Andre,

After reading your replies to this post couple of days ago I decided to contact my friend working for one of the Chicagoland BMW dealers and asked him about this problem.

So far he has not seen the "wave of neither 545i or 745i hitting service with the o-ring problem" and like I mentioned in my previous post 745 is 2 years older and has the same engine so your conspiracy theory about a failure after 5-6 years seems to be quite incorrect. Let alone X5. Based on his answer and my personal common sense it is just hard for me to believe in things you are posting here

And yes, I was under impression that you think of BMW as shitty cars reading your multiple comments like :

I'll never ever buy a BMW V8 again, if I ever buy a BMW again.

Will I ever buy a V8 BMW again? HELL NO! BUYERS BEWARE!!!

Anyway, I wish you that your new car will not have any problems at all.

Meanwhile I am going to enjoy my 545i (out of warranty and with 62K miles but driving still like new)

Chris

 

I spoke to several mechanics about v8 BMW's. And obviously, it's not the most reliable car. It hits the shop more often then any toyota or honda. Mine had numerous problems already as well. Owning BMW i expected it, especially in cooling components. It's been BMW issue for years

They say, it's important not to let the car overheat. Once it's overheated, all major problems may come up later.

I really hope that this O ring is not as common. But if Iceman is right, and the wave of 545's will hit the shops soon, then it's probably possible to gather people together with complaints to get it recalled. I understand replacing plastic parts like coolant tank for $80. But $9000 is a major fault. After Toyota had issues and media jumped in, sales are so down. If this issue becomes so common then BMW will loose in sales - people will start buying Mercedes and Audi. So hopefully it gets recalled if it becomes a common issue

 

There will not be a recall.
BMW even knows there is a class action suite coming down the road and doesn't do anything.

 

At my dealership there's only ONE guy that knows about the problem, the other ones have never heard about it. But the one guy knows it's a huge problem.
BMW knows it and ignores it.
I have a couple friends in very good positions at the BMW HQ.

Shitty cars? No.
THey are still better than many others.
But a shitty V8 engine!!!
I will never ever buy one again, yes, that's right.
And after getting treated like a piece of sh*t by BMW Munich I will more likely buy that disease AUDI than another BMW. Because of the bad service!
IF I ever buy a BMW again it will NOT be a V8 enigne!

Therefore: Buyer beware!
That's for buying a BMW V8.
I never said anything else!

And I say it again:
BMW has gone done the toilet.
The V8 is NOT a good engine and service is real bad!
At least from the HQ.
Some dealers still offer excellent service, but if you have to deal with BMW HQ... you are lost.

 

1st off lets just say stop listening to other people..... bmw v8 have used that same pipe down the middle forever (this comment refers to the fact that someone said all BMW motors suck and the coolant pipe will fail ect)..... my 540i had it, other cars do, there are like 5 million v8 motors or more in x5 545i 550i 745i range rovers ect out there from the 90ies to now, they all have that pipe.... yes o rings fail, but lets look at why and how.... maybe the guy let his waterpump fail and drive around, or the thermostat freeze up and the car over heated, that area might have been subjected heat that made that oring fail sooner, i dont know the cars history which is why i dont care , usually if you maintain something and take car of your car it will last a long time, and if a light comes on or something sounds or feels funny dont say "i can make home, or maybe it will go away".... my 540i had 125k miles and was over 12 years old, no major stuff, all cars have issues, my acura cl 2001-2003 had failing transmissions isses that everyone feared, every car company has issues not every car.... It annoys me real bad because the people that are quick to say a product sucks are usually the ones that drive around with idiot lights on, and guess who is the idiot. I have a 545i with 85k and not one issues runs perfect, brought off original owner who had no issues, and i love it.... enjoy your ride and stop reading where people go to whine, and i can get to that pipe in 3 hours and use that screw in pipe so i could care less(nice to know someone thought of that) and chances are I will never need it.....

 

Well I guess you have to enjoy the car. Just drive it. If you worry about it every day, then you lose out on the enjoyment of the car. You bought that car for a reason, so get to it. That being said, I find myself worrying about my car too much. I try not to drive it much so it doesn't break. If you search my posts, you will see my car has had all sorts of issues over the past year. I haven't decided how much longer I am willing to chance keeping it. The problem is I love the car and performance so much, I'm not sure what to replace it with! Bottom line, great car to drive, but not very reliable. I put up with the issues because of the looks and the drive. Don't know for how much longer....

 

So, I'm an idiot that doesn't know anything and drives around ignoring warning lights and symptoms and doesn't maintain the car well.
Thanks.
Can you tell me what makes you think that I am like that?

And if you would have read the posts, instead of just flying over a couple sentences (what annoyes me), you would understand that this is an issue in the 745, 545, 750 and 550. That specific pipe is NOT in ALL V8's, not even all BMW V8's!
It is NOT a problem with the waterpump or the thermostat!
It has nothing do with it!
It is a simple design fault that BMW ignores.

Don't buy a BMW V8 unless yopu don't want to keep it longer than the first five years or you are willing to deal with the issues it has!

André aka Iceman, your moderator who works on a tow truck and fixes or tows cars that are broken down on the road...

 

No I am not calling u a idiot, I don't know you. My brother is on that list though he has destroyed hondas, nissans, fords ect. so I thought BMW used that same motor pretty much across the line, but whatever.... How can u say the car overheating has nothing to do with that o ring failing it has everything to with it. If the coolant stops circulating for 10 seconds that pipe will get super hot and melt or destroy that o ring, like in the video the guy even said look it came off the pipe that it was valcuized (spellng) on it takes a lot of heat to do that, I am no expert at all but I know most problems with cars are due to neglect

 

Iceman, does it also apply the M3 e9X in which has V8 too???

Crap.. I am beginning to worry.... March 2010 will be the 6th year old of my 545i and 4th year of owning it!
I love my 545i very much but it seems I am forcing to sell it before the wave and the prices may go to bottom!
it has 150K KMs (about 90K miles)and still run very smooth and like new.

 

I have the o-ring right here in front of me.
All o-rings that failed look exactly the same.
They just failed because they are too old.
It's porous!
The defect clearly shows it has nothing to do with overheating!
Also, no one else drives my car, and the car is extremely well maintained and never got anywhere near to overheating!

In the video the o-ring comes off because they are cutting the pipe and pulling it with a strong force out the wrong way!
The o-ring stays attached to the pipe if the job is done correctly.
As I said, I have mine right here in front of me...