[robopp]

Originally Posted by Gfit

Thanks but read everything I wrote. I did not say it’s not bad for the engine. I don’t know. I asked to show where it says it will “DRAMITICALLY reduce engine life”. Why stress the guy out when I, you and no one else it seems knows for sure except they read it somewhere on an Internet forum of strangers.

User’s manual was written by BMW. It’s not the internet.

[Gfit]

Thank you again but it’s really hard having a discussion when you aren’t actually reading what I wrote. I’ll try again, can you please reference the page where it says dramatically reduces engine life. You don’t even have to copy and paste. I’ll look it up myself as I like learning something new and not what someone said on the internet.

[kjx]

Originally Posted by Gfit

I’ll try again, can you please reference the page where it says dramatically reduces engine life.

See line 2 in the attachment and combine with the rest. Granted it doesn’t say what the worst case scenario is, but given it is possible to grenade the engine during break-in doing what OP’s wife did (over a longer distance), you’d have to extrapolate.

OP’s engine is definitely not going to last as long as the average S58 everything being equal past this. Since there are so many variables that add up to final engine failure, a brief user manual isn’t going to be the source of “how bad is it going to be if I did X for Y minutes at Z miles on the ODO”.

When the manufacturer tells you to never exceeed 5500 rpm during break-in (saying it’s necessary for long vehicle life and efficiency), and OP’s wife held it at 7000 rpm until it overheated, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to arrive at reasonable conclusions.

The manual explicitly states to “avoid full throttle … under all circumstances” during breakin.

[Berzerker]

Originally Posted by kjx

See line 2 in the attachment and combine with the rest. Granted it doesn’t say what the worst case scenario is, but given it is possible to grenade the engine during break-in doing what OP’s wife did (over a longer distance), you’d have to extrapolate.

OP’s engine is definitely not going to last as long as the average S58 everything being equal past this. Since there are so many variables that add up to final engine failure, a brief user manual isn’t going to be the source of “how bad is it going to be if I did X for Y minutes at Z miles on the ODO”.

When the manufacturer tells you to never exceeed 5500 rpm during break-in (saying it’s necessary for long vehicle life and efficiency), and OP’s wife held it at 7000 rpm until it overheated, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to arrive at reasonable conclusions.

The manual explicitly states to “avoid full throttle … under all circumstances” during breakin.

The extrapolation goes both ways though. We know it says "avoid under all circumstances" but they don't actually tell you what the potential issues are (as you did mention). What they also don't tell you is the limits are set this way on purpose to allow for people to make one or two mistakes and have the engine perform completely as expected for its expected lifespan.

There is no way a massive company like BMW would allow people, unsupervised, to operate cars where they've given them the *absolute* limit that if *briefly* crossed for any reason, would completely diminish or destroy the engine of a $100,000 car.

I would suspect the break-in period is more like 500 miles (at that) and can withstand something like 10 >5,500 RPM or redline moments and maybe 1 or 2 overheating events before it *actually* causes any longevity/performance issues in the long run (I'm completely speculating, but just trying to prove the point).

But, BMW will **never** tell anyone the actual design limits of the engine and what the engine is designed to withstand during that break-in period.

OP's post is also a worded a bit confusingly. The title mentions "redlined for 5km" but the post just mentions that "5km *later* the overheat warning came up." Was she actually redlining for 5km straight? That's a *long time* to not notice anything. I have my doubts that it was a constant redline and that the wife wouldn't understand/hear what was going on, so I'm thinking it wasn't constant, but...who knows.

None of us work for BMW or designed these engines so we're not going to have any 100% concretely correct answers for OP, but my guess would be that it's unlikely to actually cause any *significant* issues that I wouldn't just keep using the car and not worry about it.

[KevinGS]

I blame the husband who didn't teach his wife how to drive the G8X platform before having her embark on a longer trip.

[TJR_///M3]

As already written multiple times above, change the engine oil!
You are unlikely to have done any long-term damage to the engine, it will probably be looser than if run in normally, and may be a little noisy as some of the clearances will have been fractionally increased through the higher friction in the bearings when new, and running at high rpm at low mileage.
Remember, though the break in is not just about the engine it is also about the rest of the drive train. I am not a transmission expert, but that may have suffered more than the engine…
The rear axle will not care as it doesn’t know engine speed only road speed. Similarly with any XDtive components, if yours is an XDtive., I didn’t check.
You need to get to dealer to check for any codes. If the check engine light didn’t come on, you are probably OK, but extended running at high temperature can cause catalyst damage, but I doubt it in this case.

[barryc365]

We’ll look at the positives… the car 8
Is well broken in at this point

Go out side and redline it again, forget it ever happened

[meechy6ix0]

Originally Posted by BTC Maxi

Well the car is still under warranty for the next 3 years/36000 miles, and by the time that is up you can always get an extended warranty if it’s still bothering you. I’m no mechanic but I think you’ll be ok 👍🏻Now when telling bmw about this, I’d be careful with the choice of words.

isn’t it 4 years/50k miles?

[Berzerker]

Originally Posted by meechy6ix0

isn’t it 4 years/50k miles?

Yep.

[BimmerFix]

Originally Posted by meechy6ix0

isn’t it 4 years/50k miles?

Warranty yes ,
Maintenance program is 3/36 now
Only covering filters, oil , & brake fluid

It used to be 4/50k for both. BMW changed that back in 14’ or 15

The OG maintenance program was the best. Would cover a bunch more equipment: brakes, rotors, pad, wiper blades , etc

But anyhoo I digress

[omaralt]

guys.. its an auto.. the computer will not let the car overheat.. once the car detected that the engine was going to overheat it gave a warning and your wife pulled over. honestly i wouldn't give it another thought

[e46e39g80]

Where are people getting the 4500 rpm threshold for break-in? The owners manual says 5000 for first 600 miles and 6000 for next 600 miles. No full throttle first 600 and no full loads in gears 1-3 in next 600. Vary rpms and vehicle and rotatioal speeds.

Also in this video: https://youtu.be/mJQ8o-aRYKM

[Bulent Ali]

I doubt there will be any damage. This engine is designed to be hard driven on the track . Red line means stopping it from OVER revving and bang! I'd worry if it didn't red line.
I would recommend an oil and filter change asap to put your mind to rest . Tel the Mrs not to open the radio and play loud music too. She will never know otherwise if the car is revving too high. I did this when I was a lot younger.

[TopJimmy]

My engine builder prefers hard break ins. Just think of it like you’re fully broken in now. Take it easy until you do complete your break in service.

How many more miles till your break in service?

[Bulent Ali]

Overheating that occurred may be the result that the forward speed of the car was too slow to pull air in to the radiator to cool it . Red line ....how fast was she able to drive??? If she was red lining the car at 100kph for km , then I would worry. Because at high speed there would be more forward motion of the car and more cooling through the radiator. If it over heats at that speed I'd worry . But , if she was red lining it @ trafic pace ...slow.. then it's not having forced cooling and the car will over heat quicker.

[vinha916]

Drive it for a few weeks to see if you notice anything. Seriously, If I were in your shoe. I would trade it in for CS(assume you have the money and you like the CS) . My wife will accept right away and she won't get to drive CS again. I wouldn't get mad at your wife tho for this. You should have shown her about Manual. My wife is not allowed to drive my M3 after 6 months of ownership.

[Znomorph4theWin]

Likely no damage. The S58 has all forged internals and is highly overbuilt.

That being said, I gotta ask….how can someone drive for 5min at redline? At relatively low speed (1st or 2nd gear at the max), the engine would be screaming and any minor throttle adjustments would cause major surging.

You would think she would have noticed and stopped at the car to perhaps reassess the situation. Ie put it into park then shift to drive.

[GrannyShiftG80]

Get a divorce

[breezyrc15]

Originally Posted by M4ord

I am confident the car is fine, especially if your wife pulled over right away and didnt continue on. The cooling on the S58 is one of its many remarkable qualities.

I would suggest riding with your wife a few times and help her understand this is not a standard car and thier are different modes and settings that are necessary to understand to properly operate the car. Dont sweat this, the car is strong, and the BMW engineers designed it to take a beating. At your break-in service, I would not say a thing. Just let them do the change and inspection and if they find issues they will let you know.

This is the gentleman’s answer

[Bch53211]

Originally Posted by KevinGS

I blame the husband who didn't teach his wife how to drive the G8X platform before having her embark on a longer trip.

Captain hind sight saves the day once again!

[Autoaddict]

So, I saw this thread and totally related. After we had gotten our G80, my wife took my youngest to the bus stop. She then called me and told me the M3 was acting weird and jumpy. Here I later learned that she shifted twice into the manual shift mode and drive home in first gear. Now, our kids bus stop is not far at all so the car barely saw redline or any real speed but it did make me nervous. But the car was fine. Later, we got in the car and I showed her how to put it in drive and not manual. She now understands. Honestly, it can happen to anyone not familiar with this car.

[M4ord]

Originally Posted by breezyrc15

This is the gentleman’s answer

Hat off to you.