[BDWonder]

guys,
Today i got an engine overheated notification from my 435. I turned car off for hour, as i was having dinner in restaurant. On way home, no engine issues. As i parked in my garage, the engine overheated msg came on again, and smoke started to come out insanely from under the hood. I opened it to give it air, and the coolant just completely leaked out. Took about an hour for engine and collant box to stop making weird noises. Since it is night, i locked the car and hood and went home. What the deuce????!!!?!?!! branc new car...1600 miles on it. And also to mention it was in limp mode as i parked, gave it gas and didnt move above 1200 rpm.
Did anyone else have this? Any advice or recommendations guys? Can it catch fire or anything else while its off, parked, and in garage? Really would hate to have it towed to dealer. Hopefully i wont pay anything for repairs. And now, even if they fix it, ill be too cautious and nervous to drive it, and maybe with some spirit. Not reliable. I know that is not why we buy or lease bmws, but still, makes you think twice now and be more aware. I wont be able to gun it sometimes after this, ill be thinking all the time, will the car go into overheating or smoke or catch fire?
Please help with advice guys.
Thank you!!!

[diablo2112]

I wouldn't mess around with this. Car overheated. Could be any of a half dozen reasons for this (such as a stuck thermostat control valve). Call BMW Assist, and they'll arrange a tow of the car to your dealer, who will then provide a loaner while they diagnose and fix the problem. All under warranty.

[Steven1077]

Was it steam or smoke? What was the oil temp? It's a pity it doesn't have a water temp gauge so you can keep an eye on it, as mentioned above hopefully it's just a stuck thermostat, but if they get too hot the head can warp and need replacing

[BEAR-AvHistory]

Have BMW pick it up. Alloy engines do not do well in an overheat situation especially when you have driven them after the fact without solving the problem first.

You have two back to back overheat cycles on it & you need to decide if you really want to share that info with BMW.

[BMRGUY]

Yes the worst thing you could have done was drive it. Overheating typically is caused buy a bad temp valve which is a simple fix or a bad pump... Now you driven it everything from head gasket, crank bearings, piston seals, turbo bearings, etc could have sustained damage, not limited to engine block (aluminum). Oil losses it's protection properties over a certain temp.. The good thing is that BMW uses synthetic which has a much higher temp before break down. Unfortunately you went past the point and got the temp high enough for the radiator valve to open..coolant is highly corrosive and now that causes another mess to deal with.

For sure the moment you said you drove it in this condition it will pose an issue... Don't tell them.


Lesson learned to anyone..the moment you see over heating stop the car and turn off the motor open the hood... Don't spray water on it...it could cause other damage due to rapid cooling.

[Gio72]

Too many problems with this N55... BMW should do a big recall...

[Christos]

Originally Posted by Gio72

Too many problems with this N55... BMW should do a big recall...

Problems are what kept me away from the N55. Loving my N20

[Skywalker27617]

No problem with my N55. So much more fun to drive and listen to than N20.

[34.50]

Originally Posted by Christos

Problems are what kept me away from the N55. Loving my N20

On most every forum, you tend to hear the problems over the people who have no problems. The engine for me has been solid for the 14 months I've had the car

[Christos]

Originally Posted by 34.50

On most every forum, you tend to hear the problems over the people who have no problems. The engine for me has been solid for the 14 months I've had the car

Yes it is a great engine, i have personal bad history with it, that's all

[justinnum1]

Originally Posted by BEAR-AvHistory

Have BMW pick it up. Alloy engines do not do well in an overheat situation especially when you have driven them after the fact without solving the problem first.

You have two back to back overheat cycles on it & you need to decide if you really want to share that info with BMW.

the dealer should be able to read that off the computer.

[USC2000]

Why wouldn't you want it towed to the dealer? It's a brand new car under warranty. Let them deal with it and fix it.

[blk88verde]

Originally Posted by justinnum1

the dealer should be able to read that off the computer.

Agreed-the history of events will be retrieved by thr dealer from the ecu. My brother who is a car tool dealer, and visirs the nechanics in the shops, has told me about expensive engine jobs on the bmw 6 cylinder when they over heat due to coolant pump failures.

[chiefneil]

Originally Posted by BDWonder

guys,
Today i got an engine overheated notification from my 435. I turned car off for hour, as i was having dinner in restaurant. On way home, no engine issues. As i parked in my garage, the engine overheated msg came on again, and smoke started to come out insanely from under the hood.

Why on earth would you continue to drive it after it overheated the first time? Having dinner is the perfect time to relax and hang out while waiting for the tow truck to get there.

In any case, presumably now it's with the dealer and they should take care of it. The only advice you need at this point is to not ignore serious warnings from the car in the future.

[munch520]

Originally Posted by BMRGUY

Yes the worst thing you could have done was drive it. Overheating typically is caused buy a bad temp valve which is a simple fix or a bad pump... Now you driven it everything from head gasket, crank bearings, piston seals, turbo bearings, etc could have sustained damage, not limited to engine block (aluminum). Oil losses it's protection properties over a certain temp.. The good thing is that BMW uses synthetic which has a much higher temp before break down. Unfortunately you went past the point and got the temp high enough for the radiator valve to open..coolant is highly corrosive and now that causes another mess to deal with.

For sure the moment you said you drove it in this condition it will pose an issue... Don't tell them.


Lesson learned to anyone..the moment you see over heating stop the car and turn off the motor open the hood... Don't spray water on it...it could cause other damage due to rapid cooling.

Second worse thing is open the hood. If you suspect fire, call the pros. Opening the hood gives a small fire an influx of oxygen, could've easily torched your face/torso.

[chiefneil]

Originally Posted by BDWonder

Really would hate to have it towed to dealer.

Maybe you're not aware of how new car warranties work? While your car is under warranty you get repairs for free at any dealer. The tow is also free. Call BMW Assist or push the SOS button in the car and have it towed.

[CLittle]

Bdwonder, if you're not a total travelbro, you should just heed the advice of the idrive screen when such malfunctions occur. It should tell you whether to stop driving, drive cautiously, etc.

good luck with the repairs and keep us posted on the issue/resolution.

[OC40]

I am still amazed that people believe new items cannot have issues (whether it is a car, tv, appliance, phone, etc).

For the love of everything, take it to the dealer ASAP.

[diablo2112]

Well, if the OP (*cough* travelbro *cough*) doesn't know the difference between "smoke" and steam, it shouldn't surprise anyone that he also wouldn't know enough to shut down the car on an overheat warning and get a tow.

Call me skeptic, but when stuff this dumb gets posted, I always ask, what's the rest of the story? There's nearly always something that's been hidden or gone unstated.* Who knows what uninformed folks do to complex pieces of tech like the F30. As someone wise once said, you can't fix st..........

*Or in about a third of these cases, it's just trolls posting inflammatory crap they make up; e.g. guy that claims to own 2 M5s, and M6, a couple of F32s, and an X5 and constantly posts "problems" that come up with these cars. We outted him as a total troll just recently...

[BEAR-AvHistory]

Originally Posted by justinnum1

the dealer should be able to read that off the computer.

If it overheated as he got to the restaurant he may not have noticed it until heat soak cooked it off.

That is different than saying yeah it was overheating on my way to the restaurant so I kept going to let it cool off over dinner, did nothing to check the problem, then drove it home & it overheated again.

In the second case they should symbolically rip up his warranty.

[BDWonder]

Originally Posted by Steven1077

Was it steam or smoke? What was the oil temp? It's a pity it doesn't have a water temp gauge so you can keep an eye on it, as mentioned above hopefully it's just a stuck thermostat, but if they get too hot the head can warp and need replacing

Hey, looked like steam. Oil temp was smack in middle at 250, or whatever the middle number is. Its weird, not a wrong code, bc all the coolant just leaked out from under car, bone dry.

[BDWonder]

Originally Posted by BEAR-AvHistory

Have BMW pick it up. Alloy engines do not do well in an overheat situation especially when you have driven them after the fact without solving the problem first.

You have two back to back overheat cycles on it & you need to decide if you really want to share that info with BMW.

Wouldnt they know bc of codes? Plus, i thought it was one of those faulty warnings, and i was in middle of night, was only 7 miles from home. When i was driving home, all was good, in the garage is when it happened.