cult like following is making BMW arrogant. You and I all share some responsibility.

[Scott C]

I don't understand some of you guys' comment, like buying a Toyota, or no mechanical object will last forever. They are beside the point. A properly designed engine should not have to be opened up to check or tighten the oil pump bolt every 50k or even 100k miles. We accept a timing chain inside an engine as not a maintenance item. By the same token, an oil pump, chain driven or otherwise, is also not an maintenance item. It should last the life of the engine.

This is clearly something BMW missed which it never admitted to be at fault, like the Nikasil issue. Fortunately the symptom seems to be limited to the V8. We owners of handmedown M60's naturally have no recourse. I just hope BMW learned this and improved the design in later poduction engine models.

Sometimes I think the cult like following is making BMW arrogant. You and I all share some responsibility.

While you might wish for a 100K engine that does not require opening... I prefer to think of my BMW as a sister to the Space Shuttle, which if I recall requires even MORE maint than my 10 year old car

[Alexlind123]

The m30 engine has been known to last 500,000MILES before a rebuild...if thats not fantastic engineering, i dont know what is...

[infinity5]

I have to admit i am slightly annoyed that my oil pump bolts can come loose and plop out, but i imagine modeling vibrations on an engine like this at some distant point in its service life is extremely hard to do.

I've have several problems with my car, but quite honestly the only thing i ask of my vehicles is that they don't die on me while i'm driving them, and their transmissions don't die before i sell them

you forget how high quality the parts in your car are (especially inside the cabin) until you drive and service another one. ever single time i drive another persons car, and then get back into mine i just think damn, this is smooth as silk. I imagine most high end cars are like that, but i happen to have a bmw.