Friends wife (gulp) never serviced vehicle - broke down in Mass. Lessee lives in Long Island. Leased vehicle. I'm guessing w a 22k estimate it has to be the engine. What is best approach to diagnosis, solution?
Oh my - there's probably no easy fix; just replacing the engine is of course very expensive, but that at least is a clean start. Yes, rebuilding could be cheaper, but, the dang things are complicated enough, I'm hard-pressed to think one could have much confidence anything else in the fluid pathways, particularly oil, doesn't crop up as an expensive problem later on - don't know what an engine rebuild might cost, let's just say less than $22k..... $15k offhand - if all the continuously variable valvetrain stuff is oil-pressure driven, maybe it works when a rebuild's done but then in short-order you have another $2-$4k repair bill there... ugh. In any case, if the dealer solution is engine replacement, the alternatives are find an indie shop that specializes in BMW's or at least knows what they're doing and throw some money at them for diagnosis & see what they say... or try and do stuff themselves diy, but pulling engines etc. isn't your everyday driveway simple average type of car project task. And, diagnosis on today's bimmers w/ all the electronics can very-well mean only the dealer has the electronic tools necessary for complete & proper diagnosis... or, if they are possible to buy, they cost a fortune since they're meant for shops in the trade.
How unfortunate for this to happen. Yes the engines are very expensive unless BMW is having issues with them (funny how that works). Rebuilding newer engine is almost impossible now days for many reasons. First the camshafts bearings are milled into the cylinder heads. So any oil supply issues will cause scoring and the cylinder head would have to be replaced to remedy this. Of course the same will happen to the cylinder walls. Best option is to put a used engine in the vehicle. This of course would have to be discussed with Bmw since it is a lease vehicle. As long as the used engine has lower mileage than the current one should be ok.
When ALL the required services (oil changes, inspections, etc.) are FREE and INCLUDED, I don't get how neglectful** people can treat these cars/a major investment. ** REALLY holding my tongue here...
