Oil Cooler Busted/under carriage issue **Update: Another member with similar damage**

[991brothers]

Hey guys. So i received a message from member Oliivy1977 saying that the same situation has happened to her and that she as well will need a new engine.....


http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...0#post17444770
UPDATE 2/17/15:

So the engine lost too much oil when I pulled over to the gas station that night. I am getting a new one as we speak. Ill load up pictures of this process

http://s496.photobucket.com/user/cat_hadi/media/IMG_9051_zps20113cff.jpg.html][IMG]http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps20113cff.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

**More pictures on page 3**

1/21/15:
Saturday night I was driving home from work. I stopped at a red light, as I accelerated I heard a loud pop and my brother who happened to be driving next to me saw fluid spilling. I pulled over to the nearest gas station(not even a quarter of a mile) turned off the car and called a tow truck. As we were waiting, the fluids just kept spilling. I was sick to my stomach. I went back with my friend to see what I hit about 10 mins after. Nothing on the road....this isn't a busy street on a Saturday evening either.

We got it on the flatbed. Luckily it turned on so we can put it in neutral. But dropping it off at the dealer was a different story. The car would not turn on. It went into a fail safe mode. So what that meant was that I could not get it into neutral. It was stuck in park. Luckily the tow truck driver called in his associate that had the tow truck to lift the back and roll it off nicely. That was nice but still why would bmw make this so complicated?

Monday: the mechanics at the dealer couldn't put it in neutral. They had to lift it on the rollers and bring it to the lift. We saw the damage and by the pictures you can see what happened. What's very odd is there is NO damage on my front bumper, nor underneath it. My mechanic said this is very odd BUT....very common with the new M5 and M6. I guess I'm lucky that I'm the first M4 for them. I hope I'm the last. But as I was looking, I was very disappointed to see that bmw puts a plastic cover over this radiator. Almost felt like they cut a corner. Now I'm not an engineer, but I felt that something like oh I don't know...Metal! Should be the cover instead of plastic. You can bash me for that I really don't care. This is what all the mechanics and supervisors said when I was there. The car is being fixed(waiting for parts since the car is so new) and I should have it back soon.

I love this car and I would still buy it but the inadequate protection right underneath the front has me questioning my purchase. Let me add that I wasn't speeding. I was accelerating and was going about 30 mph. My first thought was "I'm going to need a new bumper". Nope. So odd that it's fine and still fully in tacked. I really don't know what it was that hit directly underneath me and missed the bumper. I usually see these things and go around them. This is the first time I'm dealing with this. I'm not saying this will happen to any of you, but be obviously be more watchful because my mechanic says this will happen again to someone because of insufficient protection of that radiator

[991brothers]

Reserved for pics. They didnt attach from my phone.

























While I was at the dealer i looked at the M5/6 Radiator position as well.

[Wei718]

Sorry to hear this

As for the pictures. I find it much easier to upload the pics to one of those picture hosting site and use the codes and post it on the forum rather than using this sites photo feature.

[myzmak]

Sorry to hear you had the damage and you have lost your ride for awhile.

I know little about how the undersides of radiators are typically designed/ built/ protected. Is this something you have more specific information on? Is it typical to have metal shielding there? Can others say whether this car is better or worse protected there from others (or about the same)? My guess is probably it is about the same (these aren't tanks, too much metal down low is not going to help the car out in all of the driving-related-functions) but that is purely a guess.

I suppose as well that without know what was hit it is hard to know if this was 'shit happens, bad luck' or 'design flaw'.....but it sucks in the meantime. Sorry man. On the bright side for you, you'll be rolling again before your pal Padfan9, right?

[Wei718]

Heres a pic of the tray. I agree that this should've been at least aluminum but knowing how BMW design things it'll most likely be plastics.

[JustChris]

Damn I feel for you OP. Speedy recover to your M4!

[991brothers]

Originally Posted by myzmak

Sorry to hear you had the damage and you have lost your ride for awhile.

I know little about how the undersides of radiators are typically designed/ built/ protected. Is this something you have more specific information on? Is it typical to have metal shielding there? Can others say whether this car is better or worse protected there from others (or about the same)? My guess is probably it is about the same (these aren't tanks, too much metal down low is not going to help the car out in all of the driving-related-functions) but that is purely a guess.

I suppose as well that without know what was hit it is hard to know if this was 'shit happens, bad luck' or 'design flaw'.....but it sucks in the meantime. Sorry man. On the bright side for you, you'll be rolling again before your pal Padfan9, right?

Look below. Thank Wei718 for the picture of the plastic piece


You should look up the undercarriage of an Audi R8 and tell me how well its protected.

Originally Posted by Wei718

Heres a pic of the tray. I agree that this should've been at least aluminum but knowing how BMW design things it'll most likely be plastics.

It pisses me off that it wasnt aluminum. THank you for adding a picture of this.

[djhex36]

I feel like this would be easy to lay carbon fiber over the plane of that plastic shield. It doesn't have to look pretty... it just needs to be tough.You could also cut a rectangle sheet metal piece and epoxy it.

[991brothers]

Originally Posted by M Car Chris

Damn I feel for you OP. Speedy recover to your M4!

Thank you. Luckily NO body damage whatsoever. So odd...

Originally Posted by djhex36

I feel like this would be easy to lay carbon fiber over the plane of that plastic shield. It doesn't have to look pretty... it just needs to be tough.You could also cut a rectangle sheet metal piece and epoxy it.

No it doesnt need to be eye catching. Hell I would have never seen this piece or noticed that it wasnt strong enough for situations like this if this didnt happen. But its a flaw IMHO

Speaking of, I am probably gonna talk to a shop that welds metal and see if they can make a piece like the plastic cover that BMW provided

[myzmak]

Originally Posted by HadiF82

Look below. Thank Wei718 for the picture of the plastic piece

You should look up the undercarriage of an Audi R8 and tell me how well its protected.

Hahahaha, well, don't have one handy to put up on a lift to see (don't have a lift handy either)....though a quick random internet search says this has happened to other cars, the S4 for instance.
http://www.audiworld.com/forums/s4-b...ebris-2833972/

Anyway, now that you have those pics up, damn! looks like it smashed something good and hard given the bending to the actual metal underneath that plastic shield. Shame you didn't see what it was, but going at 35 mph it must have been something solid!

[991brothers]

Originally Posted by myzmak

Hahahaha, well, don't have one handy to put up on a lift to see (don't have a lift handy either)....though a quick random internet search says this has happened to other cars, the S4 for instance.
http://www.audiworld.com/forums/s4-b...ebris-2833972/

Anyway, now that you have those pics up, damn! looks like it smashed something good and hard given the bending to the actual metal underneath that plastic shield. Shame you didn't see what it was, but going at 35 mph it must have been something solid!

Yes I know shit happens. Ill move on and this is why we have insurance. But its very disappointing for BMW to cut corners on their flagship vehicle such as the M3/4


It happened so quick and I REALLY wish I saw what it was. I want to thank it for not hurting my bumper but curse it out for the stress it put me through.

[M4TW]

One of the hazards of winter driving are those frozen blocks of shit ice that cars leave on the road. I will BOLO for them more vigilantly to avoid this sort of damage, since the radiator looks like it's in a vulnerable spot. Good luck OP on your repairs and getting back on the road.

[991brothers]

Originally Posted by M4TW

One of the hazards of winter driving are those frozen blocks of shit ice that cars leave on the road. I will BOLO for them more vigilantly to avoid this sort of damage, since the radiator looks like it's in a vulnerable spot. Good luck OP on your repairs and getting back on the road.

Thank you. It is pretty vulnerable.

[SakhirM4]

Sorry about your bad luck!! I disagree that this is a design flaw or that building a car like a tank so it can withstand anything is the right answer. If whatever hit your cooler had hit in the red circle in the picture below, it wouldn't have mattered if the piece was plastic, aluminum, or titanium. Any car has vulnerabilities, no matter how well engineered, and that does not equate to design flaws.

[gearboxtrouble]

Bad luck man. Hopefully you get your car back soon. Doesn't seem like a huge fix. Afaik this isn't a BMW only problem. I've had friend's with 997 Porsches complain about road debris taking out their AC unit. Plastics can be pretty tough and unlike Aluminum, they shouldn't deform into the radiator but shatter on a big impact. I doubt having anything other than a steel part would have helped your particular case.

[991brothers]

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

Sorry about your bad luck!! I disagree that this is a design flaw or that building a car like a tank so it can withstand anything is the right answer. If whatever hit your cooler had hit in the red circle in the picture below, it wouldn't have mattered if the piece was plastic, aluminum, or titanium. Any car has vulnerabilities, no matter how well engineered, and that does not equate to design flaws.

Attachment 1146536

Very true. Im actually more pissed about how hard it was to tow. It definitely answered the question as to if ill buy this car after the lease is up.

This is my daily too so Ill have to be extra careful. Good thing I didnt order the KW HAS spring kit

[CanAutM3]

Originally Posted by myzmak

Sorry to hear you had the damage and you have lost your ride for awhile.

I know little about how the undersides of radiators are typically designed/ built/ protected. Is this something you have more specific information on? Is it typical to have metal shielding there? Can others say whether this car is better or worse protected there from others (or about the same)? My guess is probably it is about the same (these aren't tanks, too much metal down low is not going to help the car out in all of the driving-related-functions) but that is purely a guess.

I suppose as well that without know what was hit it is hard to know if this was 'shit happens, bad luck' or 'design flaw'.....but it sucks in the meantime. Sorry man. On the bright side for you, you'll be rolling again before your pal Padfan9, right?

To make the car track worthy, BMW had to put A LOT of coolers in the front of the car. 2 radiators for the engine coolant, 2 radiators for the intercooler (not counting the intercooler itself), one DCT fluid cooler, one engine oil cooler and a radiator for the A/C. With soo many coolers to fit, the engineers had to be creative as to where to put them all and the oil cooler ended up in a spot that is more vulnerable to road hazards.

When I looking at my car (crawling under it to look at every detail), I thought to myself, ouch, that is a vulnerable spot when I looked at the oil cooler. Although I have to say, it is very well designed from an efficiency point of view.

So to answer your question, yes, IMO, the F8X is a bit more susceptible to suffer radiator damage compared to other cars.

[991brothers]

Originally Posted by gearboxtrouble

Bad luck man. Hopefully you get your car back soon. Doesn't seem like a huge fix. Afaik this isn't a BMW only problem. I've had friend's with 997 Porsches complain about road debris taking out their AC unit. Plastics can be pretty tough and unlike Aluminum, they shouldn't deform into the radiator but shatter on a big impact. I doubt having anything other than a steel part would have helped your particular case.

Im not saying this is only a problem with BMW, I know this happens. Just so odd that my bumper was not damaged at all. I wonder if something in the road just popped up. Either way, its an accident that will happen

[consolidated]

Very unlucky debris strike. I ran over a rock that was 1/4" taller than the oil pan in my lowered E90 M3, that tiny strike cost $2800. One of the reasons I don't want to drop this DD. Porsche and motorcycle radiators might as well be a dart board the way they are mounted, I've replaced a few.

[farbmw]

Sorry for what happened, but do you have a estimate on the repair?

[/// M sa]

So can it be retrofitted with a metal cover? Perhaps 3rd party designers?

[Needsdecaf]

If you cover that, you will block the airflow and defeat the purpose of the cooler.