...yet another Drivetrain Malfunction

[BoostinChick]

I have 9k miles and not tuned or any major mods. The message would come on intermittently and I could not replicate the issue on demand. No cold start issues and it never stalled or cut out on me. It drove fine other than that message randomly popping up.

I took it to the dealer, and after an extensive amount of logs being sent over to Germany, I got the call today that they need to replace the heads. They said that my nBar (I could have heard this incorrectly) values were off and this is an engineering defect. Has anyone else heard of this? I did make sure to ask and have them verify it's not the crank hub.

[n8dgr84]

Seems like you got bad luck.
Sorry to hear about that.

But - good news that it's covered under warranty!

[scoale]

Originally Posted by BoostinChick

I have 9k miles and not tuned or any major mods. The message would come on intermittently and I could not replicate the issue on demand. No cold start issues and it never stalled or cut out on me. It drove fine other than that message randomly popping up.

I took it to the dealer, and after an extensive amount of logs being sent over to Germany, I got the call today that they need to replace the heads. They said that my nBar (I could have heard this incorrectly) values were off and this is an engineering defect. Has anyone else heard of this? I did make sure to ask and have them verify it's not the crank hub.

How is someone who goes by "BoostinChick" not tuned

I know you're not, because BMW would not cover if you were, but

[RoundelM3]

"The heads", as in plural? There's only one cylinder head on your inline-six. Ask them to email you a copy of their diagnosis - none of this sounds right.

[BoostinChick]

Originally Posted by scoale

How is someone who goes by "BoostinChick" not tuned

I know you're not, because BMW would not cover if you were, but

...I was waiting to pass the 10k mark before I really started modding it

Originally Posted by RoundelM3

"The heads", as in plural? There's only one cylinder head on your inline-six. Ask them to email you a copy of their diagnosis - none of this sounds right.

I got an update today, they said head (singular) I misspoke on my original post. I asked them to email me a copy of the diagnosis but they are still waiting for another head from Germany. Once I get a copy of what's going on I will be sure to post it as I found this very very odd as well.

[BoostinChick]

Finally got it back from BMW and here is the story. $18k later of parts and labor covered under warranty (thankfully).

Tl;dr - fault in vanos function that caused abnormal wear on camshaft bearing and cap.