# Have any 04 M3 engines failed yet?



## bimmerguy (Dec 26, 2001)

I have not seen any new mentions on Jason's site.


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## Lori (Sep 21, 2002)

Perish the thought.


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## daihard (Feb 15, 2004)

bimmerguy said:


> I have not seen any new mentions on Jason's site.


Given that the MY2004 cars have been manufactured for only 4 months, I don't think their owners have racked up enough miles to cause any serious problem with the engine. I, for one, picked mine up in January (11/2003 production) and am taking it in for the 1,200-mile maintenance tomorrow.


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## bimmerguy (Dec 26, 2001)

daihard said:


> Given that the MY2004 cars have been manufactured for only 4 months, I don't think their owners have racked up enough miles to cause any serious problem with the engine. I, for one, picked mine up in January (11/2003 production) and am taking it in for the 1,200-mile maintenance tomorrow.


Good point.....

My concern is that the new extended engine warranty only covers up to 03.

This whole mess is causing me to having second thoughts about ordering one.


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## daihard (Feb 15, 2004)

bimmerguy said:


> My concern is that the new extended engine warranty only covers up to 03.
> 
> This whole mess is causing me to having second thoughts about ordering one.


I tend to believe that BMW has done whatever it can to stablize the latest S54 engine so the extended warranty will not be necessary anymore. Well, I am optimistic by nature.


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## leswong1 (Dec 21, 2003)

*M3*

Picking up my 04 Imola Red M3 today..Don't scare me bout the engine.


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## daihard (Feb 15, 2004)

leswong1 said:


> Picking up my 04 Imola Red M3 today..Don't scare me bout the engine.


No worries... Hey, what are you gonna do with your 330i ZHP?


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## Pinecone (Apr 3, 2002)

BMW has figured out the problem and fixed it, therefore no more extended warranty.

DOes this mean NO more failures? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

There are always a small number of engine failures, even on low stress engines. A certain, small but measurable, number of engines will fail, the more highly stressed the more likely of some failures.

How will BMW handle it? WHo knows, but they are not likely to screw up as badly the second time.

And anyway, the vast majority of failures occured well within the normal warranty.


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## leswong1 (Dec 21, 2003)

*Zhp*



daihard said:


> No worries... Hey, what are you gonna do with your 330i ZHP?


Dealer is taking it back, faulty engine..


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## sky (Aug 22, 2003)

leswong1 said:


> Dealer is taking it back, faulty engine..


:yikes: Wow!! How many miles did you have on your ZHP? It seems that the 
zhp engine has some problems with it. Some of the posts/threads indicate
that it has some idling/stalling problems...what was wrong with yours?


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## leswong1 (Dec 21, 2003)

sky said:


> :yikes: Wow!! How many miles did you have on your ZHP? It seems that the
> zhp engine has some problems with it. Some of the posts/threads indicate
> that it has some idling/stalling problems...what was wrong with yours?


Car had only 2000 miles. Only running on 5 cylinders, they said its an air leak from one of the pistons.


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## sky (Aug 22, 2003)

leswong1 said:


> Car had only 2000 miles. Only running on 5 cylinders, they said its an air leak from one of the pistons.


At least the dealer took it back. How many times did you have it at the dealer
before they finally decided that it wasn't fixable? I hope they gave you a good
deal for the M3. :thumbup:


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## bimmerguy (Dec 26, 2001)

Pinecone said:


> BMW has figured out the problem and fixed it, therefore no more extended warranty.
> 
> DOes this mean NO more failures? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
> 
> ...


I know a small number of engines will always fail, though I have yet to hear of a single failure of a G35 coupe(other fav 6 cyl.) type of engine.

My concern is at first they blamed the owner for overreving, it was not until later when many more failures occured that they realized it was a build problem.

I sometimes wonder if it were not for the internet and message boards, would there have been another outcome to this issue?


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## Pinecone (Apr 3, 2002)

bimmerguy said:


> I know a small number of engines will always fail, though I have yet to hear of a single failure of a G35 coupe(other fav 6 cyl.) type of engine.
> 
> My concern is at first they blamed the owner for overreving, it was not until later when many more failures occured that they realized it was a build problem.
> 
> I sometimes wonder if it were not for the internet and message boards, would there have been another outcome to this issue?


Just because you haven't heard of it, doesn't mean is hasn't happened. 

And yes they blamed them for over reving, but some people fought that on their own due to the lower end damage, versus head damage.

And yes, if it hadn't been for a good bit of work by a lot of people, it may not have turned out so well, but most likely it would have, it would have just taken longer and BMW would have been hurt that much more over it.

Figure they couldn't blame US drivers when German's started blwoing up engines.

But the bottom line is, as far as anyone can tell so far, BMW has fixed the problem.


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## glaws (Feb 21, 2002)

On the upside, my 02 M3 has 27K faultless miles on it and I know there are people with over 80K.:thumbup:


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## flashinthepan (Jul 25, 2003)

How about this one...

Our Toyota 4Runner motor blew !! after perfect everything since new in 1998, she had 70K miles and BOOM !!! luckily we were under the extended warranty & have a factory rebuild (whew!).

Sh*t Happens !!!

And to think..."Dont ever buy a warranty - waste of money", I have a $6,000 reciept that says the extended warranty was worth the $580.00.


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## Jim in Oregon (Dec 23, 2001)

Someone posted on RF that they blew up a 2003.5 M3.



bimmerguy said:


> I have not seen any new mentions on Jason's site.


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## flashinthepan (Jul 25, 2003)

> Someone posted on RF that they blew up a 2003.5 M3.


Jim,

Howdy neighbor !! from the great state of "Orygun"


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## Ajax (Feb 1, 2002)

Lori said:


> Perish the thought.


DITTO


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## biodan (Apr 9, 2003)

*Jason is not updating the failure site anymore*

Since BMW announced the bearing & oil pump recall, Jason is no longer updating the database.

On a related note, about 3 wks ago at a Laguna Seca DE, i met a guy with a brand new GT3 with bad valves. Only a few hundred miles and Porsche was tearing it down to find the problem. It was not a money shift-- Porsche told him it would be at no cost- they were determined to find the problem. And that is a stressed engine (rated 380 but more like 400 hp) - basically a Porsche Motorsports race engine.

FYI, there are only 275 GT3's in north america and probably less than 750 worldwide (info from the rennlist forum). So the GT3 'failure rate' is actually quite high given the fact that BMW sells 500-600 M3s per month now (700-800/month in 2001 and 2002)

Edit- the guy was sharing his 996 turbo w/ his son; tough life


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## bimmerguy (Dec 26, 2001)

biodan said:


> Since BMW announced the bearing & oil pump recall, Jason is no longer updating the database.


As Jim mentioned above, they are still blowing and I would guess the 2003.5 has the new bearings and pump.


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