[DubVBenz]

I've been looking to trade up for a year or so now and have been watching the 335D prices with great interest. In the last 18 months or so, it's been amazing to watch the message board(s) consensus regarding these cars. 18 months ago, everyone was in love and talking about how it was possibly the greatest all-around 3 series ever. Now, every single post seems to be talking about how the car is back in the shop with carbon buildup or if the owner should get rid of theirs before it happens.

Oddly enough, these issues have not been reflected in used prices like they were with the TT Gas engine's HPFP failures.

At first, it appeared that if you purchased a 2011, they had likely fixed the issue. Now it appears like people just thought that because none of the 2011's were reaching the 60K mile implode mark.

Is there a pattern, is every single E90 N57 bound to be a disaster, or did they change something at some point in the life cycle?

Should I just give up on my plan to purchase one of these?

[taibanl]

First of all it's the M 57. I think at this point it is risky but not a automatic bad decision.

For instance, I have not had any single problem plaguing me, but I did have carbon buildup in the EGR cooler and apparently the dealer has seen some shadow DDE codes. We may See A permanent DDE fixed at some point, or some other fix.

If I had to buy in the very near future though, I would probably buy a new 235i

[Dan-danGT]

I have a 330d basically the same engine with 89k on the clock, when I had the manifold off recently it was clean as a whistle really. I have done 10k on the engine since buying and have removed the dpf and had it remapped! It's been perfectly fine so far. I choice this engine over the 35d to hopefully make it more reliable car over my ownership

[F32Fleet]

Hard to say. Something that I think gets lost in the discussion is that BMW and the dealer have an incentive to clean the head whenever they do injector and/or DDE warranty work. Is the incentive something as simple as creating a "clean slate" or is it related to an EGR recall from a few years back? Nobody knows. For BMW it may be SOP to pull the head since the majority of the necessary parts have already been pulled off the engine. They are paying for it after all.

People are only frustrated because of the costs involved and not that it happens. Lastly keep in mind that BMW's are really made for Autobahn cruising. Anecdotal reports over the years suggest a BMW that is short tripping, spending a lot of time idling along in rush hour or heavy city driving will tend to have more problems.

[dixy2k]

Originally Posted by Dan-danGT

I have a 330d basically the same engine with 89k on the clock, when I had the manifold off recently it was clean as a whistle really. I have done 10k on the engine since buying and have removed the dpf and had it remapped! It's been perfectly fine so far. I choice this engine over the 35d to hopefully make it more reliable car over my ownership

It is possible that the 30d is slightly different than the 35d. There are slight differences between the US and EU version of the 35d.

There are plenty of posts from UK in which owners complain about carbon build up and all sorts of repairs.
Youtube has plenty of videos on this topic.

Removing the DPF would be ideal, but in US we have close to no choice in doing so. It would be a difficult task to accomplish. It is likely that the downpipes on the EU version does not fit the US version, then the ECU needs to be coded. Sending the ECU to EU/UK may be a solution here, you are looking at some series downtime and possible complications. Not easy to do.

[Dan-danGT]

That's the thing I think causes it driving like miss daisy and city driving, I have a very heavy right foot I love to feel that shove from the diesel so I boot it where I can! We also have trouble with other Diesel engines and carbon build up. Vauxhall/Opel suffer with carbon build up in the egr.

Fortunately we just have a smoke test for emissions over here, my dpf was cut open and refitted which I did myself. Obviously this makes it look to still be in place, in the uk we can't test for soot content yet so we are ok.

[floydarogers]

There are close to 25,000 335d sedans in the USA/CA, and there are about a dozen (hard to say, I haven't counted, certainly less than 20) people here that have complained about carbon buildup. There are more that have had SCR/DEF problems (me included). There are (again, fewer than 20) people complaining about the DPF and EGR.

I'm at 73K and the car is perfect. If you're not in a CA(lifornia) emissions state it might well be worthwhile buying an extended warranty (from BMW) to cover any problems with SCR system, and possibly any carbon build-up issues.

BMWs are fairly expensive cars to own, but any car from any brand can fail. Just look at the VW diesel fuel-pump problems, the Porsche IMS engine problems, or the ~2000 Toyota oil sludge problems.

[chau]

Mine is 67xxx miles right now. It is not CPO but my aftermarket warranty covered 3 injectors last week. Mechanic said he saw carbon buildup when replacing the injectors. I also complained about a rough shift going from 2nd to 3rd. Mechanic said he was unable to replicate the issue and there's no code for trans problems. I'm looking to trade in my 335d for a 328i now. Have had the car for less than a year. Absolutely love the power and mpg but I think it's time to let go.

[dixy2k]

Originally Posted by floydarogers

There are close to 25,000 335d sedans in the USA/CA, and there are about a dozen (hard to say, I haven't counted, certainly less than 20) people here that have complained about carbon buildup. There are more that have had SCR/DEF problems (me included). There are (again, fewer than 20) people complaining about the DPF and EGR.

I'm at 73K and the car is perfect. If you're not in a CA(lifornia) emissions state it might well be worthwhile buying an extended warranty (from BMW) to cover any problems with SCR system, and possibly any carbon build-up issues.

BMWs are fairly expensive cars to own, but any car from any brand can fail. Just look at the VW diesel fuel-pump problems, the Porsche IMS engine problems, or the ~2000 Toyota oil sludge problems.

How many of those 25,000 owners are on this forum?
How many of them passed the 50-60k mile mark?

[dixy2k]

Originally Posted by chau

Mine is 67xxx miles right now. It is not CPO but my aftermarket warranty covered 3 injectors last week. Mechanic said he saw carbon buildup when replacing the injectors. I also complained about a rough shift going from 2nd to 3rd. Mechanic said he was unable to replicate the issue and there's no code for trans problems. I'm looking to trade in my 335d for a 328i now. Have had the car for less than a year. Absolutely love the power and mpg but I think it's time to let go.

Regarding the tranny shifting from 2nd to 3rd in a less than normal manner, have the dealer reset the transmission control unit.

I had the same issue, especially when the engine was cold the shift would be very rough, jerking manner.
There was no code showing during the diagnosis, but the mechanic test drove my car and recognized the issue immediately. I guess they reset the TCU rather than the ECU.
Since then, it shifts very smoothly.

[floydarogers]

Originally Posted by dixy2k

How many of those 25,000 owners are on this forum?
How many of them passed the 50-60k mile mark?

Why don't you count the posters? I'm guessing fewer than 200 - there are just under 1000 threads, and there are only 30-40 people that post in most threads, some a lot less.

Assume that there are 25K 335d's. (Note that that discounts the X5d owners - about the same #.) 12K miles/year is the US/CA average. Assuming equal distribution of sales, you can assume that of the 2009 & 2010 models - 2/3 the total, 1/2 of them (1/2 & 2/3 * 25K) or at least 8,000 of them have hit 50K+.

200/8000 = 2.5%, so the posters here are very un-representative of the population of 335d owners. (And if you drop down to the 20 or so that are complaining vociferously, that's 1/4%.) Sorry, but the (known) facts as represented in this forum do not support an opinion that they're bad to own. Unfortunately, they don't support an opinion that they're the best car going, either.

[Mark M]

While our numbers on here may not represent the full population of 335d owners I can share this:

1. At my dealer right now there are now 2 335ds wil the same issue. Carbon/soot buildup.
2. Dealer confirmed there are currently 251 intake manifolds on back order across the US right now.

To me those details alone are very telling.

[Puerto Rican 335d]

Dealers will not disclose info my friends 2009 D was overhauled under CPO and spent somewhat 3 mo in the making but they never mentioned him to me until I stated so they said my 2011 D was in the shop more than others YEAH RIGHT!!!

[bvanlieu]

Reading this forum will give any recent owner cause for buyers remorse. I don't doubt that there are issues with some cars, but I have to think statistically the truth lies somewhere in the left of the middle towards most cars being perfectly happy.

I am 2 months into my 335d, and I have an extended warranty (aftermarket) on it which should help address issues up to 100K. I believe in italian tune ups and run my car hard but most of its miles are at HWY speed and gentle.

Not sure how to entice dealers to look into it other then to have some of the signs (low on power, stumbling etc...). Time will tell. once out of warranty I will certainly consider typical mods

In the mean time I enjoy the car for what it is and live my life.

- b

[Puerto Rican 335d]

B dont worry about it til it shows up enjoy the car I dont have an extended warranty and never had it on my cars for the past 30 yrs. Its a hit or miss issue, one thing I have always done is made sure I had the proper additives on my cars and make the oil changes etc etc, otherwise enjoy

[Mark M]

Originally Posted by floydarogers

There are close to 25,000 335d sedans in the USA/CA

Believe we are having good dialogue here as all of us are d owners whom are concerned about the longevity of our ride.

However, not sure I agree with the notion that there are 25k 335ds. Based on the attached, I'd suspect the number to be more like 10 to 13k.

According to BMW sales figures for 2010 - sales of 335d = 3,802 units. By comparison, sales of 335i = 4,638 units.

[Puerto Rican 335d]

Good insight Mark

[Jhayd11]

Originally Posted by Dan-danGT

I have a 330d basically the same engine with 89k on the clock, when I had the manifold off recently it was clean as a whistle really. I have done 10k on the engine since buying and have removed the dpf and had it remapped! It's been perfectly fine so far. I choice this engine over the 35d to hopefully make it more reliable car over my ownership

This issue is very specific to the US model.

On another note, I think the major issue I have with BMW on this one, and the point I think we could argue with is the "encrypted" ECU. Yes there is a design flaw, yes they tried to fix it. HOWEVER they haven't, and their ECU encryption prevents people in the US from trying to get this engine to operate in conditions that reduce/remove the problem. They need to either release the encryption data so people can try and save this platform, or do something to give better support themselves.

[dixy2k]

Originally Posted by floydarogers

Why don't you count the posters? I'm guessing fewer than 200 - there are just under 1000 threads, and there are only 30-40 people that post in most threads, some a lot less.

Assume that there are 25K 335d's. (Note that that discounts the X5d owners - about the same #.) 12K miles/year is the US/CA average. Assuming equal distribution of sales, you can assume that of the 2009 & 2010 models - 2/3 the total, 1/2 of them (1/2 & 2/3 * 25K) or at least 8,000 of them have hit 50K+.

200/8000 = 2.5%, so the posters here are very un-representative of the population of 335d owners. (And if you drop down to the 20 or so that are complaining vociferously, that's 1/4%.) Sorry, but the (known) facts as represented in this forum do not support an opinion that they're bad to own. Unfortunately, they don't support an opinion that they're the best car going, either.

I don't think we have 200 diesel owners here, maybe a quarter of that.
If half of them complain about the mentioned issues, I would safely say then the problems appear in half of the cars sold by BMW.

Everybody here saw or heard of another car at the dealer with similar issues.

[acewiza]

Originally Posted by Jhayd11

This issue is very specific to the US model.

Yes, true enough. The U.S. models have a unique emissions system causing the problems. Speaking with the SA after my last dealer visit after mentioning my concerns, he stated the repair statistics he was aware of seemed to be suggesting a geographic or related environmental factor associated with higher humidity. Don't know if he was shining me on or what, but he stated they have had no carbon build-up cars at their location here in CO yet.

[AzureHaze]

Originally Posted by Jhayd11

They need to either release the encryption data so people can try and save this platform, or do something to give better support themselves.

Giving us this kind of access opens up the possibility of an Alpina flash for our diesels too!

[dixy2k]

Do you think Alpina flash would get rid of some the issues mentioned here?
How about Renntech?


PR,
any word yet on Renntech Dec discounts?