[dtraindsm]

After 5 months at the dealer I traded off my 09' 335d this week. From beginning to end the whole repair was a bad experience. It was carbon build up and then a sheared part in the engine. Delays in parts and time letting BMW give approvals to the dealer were the main reasons this played out for so long. The repair was taken care of by BMW and I had a loaner during the full period. Would hate to see what the bill was. Not one call or email from BMW directly during the whole process. The dealer did the best they could with the situation and agree that the repair was a mess. It was put on a trailer and sent out to the auction. I really wanted to hold onto this car for the long haul but the flawed design and BMW's execution of the repair led me to finally pull the plug. Hopefully others have not had as bad of experience as I have with the diesel but for me it probably was my first and last BMW. I learned a lot from this forum and a lot valuable information to be found. Thanks and good luck.

2009 335d
58365 miles

[GreekboyD]

Good luck man. 5 months is a lot longer than I would have put up with it.

[Quasimodem]

BMW should have been able to design you a new engine in six months.

I cant help thinking that if BMW opted to continue selling the 335d in the US, they would have redesigned the engine a bit to iron out the CBU, and we all would be benefiting from this. So my anger at BMW's discontinuing the 335d is not just because it results lower availability of parts and fewer experienced mechanics, but also it shows that BMW wont be giving us ANY benefit from all the beta testing we are doing for them.

Let's face it, BMW would rather just sweep the US 335d under the rug and all of those who bought it along with it.

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by Quasimodem

BMW should have been able to design you a new engine in six months.

I cant help thinking that if BMW opted to continue selling the 335d in the US, they would have redesigned the engine a bit to iron out the CBU, and we all would be benefiting from this. So my anger at BMW's discontinuing the 335d is not just because it results lower availability of parts and fewer experienced mechanics, but also it shows that BMW wont be giving us ANY benefit from all the beta testing we are doing for them.

Let's face it, BMW would rather just sweep the US 335d under the rug and all of those who bought it along with it.

Uh. The engine was redesigned, its just not available here. The end of sale was coincident with end of all e90 production.

[van335d]

Originally Posted by dtraindsm

After 5 months at the dealer I traded off my 09' 335d this week. From beginning to end the whole repair was a bad experience. It was carbon build up and then a sheared part in the engine. Delays in parts and time letting BMW give approvals to the dealer were the main reasons this played out for so long. The repair was taken care of by BMW and I had a loaner during the full period. Would hate to see what the bill was. Not one call or email from BMW directly during the whole process. The dealer did the best they could with the situation and agree that the repair was a mess. It was put on a trailer and sent out to the auction. I really wanted to hold onto this car for the long haul but the flawed design and BMW's execution of the repair led me to finally pull the plug. Hopefully others have not had as bad of experience as I have with the diesel but for me it probably was my first and last BMW. I learned a lot from this forum and a lot valuable information to be found. Thanks and good luck.

2009 335d
58365 miles

Mine was out for 4 months at 40k km and now CBU is back at 80k. I feel your pain.
I'm really struggling to keep this after the second CBU.

[van335d]

Originally Posted by taibanl

Uh. The engine was redesigned, its just not available here. The end of sale was coincident with end of all e90 production.

I'm wondering what they did to fix this on 2014 models. They must have done something to be confident they can sell these things again.

[grzes]

ha ha ha, in the same shoes, was supposed to pick up my car this weekend, no luck there, 4 months in repairs and still nothing, I have contacted bmw canada and all I got from them was a one question "did the dealer provide me with a loaner?", as soon as I said yes, they responded "well we are working to solve the problem but not much more we can tell you now". I don't really think they do care, after all bmw sales are sky rocking (maybe cause we are not advertising much about how long it takes to fix them and how expensive it is) but something has to change, that is for sure.

[grzes]

Originally Posted by van335d

I'm wondering what they did to fix this on 2014 models. They must have done something to be confident they can sell these things again.

I don't think they offer 335 for 2014, do they?? with 6 cylinder engines?? well I am not aware of that, all I know is that they do offer 4 cylinders and I am sure different emission rules apply since it is smaller engine and I think they do have better experience with that size as european marked majority is 4 cylinders. But honestly don't know, maybe it is the same story to happen as with our engines eventually they will lift up the carpet and swipe all of them under with hopes that no one will spread the bad news

[van335d]

Originally Posted by grzes

I don't think they offer 335 for 2014, do they?? with 6 cylinder engines?? well I am not aware of that, all I know is that they do offer 4 cylinders and I am sure different emission rules apply since it is smaller engine and I think they do have better experience with that size as european marked majority is 4 cylinders. But honestly don't know, maybe it is the same story to happen as with our engines eventually they will lift up the carpet and swipe all of them under with hopes that no one will spread the bad news

They have the 328d and 535d which is the same 6 cyl. They certainly decided to cut their losses by not offering 2012 and 13 diesel models for sale.

[grzes]

Originally Posted by van335d

They have the 328d and 535d which is the same 6 cyl. They certainly decided to cut their losses by not offering 2012 and 13 diesel models for sale.

328d is a 4 cylinder one, I am having one as a loaner now, great for miles, same in the city and on the highway but does not feel like my 335d that is for sure, can't say anything about 535d as I have not seen them or test drive one yet.

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by van335d

They have the 328d and 535d which is the same 6 cyl. They certainly decided to cut their losses by not offering 2012 and 13 diesel models for sale.

There never was a 12 or 13 model. There were zero 2012 e90 of any engine variant and the european twin of the 328d, the 320, was introduced at f30 launch for 2013

[Yozh]

Van335d just block your EGR. If you need help I have done that and can help you out as well. There is a solution.

[dixy2k]

Still amazed at BMWNA not knowing of any problems with the 335d model. Every time I call them I ask about anyone else turning in complaints about this car. The answer is always the same. Negative. 4 months, 5 months unbelievable.

Don't they get reports from the dealers?
Don't they have to approve certain repairs?

[swimmbackwards]

Mine was in for almost 5 months. I was about to get the car back when my SA called to tell me while on a test drive before finishing up the SES light came back on.

5 months, thousands of dollars in repairs and still not back.

Sad to think but I may have to trade in my 335d. And I'll have to eat the 5 months of depreciation as well. I'm not sure what I'll replace it with. I tested the 328d and the engine doesn't come close and I'm not just talking about speed. It doesn't seem nearly as refined as the M57 is (when it runs well.)

A local dealer offered me 17500 sight unseen on my 335d.

[Yozh]

If BMW would get slapped with a class action over this, solutions would be swift and effective. The company has no motivation at this point. These days companies are no longer customer driven (if they ever were), it's the government/regulators, shareholders or lawsuits that motivate corporate world. Just my 0.02

[van335d]

Originally Posted by Yozh

Van335d just block your EGR. If you need help I have done that and can help you out as well. There is a solution.

Thanks for offer. I need to clear out CBU first before I can consider any longer term solution. Looks like it will be some sort of DIY project as BMW is not offering anything else.

[Yozh]

There is a new SIB for diesel carbon cleaning that just came out. I would print that one out and make sure your SA knows about it. Ask them for a written quote before though. I would also consider either replacing the intake manifold or taking it out for cleaning. May be a good Indy can do something for you.

[grzes]

Originally Posted by dixy2k

Still amazed at BMWNA not knowing of any problems with the 335d model. Every time I call them I ask about anyone else turning in complaints about this car. The answer is always the same. Negative. 4 months, 5 months unbelievable.

Don't they get reports from the dealers?
Don't they have to approve certain repairs?

they are lying!!!! ask them for that in writing and I bet they will refuse. It is the same story about carbon issue, each of us can go to the dealer and they all used to say "oh, that is the first one, we never had that issue before" and yet BMW cam up with a tool to clean it. How is that possible??? They knew about the problem and that is why they have discontinue e90 335d. When I e-mailed bmw all I got is a phone call and a question if I have a loaner, when I said yes all they say "well we are working to fix the car for you". When I asked if they know about any other case where the customer waits for the car for 4 months they said no as well, and yet here we are. I bet if more people would be on the forum with diesel we would learn about more cases like this

[Quasimodem]

Originally Posted by taibanl

Uh. The engine was redesigned, its just not available here. The end of sale was coincident with end of all e90 production.

I would say that the end of e90 was a convenient excuse to drop the US 335d. As far as "redesign" goes, I was referring to a new design removing the CBU problem. Of course BMW has come out with many redesigns in this engine, but did their latest redesign address CBU? I didnt believe such a redesign was needed for non US 335ds, was there a CBU problem in Europe too?

[dixy2k]

Is the 535d (530d actually) the same in terms of exhaust/emissions design as our 335d?

[Quasimodem]

Originally Posted by dixy2k

Is the 535d (530d actually) the same in terms of exhaust/emissions design as our 335d?

I would guess the EU 530d (US 535d) is a single turbo and the EU 535d is the twin turbo. This is because the EU 530d appears to have the N57D30T0 (2010) and the EU 535d has the N57D30T1 (2011). Also the EU F30/31 335d got the T1 engine in 2013. See: here

The T0/T1 version appears to be the latest version of the N57 (there appears to be a more recent "n57s", but this might only mean it is adapted for four-wheel drive since it only seems to be available in x cars).

But Wikipedia may not be current, and there maybe modifications to these engines which are not reflected in new model numbers. But at least we have access to parts on later models of our engines that MAY be compatible with our twin turbos, whether anything has been done to alleviate CBU in the more recent versions of the engine, or more specifically -- whether any of the modified parts designed to alleviate CBU are actually COMPATIBLE with our twin turbos has yet to be seen.

I guess the jury is still out on CBU in US 535ds? Lets hope that:
1. US 535ds do not suffer from CBU,
2. The absence of CBU in US 535ds is attributable to design improvements in relatively inexpensive engine parts,
3. those improved engine parts are compatible with our older n57/m57 engines, and
4. using any improved 535d engine parts doesnt cause smog check failure/SES lights.

[dixy2k]

They also have the speed tranny which keeps the revs very low.
I drove one for just over 500 miles.
In my mind that car is permanently idling, which kills the modern diesel engines.