Flood Victim: My 320i E90 Lci ride

[Voodoo8808]

I've learnt the hard way that upon facing deep puddle of water (up to 1/3 rim height), we've to "roll" across slowly (with aircond off) instead of stomping on the accelerator. As most predicted, my ride stalled. The situation aggravated cos i freaked out & cranked a few times not knowing this would cause further damage. The tow truck guy repeated my mistake cos he had to pull lever to N so as to tow it. Without cranking the engine, the gear wouldn't release from P to N at all.
My car is now at a BMW specialised workshop in glenmarie (not AB) with a diagnostic to replace entire engine cos piston rods are twisted & these are not available easily, according to the 60+ yr old boss.
So my humble request to fellow sifus is whether should i re-tow it to another mech for 2nd opinion (that can get those hard to find parts) or just go ahead to replace the engine?
My other concern is due to such sticky situation, its the test of skill of these mech. So i don't wanna take risks on the hands of below average ones. If possible, kindly recommend those with rich experience in the engine swapping job too. Many thanks in advance.

 

[Voodoo8808]

Btw, will bros that endured such unfortunate incident share the costs involved?

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[Voodoo8808]

Typo error: the smiley.
The correction: (not AutoBavaria) with a diagnostic to....

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[bmw8698]

Sad to hear of what happen to your Bmw. Please keep us update on your experience solving this problem voodoo8808.

And Thanks for reminding us to avoid water puddle at all cost.

 

[tamade7]

Yup, starting an engine that has sucked in water will cause major damage to the engine. If your ECU is still working then the easiest way is to replace the engine with an engine lantai. Get a quote on the repair and maybe some of us can comment.

 

[Voodoo8808]

The mech quoted RM5.5k for an engine "kosong", RM1.5k for the labor. Is that reasonable? My main concern is the skills & engine's condition too. No doubt he'll give a 2 months warranty, I've had bad experiences on such promises.

What should I be aware of? Can anyone recommend experienced mechs on engine swapping?

 

[Mel279]

the best thing is try to dissemble the engine part and assess the damaged first as not all parts need to be replaced.

 

[gimli]

i would probably just change the engine. engine block is made of aluminium, and not many people can repair it. and from what you said, the cylinder liner is also probably damaged. if that is the case, your engine already gone case.

your engine can still crank or already jam (hydrolock)?

BTW the price seems reasonable, however you don't seem to be too confident with the workshop.

 

[kevin1982my]

Happened to me before on my previous car. I changed the engine.

Went to the kedai potong, checked the milleage on the car ( more like wreckage ), and it is half my own car's milleage.

Paid money, they removed the engine and asked my mechanic to collect it. Need to do update JPJ paperwork though.

Few thousands later in labour charge, all is good. Car is moving again with a younger engine. You can then sell your damaged engine for parts which may recoup some of your money. Or you can take out all the sensors, and anything else that is salvagable, as spares for your car. Some chop shop would want your engine in exchange for their engine. Otherwise the price would be different.

The keyword here is, if you have time, shop for your own engine.

 

[kevin1982my]

There is a chop shop in KL with a bloody lambo half cut going for 6 figure.

Would love to see which car can take that engine.

Sorry off topic.

 

[gimli]

you are referring to sun eng hup?? some of the workers there are really rude. best to deal with the guy from the main office,i think his name is wilson. BTW you have to trade in your old engine. they are quite insistent on that.

There is a chop shop in KL with a bloody lambo half cut going for 6 figure.

Would love to see which car can take that engine.

Sorry off topic.

 

[LiteBulb]

1/3 rim depth of water, doesnt seem very deep. Is your car lowered?

 

[Voodoo8808]

Sorry for the late reply guys. It's been a tough year end as my wifey's VW just suffered 'hospitalisation' where its gearbox is in for another change. luckily it's still under warranty but both of us under great stress over the sudden loss of use during this school holiday season.
Anyways, my ride is currently amidst of insurance claims (fingers crossed) with "internal" help. If it's unfortunately rejected, I have a mech that has some parts to restore instead of changing to a used engine from chopshop. I'm not in favor of engine swap because the car registration card will imprint the change of engine number, making it harder to resell in future. Pls correct me if I'm wrong on this though. Also, I'm not comfortable knowing the engine is from a car wreck cos errmm...pantang la

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[F10 CREW]

There will be a imprint on the change of engine but after you request for a duplicate or refresh registration card, the new engine number will appear and the old no only remain in their system.

Not all 2nd hand engines comes from wrecks. Some are obtained from countries like Singapore that practices the scrapping program. Hence, no crash.

The above are just my opinion.

 

[zeedo]

If you have no previous experience with this mechanic, it is safer to shop for a used engine. To rebuild an engine and make everything works require really experienced mechanic to do it and I did it last (N42) since I know the person very well.

But for used engine, please change the things like o-rings, cam cover gasket and belting to begin with. JPJ update is easy since it is like to like change, I failed last time at Puspakom because my plate number is not white enough, not because of engine change.

 

[gimli]

bro i have also been in your situation a couple of years back. at that time i just started working and was driving a waja. i stupidly didn't take the flood option and my stupidity didn't stop there as i drove my car through a flood! long story short, i didn't have the money to fix the car (i was quoted something like RM8k, engine gone case). The workshop suggested that i claim from insurance, and even though i didn't take the flood option, they said one of the insurance adjusters can help me kaotim. All i have to do was pay him some kopi money. My car was stuck almost 8 months in the workshop and i wasted a lot of money paying the insurance guy and also for storage fee to the workshop. i manage to save up enough money and paid for the repair myself. Just be cautious bro. A lot of conman out there.

 

[moots]

Voodoo...i recommend optimum kayu ara in damansara kayu ara.
have known them for > 10 years.did my last e39 engine change with them with a used engine and was satisfied with the workmanship and performance of the used engine. ah foo 012-3081891

 

[Voodoo8808]

Bro gimli, sorry to hear u had endured such similar experience. And thanks for the kind preempt too.

Bro moots, thx for the recommendation. Hopefully i need not engage them tho...

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[Voodoo8808]

Bro zeedo, thx for the heads up on JPJ/Puspakom for engine swap. May u share who's the mechanic that rebuilt your engine too?

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[Herbert]

Given a choice, I would rather find a good experienced workshop to do a complete overhaul/rebuilt of the damaged engine. At least I can be rest assured that after the overhaul/rebuilt job is completed, the engine would be as good as new. As compared to buying a used engine from chop shop, one can never know the condition of the engine, mileage done and the hassle of getting the engine number changed at JPJ. Apart from these unknown conditions, you may even need to replace quite a number of deteriorated items for the used engine.