[TheLeusOne]

95 degree day here the other day and I was driving along in my 2011 N55 335i and the motor blew... 50mph is apparently dangerous? Mild tune (Cobb stage 1) with intercooler and intake...nothing crazy. Anyway... Took off the valve cover/plugs and the cylinder is marred, rod probably bent...shop looked too and I need a new motor. Anyone have any experience with used engine providers for our cars? All suggestions welcome. North Carolina area...

Thanks In advance,
Matt

[Herakles]

man that sounds crazy. I have a stock 2011.. one of the resons i dont want to mod are stories like this? And your relatively light mod wise too.

The cost to replace the engine has to be insane.

[stanlalee]

You are looking at about $1500-2000 labor. If it were an N54 you can find them all day for $2500 but as you would expect being newer and less plentiful used N55s will be in the $3500-5000 range. car-part.com and ebay are your friends. Since the late 90s I've probably bought 3 or 4 transmissions using car-part.com

[alexg212]

Something is off. There had to be underlying issues with the motor before hand. Cobb's tunes are very conservative.

[WTF?]

Bent rod means something mechanical happened. Not tune. Drive through water? Injector go static open? Something is up.

[Eddien123]

With your mods you listed I can assure you it wasn't their fault. I think there was an underlying issue here. Especially if you were just cruising along at 1700 rpm or whatever. Rods just don't bend like that.

[Ozzie335i]

Originally Posted by WTF?

Bent rod means something mechanical happened. Not tune. Drive through water? Injector go static open? Something is up.

On N54 the guys talk about rod failures due to their injectors sticking. Unburned fuel then gets in the oil. The oil thins out and the rod bearings spin due to metal to metal contact between the rod bearing and the crank. It goes downhill from there. We mustn't ignore that ringing sound of a spun bearing. And certainly not get on it after hearing it. Good luck on this OP.

[TheLeusOne]

Originally Posted by Ozzie335i

On N54 the guys talk about rod failures due to their injectors sticking. Unburned fuel then gets in the oil. The oil thins out and the rod bearings spin due to metal to metal contact between the rod bearing and the crank. It goes downhill from there. We mustn't ignore that ringing sound of a spun bearing. And certainly not get on it after hearing it. Good luck on this OP.

Thanks guys... Yeah, definitely wasn't pushing the car, and didn't hear any odd noises until it shut off and it wouldn't restart. I did not run through any puddles or anything of that nature. Maybe the injector did go bad and caused this incident? I'll be sure I investigate that fully before the new engine goes in. I am glad to hear my mods shouldn't be the cause... I don't have anything wild done. I did have the oil changed on Friday, it sat for two days over the 4th of July weekend, and then this happened on Tuesday. The car seemed to be running well and strong leading up to this.

[TheLeusOne]

Originally Posted by alexg212

Something is off. There had to be underlying issues with the motor before hand. Cobb's tunes are very conservative.

That's what I thought too... I rarely wring the car out to redline or even close.

[TheLeusOne]

Originally Posted by Herakles

man that sounds crazy. I have a stock 2011.. one of the resons i dont want to mod are stories like this? And your relatively light mod wise too.

The cost to replace the engine has to be insane.

Found a used motor, total cost of the motor is about $5k for anyone who is curious. It is used, 37k miles on the clock and it comes with a 2 year warranty... So there's that at least. Labor on the install is 28.8 hours per BMW so it comes out to about $3400 (Indy shop not dealerships). I have them doing some preventative things along with the swap to try and prevent anything in the near future so total,it comes out to about $10k after tax.

[Greyfox]

Originally Posted by TheLeusOne

Found a used motor, total cost of the motor is about $5k for anyone who is curious. It is used, 37k miles on the clock and it comes with a 2 year warranty... So there's that at least. Labor on the install is 28.8 hours per BMW so it comes out to about $3400 (Indy shop not dealerships). I have them doing some preventative things along with the swap to try and prevent anything in the near future so total,it comes out to about $10k after tax.

And I will guarantee you, that somewhere in the warranty paperwork states modifications will immediately void the warranty.

[Hacksaw]

Good to hear you found a replacement. Sounds about right cost wise.

As far as the prior motor I agree something is mechanically wrong to have that happen like that. The stuck injector theory has some weight. I doubt your mods are the root cause.

And as stated, check that warranty. I bet you won't be covered if it goes boom.