[vishnu.ratnam]

I'm very new to this forum so apologize if this was supposed to be done in an existing thread.

I have a BMW 328i from 2012 with 78K miles and I love the vehicle. Last week I had the dreaded engine oil pressure low warning when driving 80mph. I stopped and restarted vehicle, and the warning is gone. Drove 1 mile to nearest oil place (Jiffylube) and got a drive train malfunction warning. Jiffy did notice engine sound being a bit off (was the weekend so BMW shops were all closed). They then put some engine flush fluid in (before actual engine oil). But with that fluid in, the computer was shutting the engine off within 10 sec of turning on. Towed to a European car repair shop and they say engine needs replacement (asking $8-9K). Before I decide to sell of the car at a throw away price, I wanted to see if I can get some expert advice/opinions here on whether the engine might be ok and may only need timing chain assembly replacement?

The engine still turns on but shuts off within 10 secs. Could it be due to the wretched flush fluid? The repair shop didn't even drain that fluid out. I took a look into the engine oil cover and the the plastic around the timing chain may be broken (see pics). OBD port scan shows Camshaft Position - Timing Over-retarded Bank errors. Any hope of engine being salvageable with just timing chain assembly replacement?

[sqwinny]

This job to repair is around 15-20 hours of labor + parts to do it correctly. Depending on local repair costs, it might be cheaper to swap in a rebuilt engine.

Considering car runs and turns off that’s the dme saving itself as the engine is out of time. If you don’t have pistons hitting valves you are good and lucky.

DIY to give you an idea:

Part 1

Part 2

[vishnu.ratnam]

Thank you for the quick response and sharing the videos.

Any way to know if pistons have hit valves and/or caused more extensive damage or not, without taking the engine apart? Want to know if its worth towing the car to another shop to have the engine pulled apart or not.

Also any idea if I qualify for the timing lawsuit settlement? It seems there is partial coverage beyond 70K miles, but my car is 13 years old now! Is the 8 year cap being followed strictly? The local BMW here declined to even diagnose the car saying they don't service/diagnose cars older than 10 years.

[vishnu.ratnam]

Just as an update, I tried starting my engine, it tried to start but struggles (video below). Any idea if this is (a) the computer not allowing the engine to run or (b) the engine actually misfiring etc due to a timing error ?

I also tried to clear the permanent error codes (to see if the onboard computer behaved differently), but not able to remove the camshaft position timing over-retarded codes. Any suggestions ?

https://youtu.be/prDCHFcOsxM?si=ttWzfd52FQ_-Q-7Y