Clearance failure on S85 engine to rod bearings causes oil starvation. This in turn causes engine catastrophic failure. If driving this will effect power breaking, power steering and all components requiring the engine to be running. This is a very common issue, I now have symptoms requiring a change of rod bearings.

- Davenport, FL, USA

My family and I were heading home on the freeway and the cars engine light came on and the engine went into limp home mode along with a loud knocking from the engine. The next day I had to car towed to BMW of honolulu. The dealership contacted me and told me that I needed a engine which they quoted me a price of $35K for a new engine. I then called getzinger motorwerkes which is another shop that works on BMW's just to get a second opinion. After diagnosing my car the owner of the shop told me that it was crank bearings and since they went bad the medal shaving went into my engine and also caused the vanos pump to go bad, he then stated that he was just reading about that same issue that has been happening with a lot of 2006 M5's due to the fact that its a bad engine design and that those parts would go bad every 60,000 miles. To replace those parts it would cost $8,000 in parts alone. So now I am stuck paying for a car that I can't even drive. I now live in another state and my car is stuck in Hawaii because the shipping company will not ship it in the condition that its in.

- Fort Hood, TX, USA

Enroute from palo alto to mountain view and was at a complete stop waiting at a stop light on a major thoroughfare (central expressway) when the car stopped running. Cars behind me proceeded to pass me to make the left turn while my car was shut down. I was able to re-start the car after ~5 - 10 minutes and drive another 1000 feet when the car stopped running again. Prior to both incidents the panel indicated an alert "transmission fail" and a "check engine" alert. The car would not start back up and had to be pushed through the intersection to a street where it could be parked safely. Initial autobody electronic diagnosis and repairs related to battery replacement, however, transmission related fault codes still showed up. Fortes brothers autobody discovered "safety" related notifications issued by BMW and therefore recommended taking car to BMW. Car was then towed to BMW mountain view dealership where service department diagnosed and then replaced both hydraulic pump and clutch. Based on subsequent research on the internet, there are references to hydraulic pump recalls by BMW for BMW M5 2005 model. Although my car is a BMW M5 2006 I am requesting follow up to confirm that the hydraulic pump is manufactured to all required specifications and does not pose a safety risk.

- Mountain View, CA, USA