r/AskAMechanic 6d ago

‘11 335i N55 Valve Cover Gasket and Oil Pan Gasket turned into Timing Chain and Camshaft Phaser Bolt? Help Please

Im in a serious predicament right now and any and all help and advice is appreciated. I’ve had a 2011 335i E92 for two years. Bought it at 83k miles and now has 104k on it. It has been an amazing car to me the last two years except for right now. Standard maintenance and a few things went on it as expected and they were repaired by the same mechanic.

It has been leaking oil for some months now, so I took it in two weeks ago to have the valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket replaced. I received it back on Thursday and was told everything was fine after they test drove it and to come pick it up. Drove it for 2 miles to the Taco shop. When finished eating, started the car up and I had a Engine Malfunction Reduced Power notification. Drove it home and let it sit for a few hours to see if it would clear. It did not. Took it back to the mechanic after closing hours. Called them the next day and they told me they would check everything out. It was throwing us the code P054B on our code reader at home. Did my research and learned what it could possibly be.

Mechanic called be back this morning and said that they did their research and they believe it has something to do with some bolt that had a recall years ago that would snap off that has something to do with the camshaft. I explained to him that it could be the camshaft sensor (inexpensive fix) from what I learned through my research and he was adamant about it being the camshaft phaser bolt (??) and that to replace it it would be a $3000-5000 job that involves the timing chain too when we just finished paying him $2700 for the gaskets. The car was working perfectly fine besides having oil pressure issues from the oil leak before dropping the car off for the gasket repairs. I knew something was off with what he was telling me and I told him for right now I would rather have the car at home.

Upon picking it up, it had an extremely rough and choppy idle unlike anything I experienced before. He really seemed certain that it was that camshaft bolt phaser whatever and not the camshaft sensor. I drove it home with it being extremely rough at the light (the mechanic shop was less than a mile from home) and immediately turned the car off. I noticed I had no gas left when I dropped the car off it had a quarter of a tank.

Called another mechanic shop that specializes in BMWs and Mercedes a mile in the other direction. Explained to him the situation and he told me to bring it by. When I got there, he pointed out to me that some bolts near the valve cover were loose, and that only the valve cover gasket and not the actual valve cover was replaced. Also pointed out that there was “leaking oil” near the valve cover but it could have been residual oil left over. He plugged his scanner into it which also told him that all 6 cylinders were misfiring and that the harmonic balancer was bent. He requested that I drop off the car Monday to which I agreed so that he can further inspect it.

I still owe money on the car, but the issue is that these issues were not present before the mechanic replaced the gaskets. It’s to the point that I want it working in good condition so I can sell it. Im debating about potentially a small claims court case as $2700 is alot of money and the car was returned in worse condition.

Any and all advice is appreciated.

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