[drunkenup]

He's referring to whether they will just replace the lower end below the cylinder head (short block), or block and head entirely (long block).

I'm not a dealer or BMW employee but I've only ever read about them putting in long blocks. The dealer probably doesn't want any business in rebuilding an engine, and it's probably shed metal all over the head possibly ruining more stuff, anyway. We've had an Audi that had a new short block put in, but only because the head gasket or ring failed. Not as catastrophic as a failure as a bearing sending metal everywhere.