[austin.draper]

Earlier this summer my BMW suffered a drivetrain malfunction. I was driving on the highway when I accelerated around another driver. Soon as I shot around them, my car shot into a high rev and automatically shifted into Neutral. I coasted, luckily to the side of the road and had the car towed. BMW says that my engine locked up the connecting rod barrier due to oil sludge. It doesn't make sense but I've never heard of this being the issue. They also stated that they can't determine the issue unless they disassemble the engine. Has anyone ever encountered this issue? Also my car has 69k miles and I've never missed a maintenance period. The previous owner has but the maintenance report showed that it was missed when the car was first purchased. Lastly, when I try to start the car, it makes a click noise then the entire car shuts off. I've also seen that my battery needs a charge as well but I'm assuming that it has nothing to do with the drivetrain malfunction

[rphz]

Sorry to hear about your engine failure I had a very similar failure at 48,000 miles about a year ago. My failure happened during a pull in 3rd near redline, engine shut off and transmission went into neutral. Upon restart, I had classic engine knock sounds even during low rpm revs though it ran as long as I didn't go above about 3k rpm though ran rough. I drove it about 5 miles to get home and towed to dealer. Car was diagnosed with engine failure due to rod bearing failure, though they didn't disassemble to investigate further, but did find metal shavings in the oil and filter.

While the maintenance records on my car indicate the previous two owners did change the oil per the scheduled maintenance, it's unknown how the car was treated. Due to the early build date (8/2013) and that it was a dealer demo with MPPK and MPE, and lived it's first 30k miles in MN, other than a fluke I can only assume it was beat on too hard and/or run hard while cold too often. The inside edges of my rims are also really beat up (all 4 of them) indicating that it might have been through a lot of tire changes (not sure how else they could look so beat up but who knows).

Since we have the same year and model car, but yours is not xDrive, care to share your VIN or at least the manufacturer build date/location?

[Zentan]

This is not uncommon. I also own an N55 and has happened to me one time and a few times to my friends as well. When you shut off the car then restart that should usually take care of the problem. Did this happen repetitively? Is your car tuned and modded?

[insanecoder]

Originally Posted by austin.draper

Earlier this summer my BMW suffered a drivetrain malfunction. I was driving on the highway when I accelerated around another driver. Soon as I shot around them, my car shot into a high rev and automatically shifted into Neutral. I coasted, luckily to the side of the road and had the car towed. BMW says that my engine locked up the connecting rod barrier due to oil sludge. It doesn't make sense but I've never heard of this being the issue. They also stated that they can't determine the issue unless they disassemble the engine. Has anyone ever encountered this issue? Also my car has 69k miles and I've never missed a maintenance period. The previous owner has but the maintenance report showed that it was missed when the car was first purchased. Lastly, when I try to start the car, it makes a click noise then the entire car shuts off. I've also seen that my battery needs a charge as well but I'm assuming that it has nothing to do with the drivetrain malfunction

old school guys who change oil frequently
never have sludge problemos

you guys who drive their cars hard take heed
also same for guys who run in stop and go traffic or short commutes
these qualifies as severe driving conditions
imo AT LEAST 7500mi a change under those conditions w/ synthetic
no way I'd ever allow my oil to go 10,000+ NEVER

[Zentan]

Originally Posted by insanecoder

old school guys who change oil frequently
never have sludge problemos

you guys who drive their cars hard take heed
also same for guys who run in stop and go traffic or short commutes
these qualifies as severe driving conditions
imo AT LEAST 7500mi a change under those conditions w/ synthetic
no way I'd ever allow my oil to go 10,000+ NEVER

you're saying that frequent oil changes can cause a malfunction? lol. care to explain? i change my oil every 5k and never had this issue

[insanecoder]

Originally Posted by Zentan

you're saying that frequent oil changes can cause a malfunction? lol. care to explain? i change my oil every 5k and never had this issue

WHOOPS.. I meant at MOST 7500mi
rest of the post is self-explanatory

BTW OP, you should ask for evidence of sludge and rod seizure
could have been the rod simply failed on its own and then seized
I am of course assuming you are under warranty of some kind
its all too easy for them to just put it on your shoulders as lack of maintenance when you've kept up the schedule
have them prove it otherwise they should cover it.. assuming you had no tune on

[JaredG_F30]

I drive my car hard so I change the oil every 5,000 miles with Castrol Syntec Full Synthetic European Formula 0-W40. No issues yet with 65k on the ODO.

Originally Posted by insanecoder

WHOOPS.. I meant at MOST 7500mi
rest of the post is self-explanatory

BTW OP, you should ask for evidence of sludge and rod seizure
could have been the rod simply failed on its own and then seized
I am of course assuming you are under warranty of some kind
its all too easy for them to just put it on your shoulders as lack of maintenance when you've kept up the schedule
have them prove it otherwise they should cover it.. assuming you had no tune on

[austin.draper]

Originally Posted by insanecoder

WHOOPS.. I meant at MOST 7500mi
rest of the post is self-explanatory

BTW OP, you should ask for evidence of sludge and rod seizure
could have been the rod simply failed on its own and then seized
I am of course assuming you are under warranty of some kind
its all too easy for them to just put it on your shoulders as lack of maintenance when you've kept up the schedule
have them prove it otherwise they should cover it.. assuming you had no tune on

Original warranty expired. Extended warranty denied claim due to "missed" maintenance period. Currently fighting with them to challenge that.. I asked for evidence of sludge but they would have to take it apart from what was told.. not buying that.. strongly don't believe that sludge was the cause..

[insanecoder]

Originally Posted by austin.draper

Original warranty expired. Extended warranty denied claim due to "missed" maintenance period. Currently fighting with them to challenge that.. I asked for evidence of sludge but they would have to take it apart from what was told.. not buying that.. strongly don't believe that sludge was the cause..

Well sludge could be the cause if a car ran with oil for 20,000mi and esp under severe conditions (short trips)
if alil sludge built up around the rod and did not allow oil into the bearings to lubricate they can seize and fail
However even it were so, you could argue that the missed maintenance was prior to your CPO ownership and that caused the sludge..
best of luck let us know