Engine Rebuild / Install Shop?

[MLynch357]

I had posted this over in the tech forum, but someone suggested I post it here instead, so I'm reposting in the hopes of getting some local opinions:

Just over a year ago, I was driving through South Carolina in my 2010 E90 BMW M3 base model sedan when I came upon a small bridge over a drainage ditch that had a really significant rise to it. Just as I crested the apex of the bridge I saw something on the road. I had no time to react, a guardrail on my right, a car on my left and a truck barreling down on me from behind. Could I clear it? Was it just cardboard? No and f*ck no! It was a huge piece of some masonry crap that had fallen off a truck. I drove over it, tearing the fluid reservoirs off the bottom of the car, sending a poof of smoke out the exhaust and setting off every alarm on the dash. Worse, there was absolutely no safe place to pull over until the Jehovah's Witness hall a mile down the road. Even worse, I had an MRI scheduled the next day in DC that I had to get home for (long story but rescheduling wasn't an option). So, the insurance company gave us a car so we could get home and towed the M3 to Caliber Collision who said "ummm...what are we supposed to do with this?" Over the ensuing weeks, the car finally made it to the local BMW dealer who pronounced the engine "blown", a diagnosis which my mechanic found plausible over the phone given the extent of operation after complete oil pressure loss.

The solution was to settle with the insurance company and have BMW send a new engine to be installed. I did this out of nostalgia for the car (manual trans, naturally-aspirated V-8, only 50k miles, etc.) A year later, BMW has sent either 3 or 4 wrong engines to the dealership, one of which was installed and the car driven until the air conditioner compressor pulley blew up because the pulley on the engine spun the wrong direction. At this point, I'm pretty confident BMW is not going to come through with the correct engine.

I may work a settlement with BMW / dealer and just get out of it. The other option would be to install a rebuilt engine...but who and where? I have zero bandwidth to DIY this. I see engines on eBay, but it seems like a million miles from an ad on eBay to a repaired car? I also don't want to play Gumby between an engine supplier who says the engine is right and a shop that says it's not...especially since BMW and their dealer can't seem to get the right engine into this car. In fairness to the dealer, their experience is based on new-model cars and this is a 10+ year-old product line. Any thoughts or recommendations on whether to try this and with whom? I would probably want to have it shipped to DC / MD / VA? The dealer will only install a new engine from BMW and my mechanic didn't seem enthused about wading into this project. Thanks!

[DRLane]

Reach out to Partee Racing - Chrisyphus

[torpid porpoise]

Hit up Galen at GT Peace in Sterling. They do all of the work on my E90 and R32 GTR

[rcracin]

Shop rebuilds and installations aren't cheap. $10-15k range. I wouldn’t trust an ebay engine nor one from a wrecking yard.

Wait for bmw to send the right engine if you have the bandwidth. Otherwise work out the settlement you suggested and sell it as it is.

[MLynch357]

The update on this is that I sent the dealer an e-mail saying I wanted to cancel the project and got a phone call back saying that an engine arrived that day that visually appears to be the correct engine. They said they wouldn't know 100% until it's installed and running but it looks right. They said I need to tell them whether I want them to proceed with this engine or whether I want a refund. My question is, given all the problems we've had and the car is at a dealer 500 miles from where I live, what kind of warranty should I be getting on this install and from whom? If I pay the dealer for their labor, pick it up and drive it 500 miles away to my home, what happens if something turns out to be wrong 6 months later? Is BMW going to stand behind this, and even if they do, can I take it to a dealer or shop in the DC area to fix? Or am I supposed to somehow get it back to the dealer in SC (if they'll even stand behind it)? Any thoughts?

[bigdaddycane]

I would think that the dealership has to have some type of limited warranty on an install of this magnitude. Have you talked to the specific dealership whose doing the install about this? The S65 motor is pretty bullet proof as long as the donor engine you are getting is solid. Again, talking to the shop forman about their level of expertise for engine installs and how they are willing to stand behind the work should give you some peace of mind.