I had a recent problem with our 525I. I was driving it and it lost power/died. When the vehicle died, I lost power steering and power brakes. The car would not restart and no error lights or messages were displayed on the idrive. I had the car towed home. After the initial check of the vehicle, it showed the crank sensor fault. I noticed a bunch of metal throw off in the oil filter and the vehicle did not have compression in cylinder 2 and 6. I was thinking catastrophic engine failure. Since I am very familiar with american/Japanese vehicles, I decided to look into the problem myself after getting no response from bmwna. The car is out of warranty with 85K miles. The metal throw off was due to the timing chain jumping off of the exhaust cam gear and grinding against the back of it. The cause of the problem was the two aluminum screws under the cam shaft gears. Both heads were broken off and one made its way up the chain getting caught in the chain and gear. These screws are aluminum. I don't know if this is a common problem but for the bolts to break it would be due over torqued/tighten bolts or extreme pressure from expanding/contracting of the magnesium vs aluminum. The other broken bolt head is still some where in the bottom of the oil pan. The exhaust cam gear was chewed up, but still serviceable. I re-timed the car and checked the compression. I got lucky and compression is good so no bent valves. I disassemble everything and now I patiently waiting for several parts. However, I'm still dealing with the broken head that is some where in the oil pan. This is a serious manufactures defect and I have retained all of the parts and including the oil.

- Stockton, CA, USA

The contact owns a 2006 BMW 550I. While driving approximately 55 mph, the vehicle stalled. Twenty seconds later, the vehicle restarted on its own. The failure occurred 28 times after. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer but the contact had not been given the diagnosis. The contact called the manufacturer and referenced recall 07V479000 (engine and engine cooling) but was informed that the vehicle was not included. The failure mileage was approximately 66,000 and the current mileage was 66,700.

- North Miami, FL, USA

Since purchasing the vehicle (10/12/2005) the vehicle alerts us that the oil level is low - do not continue to operate vehicle. The car was serviced each time the problem occurred by South bay BMW. Reprogramming, sensors and oil consumption tests have been done; however, whatever repairs are done, the problem recurs.

- Torrance, CA, USA