Hi all, I see from an article in the Saturday Telegraph of 12/4/14 that BMW has issued a worldwide recall for 489,000 cars over a potentially faulty engine bolt in certain 6-cylinder petrol engines. BMW said in rare cases bolts holding the cover on the variable camshaft timing system could break and lead to complete engine failure. As I have a BMW Z4 with this kind of engine, I checked with my dealer but all they can tell you is whether their computer shows if your car is subject to any recalls. I then called BMW customer services who were no more help initially. When I pressed them harder, they called me back 24 hours later with more news. I got the impression that BMW UK haven’t quite got into action concerning this recall yet as they advised that letters will be going out to owners of potentially affected cars ‘in the coming weeks’. I pressed them for more details and they advised me of the following: Less than 3,000 cars in the UK (out of 500k) are involved. It concerns N51 and N52 6-cyl petrol engines and the N55 petrol turbo 6-cyls. It affects most models: E6, E7, E8, E9, SO. F1, F2, F3 in the following series: 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, X1, X3, X5, Z4. The advice given to me was that you should contact your dealer without delay if you experience a loss of power or if a dash warning lamp displays an engine fault. BMW confirmed to me that the screws for the housing of the adjustment unit of the variable camshaft timing (Vanos) for the intake and exhaust camshafts could potentially become loose or break. An engine warning lamp ‘should ’ appear in such circumstances. I hope none of our members will be affected (including myself)!
