Is anyone else concerned as of late about the long-term realiability of their d's?

Originally Posted by GangweDM

I had also just had the recall done, about 3 weeks prior to my current issues. Then all of a sudden the SES light, reduced power icon. None of the parts are covered by the recall in my case (so I'm told) it's going to be a substantial bill.

When you did the recall what did they replace? Seems like most, if not all, of us with the 2009s have gotten at least the EGR as part of the recall and you listed that as needing to be replaced now is why I ask.

Ok i just found my recall paperwork. Here is what was replaced EGR Valve,exhaust pipes,Mixer.

Repair bill says performed SBI 18 02 12. r&r egr, r&r scr catalyst

Is the EGR the same as a "throttle valve" , is the "mixer" part of the Active Tank? they also say i need an "HFM"

Thanks for any and all comments
d

The way my paperwork read the mixer sounded like it was in between the tanks and not part of them.

I'd think the throttle blade is part of some sort of throttle body.

I am not sure what an HFM is.

What caused limp mode in your case...?

Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl

#2 Sidewalls are not repaired for liability reasons (RFT or not)

While that statement is certainly true, an even better reason foe not repairing sidewall punctures is that such repairs are inherently unsafe, due to the constant flexing of the sidewalls, i.e., even without liability concerns, no reputable tire shop would repair a sidewall puncture.

Well it's happened again. The dreaded SES light is on AGAIN. Scheduled to drop the D off at the dealer on Sat. morning. This is the 3rd time at the dealer since the beginning of the year. I love this car, but it is turning into a high maintenance bimbo really quickly. Maybe I'll just stop calling it a Bimmer and start calling it a Bimbo.

Maybe it's just me - most of my other cars are Hondas and other than oil changes haven't had to be repaired in years. Oh I am mistaken, my S2000 had to go in last summer - the second time in 12 years at the dealer for a repair. BMW can and needs to do better than this. My average for this car over the last two years is a dealer repair every 2-3 months. That record is absolutely ridiculous.

Originally Posted by AZ335D

Well it's happened again. The dreaded SES light is on AGAIN. Scheduled to drop the D off at the dealer on Sat. morning. This is the 3rd time at the dealer since the beginning of the year. I love this car, but it is turning into a high maintenance bimbo really quickly. Maybe I'll just stop calling it a Bimmer and start calling it a Bimbo.

Maybe it's just me - most of my other cars are Hondas and other than oil changes haven't had to be repaired in years. Oh I am mistaken, my S2000 had to go in last summer - the second time in 12 years at the dealer for a repair. BMW can and needs to do better than this. My average for this car over the last two years is a dealer repair every 2-3 months. That record is absolutely ridiculous.

My wife last week was making a point to co-workers that I think I maybe made on here before. In the time we have owned our BMW, which I think will be three years this upcoming Oct/Nov, our old beater truck has been in the shop far less than the BMW has. That really rubbed me wrong there for awhile but finally just got to the point of accepting it. That is also why we have tacked on nearly another 100k miles onto that truck during that time period over driving the BMW primarily which is what we actually had originally intended doing with that car. The BMW replaced a Honda and the Honda was our primary driver until that point. The Honda had some problems over the years and basically gave it away because of some bigger problems at the end but it also had I think 284k miles at the end too.

Originally Posted by AZ335D

Well it's happened again. The dreaded SES light is on AGAIN. Scheduled to drop the D off at the dealer on Sat. morning. This is the 3rd time at the dealer since the beginning of the year. I love this car, but it is turning into a high maintenance bimbo really quickly. Maybe I'll just stop calling it a Bimmer and start calling it a Bimbo.

Maybe it's just me - most of my other cars are Hondas and other than oil changes haven't had to be repaired in years. Oh I am mistaken, my S2000 had to go in last summer - the second time in 12 years at the dealer for a repair. BMW can and needs to do better than this. My average for this car over the last two years is a dealer repair every 2-3 months. That record is absolutely ridiculous.

I honestly get the feeling that these diesels really get misdiagnosed a lot of the time. Lots of techs don't seem too experienced when it comes to our cars and the emissions restrictions also makes things even dicier.

Originally Posted by GreekboyD

I honestly get the feeling that these diesels really get misdiagnosed a lot of the time. Lots of techs don't seem too experienced when it comes to our cars and the emissions restrictions also makes things even dicier.

From what I have gathered they do not do much diagnosing at all. They do what a computer tells them to do.

I have a German mechanic from Bavaria that loves diesels and bought my 2005 E320 CDI with 203,000 miles on if from me. His wife uses it and its in spectacular condition. I drove it daily and had few of the "common" problems that many complain about in diesels, namely carbon buildup, intake manifold crud, etc. He wants to buy my 335d when I'm ready to sell.

But I'm a bit weird with my cars - they talk to me! Mine told me it likes Chevron fuel, not Shell or BP. I did my own oil changes and used the right stuff every time. Made sure all the maintenance was correct and was on top of all the service (as many do here). Drove the heck out of it without abuse.

The 2005-2006 CDI's had no particle trap, so I could "smoke" tailgaters by just flooring it. The downshift would loosen up the soot and give a gratifying black cloud in back of me, neutralizing the obnoxious driver. I was a baaaad boy!

PL

I really think those who are required to make repeat trips to the dealer should look for another one, if an option. We've only had ours for 10 months or 12K miles (20K on the clock) but the only unscheduled trip to the dealer was the EGR recall. We have never seen the SES (yet). Have seen it plenty on our gasoline powered BMWs over the years.

The carbon/gunking of the intake is a concern. With direct injection do not think fuel has anything to do with it. I would think it's the EGR to reduce NOx levels that is gunking it up. With DEF and the catalyst, wonder if EGR is really needed.

I really wish my diesel vehicles would blow soot on demand. My truck will sometimes do it.

Originally Posted by KeithS

I really think those who are required to make repeat trips to the dealer should look for another one, if an option. We've only had ours for 10 months or 12K miles (20K on the clock) but the only unscheduled trip to the dealer was the EGR recall. We have never seen the SES (yet). Have seen it plenty on our gasoline powered BMWs over the years.

The carbon/gunking of the intake is a concern. With direct injection do not think fuel has anything to do with it. I would think it's the EGR to reduce NOx levels that is gunking it up. With DEF and the catalyst, wonder if EGR is really needed.

True. I thought my car was a lemon back when I still went to BMW of North Houston but then discovered no it was just the boneheads at that dealer.

Originally Posted by Snipe656

True. I thought my car was a lemon back when I still went to BMW of North Houston but then discovered no it was just the boneheads at that dealer.

Which dealer do you go to now?

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My D is also reaching 3 years this Nov and it has 85,000 KM of basically trouble free driving experience.
The only unscheduled visits to the service dept are for the recalls and replacement of the passenger side rear view mirror which is not a Diesel issue.

Currently I experience a suspension squeak when I get out of the vehicle.
I search this forum and found that this is a common issue with the e9X so again it's not due to the Diesel powertrain. If I do not apply the hand brakes there is no squeaks.
I'll call my dealer to see if they need to adjust the hand brakes but it's not a major issue.

I'm out of warranty now and since the D is paid for, I intend to drive it till it drops as it's still cheaper to maintain than to buy a new BMW.
The D gets around 30MPG combined so it make no economic sense to buy a new f30 D if it can only get 40+ MPG combined.

My ML is leased and I may turn it in when the lease is up in May 2014 for a X3 D or the GLK BlueTec if fuel prices keeps going up. If a f31 touring D is available that's likely the one I'll get.
Fortunately here in Toronto Diesel is currently @ $1.15/Litre while RUG is $1.25/Litre and Premium $1.42/Litre!

So far my D is a keeper, I hope it stays that way.

Originally Posted by mlski100

Which dealer do you go to now?

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Advantage in Midtown. Advantage in less than 4 hours managed to fix what North Houston could not in 4 weeks and probably because North Houston put the part on backwards.

Originally Posted by DC-IT

My D is also reaching 3 years this Nov and it has 85,000 KM of basically trouble free driving experience.
The only unscheduled visits to the service dept are for the recalls and replacement of the passenger side rear view mirror which is not a Diesel issue.

Currently I experience a suspension squeak when I get out of the vehicle.
I search this forum and found that this is a common issue with the e9X so again it's not due to the Diesel powertrain. If I do not apply the hand brakes there is no squeaks.
I'll call my dealer to see if they need to adjust the hand brakes but it's not a major issue.

I'm out of warranty now and since the D is paid for, I intend to drive it till it drops as it's still cheaper to maintain than to buy a new BMW.
The D gets around 30MPG combined so it make no economic sense to buy a new f30 D if it can only get 40+ MPG combined.

My ML is leased and I may turn it in when the lease is up in May 2014 for a X3 D or the GLK BlueTec if fuel prices keeps going up. If a f31 touring D is available that's likely the one I'll get.
Fortunately here in Toronto Diesel is currently @ $1.15/Litre while RUG is $1.25/Litre and Premium $1.42/Litre!

So far my D is a keeper, I hope it stays that way.

Sweet, another Toronto D driver. Whereabouts are you at? I'm in East York area.

P.S. What diesel do you typically buy? I miss Sunoco Gold Diesel.

Carbon build up appears to be a problem on nearly all direct injection engines, gas or diesel.

http://www.autoobserver.com/2011/06/...-adopters.html

Older style port injection had the benefit of having a solvent being sprayed into the intake which cleaned and reduced/eliminated this buildup.

Our 2 Cummins engines don't have EGR which reduces the problem. But our old VW TDI which had EGR had to have the intake removed and cleaned at the ~80k ml point (common issue with the TDI). One way to help clean the intake and reduce the buildup is using water/meth injection as it acts kind of like the older style "port injection" process and sends a solvent through the intake . . .

It seems as the buildup on intake valves is hard to avoid (result of combustion), but the buildup on the intake system surely is a result of EGR. Sounds like a mid car life teardown will be needed to clean everything out. As long as they get this down to a science and can do it for say around $1K, I would consider that acceptable to get another 80K miles out of the car.

Now if we could get rid of the EGR and coat the intake valves with some magic, they could have this licked.

While carbon buildup on all DI engines is most certainly a worry, enough of the carbon being built up to require a top end engine tear down and happening before 50k(I'd damn near be willing to argue that before 100k too) to me is a sign of something being wrong with the cars or design of the cars. I am guessing this is why we saw the EGR updates from BMW but who knows if that truly is why we saw that or if it will actually resolve the issue from happening again. If it is in fact a design issue then not a whole lot we can do about it unless someone figures out how to remove the EGR from the mix but sounds like it is integrated into other parts so might be a difficult task. The water/meth injection idea mentioned above could be an avenue to look into.

I know for a fact Chevron years ago developed a back purge system to be used on DI(gas but not sure why it would not work on diesel) engines. The back purge system was specifically designed to get carbon build up out of engines and to be used as more of a routine maintenance item. I am pretty confident this system was actually licensed to BMW back when I heard about it and perhaps still is to this day but again it was at the time specific to gas engines.

If you plan to keep your car for well beyond 100k miles then this is why I have been rather anal of trying to run fuel brands that I trust the companies are making efforts to make burn clean/efficiently via proper additives which in turn(in my mind) will really help prevent the buildup getting to the point of an issue during my ownership. I know this is why some people run additives so if that is something someone is confident in doing and feels will help them then go for it. If you are the type of person who gets rid of cars around 100k miles or well before it then I'd personally not get super worried over this. Yes people have had the issue and it is worrisome to say the least but I don't think there is much we can do to prevent it if it is happening so prematurely beyond trying to have warranties so we do not have to float the repair bills.

Originally Posted by GreekboyD

Sweet, another Toronto D driver. Whereabouts are you at? I'm in East York area.

P.S. What diesel do you typically buy? I miss Sunoco Gold Diesel.

Hi GreekboyD

I used to live in Scarborough near Port Union area.
I've moved to Ajax so now I'm very close to Endras BMW where I bought my D and I have it serviced there.

I normally use Shell or Petro-Canada.

I do see quite a few Ds on the 401 which I travel daily.

Originally Posted by Snipe656

My wife last week was making a point to co-workers that I think I maybe made on here before. In the time we have owned our BMW, which I think will be three years this upcoming Oct/Nov, our old beater truck has been in the shop far less than the BMW has. That really rubbed me wrong there for awhile but finally just got to the point of accepting it. That is also why we have tacked on nearly another 100k miles onto that truck during that time period over driving the BMW primarily which is what we actually had originally intended doing with that car. The BMW replaced a Honda and the Honda was our primary driver until that point. The Honda had some problems over the years and basically gave it away because of some bigger problems at the end but it also had I think 284k miles at the end too.

We have 3 Hondas and a Ford truck as well as the 335D. The truck has been in something like 3 times for unscheduled repairs since I bought it new in 2005. My 12 year old Honda S2000 has been in twice - and one of those was for stuff that just wears out after awhile (hoses).

The 335 D has been in every 2-3 months for unscheduled repairs for the last 2 years, and it only has 39K miles on it. When I dropped it off at the dealership this morning, was complaining about the reliablity. Alll the SA could say was - "Has it stopped on you yet?" I told him if it stranded me on the road, it would be back in their lap - lease cancelled and they would be talking to my lawyer if the dealership contested it. A car that puts me in a life threatening situation (and stopping on the road in AZ 60 miles from the nearest town in the summer when you have no cell phone reception IS a life threatening situation) does not stay in my garage.

With this latest episode, I really am somewhat scared to take the car out of town now. It seems every time I leave the city lately, the car throws a SES light.

Don't get me wrong, I love driving this car. I have described it many times as "a near-perfect" drivers car. It provides all the right sensations when driving. But the lack of reliability is a real buzz killer.

It's pretty bad when a Ford has much better reliability than a BMW. I never thought I would see that in my lifetime.

Originally Posted by AZ335D

It's pretty bad when a Ford has much better reliability than a BMW. I never thought I would see that in my lifetime.

My current beef and it has happen before is the Ford service is light years better than the BMW service. That amounts completely down to people though and not brand.

It was a fuel injector - #4 cylinder.

Regarding fuel injector malfunctions, my suspicion is that fuel quality would be the contributing factor? I say this with no knowledge or information to back it up.

Just a suspicion. Or are these high tech injectors unable to withstand the pressure so to speak?



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