[michael2bmws]

So short story:

In January my mechanic diagnosed my leaking coolant issue as a blown head gasket & cracked radiator. I replaced my radiator & dead battery tonight.

Started the car, saw a red oil light I've never seen before in my 185k miles of driving the car, and then heard a loud BAM, got out and saw this.

Any ideas?

Good thing a engine swap is cheap on these

[Biginboca]

What did you see under the hood?

[Serf27]

Rear main seal shot out or drain bolt.

[Efthreeoh]

OP, how long was the engine running when the noise happened? And how long was the engine running when the low oil pressure light came on? And how long did you run the engine while the oil pressure light was on?

I think you need to get a bright flashlight and look for a hole in the side of the engine block.

And do you have the engine undershield installed?

[JonOhh]

That's funny, I was just thinking yesterday that I should make a "holy shit look at this post" about this:

I witnessed the sorta same thing that happened to someone else, people were clueless about cars, but something internal definitely became external.

While driving back home from college, I saw two girls on the side of the highway walking in circles around a LCI 328i, hood open...figured dead coil pack, so I turned around, went back, and pulled over to help them.

As I pulled off the highway in front of them, and began walking back to the car, I couldn't believe what I saw. A MASSIVE puddle of oil, all over the ground underneath the car, and a long trail back behind.

On closer inspection, the car really was run into the ground. VCG leaking, OFHG leaking, oil smelled absolutely horrible.

The oil on the ground was nasty and sludged up, looked like it hadn't been changed in 60k. Talked to the owner, apparently her daughter tried "to see how fast it would go" and then it just stopped. She said she got her oil changed about 3,000 ago, which is either a lie, or the shop was scamming her.

iDrive said add a quart, and for the shits and giggles (and because they seemingly wanted me to) I tried pouring a quart in the engine, and it immediately dripped out from somewhere underneath. Not sure if the drain plug came out, or if a rod got ejectoed, but something went horribly wrong. Trying to bump the starter resulted in a clunk POP... engine was trashed.

Didn't know the n52 could do such!

Obviously the sludged oil wasn't the cause in your case, but the end result was similar.

[CDirks]

You don't hear about too many catastrophic failures on the N52's, so I'd be eager to hear what you find OP.

Also, is that Tasman metallic I see?

[213e90n51]

How does that even happen? LOL oil just pops out when its not changed? How much is a engine swap on these e90s anyways

[Wolf 335]

Just top it up and it's good as new.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by 213e90n51

How does that even happen? LOL oil just pops out when its not changed? How much is a engine swap on these e90s anyways

Only time I've seen that happen is when my friend Ted and I took an old ragged out Toro lawn mower and disconnected the governor, and then rev'd the shit out of it until the lower end of the rod blew a hole in the side of the crankcase. LOL

We were 13 at the time...

[213e90n51]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Only time I've seen that happen is when my friend Ted and I took an old ragged out Toro lawn mower and disconnected the governor, and then rev'd the shit out of it until the lower end of the rod blew a hole in the side of the crankcase. LOL

We were 13 at the time...

LOL! I always wanted a lawn mower but instead got a push plower