[JFWM3]

I can certainly empathize.

I had a modified E92 M3 violently fail due to rod bearings - no warranty, had to get a donor motor. The failure was so violent the connecting rods sawed the block in half and sawed into the rack and pinion housing. I was going slow, but this could have resulted in injury. The repairs cost me around $20k all in.


And I had my super rare 30k F06 M6 6MT Individual Series seize during a BMW Dealer oil change service. They were bringing the car around to me when it seized. Fortunately it was 6 months prior to original warranty expiry. At first I was upset, then just said “well, I’m just glad it happened in your hands”. It cost BMW $60k to change the engine. After my M3 failure I did buy the extended warranty on this car. I will say they did a great job on the new engine install, not a leak, all wires and vacuum hoses connected and they went above and beyond to look after me. The car drives great now and has an additional 2 year warranty on the engine. The Dealer treats me like royalty after this experience.

Couple take aways from all this:
- BMW Engineering either doesn’t know how to spec a bearing, or BMW Purchasing buys the cheapest bearing out there. Either way, they have a major issue, and they should pony up for their loyal M car buyers.
- I learned the hard way, after my first failure I bought the extended warranty
- Service your car at the Dealer if it’s in warranty, it just takes an excuse away if there’s a problem.
- Escalate to a BMW Area Rep if you do have a failure. It is not unreasonable to have them participate in the repair. Particularly if the car had all service records and no mods. BMW should stand behind their product.
- Having had two failures, and reading about the frequency of the failures, it can give owners a sense of anxiety. Sometimes it can put a dark cloud over the whole M car experience It makes you feel like - ok, I have a 200 mile drive tomorrow for a business meeting, will I get there?


Thoughts are with you, hopefully you can get to the other side without destroying your pocket book or faith in BMW.