It may not be too late ... did you report the plastic piece problem when it happened? A head gasket failure on a BMW with 50-60K miles is way out of the norm. And it could only be attributed to a system failure - remember, even BMW specifies long-life coolant. That cooling system failure [blocked cooling fan] may have indeed caused your car to overheat but it was not failure to maintain but a case of a dealer repair mistake.

I'd have a heart to heart talk with BMW NA and the Dealer GM and explain how they contributed to the engine failure. They should definitely participate financially in this repair.

 

Before I found it jammed in the fan I called the dealer to ask if they have it in the shop somewhere b/c it was missing. I never followed up after I found it though. I know, what was I thinking????
Anyways, they will never claim responsibility. I'll try anyways.

 

Could a warped head result in a loss of compression and affect the car when starting it up? Specially when its warm?

 

I never felt/heard any abnormal engine behaviour. It started fine, ran fine, etc. Upon inspection of the dipstick, the oil was clean, but low. Next I checked the coolant overflow tank only to find sludge in it. Strange isn't it? To find oil in the coolant and not vice versa.

 

hope it gets resolved slick.. sorry your without your baby, i feel for ya

 

Thanks, tomorrow I hope.

 

For anyone interested I will report on my car's performance when I get it back. Hopefully tomorrow, but tuesday the latest.

 

Are you sure it is the engine oil in the coolant? what kind of test did your garage perform before telling you it is the head gasket? Sounds to me it is the trans. cooler, if it has one, leaking into the cooling system, especially there is no abnormal. i.e. missing firing, over heating again, or excessive white smoke from tail pipe, milky oil, not likely be the engine.

 

I have a manual tranny. And my engine oil was 1.5 quarts below max, it dropped that much in one week!! Why would my oil drop that much in a week?. I dunno what test they performed... they sent out the head to get tested and it's fine.

 

Ok, it is different then. so did your coolant level increase over the week? and there is no oil leak? It is hard to be sure without looking, test the car. well it is odd to see the head gasket blown so early and just one overheating event. good luck.