[Volkom]

I suspect it may be, the electronic neutral release doesn't work.
I'll have to get under the car and do the manual neutral release.
Not gonna lie, if it doesn't crank when i do the manual release i'm likely just going to have it towed to the dealer/independent shop.

72k for a seized engine with zero modifications is absolutely ridiculous.

EDIT: Charging the battery it seems like something is wrong with the battery. Voltage reads out okay with a multi meter but coupled with the battery discharge, shut off warning symbols, and that my charger keeps jumping every minute from FULL to 1/4 full at 6 amps i think somethings off.

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by Volkom

I suspect it may be, the electronic neutral release doesn't work.
I'll have to get under the car and do the manual neutral release.
Not gonna lie, if it doesn't crank when i do the manual release i'm likely just going to have it towed to the dealer/independent shop.

72k for a seized engine with zero modifications is absolutely ridiculous.

Somehow I don't believe its the tranny. These cars have a lot of fail safe protocols that won't allow this or that if that or this isn't working, know what I mean?
So, did you enter each code in the website I sent you and follow up on what the info was telling you? I think its a good idea to go by the facts you have, i.e.: the codes. Then one by one, check and either dismiss or convict :-)

[Volkom]

Yeah sorry. I'm a little stressed and was quick to jump the gun- i only really looked up the valvetronic codes to be honest.
Looking at it now the other codes' descriptions line up with a battery problem but i'm extremely confused.

Sure, the battery can be dying/have issues but would that explain why I can't crank the engine?

It's worth buying a new battery to test and likely what i'll do tomorrow BUT:
If it's stuck in gear due to a low battery despite displaying that it's in Park, would that explain the inability to turn the motor? The front wheels were free-spinning, but the rear ones were locked when towing on the flatbed yesterday- seems to suggest it's in Park. I'll try throwing it into neutral manually to see if that frees up the engine somehow.
I don't really understand the transmission setup here enough to understand if it's plausible that's why the engine doesn't turn.

Secondly, suppose it's not the battery, could a failure of the valvetronic actuator cause the engine to seize? I would still expect being able to turn the engine.

Just thinking out loud here...

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by Volkom

Yeah sorry. I'm a little stressed and was quick to jump the gun- i only really looked up the valvetronic codes to be honest.
Looking at it now the other codes' descriptions line up with a battery problem but i'm extremely confused.

Sure, the battery can be dying/have issues but would that explain why I can't crank the engine?

It's worth buying a new battery to test and likely what i'll do tomorrow BUT:
If it's stuck in gear due to a low battery despite displaying that it's in Park, would that explain the inability to turn the motor? The front wheels were free-spinning, but the rear ones were locked when towing on the flatbed yesterday- seems to suggest it's in Park. I'll try throwing it into neutral manually to see if that frees up the engine somehow.
I don't really understand the transmission setup here enough to understand if it's plausible that's why the engine doesn't turn.

Secondly, suppose it's not the battery, could a failure of the valvetronic actuator cause the engine to seize? I would still expect being able to turn the engine.

Just thinking out loud here...

From reading your posts, I'm not sure you have been able to adequately try to turn the engine so I wouldn't be too sure yet that it won't turn. You cannot grab the belt and try to turn it, at least its not easy. I think pungo mentioned there is a nut on the crank or one of the pulleys you need to get a long arm wrench onto. Still, if it were me, I'd pull the plugs because if it turns, I would want to turn it several revolutions and carefully listen for any crunching, scraping, abnormal sounds. If all is well, turning by hand with the plugs out is pretty smooth and quiet. You will hear the sound of the pistons moving up and down, like a sucking sound via the spark plug holes.

Ok, the battery....well, have you tried jump starting it with another car? If your battery is the only issue, you should be able to jump start it. IF your set up is the same as mine, you do this by connecting the donor battery cable to the two points under the hood, the positive goes where you see the red plastic flip open cap near the passenger side firewall and the negative goes onto a round fairly tall, maybe an inch, cylindrical nut that is bolted to the passenger side body, mine has a brown ground wire going to it. See my pic, sorry that the negative post is just outside of the pic. Batteries can be expensive, jump starting is free, have your Dad come back over and use his car to do it.

IF you can get at your starter motor, you may be able to disconnect the wire going to the solenoid which would mean that when you try to start it, you would not hear a "click" but you may hear the starter motor spinning. The solenoid is what engages the starter motor drive gear to the flywheel, if it cannot engage, the starter motor just spins like crazy, you will certainly be able to hear it. This might be a test to see if your starter motor is ok.

I don't have your engine in my X3 so lets see if others on this forum who do, will reply after reading this before you do the things I've mentioned.

[e30lover318i]

Volkom what I can tell you is a I had the exact same issue when I test drove a 13 35i from a local used dealer. I gave it WOT and had the exact failure. Car went into neutral while doing 65mph at red line...Vehicle still ran pulled over put car in park and then tired to select a gear, would not go into gear so I turned vehicle off and would not restart same as you it was clicking. I can tell you a week later the car was for sale again so they clearly fixed it. My suggestion is to remove the starter if you don’t get anywhere with your diag, a clicking starter doesn’t indicate a locked engine it could indicate a failed starter or even a hydro locked motor “very common on m54 due to PCV” hope this helps don’t give up yet !

[e30lover318i]

Also open your oil cap make sure your timing chain is still there. I’m also wondering if that valve tronic actuator locked up ?

[e30lover318i]

Following up on valve tronic read this.

Eventual Starting Problems
Of course, engine issues are common when it comes to Valvetronic fault, but if the problems aren’t diagnosed and treated quickly, it can lead to total engine failure, or the inability to start the car. Once again, this is highly concerning, inconvenient, and unreliable for drivers and should be checked out right away.


https://procarmechanics.com/how-to-d...-fault-in-bmw/

[Volkom]

Tow truck guy tried jumping it when he pulled up- nothing initially. The battery was dying anyway, so I'm getting a new battery right now just to have one less thing to worry about. For 200 bucks I'd rather not second guess myself every step of the way from here on thinking 'what if it actually is the battery'.

I did put a wrench on the pulley, wouldn't budge even with about the same torque as you use for lugs i'd say. Time to try it without the plugs in case it somehow did get hydrolocked. My understanding is there's nothing that should be preventing me from turning it short of catastrophic engine failure but even with that barring some extremely wild cases I should still have some play which I'm not seeing.

I'm coming more to terms with just towing the car up to a friend's house and buying an engine for it.

EDIT: Just saw your post at the same time I submitted- timing chain's the next thing I'm gonna look at before I pull the valve cover, through the cap.
That's what I'm wondering- could a completely locked up valvetronic actuator stall the engine? I wouldn't expect it to but maybe something got jammed in a weird way?

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by Volkom

Tow truck guy tried jumping it when he pulled up- nothing initially. The battery was dying anyway, so I'm getting a new battery right now just to have one less thing to worry about. For 200 bucks I'd rather not second guess myself every step of the way from here on thinking 'what if it actually is the battery'.

I did put a wrench on the pulley, wouldn't budge even with about the same torque as you use for lugs i'd say. Time to try it without the plugs in case it somehow did get hydrolocked. My understanding is there's nothing that should be preventing me from turning it short of catastrophic engine failure but even with that barring some extremely wild cases I should still have some play which I'm not seeing.

I'm coming more to terms with just towing the car up to a friend's house and buying an engine for it.

EDIT: Just saw your post at the same time I submitted- timing chain's the next thing I'm gonna look at before I pull the valve cover, through the cap.
That's what I'm wondering- could a completely locked up valvetronic actuator stall the engine? I wouldn't expect it to but maybe something got jammed in a weird way?

- Tow truck guy tried jumping it when he pulled up- nothing initially. What does this mean..."nothing initially"? What happened after the "initial" period?

- ok, didn't realize you put a wrench on the crank, thanks. Yes, I would still pull the plugs and try the wrench again. There is a ton of stuff you can do for less $$ than another engine will cost. I don't know if this is a main driver for you and how much time you can take to fiddle with finding the issue.

- Hyrolocking: Well, I don't recall you saying you drove through a large pool of water but to ease your mind, if you do decide to pull the plugs, shine a bright flashlight down the plug hole and see if you see lots of fluid. Hydrolocking is when there is lots of water/fluid in the cylinder and the piston cannot complete its full travel. This usually ends up with a bent piston rod because something has to give.

- Do you happen to recall if your oil or water temp dash light came on?

- e30lover318i's idea is a good one

[tracer bullet]

Just a couple thoughts here:

* Definitely replace the battery and get a charger to keep it up as well since the car won't be running. It's the easiest / cheapest insurance and if it's older was worth it anyhow.

* Keep trying to get the engine to turn over, and be sure you're doing it right, even if you have to tow it to a pro. I don't think I'd be considering replacing the engine without knowing 100% sure it was actually needed. If you determine it's stuck for some reason, find out why, for the same reason - to be totally sure. If you do see a catastrophic failure then that's that. But be absolutely sure first.

Any trustworthy indy BMW specialists in town? Even if you plan to do the repair it wouldn't hurt to have an experienced person assisting up to that point. Again on the idea of ruling out an engine replacement if it isn't needed.

[e30lover318i]

Marty I think his valve tronic might have gotten stuck since he said he felt a lack of power as well? I’m not sure how he’d check this? It almost looks like a Vanos solenoid with a spring in it.

Volkom be mindful if that valve tronic is indeed stuck I’m not sure what kind of damage could occur to that unit trying to spin the motor. I’d say if you pull the plugs and your still putting a lot of force on that crank to let it be. I suggest maybe remove the valve cover to do some investigation too. Don’t go putting a 6 foot cheater bar on that crank, if you can’t get it to move with an average size breaker bar I would stop you don’t want to cause more issues

[Volkom]

"- Tow truck guy tried jumping it when he pulled up- nothing initially. "
Yeah I misspoke, nothing different happened when he hooked it up like that then is happening otherwise- no crank at all before or after.

I suppose a hydrolock could also happen through a massive coolant or fuel leak so i don't think it's entirely out of the question but i doubt it.

No check engine lights AT ALL until this happened. Oil and water temp were normal the second I looked at the dash when this was going on. Oil was changed regularly and well within intervals.
The car was behaving completely normally up to this incident. It really felt like the turbo hadn't kicked in when that happened, though it could just be because I was beyond peak power at those RPM's.

I'm a mechanical engineer but I'm not too hot on the systems in modern cars- machinery/heavy equipment is what I deal with not vehicles which is why I sincerely appreciate your input here. I suspect if I have to take it to a shop to diagnose it will come out cheaper to shell out 4000 and just swap in a "new" engine myself. I just don't have the equipment where the car is sitting right now to do everything i'd like to in order to diagnose.

I checked the timing chain via the oil cap, it doesn't seem like anything is loose or broken but that's just from a cursory glance.

I can't find any instances of the valvetronic assembly seizing a motor up, nor can I really visualize what would have to happen for it to do that in practice- if it disintegrated entirely and jammed up the camshaft? I'm not really sure... It's perplexing that it's the only mechanical fault code stored. I'll know when I take the valve cover off probably sometime today but doing it on the street is some shade-tree mechanic stuff hahaha.

This is the first repair or check engine I've gotten on this car since purchase 4 years ago, other than regular maintenance related stuff. I was hoping for some kind of easily accessible sensor trouble to familiarize myself with the engine before getting this but oh well haha

[Marty in NY]

You might want to read through this topic, I haven't because I have the N55 engine but maybe there is something here relating to your symptoms and you might want to jump on the band wagon.

https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1556009

[Marty in NY]

Ok, thanks for the details Volkom! We're sorta back to the basics then.. .. I know its hard to diagnose and help via long distance and you must be at your wits end and out of patience I am still using the theory that your engine has not seized. Why? Because its the most expensive fix so I'm looking at alternatives based upon your descriptions.

- Do you know you are getting 12v to the starter motor itself? Not the solenoid but the actual starter motor?
- I know you already did this but why not try the jump start method again just to verify what is still the case?
- IF the starter motor solenoid has failed in such a way as to always be active but the starter motor has seized, this would mean the starter motor would be engaged with the flywheel but not allow the flywheel (engine) to turn. If you can jump start and then press the start button with your foot on the brake and you still hear the click, click, that is the noise of the starter solenoid but you still won't know if the starter motor is good until you remove the solenoid out of the circuit and just try to see if the starter motor spins. If it spins, this means the starter motor is good, the solenoid is good and its not engaged in your flywheel so that isn't the cause of the engine not turning.

Here is what the TIS says, its worth a read -> https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/f...motor/EQVjCMGU

- Have you checked your fuses? I know you said it quit at full rpm but they are easy to check. In my fuse boxes there is a small piece of paper that tells what each fuse is for and its amperage. I don't know if yours are the same but for me I have one behind the glove box (sort of a PITA to get to, I usually drop the glove box but there is a little plastic door at the back of the glove box you can remove) and I have one in the passenger side of cargo area behind the soft gray covering (see pix). Check fuses: F38, F56, F06 (Valvetronic relay fuse).

[pungo]

You're getting a lot of great advice here. But if you put a wrench on the crank bolt with similar force to breaking a lug nut loose and the engine didn't budge, then engine is locked up. I wouldn't mess with starter motor unless you can spin the engine with a wrench because if the engine locked up, you may burn up the starter.

You need to find why the engine will not spin:

• Peaking down the spark plug hole may give a clue
  • You really need a borescope to check valve to piston interference.
• Inspecting the cyl head to make sure the timing chain didn't go is a good first step.
  • Pull valve cover for better inspection of the TC and valve train.
• I doubt there's a hydrolock condition
• Not sure what else could cause a locked engine (spit balling here)
  • broken rod
  • broken crank
  • vanos ?
  • oil pump
  • locked bearing

[Volkom]

These are fantastic pictures- you should really consider making some sort of online manual much like Bentley used to have! Did you make them yourself?
I tried testing leads in the glove-box fuses today but I don't know exactly what the physical frame of the people working on these cars is supposed to be- you really have to contort to get in there haha. I'll try if every fuse is good.
Glad to see starter tech hasn't been overengineered yet haha.
I'm gonna tow the car up to my Dad's this weekend since he's got a driveway and we have some of our heavy duty equipment there. I'll try the starter stuff before we pull anything.

I tried moving the pulley again with a 22mm and a 2' wrench, wouldnt budge even a half of a degree.

Boroscope was our next step to see if it's anything obvious in the cylinders, then pouring some oil in from above and praying it moves just a bit.

I'll pull the valve cover last once I have it towed up.

To be completely honest I feel like if I broke a connecting rod or crankshaft I would have heard it, but then again i'm not in this situation very often.
It could be an oil starvation issue that caused it to seize, i wonder if it's the oil pump chain.

If it's an issue that BMW will extend it's warranty on per the litigation that's going to be decided in 20 days, I wonder if they will cover costs I incur doing an engine replacement myself or if I'll need a mechanic's quote. If i'm going to spend 1000 bucks for just a diagnosis I think i'd rather just pay 3000 and have a whole new engine.

I'll have more information soon.
Thank you again!

[383vett]

Not trying to be a doomsday guy here but stand back and look what happened. You're taching 7k and the engine dies and won't turn over, either with the starter or a wrench. It shouldn't take 100 ft/lbs to turn a motor and yours doesn't budge. Now look what is going on with the lawsuit for the 4 cylinder BMWs. The timing chain jumps the sprocket and the valves contact the pistons which freezes up the motor. Some have advised checking the starter. Not a bad idea, but the starter clicks which means the solenoid has pushed the starter gear onto the ring gear but the motor doesn't turn because it appears to be locked up. Some have advised checking battery voltage. The motor doesn't turn when the battery is jumped so it's not a weak battery. Some have advised check fuses. Not a bad idea but with the starter engaged, fuses are not necessary for a motor to spin. Hydrolock happens when fluid, either coolant, water or fuel dumps into a cylinder and keeps the piston from compressing a normal compressible mixture of air and fuel. The op didn't didn't hit a puddle of water or see white smoke out the back so that scenario is unlikely. I agree that the valve cover should be pulled and the timing chain and valves can be checked. Hopefully I am wrong and it is the starter, fuse or whatever. Good luck.

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by 383vett

Not trying to be a doomsday guy here but stand back and look what happened. You're taching 7k and the engine dies and won't turn over, either with the starter or a wrench. It shouldn't take 100 ft/lbs to turn a motor and yours doesn't budge. Now look what is going on with the lawsuit for the 4 cylinder BMWs. The timing chain jumps the sprocket and the valves contact the pistons which freezes up the motor. Some have advised checking the starter. Not a bad idea, but the starter clicks which means the solenoid has pushed the starter gear onto the ring gear but the motor doesn't turn because it appears to be locked up. Some have advised checking battery voltage. The motor doesn't turn when the battery is jumped so it's not a weak battery. Some have advised check fuses. Not a bad idea but with the starter engaged, fuses are not necessary for a motor to spin. Hydrolock happens when fluid, either coolant, water or fuel dumps into a cylinder and keeps the piston from compressing a normal compressible mixture of air and fuel. The op didn't didn't hit a puddle of water or see white smoke out the back so that scenario is unlikely. I agree that the valve cover should be pulled and the timing chain and valves can be checked. Hopefully I am wrong and it is the starter, fuse or whatever. Good luck.

I don't disagree that its pointing towards a frozen engine, was hoping not though

[383vett]

Originally Posted by Marty in NY

I don't disagree that its pointing towards a frozen engine, was hoping not though

We're all hoping for the op's sake that it's not.

[Volkom]

Here's a pic of the chain with the valve cover off:



Massive amounts of scoring on the chain...
Dunno if that's the culprit but that doesn't seem normal. Half of the chain looks polished like it's been hit by a jeweler, which to my knowledge is NOT what it's supposed to look like.
To clear yes some of those links are completely shiny, which is the scoring others have noted

[Iowa X3]

Is the guide itself intact all around? If it is, the timing chain is likely not your issue. It may be scored and scuffed, but as long as it's in one piece linked together it's probably doing the job. It's possible it could have jumped a tooth or two on one of the sprockets but it seems unlikely.

Have you also checked the oil pan to see if there is any debris there? Is the oil pump pickup clean, at least enough to allow it to pull oil and keep the pressure up?

[TwinSnailz]

-did you pull the chain up to check for slacks? Chain are made to glide on the valve guides so those polished face are what you’re seeing.
-always jump start a bmw with the ground cable on an engine bolt. Bmw ground wires are put in the worst corrosion locations.
- what are you turning the crank with? Hopefully a long breaker bar. Even with those it is tough to turn. A ratchet, forget it.
- clean the contact pulg harness from the valvetronic