330i Engine Wont Start

[tidesrise]

Got A Answer From BMW Service About My Sons BMW After He Shifted From 3rd To 2nd at 70mph Last Week; After Review There Was No Compression And After Pulling The Head There Was Valve Damage But No Piston Or Bottom End Damage Final Damage $4200 Including Labor, Make his Be a Lesson To My 17 Year Old Son Who Will Be Without A Car For A While, And The Stupid Father (me) Who Bought Him This $26000 Car Last Month.

[rsn48]

Go gentle on your son - I'm 57 years old. First, I just bought my son a 1994 318i with automatic transmission. But with his car, you can press a "manual" button on the cars stays locked in the chosen gear. I basically did the same thing with his car as your son did to yours. Somehow, and I'm still not certain what I did as I wasn't paying attention, but I thought I was in fourth dropping to third, when in fact I was in third dropping to second. When I downshifted manually to second, I really red lined the car. Needless to say I was worried, that was about 4 weeks ago, so far no problems.

The reason you don't want to be too hard on your son is that you could do the same thing. I'm willing to bet your son worships the car and it really bothers him that he did what he did, with or without your added anger. No good kid sets out to destroy a good engine; they may do it out of stupidity or as in your son's case an unfortunate mistake. I'm willing to bet he won't do that mistake again, probably new ones... lol!

When I was seventeen (in the mid 60's ...groan) I had my fathers car, driving in the forbidden part of Madison Wisconsin - downtown (where he was fearful of the traffic I would encounter) and the automatic transmission just went on the car. Needless to say, I was upset by this incident - as well as spending several hours stranded - but I got the blame for something that was inherently a bad product - a transmission on a relatively new car. Even to this day, I am resentful of the anger my father had against me for an event that would have happened to him, instead of me, if he had happened to be driving at the "break point" time.

If you have a good kid and I suspect you do, he already feels real bad. Take your kid for a burger and on the way back to the car, say: "You know when I was a teen first driving I did this stupid thing.....(name your stupid thing... we all did it if we are male)... and now you've done a stupid thing to your car. Treat the car well, I know you love it - enough said."

[jkloese]

Just to make you feel alittle better, the technician that worked on my car did that once during a test drive. Bent all valves, no other damage. They did fix the car free though.

Also Rsn48...no need to worry about the auto trans. Even though you can "manually" switch the gears, it is still computer driven. It will not let you over rev. You can switch from 4th to first, but the tranny will not actually go to 1st.

[peterkulesza]

57: not stupid. just generous.

hey, anyone makes mistakes. &*^% automatics, i think a driving school is about the price of the slushbox. and, UNLIKE an automatic it may not only prevent damage to your pocketbook, but SAVE HIS LIFE.

btw , my father died by driving too recklessly. he was 42 then, i am 37 now. age has little to do with this.....

[rsn48]

Are you sure when you hit the manual button, I know on my other two Bimmers the computer boss takes over and kicks out the acceleration if I get close to red line. But trust me, the needle was well into the red line. I'm thinking that the "manual" button is slightly different. However, its good to know it stopped me from damaging the motor, if what you say is true.

[jkloese]

Yes it will hit a max red line and drop out, you wont over rev that auto.

[jkloese]

btw, red line is about 6500 on the auto's, the tach shows it at 6000 though. You have some room to play with.

[Dirty_Tool]

Originally posted by tidesrise@Feb 24 2005, 08:32 AM
Got A Answer From BMW Service About My Sons BMW After He Shifted From 3rd To 2nd at 70mph Last Week; After Review There Was No Compression And After Pulling The Head There Was Valve Damage But No Piston Or Bottom End Damage Final Damage $4200 Including Labor, Make his Be a Lesson To My 17 Year Old Son Who Will Be Without A Car For A While, And The Stupid Father (me) Who Bought Him This $26000 Car Last Month.

[snapback]298377[/snapback]

Well my suspicion was correct but in this case im sorry that it was. At least it was only valve damage and not lower end damage. Sorry to hear the bad news but im glad its figured out so there is no more wondering. Best of luck.
DT

[Aloyouis]

Originally posted by tidesrise@Feb 24 2005, 12:32 PM
Got A Answer From BMW Service About My Sons BMW After He Shifted From 3rd To 2nd at 70mph Last Week; After Review There Was No Compression And After Pulling The Head There Was Valve Damage But No Piston Or Bottom End Damage Final Damage $4200 Including Labor, Make his Be a Lesson To My 17 Year Old Son Who Will Be Without A Car For A While, And The Stupid Father (me) Who Bought Him This $26000 Car Last Month.

[snapback]298377[/snapback]

I know very little about these cars compared to some here. I do know this: If you don't pay for it, you don't respect it. Then you over rev it.....

My first car was $200.00 and I drove the dam vw rabbit for four years. I was scared to damage the damm thing cause I already knew that walking stunk. Sounds like your son needs to walk awhile......