I have a family member with a 2005 BMW X3 with the 3.0 liter inline 6 cylinder. 75,000 miles and automatic transmission. The vehicle has been dealer maintained but is currently out of warranty. The other day the low coolant light came on ( did not overheat ) so it was brought in to a nearby ( non-dealer ) shop to check coolant and change oil while it was there. After the oil change the shop said there was oil in the coolant so head gasket was the immediate assumption. Problem was, no white smoke or smell of coolant from exhaust. No appearance or smell of coolant in engine oil. And the big kicker, car did not overheat. The driver of this vehicle used to have a hot-rod daily driver in Houston summers with a tendency to overheat so is very much in the habit of keeping an eye on the thermostat and knows how to react when the gauge starts climbing. Also there was never a high temp warning light that came on ( assuming that the light would have functioned appropriately ), and the AC never stopped blowing cold.
The dealership ultimately said they would run some checks to further diagnose at no charge. They flushed the coolant system 5 times, ran a solvent through it, ( did not remove the radiator to clean the fins ), pressure tested it and found no issues. They hooked it up to the computer and everything checked normal. During their testing and running the engine they did not find any new oil seeping into the coolant system so their thoughts were that the other shop might have accidentally put oil in the radiator. They also changed the engine oil again for good measure before returning it. They returned the vehicle saying to drive it for a few days then bring it back for a checkup.
The vehicle was driven approximately 20 miles from the dealership at which point I took a look at it for the first time. Coolant was like mayonnaise and had oil in it. Engine oil was fine. Vehicle was brought back to dealership and they confirmed that engine oil was leaking into the coolant system because when they changed the oil they had put a dye in it. I thought it odd that they didn’t mention the dye check prior to returning the vehicle the first time.
We’re leaving the vehicle with them for a couple weeks ( convenient timing as the vehicle won’t be needed for that time period ) while they further diagnose. The dealership claims they are trying to see if they can get BMW to cover part or all of the repairs ( or complete engine replacement if the steel bolts have stripped the threads in the aluminum block ). My thoughts are that they either just really want to provide excellent customer service or there is an underlying issue they are aware of and don’t want to run off a customer due to a non over-heated engine having this issue at such low mileage.
Anyone have any insight into possibilities here or have faced similar issues? Shouldn’t the dealership be able to read the hard drive of the vehicle computer and determine for certain what the max temp the vehicle has operated at and for how long?
TIA
The dealership ultimately said they would run some checks to further diagnose at no charge. They flushed the coolant system 5 times, ran a solvent through it, ( did not remove the radiator to clean the fins ), pressure tested it and found no issues. They hooked it up to the computer and everything checked normal. During their testing and running the engine they did not find any new oil seeping into the coolant system so their thoughts were that the other shop might have accidentally put oil in the radiator. They also changed the engine oil again for good measure before returning it. They returned the vehicle saying to drive it for a few days then bring it back for a checkup.
The vehicle was driven approximately 20 miles from the dealership at which point I took a look at it for the first time. Coolant was like mayonnaise and had oil in it. Engine oil was fine. Vehicle was brought back to dealership and they confirmed that engine oil was leaking into the coolant system because when they changed the oil they had put a dye in it. I thought it odd that they didn’t mention the dye check prior to returning the vehicle the first time.
We’re leaving the vehicle with them for a couple weeks ( convenient timing as the vehicle won’t be needed for that time period ) while they further diagnose. The dealership claims they are trying to see if they can get BMW to cover part or all of the repairs ( or complete engine replacement if the steel bolts have stripped the threads in the aluminum block ). My thoughts are that they either just really want to provide excellent customer service or there is an underlying issue they are aware of and don’t want to run off a customer due to a non over-heated engine having this issue at such low mileage.
Anyone have any insight into possibilities here or have faced similar issues? Shouldn’t the dealership be able to read the hard drive of the vehicle computer and determine for certain what the max temp the vehicle has operated at and for how long?
TIA