# F10 550 Engine Failure



## GForce650 (Sep 22, 2021)

My 2011 550i M-Sport is at the dealership having a new short block N63B-44A installed after experiencing an engine failure at around 78K. This happened despite scrupulous maintenance by the dealership at the recommended service intervals. I'm interested in knowing if anyone else has had si
















milar problems with their N63 motor. I did have to replace the turbo coolent pipes a few months ago but the car never overheated and this was always a tight motor with none of the leaking issues some N63s had.


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## Doug Huffman (Apr 25, 2015)

You haven’t told us what problems might be similar. Yes, I believe that some users here have gotten new N63.

I presume the pictured long block is the new one, unelse they REALLY cleaned the old one well. Best wishes.


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## GForce650 (Sep 22, 2021)

Yes that’s the new one. No postmortem on wal hat took down the original motor yet. Frankly surprised as this is my fourth 5-Series in a row to have a motor fail at this mileage.


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## KWN-E39 (Feb 19, 2021)

GForce650 said:


> Frankly surprised as this is my fourth 5-Series in a row to have a motor fail at this mileage.


Have they all been replaced by the same dealer?


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## GForce650 (Sep 22, 2021)

KWN-E39 said:


> Have they all been replaced by the same dealer?


Well no. I’ve had four 5-Series in a row - three of them V-8s. This is the only one to have an engine failure.


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## KWN-E39 (Feb 19, 2021)

I see, you just worded it way wrong. My bad for not knowing you really didn't mean what you said.


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## tom2021 (Feb 10, 2021)

May I ask, did BMW help paying for the new engine block?


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## GForce650 (Sep 22, 2021)

We shall see.


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## GForce650 (Sep 22, 2021)

Doug Huffman said:


> You haven’t told us what problems might be similar. Yes, I believe that some users here have gotten new N63.
> 
> I presume the pictured long block is the new one, unelse they REALLY cleaned the old one well. Best wishes.


Short block not a long block.


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## GForce650 (Sep 22, 2021)

My 550i is back and my wallet is $13k lighter. Cause of failure was the connecting rod on cylinder #5 letting go. I have a 2 year unlimited mileage warranty on the new motor.


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## Doug Huffman (Apr 25, 2015)

GForce650 said:


> My 550i is back and my wallet is $13k lighter. Cause of failure was the connecting rod on cylinder #5 letting go. I have a 2 year unlimited mileage warranty on the new motor.


Wow. A broken rod! Did they examine the break to learn the cause? 

About the only way a modern rod can break in a stock engine is a undiscovered casting / forging defect. Connecting rods are just short of turbine blade quality. Turbine blades are single crystals, have been for a decade. I think BMW big ends have been cracked for about a decade. 

During engineroom start up I used to cringe when I heard a water droplet rattle down the steam pipe towards the turbines, worse when it went through the turbine. Never broke a blade though. Those weren’t modern blades; gracious that technology is almost a century old now.


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