[bobkat09]

From what I have learned about future BMW models and engines nearly all will continue to have HPFPs. For the most part turbos and HPFPs will make up the brand. Which leads me to believe that the recurring failures with the current pumps may not be a failure of the pump itself but a design flaw with the N54 engine. I doubt that BMW would continue making future engines with a failure rate built into them. It will be interesting to see how the N55 engine performs.

 

[hpowders]

You would think. Two more years to wait and see if the next generation 3 Series owners open up new HPFP problem threads.

 

[DSXMachina]

Yes the HPFP will stay as long as there are gasoline engines. Modern fuel efficiency and emissions standards demand Direct Injection and Direct Injection requires an HPFP.
The fault has nothing whatsoever to do with the engine design. The HPFP is a separate hang-on component and fails as a result of some cause as yet unknown to us. Other manufacturers use other designs of HPFPs and control systems and are not having similar problems.

 

[jmsent]

From what I have learned about future BMW models and engines nearly all will continue to have HPFPs. For the most part turbos and HPFPs will make up the brand. Which leads me to believe that the recurring failures with the current pumps may not be a failure of the pump itself but a design flaw with the N54 engine. I doubt that BMW would continue making future engines with a failure rate built into them. It will be interesting to see how the N55 engine performs.

What possible scenario can you suggest that causes an engine to destroy a fuel pump? That doesn't make any sense. The only function of the pump is to supply fuel to the injectors under high pressure. It doesn't matter what engine those injectors are attached to. The engines are not failing, the fuel pumps are.

 

[Saintor]

I wonder if there are such issues elsewhere in the world, and in other BMW gas direct injection applications such as Euro 325i/330i.

 

[Blubaron79]

HPFP's will be used in non turbo engines in the future too. All of the engines will soon have direct injection to better fuel economy and increased efficiency. I'm sure BMW will get things straight with pretty much every car in the future using this type of set up.

 

[hpowders]

Hope so.

 

[tschiller]

You know it's funny though, every time I have asked the sales staff about the HPFP debockle, they claim it's been remedied. Of course I consider the source. I was also told that the HPFP is an out sourced part not built by BMW, Hmmm. But I have decided my next bimmer will be one without turbos, I've replaced one of mine as well as 2 HPFPs. The bottom line is I believe BMW will eventually solve the problem and the competition doesn't impress me enough to switch, so I'll just wait it out.

 

[tschiller]

Thanks for the info. That makes perfect sense. I guess what made me wonder was the fact that a product that has been so problematic, hasn't caused BMW to find an alternate vendor. But as I said I believe they will solve the problem....eventually.

 

[neapolitan]

BMW started with Siemens as the HPFP supplier and changed a couple years ago to Bosch and the problem continues. The problem could be anything. I doubt the problem is that the pumps are defective in manufacture. There is probably something causing the pumps to fail, but all we can do is speculate.

With this problem lasting three model years, I'm certain beyond a shadow of a doubt it's a complicated issue that is making for a lot of sleepless nights at BMW. No one can be more interested in finding the root cause of the failures than BMW so they can provide a proper solution A.S.A.P. I know I'm not buying a new 335i until the problem is documented to be resolved.

Right. I also feel that way -- there is no way I would buy a BMW turbo or DI engine until it is worked out... Interestingly, this moves me up by default into //M3 (possibly //M6, depending on what the revision looks like) territory. I wonder if this is by design? :dunno:

Although if the next //M3 is DI + turbo and there are HPFP failures, I might say goodbye to the brand for this iteration.

 

[335iOTF]

I am considering purchasing a CPO 2008 335i (6MT) with relatively low miles (less than 15k) that has been on the road about 15 months. When the service department sent me a list of the repairs done to the car, the HPFP was replaced at around 7,500 miles. No other major issues shown in the service records or in CarFax. I've been reading a few of the HPFP threads on this forum, and it seems like some 335i owners have had this problem multiple times, and oters have not had it at all.

The sales person is telling me that the HPFP issue "has been resolved" for this car since it has already been replaced, but I am not certain I agree with that analysis after reading this forum.

This would be my second BMW, but first twin turbo engine, and I'm a little hesitant now given what I've read about the HPFP issue to pull the trigger as I do not know whether I want to spend this kind of money on an engine that may be unreliable, especially since it has already had the HPFP problem. I'm currently driving a Honda Accord sedan, and while clearly not the ultimate driving machine, I do appreciate not thinking about reliability issues with that car.

I would appreciate any thoughts anyone may have. Other than this HPFP issue, I think this CPO 335i is configured close to perfectly for me (sport pkg, cold weather pkg, premium leather).

 

[Cactus]

Have the 335d's been having the same problem?

 

[-=Hot|Ice=-]

You can expect newer model engines will NOT have this problem as every resource available at BMW will be used to try and insure the HPFP issue doesn't happen again as it's costly in many ways.

And your source is?

 

[Mineo335i]

The sales person is telling me that the HPFP issue "has been resolved" for this car since it has already been replaced, but I am not certain I agree with that analysis after reading this forum.

I purchased mine with 18,000k CPO. Around 23k miles if i remember correctly my HPFP went out, as of now (around 28k) i think my 2nd is about to go out(very long cranks and got the Engine malfunciton reduced power message yesterday)... I dont feel it has been resolved as ive seen multiple other owners going on multiple HPFP's. Could be just bad luck though.

 

[CT]

And your source is?

You don't need a source for that kind of speculation. Rampant and pervasive issues with a car tend to spread through word of mouth pretty readily. BMW can't handle that sort of sales loss on their entry-level vehicles.

 

[neapolitan]

You don't need a source for that kind of speculation. Rampant and pervasive issues with a car tend to spread through word of mouth pretty readily. BMW can't handle that sort of sales loss on their entry-level vehicles.

I agree. The impact of watercooler conversation, or messageboards, is not to be really minimized. Look, there is just a guy above that is having this issue sway his purchase. It swayed mine a couple years ago, and will sway my next purchase.

 

[Grentz]

Have the 335d's been having the same problem?

No.

IMO the problem stems from our high ethanol mix gas which is really just horrible all around for all cars. Different areas of the country have different amounts of these ethanol mixes, which leads to some having more problems than others.

I lost the HPFP in my e46 M3 partially because of the super high ethanol mixes (highest in the country) that we get in MN.

The stupid thing is that ethanol mixes are bad for the mechanics, bad for fuel economy, and overall bad for emissions as they lead to burning more fuel. Really about the only plus is to support the ethanol industry and supposedly reduce our dependence on oil (though only slightly).

 

[-=Hot|Ice=-]

Personally, It's I think it's going to stay. The warrantied it for 100,000 miles for a reason, so they don't have to deal with it. If they wanted it fixed, it should of been fixed by now, 5 years into production and still no fix.

 

[335iOTF]

I purchased mine with 18,000k CPO. Around 23k miles if i remember correctly my HPFP went out, as of now (around 28k) i think my 2nd is about to go out(very long cranks and got the Engine malfunciton reduced power message yesterday)... I dont feel it has been resolved as ive seen multiple other owners going on multiple HPFP's. Could be just bad luck though.

Thanks. This is exactly my main concern - that those cars that have had a HPFP problem are likely to experience it more than once for some reason or another (although this seems an odd result to me if the problem is actually tied to the fuel pump, but I digress).

The way the sales person is thinking about it (for his benefit, obviously), since the original HPFP has been replaced, problem resolved. But it's not as if all 335is have a HPFP problem at some point - some never have a problem at all (or at least haven't to this point).

Would you consider this a "minor problem" as far as inconvenience, etc., since a BMW service department should be relatively familiar with it at this point?

 

[Bcube]

Thanks. This is exactly my main concern - that those cars that have had a HPFP problem are likely to experience it more than once for some reason or another (although this seems an odd result to me if the problem is actually tied to the fuel pump, but I digress).

The way the sales person is thinking about it (for his benefit, obviously), since the original HPFP has been replaced, problem resolved. But it's not as if all 335is have a HPFP problem at some point - some never have a problem at all (or at least haven't to this point).

Would you consider this a "minor problem" as far as inconvenience, etc., since a BMW service department should be relatively familiar with it at this point?

Since you have a CPO warranty for 6yr/100K and then the warranty on the HPFP itself goes out to 10yr/120K, I consider the issue an inconvenience at this time. Most dealers can knock out the R&R in under a day.