No more BMW police cars, in the UK

[sapphireblack]

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/bmw/35947 ... -uk-forces

[X5Sport]

I’m still waiting for mine, and my local force uses Vauxhell and Geely Volvo (they’re Chinese now).

[Leslie]

I don't think the police wanted anymore at the minute with having to total the engine before selling them after several fires the resale must be low now with no engine.

[X5Sport]

The latest ones for a few years now, have the B57 engine which (fortunately) doesn’t seem to go bang when ragged. Still a concern for N57 powered cars like my X6 though.

BMW are still keeping quiet about the actual problem, but I have seen reference to the fact that Police cars have to get to jobs by ‘making progress’ then sit with the engine running for hours (sometimes) to keep the lights etc from killing the battery before getting thrashed on the way to the next job. Not exactly kind to the power plant!

[sapphireblack]

It seems i should be pleased my example has the heavier iron block, specifically M57D30TÜ2TOP according to Internet research, so not guaranteed info.

Production was changed to the alloy block N57 in September 2010 apparently.

[Alan Gunn]

Shame they scrap the engine before getting rid.
I would chance one at the right price.

[Leslie]

They drill a hole in the block seen a few on ebay with suggestion you plug the hole and it will run fine
The police do not want the legal liability of a potential fire with risk to life after they are done with the cars so that's why they do it.

[StuBeeDoo]

The way I read it, BMW don't want to supply UK police anymore. If that's correct BMW should be doing more to resolve the issue, and the police should be looking at how they can do their part by not leaving engines running for excessively long periods - just about everyone else is trying to reduce their emissions, so should they.

[X5Sport]

I wonder if the cars have ‘equipment batteries’? When I worked with Surrey, the traffic Range Rovers all had dual battery systems and split charging so that engines didn’t need running at long incidents. The second battery was a lot larger than the vehicle battery. Engines were needed to run the Stem-Light floodlight kit (in the round bin on the roof) because it was 115V and run by an engine driven alternator.

With LED lighting now, I would have expected a lower power draw meaning engines not required.

Maybe what hasn’t been said is that UK Police forces aren’t buying enough BMWs to justify producing that variant in RHD?

[sapphireblack]

Having to leave an engine running for lengthy periods at any incident seems incredibly lo--tec to keep the bues working, and unbelievably bad for emissions and fuel costs. Inevitably that means more frequent servicing pushing costs even higher.

It's a bit pathetic of BMW to withdraw sales to the police, but doubtless another manufacture will step up, MB the most likely maybe given so many of that marque are used in Europe for all manner of assist type vehicles. Maybe the UKs forces should all pile into Gelandewagons, they features well in the Jason Bourne films

[X5Sport]

From reports today, between 5 & 7 engines per month were failing between 2014 & 2017. Those remaining in the fleet are being closely monitored. It seems a part breaks and in one fatal case, cut the oil supply and the part then ignited.

I would assume that after these incidents, UK forces stopped buying BMW and therefore that killed off the relevant Sales Division. I wonder what the replacements will be? BMW were bought because there was nothing else good enough for a while. A few Volvos are appearing around here and 20 years ago it was pretty much ‘the’ traffic car. They even raced them in the BTCC!! The VW Touareg is a contender in the SUV police options.

Weight is a big issue, especially with all the kit that the ARVs carry, and even traffic units still have a lot on board both car and SUV types. The change to electric vehicles in 7 years time (12 for hybrids) could be challenging. The i4 I have on order is heavier than my X6 - the battery alone is 250kgs. High speed pursuits won’t last long!

AC Schnitzer have just produced an i4 M50 version for the German Police (demo only at present). See bmwblog……

https://www.bmwblog.com/2022/12/02/bmw- ... otor-show/

[Leslie]

Found this : Diluted oil and too long service intervals identified and 10k between services recommended .

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/bmw/35947 ... -uk-forces


BMW police car crash inquest
The N57 engine issue was linked to the tragic death of PC Nicholas Dumphreys, of Cumbria Police on January 26, 2020. The officer's BMW patrol car crashed on the M6 motorway and an inquest into the fatal accident in 2022 heard that a faulty crankshaft bearing had broken loose and punctured the oil sump causing a fire in the N57 engine.

Reporting from Lancs Live shows that BMW had been aware of the potential problem in 2016, at which time there had been five to seven similar incidents in the previous two years. The inquest suggested the series of faults could be attributed to particular factors associated with police vehicles - namely cars with high mileage that experience extended engine idling time often followed by sharp acceleration.

The inquest also revealed that in 2016 BMW UK prompted BMW head office in Germany to investigate the incidents and tests were carried out by engineers at the firm's factory in Steyr, Austria. They identified the cause as poor lubrication resulting from ageing and degrading engine oil.

As a result, BMW UK were instructed to advise UK police forces using N57 engined models to upgrade the oil used and shorten oil change intervals to 10,000 miles on all police cars. The advice was passed via the voluntary National Association of Police Fleet Managers, but Cumbria Police is not a member of this body. BMW confirmed that there have been no incidences of the particular fault developing in cars not operated by the police.

[X5Sport]

Wow, we used to service ours every 3k miles (OK the engine tech wasn’t as good back then, but…). 10k intervals for a police vehicle is a hard life given they’re often running 16 or more hours per day. I’m very surprised they were allowed to run that long, or that BMW advised it was OK, assuming they did? What were the Home Office thinking when they approved the vehicles?

[Leslie]

No doubt cheap servicing with long intervals was a selling point at the time and was key to getting the contract in the first place ,it's usually about numbers at the end of the day . That's 10k recommended now no doubt it was more like 20k when this was occurring ! with the extended intervals and hours idling and the likely failed regens the oil was maybe more diesel than oil .

[StuBeeDoo]

Interesting reading, Leslie.