slcook54
05-05-2004, 04:23 AM
This weekend I went to the Coachella music festival with my little brother. Fortunately, my Dad and Mom cruised up to Indio to stay with some friends for the weekend so I didn't have to drive down from LA and back over to Coachella in one sitting to pick up my brother.
On Saturday morning, despite the drive only being a 10 minute drive from their house to the venue it took 2+ hours of waiting in traffic. On Saturday, I drove the M3 and 2+ hours sitting in traffic exhausted my left leg. The second day of the festival my Dad suggested I take the X5 3.0, I didn't object. I was looking forward to not having to work the clutch and the better sound system
My brother and I are waiting in traffic blasting the music excited to see Thursday, The Cure, Ferry Corsten and Paul Van Dyk. The entire time we are sitting in 105+ degree weather and the temp gauge is pinned dead center. We park quickly since we are already missing a little bit of Thursday. We hurry off to the show
We get back to the car at about 12:30 in the morning and begin to cruise back to my parents friend's house, so I can return the car to my Dad and drive the M3 back to school.
My brother and I are both starving seeing as we weren't too keen on spending 4$ for a hot dog that is easily consumed in two bites. We decided to make a quick run to McDonalds. The line was pretty long since there were tons of people leaving Coachella. Both days were sold out with I believe 25,000 tickets.
As we are sitting in line, I am enjoying the beautiful night breeze until I smell something bizarre, I look forward and notice a little smoke coming from the hood. I immediately glance at the temp gauge and notice the red light instantly illuminate indicating the engine is really hot. I immediately turn the car off and pull out of the drive thru line despite having already ordered.
I pop the hood and look under the car to discover that coolant was leaking. I assumed that possibly a radiator hose might have snapped. I didn't think it was that big a deal since I shut the car off immediately. Well my Dad picked us up and borrowed his friend's car to drive back to San Diego with my brother while my Mom remained behind to sort out the car issue the next day.
My Mom called me the next day and despite her complete lack of knowledge regarding cars, she said the mechanic said something about compression. My heart immediately sunk, I knew it was something serious. Well they weren't able to diagnos the cause of what happened, but supposedly the block is cracked and we need a new engine.
Mind you, my parents take the car to the dealership in San Diego for routine service and tune ups, etc. My Mom had just been to the dealership that week because the Check Engine light had come on. We did not purchase the extended warranty, and the dealership wants 10,400$ for a new engine. My Dad is going to talk to BMW headquarters tomorrow and see if they can possibly help out.
The X5 is a 2001 3.0 with 80,000 miles. Yes, that is a lot of miles so we are hoping that maybe there is something wrong with the engine manufacturing and we are the pioneers of this discovery. Although, I sure there are other X5's out there with more miles.
Thats the story.
On Saturday morning, despite the drive only being a 10 minute drive from their house to the venue it took 2+ hours of waiting in traffic. On Saturday, I drove the M3 and 2+ hours sitting in traffic exhausted my left leg. The second day of the festival my Dad suggested I take the X5 3.0, I didn't object. I was looking forward to not having to work the clutch and the better sound system
My brother and I are waiting in traffic blasting the music excited to see Thursday, The Cure, Ferry Corsten and Paul Van Dyk. The entire time we are sitting in 105+ degree weather and the temp gauge is pinned dead center. We park quickly since we are already missing a little bit of Thursday. We hurry off to the show
We get back to the car at about 12:30 in the morning and begin to cruise back to my parents friend's house, so I can return the car to my Dad and drive the M3 back to school.
My brother and I are both starving seeing as we weren't too keen on spending 4$ for a hot dog that is easily consumed in two bites. We decided to make a quick run to McDonalds. The line was pretty long since there were tons of people leaving Coachella. Both days were sold out with I believe 25,000 tickets.
As we are sitting in line, I am enjoying the beautiful night breeze until I smell something bizarre, I look forward and notice a little smoke coming from the hood. I immediately glance at the temp gauge and notice the red light instantly illuminate indicating the engine is really hot. I immediately turn the car off and pull out of the drive thru line despite having already ordered.
I pop the hood and look under the car to discover that coolant was leaking. I assumed that possibly a radiator hose might have snapped. I didn't think it was that big a deal since I shut the car off immediately. Well my Dad picked us up and borrowed his friend's car to drive back to San Diego with my brother while my Mom remained behind to sort out the car issue the next day.
My Mom called me the next day and despite her complete lack of knowledge regarding cars, she said the mechanic said something about compression. My heart immediately sunk, I knew it was something serious. Well they weren't able to diagnos the cause of what happened, but supposedly the block is cracked and we need a new engine.
Mind you, my parents take the car to the dealership in San Diego for routine service and tune ups, etc. My Mom had just been to the dealership that week because the Check Engine light had come on. We did not purchase the extended warranty, and the dealership wants 10,400$ for a new engine. My Dad is going to talk to BMW headquarters tomorrow and see if they can possibly help out.
The X5 is a 2001 3.0 with 80,000 miles. Yes, that is a lot of miles so we are hoping that maybe there is something wrong with the engine manufacturing and we are the pioneers of this discovery. Although, I sure there are other X5's out there with more miles.
Thats the story.