3 of my head bolts broke in my 2006 525 and when I called several dealerships I was told that is a very common problem but it was my expense to fix. Since this is a very common problem with BMWs and I called BMW of North America to see if they were considering recalling any model years and I was told their responsibility stops at 50,000 miles when the warrenty runs out.
I am looking into how much interest there would be in filing a class action lawsuit against BMW to force them to cover the cost of fixing their design problem. Please let me know if you have had the same problem and are interested in participating.
Head bolts or valve cover bolts?
Broken head bolts can be a serious problem. And if its a common problem, the Lemon law should take place.
Head bolts. I'm not going to say where I work or what I do, but I've seen it many times just this year.
It was the head bolts which as it was explained to me, the different metals used for the block, head, and head bolts all heat and cool at different rates which causes the head to shift and eventually cause the bolts to break. Also I followed all the BMW recommended maintenance intervalls sms after only 97,000 miles I had several bad lifters and my valve stem seals were seeping oil, all premature wear caused by changing the oil every 15,000 miles. Every mechanic that I have talked to that has opened up a BMW engine has said it was bad and everyone of the owners followed BMWs guidelines.
Last edited by hlp; 11-09-2011 at 09:36 PM.
There is a service bulletin for lifter noise. I haven't seen bad valve seals on an N52 yet personally, just the N62 all the time.
File lawsuit, take money, have ARP head studs installed.
Just found out that one head bolt is broken on my 2006 325i. 61k and just out of warranty. Dealer quoted $3500. I would participate in a lawsuit. Has one formed?
i haven't seen this issue with head bolts yet ... . Working at a high-volume dealer, you'd think I'd have seen some. I'm not saying that it isn't happening, but either it's happening less than it seems to you, or maybe it's a regional thing.
If a dealer employee told you that it's a "very common problem", they were likely speaking of broken head cover bolts (aka, valve cover bolts), and not actual head bolts. Broken valve cover bolts aren't uncommon. However, they don't cost $3500 as Oellen mentioned. Of course, if Oellen just called a dealer and asked how much it costs to replace "head bolts", when he/she really meant to ask about "head cover" (or valve cover) bolts, that could cause some confusion and he/she would obviously receive an incorrect quote.
I'm curious as to how the two of you came to the conclusion that you had broken head-bolts.
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