[RicardoNJ]

Watch out for contaminated diesel. That's the reason the BMW service advisor gave me for my engine's failure.

Last month I filled my tank at a grungy Gulf branded station I've gone to many times before, parked car at home for 10 days while traveling, upon my return first time I drove it on the road and after half hour I heard a popping noise under hood, car lost power, misfired badly, stumbled, shut off, and would not restart. (car only had 7,200 miles on it).

What happened? I pressed the call button on the ceiling, BMW answered and sent a flat bed 90 minutes later (I was on my way to a friend's wedding) which brought the car to a local BMW dealer. Turns out contaminated diesel fuel destroyed my fuel system ---...repair so expensive ($9,600.00 with tax!!!) I put it through my insurance as a comprehensive claim (it was not covered by the BMW warranty due to the fuel as the cause for the problem)....car since repaired and all's well now...but hope that never happens to me again or anyone else. There's a whole lot of info about diesel contamination on the web...all the biology, chemistry, and science you can stand.

I never had a fuel contamination problem with my former VW TDI in 190,000 miles.. Now I'm buying my fuel at BP or other name brand...

[DarrenL_007]

Wow never heard of that and glad your insurance covered it, wonder if it's happened to anyone else on here?

There was a problem about 5 years ago where contaminated petrol/gasoline from one company caused engine problems for thousands of cars in the UK.

[TePee]

This problem is not that rare, unfortunately. All common rail diesels can suffer this, if contaminated diesel fuel is filled.

The reason is that the high pressure pump is only lubricated by the diesel fuel itself. If this is of bad quality there is not enough lubrication and the pump is being jammed and this produces metal chips! These are then distributed by the fuel system in the whole system even back to the fuel tank.

So you need new tank, fuel lines, injectors, high pressure pump, etc. Very expensive...
It already happened also in our family to a BMW diesel. But it´s not a BMW problem, I know also a lot of other makes with common rail diesel engines suffered the same.

[RicardoNJ]

Originally Posted by TePee

This problem is not that rare, unfortunately. All common rail diesels can suffer this, if contaminated diesel fuel is filled.

The reason is that the high pressure pump is only lubricated by the diesel fuel itself. If this is of bad quality there is not enough lubrication and the pump is being jammed and this produces metal chips! These are then distributed by the fuel system in the whole system even back to the fuel tank.

So you need new tank, fuel lines, injectors, high pressure pump, etc. Very expensive...
It already happened also in our family to a BMW diesel. But it´s not a BMW problem, I know also a lot of other makes with common rail diesel engines suffered the same.

You are quite correct.. The BMW tech found metal chips in the system and I had to replace all those parts you mentioned.

[pedroF31]

Just had this exact problem myself from diesel from a supermarket in the UK. Engine cut out after the car had run 380 miles after the refuel. Took 8 weeks and £6,500 to repair - all claimed on my insurance. When I picked my car up last week another BMW came in with the same problem. Turns out they had refuelled at the same pump as me.

[mdm0515]

Originally Posted by RicardoNJ

Watch out for contaminated diesel. That's the reason the BMW service advisor gave me for my engine's failure.

Last month I filled my tank at a grungy Gulf branded station I've gone to many times before, parked car at home for 10 days while traveling, upon my return first time I drove it on the road and after half hour I heard a popping noise under hood, car lost power, misfired badly, stumbled, shut off, and would not restart. (car only had 7,200 miles on it).

What happened? I pressed the call button on the ceiling, BMW answered and sent a flat bed 90 minutes later (I was on my way to a friend's wedding) which brought the car to a local BMW dealer. Turns out contaminated diesel fuel destroyed my fuel system ---...repair so expensive ($9,600.00 with tax!!!) I put it through my insurance as a comprehensive claim (it was not covered by the BMW warranty due to the fuel as the cause for the problem)....car since repaired and all's well now...but hope that never happens to me again or anyone else. There's a whole lot of info about diesel contamination on the web...all the biology, chemistry, and science you can stand.

I never had a fuel contamination problem with my former VW TDI in 190,000 miles.. Now I'm buying my fuel at BP or other name brand...

Yikes. My wife's diesel BMW had a bad tank of diesel somewhere along the way and now the dealer tells me we have a big bill coming for the engine fix. the car has 14K miles, basically brand new. Why is this not a warranty fix? I'm pissed.

[robbiep]

Originally Posted by mdm0515

Yikes. My wife's diesel BMW had a bad tank of diesel somewhere along the way and now the dealer tells me we have a big bill coming for the engine fix. the car has 14K miles, basically brand new. Why is this not a warranty fix? I'm pissed.

Why should it be a warranty fix ? If you mis-fuelled, putting petrol in the car, and wrecked it that way, would you expect BMW to pick up the bill ?

[mdm0515]

Originally Posted by robbiep

Why should it be a warranty fix ? If you mis-fuelled, putting petrol in the car, and wrecked it that way, would you expect BMW to pick up the bill ?

read my note dude. no gas ever went into the car. If i picked up bad diesel somewhere along the way why is that not a warranty fix? Yes, i expect them to pick up the bill. we are very conscientious car owners and have never put anything but diesel in the car. What would you do? Roll over and pay $10K? Doubt it.

[robbiep]

Once again, how is the garage's failure to supply quality fuel BMW's fault ?

That's like you buying a high-quality pedigree racehorse, feeding it on the worst-quality food, and then expecting it to win races, and complaining to the person who sold it to you when it doesn't.

I'm sure you'd agree that such an approach would be nonsense. So exactly what is different in your case ?

[versailles]

Originally Posted by mdm0515

read my note dude. no gas ever went into the car. If i picked up bad diesel somewhere along the way why is that not a warranty fix? Yes, i expect them to pick up the bill. we are very conscientious car owners and have never put anything but diesel in the car. What would you do? Roll over and pay $10K? Doubt it.

It's the fuel that has damaged the engine and BMW haven't supplied the fuel, why would they take on the cost of the repair?!

Your insurance should cover damaged caused by bad fuel and then look to recover the costs from the company that supplied the fuel.

They will only take that route though if you can prove beyond doubt that it was that fuel supplies by that station that was responsible for the damage.

[mdm0515]

Originally Posted by versailles

It's the fuel that has damaged the engine and BMW haven't supplied the fuel, why would they take on the cost of the repair?!

Your insurance should cover damaged caused by bad fuel and then look to recover the costs from the company that supplied the fuel.

They will only take that route though if you can prove beyond doubt that it was that fuel supplies by that station that was responsible for the damage.

Such understanding consumers.....I'm shocked by the views and see it completely differently. Buy a new car for $45K and enter the lottery of diesel quality which may fell your auto at anytime? Take a diesel test kit with me to utilize before every fill-up? Basically roll the dice on 25% of the purchase price of the vehicle on every fueling? i think the better question is why anyone would buy a diesel car with insufficient technology to overcome a bad fueling every now and again. Is it really understood by any diesel auto purchaser that they are but one fueling away from a $10K repair? I seriously doubt it. I have no intention of paying for this or filing an insurance claim. I wonder why anyone would accept this outcome.

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by mdm0515

read my note dude. no gas ever went into the car. If i picked up bad diesel somewhere along the way why is that not a warranty fix? Yes, i expect them to pick up the bill. we are very conscientious car owners and have never put anything but diesel in the car. What would you do? Roll over and pay $10K? Doubt it.

Really? Are you being serious? How is your putting bad fuel in the car a manufacturing defect on the part of BMW?

[robbiep]

Originally Posted by mdm0515

Such understanding consumers.....I'm shocked by the views and see it completely differently. Buy a new car for $45K and enter the lottery of diesel quality which may fell your auto at anytime? Take a diesel test kit with me to utilize before every fill-up? Basically roll the dice on 25% of the purchase price of the vehicle on every fueling? i think the better question is why anyone would buy a diesel car with insufficient technology to overcome a bad fueling every now and again. Is it really understood by any diesel auto purchaser that they are but one fueling away from a $10K repair? I seriously doubt it. I have no intention of paying for this or filing an insurance claim. I wonder why anyone would accept this outcome.

You see it completely differently - for one reason only, because you are facing the bill.
Just try stepping back from it in your mind, and ask yourself if you are really being sensible, if BMW can reasonably have ANY responsibility for this failure. I suspect you aren't thinking clearly about it, and just want to lash out at someone. BMW are a nice easy target.
To you, 'Someone' must be responsible, and they're 'someone' (and can afford it).
Furthermore, you might just want to try taking the car to an independent garage and getting their opinion. If the car is still driveable, then it might not be that bad, and the fix might be relatively cheap, or parts (or even the engine) might be repairable, rather than needing complete replacement.

Remember, main agent garages want to sell new parts, not repair old ones. Just like over here.

Consumer law might well be very different over there to here, but even so I don't think you've got a leg to stand on, and any solicitor worth his money will probably tell you so (unless, of course, he thinks he can make a load of $$$ off you and your indignation).

[mdm0515]

Originally Posted by robbiep

You see it completely differently - for one reason only, because you are facing the bill.
Just try stepping back from it in your mind, and ask yourself if you are really being sensible, if BMW can reasonably have ANY responsibility for this failure. I suspect you aren't thinking clearly about it, and just want to lash out at someone. BMW are a nice easy target.
To you, 'Someone' must be responsible, and they're 'someone' (and can afford it).
Furthermore, you might just want to try taking the car to an independent garage and getting their opinion. If the car is still driveable, then it might not be that bad, and the fix might be relatively cheap, or parts (or even the engine) might be repairable, rather than needing complete replacement.

Remember, main agent garages want to sell new parts, not repair old ones. Just like over here.

Consumer law might well be very different over there to here, but even so I don't think you've got a leg to stand on, and any solicitor worth his money will probably tell you so (unless, of course, he thinks he can make a load of $$$ off you and your indignation).

I do see it differently. And I'm quite OK to agree to disagree. My question to you is this...if you hypothetically received 4 successive bad diesel fuelings and, in effect, were required to repurchase your car all over again by spending $10k per event on a new motor would you be as understanding as you appear to be? I doubt it. Did you appreciate this potential risk when you drove your car off the lot? If you did you were much more knowledgeable about it this potential risk than I. I am surprised simply because this never would happen with a gasoline engine. There is no situation where you can purchase gasoline from a pump and ruin an engine. If the technology is so poorly engineered so as to allow this to happen, to me it's an engineering and manufacturing defect. This is my point. You are correct that I am indignant and don't want to pay the money. My surprise in your analysis is that you would be fine to have this happen to you or anyone else again and again and that the manufacturer retains no responsibility. That is crazy to me.

[versailles]

Originally Posted by mdm0515

I do see it differently. And I'm quite OK to agree to disagree. My question to you is this...if you hypothetically received 4 successive bad diesel fuelings and, in effect, were required to repurchase your car all over again by spending $10k per event on a new motor would you be as understanding as you appear to be? I doubt it. Did you appreciate this potential risk when you drove your car off the lot? If you did you were much more knowledgeable about it this potential risk than I. I am surprised simply because this never would happen with a gasoline engine. There is no situation where you can purchase gasoline from a pump and ruin an engine. If the technology is so poorly engineered so as to allow this to happen, to me it's an engineering and manufacturing defect. This is my point. You are correct that I am indignant and don't want to pay the money. My surprise in your analysis is that you would be fine to have this happen to you or anyone else again and again and that the manufacturer retains no responsibility. That is crazy to me.

I don't think anyone is saying you should pay for this yourself, there is obviously someone at fault here but it NOT BMW and THEY WONT PICK UP THE BILL

If you disagree then that's fine but I can't believe someone is that deluded.

[robbiep]

But the technology obviously isn't so poorly developed / engineered, or else these forums would be full of owners complaining about their diesel cars suffering horrendous failures. And remember, I'm from the UK, where roughly 50% of new car sales are diesel, and it's been that way for a long time. So it would be a massive thing here. Virtually everyone that I know who drives any real distance drives a diesel. Every single family member of mine drives a diesel. Every single member of my wife's family (apart from one) drives a diesel. My main car is a diesel. My wife's main car is a diesel. We also have a Z4 as our weekend 'fun' car, and of course that's a petrol.

So to say that the manufacturing/tech MUST be badly done just because YOU have had a failure is total nonsense.

Personally, I think you (or your wife) has mis-fuelled. There, it's out in the open. One of you has screwed up, and is too ashamed/afraid to admit it.
I may be wrong. But I doubt it.

I've known 2 people who had expensive diesel failures :
1. A friend who put petrol in his V8 diesel Range Rover. Bill £10,000. New top-end engine, injectors, fuel pumps, the lot, basically.

2. My wife, who filled up her diesel Nissan Navara with petrol. Bill £3,000 - which fortunately was covered by her car insurance policy, so she only had the excess to pay, of £250. That only needed new injectors and fuel pumps.

As I said, if the car is still running and driveable, then the problem, in all seriousness, might not be so bad. Take it to an independent garage - one who actually fix things, rather than just fit new parts, and see. It might just need new injectors, or a new fuel pump.
Alternatively, see if your insurance covers for misfuels. If it does, then tell them you've misfuelled it !

[mdm0515]

Originally Posted by robbiep

But the technology obviously isn't so poorly developed / engineered, or else these forums would be full of owners complaining about their diesel cars suffering horrendous failures. And remember, I'm from the UK, where roughly 50% of new car sales are diesel, and it's been that way for a long time. So it would be a massive thing here. Virtually everyone that I know who drives any real distance drives a diesel. Every single family member of mine drives a diesel. Every single member of my wife's family (apart from one) drives a diesel. My main car is a diesel. My wife's main car is a diesel. We also have a Z4 as our weekend 'fun' car, and of course that's a petrol.

So to say that the manufacturing/tech MUST be badly done just because YOU have had a failure is total nonsense.

Personally, I think you (or your wife) has mis-fuelled. There, it's out in the open. One of you has screwed up, and is too ashamed/afraid to admit it.
I may be wrong. But I doubt it.

I've known 2 people who had expensive diesel failures :
1. A friend who put petrol in his V8 diesel Range Rover. Bill £10,000. New top-end engine, injectors, fuel pumps, the lot, basically.

2. My wife, who filled up her diesel Nissan Navara with petrol. Bill £3,000 - which fortunately was covered by her car insurance policy, so she only had the excess to pay, of £250. That only needed new injectors and fuel pumps.

As I said, if the car is still running and driveable, then the problem, in all seriousness, might not be so bad. Take it to an independent garage - one who actually fix things, rather than just fit new parts, and see. It might just need new injectors, or a new fuel pump.
Alternatively, see if your insurance covers for misfuels. If it does, then tell them you've misfuelled it !

People can SHOUT all they want and assume I am delusional. And I'm OK with being assumed to have put gasoline in the car. I assume that's what BMW thinks as well. They haven't said that and I haven't asked, but that is also what I would assume. I can only attest to it not being true and this I know. There are only two drivers and we have been in the car together for all of the fuelings over the past month during touring various places. No one else has access to the car and it resides in garages wherever it goes. We are auto obsessives and super caring of all of our rides. As a former over-the-road trucker who purchased much diesel and is very, very aware of the mechanical issues in introducing gasoline into a diesel engine I am not naive to that danger.

I'm a big BMW fan and we are on our 7th BMW. Including Euro/Welt delivery of my current ride, plus many others, we have been terribly satisfied. I don't have it in for BMW and won't cause this be a seminal event for future car purchases.

But I can only reiterate my earlier point. How is it that one (assuming only one) fueling can fell an engine to the tune of $10K and have that not be at least the partial responsibility of the manufacturer. That can not physically happen with a gasoline engine and hence that future risk is more than I am willing to assume. This is our first diesel auto and we bought it for all the good reasons one does. If this is a real risk with diesel I would certainly not, and will not, buy another one. Unfortunate all around but there it is.

We're having gentlemanly discussions with BMW at the moment with no conclusion yet and out of courtesy I will inform and update. If, as other poster says so elegantly, I am delusional then so be it. TBD

At the moment, and given BMW's response and my knowledge of the facts I would advise anyone who asks my opinion to avoid purchasing a BMW diesel auto unless they understand pre-purchase the financial risk they are potentially assuming.

This may also be a cautionary tale for others but that's for each to decide.

Cheers

[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by mdm0515

People can SHOUT all they want and assume I am delusional. And I'm OK with being assumed to have put gasoline in the car. I assume that's what BMW thinks as well. They haven't said that and I haven't asked, but that is also what I would assume. I can only attest to it not being true and this I know. There are only two drivers and we have been in the car together for all of the fuelings over the past month during touring various places. No one else has access to the car and it resides in garages wherever it goes. We are auto obsessives and super caring of all of our rides. As a former over-the-road trucker who purchased much diesel and is very, very aware of the mechanical issues in introducing gasoline into a diesel engine I am not naive to that danger.

I'm a big BMW fan and we are on our 7th BMW. Including Euro/Welt delivery of my current ride, plus many others, we have been terribly satisfied. I don't have it in for BMW and won't cause this be a seminal event for future car purchases.

But I can only reiterate my earlier point. How is it that one (assuming only one) fueling can fell an engine to the tune of $10K and have that not be at least the partial responsibility of the manufacturer. That can not physically happen with a gasoline engine and hence that future risk is more than I am willing to assume. This is our first diesel auto and we bought it for all the good reasons one does. If this is a real ris k with diesel I would certainly not, and will not, buy another one. Unfortunate all around but there it is.

We're having gentlemanly discussions with BMW at the moment with no conclusion yet and out of courtesy I will inform and update. If, as other poster says so elegantly, I am delusional then so be it. TBD

At the moment, and given BMW's response and my knowledge of the facts I would advise anyone who asks my opinion to avoid purchasing a BMW diesel auto unless they understand pre-purchase the financial risk they are potentially assuming.

This may also be a cautionary tale for others but that's for each to decide.

Cheers

ROFL. You know April 1st is months away.

[mdm0515]

Originally Posted by mdm0515

People can SHOUT all they want and assume I am delusional. And I'm OK with being assumed to have put gasoline in the car. I assume that's what BMW thinks as well. They haven't said that and I haven't asked, but that is also what I would assume. I can only attest to it not being true and this I know. There are only two drivers and we have been in the car together for all of the fuelings over the past month during touring various places. No one else has access to the car and it resides in garages wherever it goes. We are auto obsessives and super caring of all of our rides. As a former over-the-road trucker who purchased much diesel and is very, very aware of the mechanical issues in introducing gasoline into a diesel engine I am not naive to that danger.

I'm a big BMW fan and we are on our 7th BMW. Including Euro/Welt delivery of my current ride, plus many others, we have been terribly satisfied. I don't have it in for BMW and won't cause this be a seminal event for future car purchases.

But I can only reiterate my earlier point. How is it that one (assuming only one) fueling can fell an engine to the tune of $10K and have that not be at least the partial responsibility of the manufacturer. That can not physically happen with a gasoline engine and hence that future risk is more than I am willing to assume. This is our first diesel auto and we bought it for all the good reasons one does. If this is a real risk with diesel I would certainly not, and will not, buy another one. Unfortunate all around but there it is.

We're having gentlemanly discussions with BMW at the moment with no conclusion yet and out of courtesy I will inform and update. If, as other poster says so elegantly, I am delusional then so be it. TBD

At the moment, and given BMW's response and my knowledge of the facts I would advise anyone who asks my opinion to avoid purchasing a BMW diesel auto unless they understand pre-purchase the financial risk they are potentially assuming.

This may also be a cautionary tale for others but that's for each to decide.

Cheers

Good luck to all of the diesel owners, of which I will soon be an ex. BMW took care of my issue under warranty with no cost to me. Onwards to my next vehicle.

[e92ben]

Originally Posted by mdm0515

Good luck to all of the diesel owners, of which I will soon be an ex. BMW took care of my issue under warranty with no cost to me. Onwards to my next vehicle.

Your bad diesel issue?

[beanbaguk]

I'm guessing mdm0515 needs to try a new garage....

Seriously though. I've only ever heard of one such issue and I've been driving diesels for about 8 years now. My last BMW (E87), had just under 100k miles on the clock and my current one has 55k miles. I only ever put premium diesel in my car.

People laugh at me but you get what you pay for. I never fill up at a random, unbranded garage. People queue up for 20 minutes or more to get cheap diesel at a local garage but I often question why their 10% cheaper than the competition.....

For that reason, my car gets Shell V-Power or BP Ultimate diesel. I sometimes use Galp Premium (in Spain) or Repsol Premium diesel but that's about it.

The extra annual cost for the premium fuels is about €150 which I can happily accept and keeping in mind I spend about €400-€450 per month in fuel, that's not exactly extortionate.

Short of the long. You get what you pay for.

[Adamr916]

Man I wish we could get the diesel over here that you guys get. I've found a place here that sells synthetic diesel with a 50 cetane rating compared to the 40 we get at the pump, but I can't justify spending $65 on 5 gallons of fuel