Spun my crank timing gear: dealer fixes under warranty with "Grip Disc"

[MKovac]

So! It happened!

I was coming off of I-95 after some spirited driving, throwing some downshifts in sport when it happened. "Drivetrain Malfunction" pops up and boom, limp mode. Immediately furious and perplexed about the situation I pull into my friends shop and hook her up to the autologic. 3 codes pop up.

130E20 Intake camshaft: Angle deviation with respect to crankshaft outside tolerance

130F20 Exhaust camshaft: Angle deviation with respect to crankshaft outside tolerance

120408 Charging pressure control, deactivation: Pressure build-up blocked

I knew it... the rumors and numerous accounts of similar problems led me to one conclusion. Spun crank hub/timing gear. I call my advisor at the local BMW dealer and set up an appointment. A loaner is a week away. Great... A week later I drop her off and have a loose conversation with the advisor. My first question was "how many of these do you get in with spun crank hubs?" He looks perplexed and confused. Apparently between the two local stores that they own, they haven't had many occurrences so none of the advisors seemed to be on the up and up with the s55's achilles heel.

The next day I get a call... "There is a timing issue with the motor and we will be replacing it under warranty, we are just waiting on some information from BMW" *cough* PUMA *cough*
I get an update... "All signs point to an overrev so most likely we will be replacing the motor, we are waiting on BMW to OK the repair"
Ok. Now I get nervous. I drive the car hard, but never have I ever over-reved it. I know that..

I come in person to talk to the service manager and do the whole dog-and-pony show. Apparently they got the info back from PUMA and there was certainly never an overrev that occurred, which was confirmed by the report.

The shop foreman and I had a chat about non-keyed crank hubs blah blah... Made a comment about how they carefully inspect the car for a flash or piggyback in situations like this...

*disclaimer*
For all you guys having fun with tuned f80s, be careful before you bring it in. Pull everything off. They will void the repair under warranty.
*disclaimer*

They then explain to me that they are remediating the issues with a "Grip Disc." Some sort of washer that provides a high friction surface for the mating points of the hub and crank. Talking to another tech I learned that a similar washer is used by AMG on camshaft sprockets. The washers actually have diamond dust adhered to the surfaces of the washer so that it "bites" when you torque it down. It seems to be something that can be understood in the terms of a locking washer when used in machined hardware. Simple fix... Well, in theory

Either way I have my car back now and all is well. Be forewarned and mark my words, in the used car market for f80s in the future this will be the equivalent of rod bearings in s54/s62 M cars. Do everything in your power to get this repair done prior to the warranty expiring!!! I would hope in the near future BMW decides to be proactive and issue a recall... Shame on them if they don't. FYI I have some mild bolt ons and a 2016MY 6MT SO F80. Nothing crazy...

Best of luck to everyone with the issue and happy holidays!

[Super Spartan]

Thanks for the detailed report man. Good luck

[DS_BMW]

What is the peak RPM the motor reached? They should have all that info.

[clutchdj]

So you have a manual gear box?
Can you confirm whether or not motor was in sport or sport plus at the time of the hub failure?

Thank you

[GrussGott]

Oh boy. That sucks it happened to you ... but ...

The failure seems to be at a very low level of incidence and thus likely within the tolerance of the parts involved - meaning it's a 1 in fuckton occurrence. You don't issue a recall for something that rare, you address it under warranty, which is the whole entire reason for warranties.

When you buy a car that's out of warranty you're taking on the sum of the mean-time-to-failure of all of the parts, knowing you're going to wrench on it yourself or pay someone to do it, and the price of the car should reflect that. It's only by luck that design + materials + assembly come together into a package that rarely fails.

Which is why I never take a loan or pay cash for one of these cars, and never have them outside of warranty - i just don't have time for that shit right now and would much rather have BMWFS take on those risks for me.

[JamesGames]

Originally Posted by MKovac

So! It happened!

I was coming off of I-95 after some spirited driving, throwing some downshifts in sport when it happened. "Drivetrain Malfunction" pops up and boom, limp mode. Immediately furious and perplexed about the situation I pull into my friends shop and hook her up to the autologic. 3 codes pop up.

130E20 Intake camshaft: Angle deviation with respect to crankshaft outside tolerance

130F20 Exhaust camshaft: Angle deviation with respect to crankshaft outside tolerance

120408 Charging pressure control, deactivation: Pressure build-up blocked

I knew it... the rumors and numerous accounts of similar problems led me to one conclusion. Spun crank hub/timing gear. I call my advisor at the local BMW dealer and set up an appointment. A loaner is a week away. Great... A week later I drop her off and have a loose conversation with the advisor. My first question was "how many of these do you get in with spun crank hubs?" He looks perplexed and confused. Apparently between the two local stores that they own, they haven't had many occurrences so none of the advisors seemed to be on the up and up with the s55's achilles heel.

The next day I get a call... "There is a timing issue with the motor and we will be replacing it under warranty, we are just waiting on some information from BMW" *cough* PUMA *cough*
I get an update... "All signs point to an overrev so most likely we will be replacing the motor, we are waiting on BMW to OK the repair"
Ok. Now I get nervous. I drive the car hard, but never have I ever over-reved it. I know that..

I come in person to talk to the service manager and do the whole dog-and-pony show. Apparently they got the info back from PUMA and there was certainly never an overrev that occurred, which was confirmed by the report.

The shop foreman and I had a chat about non-keyed crank hubs blah blah... Made a comment about how they carefully inspect the car for a flash or piggyback in situations like this...

*disclaimer*
For all you guys having fun with tuned f80s, be careful before you bring it in. Pull everything off. They will void the repair under warranty.
*disclaimer*

They then explain to me that they are remediating the issues with a "Grip Disc." Some sort of washer that provides a high friction surface for the mating points of the hub and crank. Talking to another tech I learned that a similar washer is used by AMG on camshaft sprockets. The washers actually have diamond dust adhered to the surfaces of the washer so that it "bites" when you torque it down. It seems to be something that can be understood in the terms of a locking washer when used in machined hardware. Simple fix... Well, in theory

Either way I have my car back now and all is well. Be forewarned and mark my words, in the used car market for f80s in the future this will be the equivalent of rod bearings in s54/s62 M cars. Do everything in your power to get this repair done prior to the warranty expiring!!! I would hope in the near future BMW decides to be proactive and issue a recall... Shame on them if they don't. FYI I have some mild bolt ons and a 2016MY 6MT SO F80. Nothing crazy...

Best of luck to everyone with the issue and happy holidays!

Glad to hear your car is fixed! Would you mind posting two things?

1) The service report of the repair order
2) Your build date of your model 16

Thanks in advance.

[JoeyBananas]

What year is your Car?

[CaryTheLabelGuy]

Originally Posted by JamesGames

Glad to hear your car is fixed! Would you mind posting two things?

1) The service report of the repair order
2) Your build date of your model 16

Thanks in advance.

^^^^^^this.

Especially, repair order.

Also, how many miles did you have on the car?

Sorry to hear this happened, glad to hear it was resolved.

[Kbueno]

Any more details on this washer fix? First I've heard of this...

[dr.mba]

subscribed!

M

[Nothing]

Crap, your car is manual. I was really hoping this (somehow) was more an issue with DCTs. I'm getting more and more anxious about this issue. How the hell do we have a sports car that can't be driven appropriately without running the risk of breaking?

[SakhirM4]

Originally Posted by Nothing

Crap, your car is manual. I was really hoping this (somehow) was more an issue with DCTs. I'm getting more and more anxious about this issue. How the hell do we have a sports car that can't be driven appropriately without running the risk of breaking?

There are thousands of F8X cars out there, beginning almost 3 years ago, that have not had this problem. Drive your car and enjoy it!!

[kitesurfer]

Is your car a ZCP?

[M-Pilot]

Originally Posted by kitesurfer

Is your car a ZCP?

This is what I'm wondering as well!

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by Nothing

How the hell do we have a sports car that can't be driven appropriately without running the risk of breaking?

I think you might want to read your sentence again and see if you spot anything that doesn't make complete sense.

If you still can't spot it, turn on the TV, find any auto race, and pay attention to when the cars pull off the track. If that doesn't work, drive to the nearest german auto repair shop and ask them if they've ever had a "sports car" come in with "broken things".

Spoiler Alert: I bet they've seen broken things once or twice.

[04RC51]

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

Drive your car and enjoy it!!

There is an increasing number of people who are not capable of this any longer.

[ross22]

What month 2016 is the build?

Subscribed.

[Skid123]

Originally Posted by CaryTheLabelGuy

^^^^^^this.

Especially, repair order.

Also, how many miles did you have on the car?

Sorry to hear this happened, glad to hear it was resolved.

+1 on repair order. Would love to know how much it cost.

Glad that OP's car is fixed and back in action, all covered under warranty. The fix they put in should be quite durable; I hope they incorporate it into the production line already...

[Wills2]

"Mild bolt ons" Does that mean the car isn't stock?

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by Wills2

"Mild bolt ons" Does that mean the car isn't stock?

Mild bolt ons here usually means downpipe, which usually also comes with bench flash or jb4...

Totally guessing here but when car was brought into friend's shop, return to stock parts was part of the diagnosing

[nike001]

Is this an easy enough task with the washer that it can be done via a recall? Or are we all going to spin our crank hubs to get it fixed..?

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by nike001

Is this an easy enough task with the washer that it can be done via a recall? Or are we all going to spin our crank hubs to get it fixed..?

It's the latter because there's no good "fix" for things that aren't broken.

As an example, right after you get your washer you could go into surgery and have stents put in the blood vessels around your heart on the theory that lots of people eventually get clogged arteries so you might as well get those stents put in now. (BTW, you're WAY more likely to get heart disease than your car is to have a spun crank hub)

In case you're tempted to go into surgery today, FYI it turns out that's not a good idea.