75K, EGR valve

reached 75K with no problems except a "service engine soon" notice which turned out to be a clogged EGR valve. They said BMW expected their customers to drive their cars harder to cleanse the valve.

At any rate, they redesigned the valve and have a new model to install. It requires special reprogramming. My car is in the shop while they wait for a German BMW engineer to come back from holiday to supervise the reprogramming.

the cost is $1100. Not covered by exhaust warranty they say and even though they redesigned the part it is not an official recall. They say my car has too many miles for a goodwill repair

Otherwise the car is perfect- about 32 combined mileage

They gave me a 328 sport model as a loaner. pretty fun but no comparison.

Do you know if the redesigned valve is in the 2011's?

Had my egr valve replaced two weeks ago at 9000 miles on the car. Only took dealer a day and no mention of recall. Only symptom was service engine soon light that went away and slight feeling of loss of turbo power for short period of time. I was slightly concerned given I just got the car back from european delivery in august and had less than 10000 miles of mainly highway driving on the car. Crossing fingers it was a one time thing.

Originally Posted by mg601

reached 75K with no problems except a "service engine soon" notice which turned out to be a clogged EGR valve. They said BMW expected their customers to drive their cars harder to cleanse the valve.

At any rate, they redesigned the valve and have a new model to install. It requires special reprogramming. My car is in the shop while they wait for a German BMW engineer to come back from holiday to supervise the reprogramming.

the cost is $1100. Not covered by exhaust warranty they say and even though they redesigned the part it is not an official recall. They say my car has too many miles for a goodwill repair

Otherwise the car is perfect- about 32 combined mileage

They gave me a 328 sport model as a loaner. pretty fun but no comparison.

What is your car model year? Production month?

mine is a 2009 built in early 2009. I don't know when started installing the new EGR into production vehicles

Originally Posted by mg601

the cost is $1100. Not covered by exhaust warranty they say and even though they redesigned the part it is not an official recall. They say my car has too many miles for a goodwill repair

I wouldn't take their word for it.I'd research just what is...and isn't..covered under the Federal emmissions system warranty.And if "napa" means California you may have a second avenue of redress open to you under state law.

Aren't most of the emission related components covered under a 7 or 8 yr/80K mile warranty?

At least you were lucky enough to not experience a plugged up intake from a bad EGR. That would have to be a costly ordeal on these cars. I had it happen to my truck somewhere after 100k miles.

Originally Posted by firstbimmer

Had my egr valve replaced two weeks ago at 9000 miles on the car. Only took dealer a day and no mention of recall. Only symptom was service engine soon light that went away and slight feeling of loss of turbo power for short period of time. I was slightly concerned given I just got the car back from european delivery in august and had less than 10000 miles of mainly highway driving on the car.

2011 model?

Originally Posted by 62Lincoln

2011 model?

Yeah, picked up july in munch. Redelivered end of august. Only had for 4 months and already had egr valve replaced. Car is telling me I am due for oil change as well. But egr replacement at under 10000 miles is not a great sign when my 335d is a replacement for my lemon law 335i

Originally Posted by rmorin49

Aren't most of the emission related components covered under a 7 or 8 yr/80K mile warranty?

No, the Federal EPA requirements are 2yrs/24k which is essentially irrelevant given the overlap with the factory warranty coverage. There are only 3 components that are covered for 8yrs/80k: ECU, Cat, and OBD. However the CA emissions warranty requirements (and other states that have adopted them) are different and do provide more coverage. So if the PO is in CA or a state that follows the same standards it would definitely be good to research that coverage closely. I don't think the dealer would be a reliable source of that info, but I'm sure CA has some consumer resources.

Graham

Originally Posted by GB

No, the Federal EPA requirements are 2yrs/24k which is essentially irrelevant given the overlap with the factory warranty coverage. There are only 3 components that are covered for 8yrs/80k: ECU, Cat, and OBD. However the CA emissions warranty requirements (and other states that have adopted them) are different and do provide more coverage. So if the PO is in CA or a state that follows the same standards it would definitely be good to research that coverage closely. I don't think the dealer would be a reliable source of that info, but I'm sure CA has some consumer resources.

Graham

Really? I always thought it was 50k miles and actually thought that length was the primary reason back in the 80s(?) that manufacturers started using 400 grade SS in the exhaust over mild steel.

Originally Posted by Snipe656

Really? I always thought it was 50k miles and actually thought that length was the primary reason back in the 80s(?) that manufacturers started using 400 grade SS in the exhaust over mild steel.

http://www.epa.gov/oms/consumer/warr95fs.txt

Since '95 at least the Fed version has been 2/24 except for the Cat, ECU and OBD at 8/80. CA more or less extends the 2/24 coverage to 3/50 but from there it gets more complicated. The best source of info is the warranty booklet.

Originally Posted by GB

http://www.epa.gov/oms/consumer/warr95fs.txt

Since '95 at least the Fed version has been 2/24 except for the Cat, ECU and OBD at 8/80. CA more or less extends the 2/24 coverage to 3/50 but from there it gets more complicated. The best source of info is the warranty booklet.

That 8/80 is probably what I am thinking of since my thoughts are around the material used for the piping which of course connects to the Cat.

the 335D has been in the shop since last thursday waiting for a german BMW engineer to assist with programming. they got it done today but the "check engine soon' light wouldn't reset. The discovered the NOX sensors (2) were throwing "false" codes and both have to be replaced. $700 each for the parts and they have to order them. These sensors are not covered by the CA emissions warranty.

The dealer is trying to get BMW to step up and fix it.

So up to a possible $2500 repair bill or some other costs not detailed here?

I make damn sure my dealer is never going to say "We expected you to drive this car harder". In fact, I'm expecting them to say "Holy crap, you went through brake pads already!"

I love everything about my 09 335d but the SES light is simply ridiculous. I have about 34000 miles on the car, and have been to dealer about SES light 4 times. I can see the emission control system on this car become real burden when free maintenance and warranty expires. It's almost embarrassing to ask my friends to give me ride to and from the dealership


Here is the log:
16000 miles, FC 4955, CN fault CF33, nothing was done, dealer just reset it;
20000 miles, FC 4fb5, 475f, replaced two NOX sensors;
31000 miles, FC 4D35, cleaned and reinstalled valve (EGR valve probably)
34000 miles, in shop now, waiting for changing some kind settling device, service advisor couldn't even explain well, I guess I'll find out when I pick up the car


Other than that, the car is perfect. Just drove it from San Diego to San Francisco, with no fill up, over 80MPH most time, and 37.5MPG, still got 80 miles left in the tank.

I dealt with an SES light for just over two months straight and before I even owned the car half a year. One of those months it was at the dealer the entire time being "fixed". After the entire stressful ordeal the problem was a bad sensor, common to all BMW diesels worldwide, and an idiot technician installing it incorrectly. I personally don't think it is the emission systems but instead the boneheads doing the work. But I had a crappy experience so I am jaded.

Agree, the service techs probably know little about these cars. Anyway, got my car back, fault code 4C7B, SCR metering valve failed and was replaced. So far, almost all parts in the SCR system on my car have been replaced. Probably the temperature sensor will need replacement soon I would expect better reliability for these parts considering this is not the first diesel car BMW built.

When I see lots of parts being replaced it always makes me feel like they don't know the root cause of the issue.

Originally Posted by bayarea2007

Agree, the service techs probably know little about these cars. Anyway, got my car back, fault code 4C7B, SCR metering valve failed and was replaced. So far, almost all parts in the SCR system on my car have been replaced. Probably the temperature sensor will need replacement soon I would expect better reliability for these parts considering this is not the first diesel car BMW built.

Again: although it's not the first diesel cars BMW has built, it *IS* the first they've sold with the SCR catalyst.

When the service engine light was tripped on my car (clogged urea injector) the OBD readout was sent to a central BMW facility for diagnosis. The local techs are told what corrective action is required.

Originally Posted by 4pipes

When the service engine light was tripped on my car (clogged urea injector) the OBD readout was sent to a central BMW facility for diagnosis. The local techs are told what corrective action is required.

Our last VW was the same sort of deal and the corrective action to take was not the right thing at all. We got charged upwards of $1k to have a fuel pump and some relay replaced. We took the car to them and said we think it has a bad battery from the kid constantly leaving the interior light on over night. So the read out sent to VW and the response was it has a bad fuel pump/relay. They replaced all that and then called to say it was ready then called back and said looks like it also needs a battery. We got the old fuel pump parts and we bench tested them, was not a single thing wrong with them and after some fighting we got our money back. The whole experience makes me untrusting of computer read outs to properly inform the person who actually physically works on the car to know what truly needs to be done. There is something to be said and valued for actual real world experience.

I could not agree more Snipe. The days of using a simple volt meter are gone. A lot of these new young techs only know how to diagnose based on fault codes. I bet you could find some techs in the back who know what what an ohm is