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spudfan



Member Since: 10 Sep 2007
Location: Co Donegal
Posts: 4663

Ireland 
Bmw diesel car fires
Cars belong to our police force. Seems engine oil dilution is the cause.
Years ago you could run your diesel Land Rover for long periods in a stationary mode without detriment. The handbook had a chart telling you how many hours you could do this before changing the oil. Perhaps BMW should have it in the handbook for these vehicles. Fancy cars, fancy oil, but you still need to do the basics.
https://www.msn.com/en-ie/news/other/almos...&ei=11 1982 88" 2.25 diesel
1992 110 200tdi csw -Zikali
2008 110 2.4 tdci csw-Zulu
2011 110 2.4 tdci csw-Masai
Post #1047721 5th Oct 2024 9:36am
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TexasRover



Member Since: 24 Nov 2022
Location: Paris
Posts: 1060

France 2002 Defender 110 Td5 DCPU Chawton White
Reading the article sounds like with a bit of thinking this could be resolved. Don't idle the engine for a prolonged period of time. Good practice for many other reasons too. The story about beacon lights needing to stay on depleting the battery has a very simple technical solution.

As they are aware of the cause, sounds like lack of imagination or willingness to resolve
Post #1047730 5th Oct 2024 11:05am
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Ianh



Member Since: 17 Sep 2018
Location: Essex
Posts: 2008

United Kingdom 
“come home to a real fire, leave a BMW idling “ Very Happy
Post #1047731 5th Oct 2024 11:10am
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90 Dreamer



Member Since: 13 Jul 2019
Location: Oop North
Posts: 2158

United Kingdom 2016 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Corris Grey
had been a known issue with "fast response" vehicles for years and had had some very tragic circumstances......
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-64037233
Post #1047733 5th Oct 2024 11:27am
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lightning



Member Since: 23 Apr 2009
Location: High Peak, Derbyshire
Posts: 2779

United Kingdom 
What, so if you leave the engine idling for too long the vehicle can set on fire?
Post #1048292 10th Oct 2024 6:55pm
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90 Dreamer



Member Since: 13 Jul 2019
Location: Oop North
Posts: 2158

United Kingdom 2016 Defender 90 Puma 2.2 HT Corris Grey
Like many modern vehicles they are designed as a cash cow for Corporates and Censored actually being useable…..
Most ‘fast response’ uses on the UK now are actually Volvo SUV, etc as BMW seemed to actively sabotage their own success and then failed to rectify the potential fatal fault meaning no one has any trust in them
Post #1048298 10th Oct 2024 7:34pm
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markb110



Member Since: 22 May 2010
Location: Guildford
Posts: 2639

England 2002 Defender 90 Td5 HT Epsom Green
lightning wrote:
What, so if you leave the engine idling for too long the vehicle can set on fire?


Only if the driver hasn’t subscribed to allow the heated seats and steering wheel option….. Whistle
Post #1048344 11th Oct 2024 11:55am
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blackwolf



Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 17387

United Kingdom 2007 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 DCPU Stornoway Grey
This is actually quite an old story and clearly it's taken a while for the Garda to get the message from the police over here.

The "problem" is that police vehicle have to be left running for long periods on tickover because the electrical systems including lighting, computer systems, dataloggers, and communications packs are too power hungry to run off the battery alone. The N57 engine, very much like JLR's TDV6, has a "fragile" lubrication system which is susceptible to dilution problems and apparently if you make an immediate transition from a long period of tickover to high-speed, high-demand driving it is likely to result in catastrophic engine failure which usually results in a vehicle fire as extremely hot parts and fluids are ejected. In January 2022 PC Nick Dumphreys was killed in Cumbria when the engine of his X5 failed leading to a high-speed crash and vehicle fire. At the inquest it was revealed that over the preceding four years there had been more than 60 instances per year of similar failures with police N57 engines, leading (rightly in my opinion) to outrage that nothing had been done to mitigate what was undoubtedly a very real and very lethal problem. The coroner issued a "Regulation 28 Notice" requiring a response from the police setting out the action being taken to address the problem, and I believe that all UK police forces have now stopped using N57-powered vehicles for frontline duties. End-of-life N57-powered police vehicles (certainly those "red-flagged") are no longer sold at auction as before but are now destroyed.

BMW has always maintained that there is no problem with this engine in normal civilian use, and I am not aware of any reports of similar failures outside of the police service. Indeed there are many people in motoring circles who will argue that the BMW N57 engine is one of the "best" modern common-rail diesel engines ever manufactured. There are certainly fewer reported problems with the N57 than there are with JLR's TDV6 or Ingenium engines.
Post #1048368 11th Oct 2024 2:05pm
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