[J0hnct78]

Hello,

Any other companies I should take a look at? Anything I should look out for?

Thank you

Edit: Sorry I should have specified I just got a 2007 E93 N54 6mt. 106k miles previous owner bought the dinan 2 tune, it's going to be a daily driver, but I'd like to do some mods. I'm just finishing up the walnut blasting, oil filter housing/cooler gaskets, and new serpentine belt and pulleys.

[WoodE30]

Originally Posted by J0hnct78

Hello,

Any other companies I should e taking a look at? Anything I should look out for?

Thank you

In reference to what?

I recommend x-ph.com or topgearsolutions.com for great prices, turnermotorsports.com and ecstuning.com for huge selection.

[BM3Rrrr]

Maintenance guide for new/existing owners:

Forget looking at mods after your new purchase! Do the preventative maintenance first. For some reason, the most common thing people do here is whack on a tune and complain about check engine lights. With these cars you have to be proactive about the maintenance. It’s also worth noting, that service history means nothing for these cars. Most of the things that go wrong with these cars are not covered by normal servicing.

The mentality of fixing things when they break will just result in more pain down the track, and it is easy for things to snowball. You only need a few key issues on your car until it feels like a real turd, and the repair costs to get it back to normal can quickly become staggering.

I know a lot of the younger crowd has bought into these cars since they're as cheap as $15k, but what you might not realise is that they can be crazy expensive to maintain. Personally, to get my car up to 200k kms and maintaining it to a high level has cost $10-15k so far, this is DIY, with labour not taken into account.

The best thing you can do is to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible, so you can be self-sufficient.

Important links:

https://www.fcpeuro.com - Based in the USA, shipping usually takes around 5-7 days maybe longer if you have obscure items in your cart. This place has almost every part you'll ever need to maintain your BMW and at good prices

http://newtis.info - This is a web based rip of ISTA (factory service instructions), very useful for repair information

http://www.realoem.com/ - This is a web rip version of BMW ETK (parts catalogue) this is very handy for tracking down part numbers to buy from places like FCP. You can also use this powerful tool to see if parts from other models will fit your car, as it will tell you if the same part is used on other models.

Maintenance guide:

TIMEFRAME: AS SOON AS YOU BUY THE CAR

Oil change - These cars run hot and previous owners have just been sticking to the ridiculous 25-30k km service intervals. Change the oil out with something decent and at regular intervals (10,000km). Use genuine oil filters only, the aftermarket ones are usually more expensive, don't fit properly and don’t work as well as the originals.

Plugs and coils - The plugs and coils are weak items on this platform, buy them immediately after you purchase your car. I would suggest buying NGK 95770 (ILZKBR7B) gapped at 0.022", the 3 pronged Bosch ones I have seen the gaps be very inconsistent. ON a tuned car the NGKs are highly recommended.

Water pump 11517632426 - The water pump is prone to crapping out very suddenly and can leave you stranded. If you are on the original pump then you should change it straight away. The old style pump is bolted onto the block and isolated with rubber grommets (rubber will usually be swelling from the oil leaks over the years), the new one is directly bolted to the block. The car will overheat on a dead pump quite quickly and can take out weak components like the radiator with plastic end tanks. You need to buy the pump and 3 STEEL (11517602123) screws, do not buy the aluminium screws or reuse the old ones.

Fix any oil leaks immediately
The oil filter housing is a common thing to leak, along with the valve cover and lately I have seen a lot of slow oil pan leaks as these cars cross the 10 year mark. If you've leaked oil on any of the hoses and let it sat for a while, this degrades the rubber so make sure you replace any hoses that look swelled. Oil leaking on the drive belt should be rectified immediately, this can cause the belt to slip and cause a shredded belt. It is also possible for the belt to get sucked into the crank seal, resulting in belt fragments being caught in the oil pickup, causing oil starvation and dead engine.

Charge pipe - For model years 2009+ including N55 you should replace it immediately, as it is prone to cracking and exploding. The 2006-2008 2 piece rubber charge pipes are very strong and do not require replacements. There’s many aftermarket charge pipes out there, most of them fit like crap. Personally if it was me I’d source a pre-09 charge pipe, but if you had to get a metal one (if you're N55) I'd go for the Evolution Racewerks one.

TIME FRAME: SHORT TERM

Walnut blast - These cars are direct injected and have no fuel passing over the intake valves to clean them. This results in the intake valves getting clogged up over time. After 60-100k they'll be pretty gummed up, reducing performance and idle quality.

Thermostat to cylinder head hose 11537541992 - This hose has a plastic flange that bolts onto the cylinder head and you need to remove it to access the oil filter housing. After several years it gets brittle and cracks, I would highly recommending getting a metal replacement off eBay. This is probably the worse hose for failure, it can break off chunks and allow plastic debris in your cooling system and can jam up your water pump.

Radiator hoses - The top thin overflow hose for the expansion tank (17127565094) is prone to bursting, replace it and buy a new clamp (34321156893). Upper radiator hose (17127540127) that clips into the oil filter housing is plastic and also prone to deteriorating.

Vacuum hoses - These should be replaced with silicone rubber, the rubber ones perish after a number of years and can split and be the cause of vacuum leaks. Locally you can buy the SAAS branded 3mm hose (it’s actually 1/8" 3.2mm) from Autobarn, or buy the CRP hose from FCP euro. Do not use 4mm hose as commonly recommended off the forums, it does not fit well.

Boost solenoids - These are sometimes the cause of boost related issues, these also get less effective over time and you can feel a difference in boost response when replacing old ones.

High pressure fuel pump - This part will probably have already been replaced on your car, the latest revisions appear to be reliable. If it’s never been done then keep an eye out for long cranks in the morning and dipping fuel pressures at full load

Coolant flush - These cars are quite old now and may have changed through the hands of many mechanics. The coolant should be blue, if it is not, flush it out and put the genuine stuff in (83192211191), it’s not expensive.

Engine mounts - The engine mounts are hydraulic and are prone to blowing out on the hot side (right hand side). They fail as early as 100k kms.

Automatic transmission service - You'll want to service the Auto to keep it shifting nice. If you leave it until 150k no amount of servicing will make the ZF auto shift better short of a rebuild. You’ll need to get the pan and the ZF lifeguard fluid. Do not use anything other than the ZF fluid!

Manual Transmission Fluid - I would only recommend using BMW fluids, in general they last for ages and give you very slick shifts. MTF LT3 for the N54 gearbox, and MTF LT5 for the N55 gearbox (includes BMW 1M)

Oil filter housing gasket - This is an extremely common leak point and is worsened by the fact that these cars have changed hands many times over the years, resulting in poor repairs. This is a critical gasket and even if the procedures are followed exactly, it can still result in leaks in rare cases. A lot of times the bolts have been over tightened by the previous mechanic, or copious amounts of RTV silicone has been used to seal it. To do it properly you will require both the oil filter housing seal (11428637821), thermostat seal (11428637820) and 2 o-ring seals for the oil cooler (17222245358). You will also want to buy an aluminium cylinder head fitting, as the original one is plastic and prone to cracking.

TIMEFRAME: LONG TERM MAINTENANCE GOALS

Turbochargers - Eventually the turbos will fail, a lot of the 2006-2007 cars and some of the later cars are prone to wastegate rattle. The only proper way to fix these are to remove the turbos and replace the wastegates or the turbos themselves. The installation costs are quite high so not worth throwing the old turbos back in imo. Brand new turbos would be the best option, instead of stuffing around with reconditioning. Aftermarket turbos have a very poor reliability record, so don't buy them unless you can afford to replace a set of smoking turbos.

Injectors - These injectors are expensive and not very reliable, if you plan on keeping your car for a long time then budget in a set of Index 12 injectors at some point. Faulty injectors can be the cause of rough cold starts and misfires. Unfortunately these are very expensive, so just bear in mind this is something that will have to be done eventually.

Oil pan (11137548031)- These are now starting to go after these cars are close to 10 years old. Make sure you buy a new set of aluminium bolts (11132210959). The gasket and bolts are cheap but it’s quite labour intensive. A lot of cars will be leaking from the oil pan, near the transmission, it starts off as a very slow leak then gets progressively worse over time.

Valve cover - These will leak eventually. You can get the gasket on its own but it is not recommended unless you have a relatively new cover. They are prone to cracking and the removal sometimes requires a bit of force to unstick the gasket, resulting in the valve cover being stressed. Might not crack immediately but would probably end up replacing the valve cover later. Just do it once and do it right. Normally you'll get plenty of warning that the gasket is leaking

Suspension - Shocks will have lost a lot of performance by 90k kms, front upper control arm bushings will tend to leak as well, these are hydraulic filled bushings which will fail eventually. Best to start looking at aftermarket suspension options

VANOS Solenoids (11367585425) - These will be the cause of various VANOS check engine lights, some that may be very hard to reproduce. You can clean the solenoids but most of the time only a replacement will fix it.
Drive belt (11287628652) - Worth doing to avoid a shredded belt.

Fluids - You will want to keep on top of the fluids as they hardly ever get changed by owners. Power steering (CHF11S), brake fluid (DOT4), Trans fluid, diff fluid and coolant should all be done eventually

Turbo oil drain seals - These are common to weep oil, the flat oval shaped seal (11422246091) is a common leak source.

Gear selector shaft seal (23128677736) - This seal is a common failure point on the manual gearbox. It weeps oil and leaks onto the shifter (has a foam bushing in it), which is the cause of a sloppy shifter. Worth replacing this and the shifter bushes at the same time. This requires a special tool to remove, removing it with tiny screwdrivers is possible with enough fortitude and swearing but not worth it.

Automatic/DCT - These leak at the oil pan and mechatronics seals on high km examples. Highly recommend servicing the ZF 6AT early on to prolong its life. The ZF AT generally starts to deteriorate in feel past around 120-140k or so, if it hasn't been serviced in the past, usually a service will not make it much better. DCT boxes have a side seal on it that tends to leak on high km examples. This unfortunately needs the transmission removed to fix the leak, as there is no space in the transmission tunnel to get it out

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by BM3Rrrr

Maintenance guide for new/existing owners:

Forget looking at mods after your new purchase! Do the preventative maintenance first. For some reason, the most common thing people do here is whack on a tune and complain about check engine lights. With these cars you have to be proactive about the maintenance. It's also worth noting, that service history means nothing for these cars. Most of the things that go wrong with these cars are not covered by normal servicing.

The mentality of fixing things when they break will just result in more pain down the track, and it is easy for things to snowball. You only need a few key issues on your car until it feels like a real turd, and the repair costs to get it back to normal can quickly become staggering.

I know a lot of the younger crowd has bought into these cars since they're as cheap as $15k, but what you might not realise is that they can be crazy expensive to maintain. Personally, to get my car up to 200k kms and maintaining it to a high level has cost $10-15k so far, this is DIY, with labour not taken into account.

The best thing you can do is to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible, so you can be self-sufficient.

Important links:

https://www.fcpeuro.com - Based in the USA, shipping usually takes around 5-7 days maybe longer if you have obscure items in your cart. This place has almost every part you'll ever need to maintain your BMW and at good prices

http://newtis.info - This is a web based rip of ISTA (factory service instructions), very useful for repair information

http://www.realoem.com/ - This is a web rip version of BMW ETK (parts catalogue) this is very handy for tracking down part numbers to buy from places like FCP. You can also use this powerful tool to see if parts from other models will fit your car, as it will tell you if the same part is used on other models.

Maintenance guide:

TIMEFRAME: AS SOON AS YOU BUY THE CAR

Oil change - These cars run hot and previous owners have just been sticking to the ridiculous 25-30k km service intervals. Change the oil out with something decent and at regular intervals (10,000km). Use genuine oil filters only, the aftermarket ones are usually more expensive, don't fit properly and don't work as well as the originals.

Plugs and coils - The plugs and coils are weak items on this platform, buy them immediately after you purchase your car. I would suggest buying NGK 95770 (ILZKBR7B) gapped at 0.022", the 3 pronged Bosch ones I have seen the gaps be very inconsistent. ON a tuned car the NGKs are highly recommended.

Water pump 11517632426 - The water pump is prone to crapping out very suddenly and can leave you stranded. If you are on the original pump then you should change it straight away. The old style pump is bolted onto the block and isolated with rubber grommets (rubber will usually be swelling from the oil leaks over the years), the new one is directly bolted to the block. The car will overheat on a dead pump quite quickly and can take out weak components like the radiator with plastic end tanks. You need to buy the pump and 3 STEEL (11517602123) screws, do not buy the aluminium screws or reuse the old ones.

Fix any oil leaks immediately
The oil filter housing is a common thing to leak, along with the valve cover and lately I have seen a lot of slow oil pan leaks as these cars cross the 10 year mark. If you've leaked oil on any of the hoses and let it sat for a while, this degrades the rubber so make sure you replace any hoses that look swelled. Oil leaking on the drive belt should be rectified immediately, this can cause the belt to slip and cause a shredded belt. It is also possible for the belt to get sucked into the crank seal, resulting in belt fragments being caught in the oil pickup, causing oil starvation and dead engine.

Charge pipe - For model years 2009+ including N55 you should replace it immediately, as it is prone to cracking and exploding. The 2006-2008 2 piece rubber charge pipes are very strong and do not require replacements. There's many aftermarket charge pipes out there, most of them fit like crap. Personally if it was me I'd source a pre-09 charge pipe, but if you had to get a metal one (if you're N55) I'd go for the Evolution Racewerks one.

TIME FRAME: SHORT TERM

Walnut blast - These cars are direct injected and have no fuel passing over the intake valves to clean them. This results in the intake valves getting clogged up over time. After 60-100k they'll be pretty gummed up, reducing performance and idle quality.

Thermostat to cylinder head hose 11537541992 - This hose has a plastic flange that bolts onto the cylinder head and you need to remove it to access the oil filter housing. After several years it gets brittle and cracks, I would highly recommending getting a metal replacement off eBay. This is probably the worse hose for failure, it can break off chunks and allow plastic debris in your cooling system and can jam up your water pump.

Radiator hoses - The top thin overflow hose for the expansion tank (17127565094) is prone to bursting, replace it and buy a new clamp (34321156893). Upper radiator hose (17127540127) that clips into the oil filter housing is plastic and also prone to deteriorating.

Vacuum hoses - These should be replaced with silicone rubber, the rubber ones perish after a number of years and can split and be the cause of vacuum leaks. Locally you can buy the SAAS branded 3mm hose (it's actually 1/8" 3.2mm) from Autobarn, or buy the CRP hose from FCP euro. Do not use 4mm hose as commonly recommended off the forums, it does not fit well.

Boost solenoids - These are sometimes the cause of boost related issues, these also get less effective over time and you can feel a difference in boost response when replacing old ones.

High pressure fuel pump - This part will probably have already been replaced on your car, the latest revisions appear to be reliable. If it's never been done then keep an eye out for long cranks in the morning and dipping fuel pressures at full load

Coolant flush - These cars are quite old now and may have changed through the hands of many mechanics. The coolant should be blue, if it is not, flush it out and put the genuine stuff in (83192211191), it's not expensive.

Engine mounts - The engine mounts are hydraulic and are prone to blowing out on the hot side (right hand side). They fail as early as 100k kms.

Automatic transmission service - You'll want to service the Auto to keep it shifting nice. If you leave it until 150k no amount of servicing will make the ZF auto shift better short of a rebuild. You'll need to get the pan and the ZF lifeguard fluid. Do not use anything other than the ZF fluid!

Manual Transmission Fluid - I would only recommend using BMW fluids, in general they last for ages and give you very slick shifts. MTF LT3 for the N54 gearbox, and MTF LT5 for the N55 gearbox (includes BMW 1M)

Oil filter housing gasket - This is an extremely common leak point and is worsened by the fact that these cars have changed hands many times over the years, resulting in poor repairs. This is a critical gasket and even if the procedures are followed exactly, it can still result in leaks in rare cases. A lot of times the bolts have been over tightened by the previous mechanic, or copious amounts of RTV silicone has been used to seal it. To do it properly you will require both the oil filter housing seal (11428637821), thermostat seal (11428637820) and 2 o-ring seals for the oil cooler (17222245358). You will also want to buy an aluminium cylinder head fitting, as the original one is plastic and prone to cracking.

TIMEFRAME: LONG TERM MAINTENANCE GOALS

Turbochargers - Eventually the turbos will fail, a lot of the 2006-2007 cars and some of the later cars are prone to wastegate rattle. The only proper way to fix these are to remove the turbos and replace the wastegates or the turbos themselves. The installation costs are quite high so not worth throwing the old turbos back in imo. Brand new turbos would be the best option, instead of stuffing around with reconditioning. Aftermarket turbos have a very poor reliability record, so don't buy them unless you can afford to replace a set of smoking turbos.

Injectors - These injectors are expensive and not very reliable, if you plan on keeping your car for a long time then budget in a set of Index 12 injectors at some point. Faulty injectors can be the cause of rough cold starts and misfires. Unfortunately these are very expensive, so just bear in mind this is something that will have to be done eventually.

Oil pan (11137548031)- These are now starting to go after these cars are close to 10 years old. Make sure you buy a new set of aluminium bolts (11132210959). The gasket and bolts are cheap but it's quite labour intensive. A lot of cars will be leaking from the oil pan, near the transmission, it starts off as a very slow leak then gets progressively worse over time.

Valve cover - These will leak eventually. You can get the gasket on its own but it is not recommended unless you have a relatively new cover. They are prone to cracking and the removal sometimes requires a bit of force to unstick the gasket, resulting in the valve cover being stressed. Might not crack immediately but would probably end up replacing the valve cover later. Just do it once and do it right. Normally you'll get plenty of warning that the gasket is leaking

Suspension - Shocks will have lost a lot of performance by 90k kms, front upper control arm bushings will tend to leak as well, these are hydraulic filled bushings which will fail eventually. Best to start looking at aftermarket suspension options

VANOS Solenoids (11367585425) - These will be the cause of various VANOS check engine lights, some that may be very hard to reproduce. You can clean the solenoids but most of the time only a replacement will fix it.
Drive belt (11287628652) - Worth doing to avoid a shredded belt.

Fluids - You will want to keep on top of the fluids as they hardly ever get changed by owners. Power steering (CHF11S), brake fluid (DOT4), Trans fluid, diff fluid and coolant should all be done eventually

Turbo oil drain seals - These are common to weep oil, the flat oval shaped seal (11422246091) is a common leak source.

Gear selector shaft seal (23128677736) - This seal is a common failure point on the manual gearbox. It weeps oil and leaks onto the shifter (has a foam bushing in it), which is the cause of a sloppy shifter. Worth replacing this and the shifter bushes at the same time. This requires a special tool to remove, removing it with tiny screwdrivers is possible with enough fortitude and swearing but not worth it.

Automatic/DCT - These leak at the oil pan and mechatronics seals on high km examples. Highly recommend servicing the ZF 6AT early on to prolong its life. The ZF AT generally starts to deteriorate in feel past around 120-140k or so, if it hasn't been serviced in the past, usually a service will not make it much better. DCT boxes have a side seal on it that tends to leak on high km examples. This unfortunately needs the transmission removed to fix the leak, as there is no space in the transmission tunnel to get it out

I would add -

- trans mounts

- PCV valve/ system

- Maybe proactively do a smoke test on the intake system...

- Rear main seal

- megatronic seal

- change out differential fluid


"For some reason, the most common thing people do here is whack on a tune and complain about check engine lights."

Amen...

[J0hnct78]

These are great resources.

Thank you very much.

I have been doing the maintenance items first, walnut blasting, oil filter gaskets and belt/ pulleys. I did buy new silicon vacuum hose but I got the 4mn - so I'll have to order some 1/4" next. 😊 I also bought a steam cleaner to get all of the old oil off the front of the engine. It worked really well. So now if the oil filter housing / cooler leaked I can tell right away.

I did have the bmw dealership check out the car, so far they said the injectors were fine, it just needed the walnut blast, and I don't think it has ever been done because the build up was at least 1/4 in some places. But now I have them clean and shiny.

My still to do items bmw suggested are:
Oil pan gasket - looks fun
Tension arm bushings - looking for a good source, might upgrade to polyurethane, thoughts?
Front shocks - was thinking of doing the set of 4 Koni orange street
A broken ride height sensor - I guess I should buy this before putting the splash shield back on.

I did check my injectors index and from front to back they are 9-4-4-9-4-4. So I imagine 2 of them got replaced??

I did notice the 90-110 mph range doesn't seem very stable. Especially compared to my old prelude SH I owned, which always felt planted. I'm hoping the above fixes will sort this out though.

The comment above about check engine lights, I was thinking that only cat-less down pipes would turn that on. Is there a source for how to deal with check engine lights? I already bought a OBD reader, but not a really good one yet.

I was interested in doing a m3 rear diff swap to get lsd, a friend priced them at around $500 for me, for the manual.

Thank you for all the information I really appreciate it. I'll attach some images

[nikitino25]

You need other stuff also to do an M3 diff swap.....modified driveshaft and axles I believe, you can't just swap it in. There are multiple aftermarket options though which is the route most people go......I personally have a quaiffe lsd from vac motorsports and have no complaints other than the price

[mike@x-ph.com]

OP,
Once you have a full list of mods, let me know. We offer combo deals

Originally Posted by WoodE30

In reference to what?

I recommend x-ph.com or topgearsolutions.com for great prices, turnermotorsports.com and ecstuning.com for huge selection.

Thank you for the support

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by WoodE30

In reference to what?

I recommend x-ph.com or topgearsolutions.com for great prices, turnermotorsports.com and ecstuning.com for huge selection.

Thank you for your support.

Originally Posted by J0hnct78

Hello,

Any other companies I should take a look at? Anything I should look out for?

Thank you

Edit: Sorry I should have specified I just got a 2007 E93 N54 6mt. 106k miles previous owner bought the dinan 2 tune, it's going to be a daily driver, but I'd like to do some mods. I'm just finishing up the walnut blasting, oil filter housing/cooler gaskets, and new serpentine belt and pulleys.

Let us know if you need any help or guidance.

[mweisdorfer]

I wouldn't do the oil pan gasket unless it's leaking.

You are better off with M3 control arms & b12 suspension kit.

Your injectors May or may not hold up for a long time with a tune. Index 4 & 9 are old.

[J0hnct78]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

I wouldn't do the oil pan gasket unless it's leaking.

You are better off with M3 control arms & b12 suspension kit.

Your injectors May or may not hold up for a long time with a tune. Index 4 & 9 are old.

Hopefully that injector replacement thread is true then and I can get new index 12 injectors.

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by J0hnct78

Hopefully that injector replacement thread is true then and I can get new index 12 injectors.

Having new index 12 injectors & new pre-cat/ post cat O2 sensors is a beautiful thing when tuned. Usually keeps the CEL light at bay 😉

[kwatkins12]

I have VRSF for all my bolt ons and couldn't be happier with them the build quality is extremely good for the price, and VRSF customer service has been good to me even reimbursed me for bolts i had to buy because they weren't in the box. The only thing is sometimes their shipping isn't the quickest.

[Saif2018]

Originally Posted by J0hnct78

Hello,

Any other companies I should take a look at? Anything I should look out for?

Thank you

Edit: Sorry I should have specified I just got a 2007 E93 N54 6mt. 106k miles previous owner bought the dinan 2 tune, it's going to be a daily driver, but I'd like to do some mods. I'm just finishing up the walnut blasting, oil filter housing/cooler gaskets, and new serpentine belt and pulleys.

Not sure how common this is, but I had front and rear crank seals replaced as it was leaking there, main Sump Gasket as well, common leak point as well as valve cover gasket and Good idea to replace PCV valve with the RB ones.

Had radiator/coolant leaks as well, so it's worth getting the pipework and radiator checked.

Fix all leaks before tuning and then replace that crap plastic charge pipe with a metal one and coils and plugs,

Regards

[hcopeland]

After maintenance has been done I recommend VRSF. Great guys there with great customer support and great products. Any issues with products or installing and a single email is all you need.

+1 for vrsf

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by J0hnct78

Hopefully that injector replacement thread is true then and I can get new index 12 injectors.

The injector replacement is only a extension of the original recall to replace all injector if there is an issue, rather than just a bank.

If your car already went through the recall originally I don't think it will work.

[kazbek1]

Originally Posted by BM3Rrrr

Maintenance guide for new/existing owners:

Forget looking at mods after your new purchase! Do the preventative maintenance first. For some reason, the most common thing people do here is whack on a tune and complain about check engine lights. With these cars you have to be proactive about the maintenance. It’s also worth noting, that service history means nothing for these cars. Most of the things that go wrong with these cars are not covered by normal servicing.

The mentality of fixing things when they break will just result in more pain down the track, and it is easy for things to snowball. You only need a few key issues on your car until it feels like a real turd, and the repair costs to get it back to normal can quickly become staggering.

I know a lot of the younger crowd has bought into these cars since they're as cheap as $15k, but what you might not realise is that they can be crazy expensive to maintain. Personally, to get my car up to 200k kms and maintaining it to a high level has cost $10-15k so far, this is DIY, with labour not taken into account.

The best thing you can do is to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible, so you can be self-sufficient.

Important links:

https://www.fcpeuro.com - Based in the USA, shipping usually takes around 5-7 days maybe longer if you have obscure items in your cart. This place has almost every part you'll ever need to maintain your BMW and at good prices

http://newtis.info - This is a web based rip of ISTA (factory service instructions), very useful for repair information

http://www.realoem.com/ - This is a web rip version of BMW ETK (parts catalogue) this is very handy for tracking down part numbers to buy from places like FCP. You can also use this powerful tool to see if parts from other models will fit your car, as it will tell you if the same part is used on other models.

Maintenance guide:

TIMEFRAME: AS SOON AS YOU BUY THE CAR

Oil change - These cars run hot and previous owners have just been sticking to the ridiculous 25-30k km service intervals. Change the oil out with something decent and at regular intervals (10,000km). Use genuine oil filters only, the aftermarket ones are usually more expensive, don't fit properly and don’t work as well as the originals.

Plugs and coils - The plugs and coils are weak items on this platform, buy them immediately after you purchase your car. I would suggest buying NGK 95770 (ILZKBR7B) gapped at 0.022", the 3 pronged Bosch ones I have seen the gaps be very inconsistent. ON a tuned car the NGKs are highly recommended.

Water pump 11517632426 - The water pump is prone to crapping out very suddenly and can leave you stranded. If you are on the original pump then you should change it straight away. The old style pump is bolted onto the block and isolated with rubber grommets (rubber will usually be swelling from the oil leaks over the years), the new one is directly bolted to the block. The car will overheat on a dead pump quite quickly and can take out weak components like the radiator with plastic end tanks. You need to buy the pump and 3 STEEL (11517602123) screws, do not buy the aluminium screws or reuse the old ones.

Fix any oil leaks immediately
The oil filter housing is a common thing to leak, along with the valve cover and lately I have seen a lot of slow oil pan leaks as these cars cross the 10 year mark. If you've leaked oil on any of the hoses and let it sat for a while, this degrades the rubber so make sure you replace any hoses that look swelled. Oil leaking on the drive belt should be rectified immediately, this can cause the belt to slip and cause a shredded belt. It is also possible for the belt to get sucked into the crank seal, resulting in belt fragments being caught in the oil pickup, causing oil starvation and dead engine.

Charge pipe - For model years 2009+ including N55 you should replace it immediately, as it is prone to cracking and exploding. The 2006-2008 2 piece rubber charge pipes are very strong and do not require replacements. There’s many aftermarket charge pipes out there, most of them fit like crap. Personally if it was me I’d source a pre-09 charge pipe, but if you had to get a metal one (if you're N55) I'd go for the Evolution Racewerks one.

TIME FRAME: SHORT TERM

Walnut blast - These cars are direct injected and have no fuel passing over the intake valves to clean them. This results in the intake valves getting clogged up over time. After 60-100k they'll be pretty gummed up, reducing performance and idle quality.

Thermostat to cylinder head hose 11537541992 - This hose has a plastic flange that bolts onto the cylinder head and you need to remove it to access the oil filter housing. After several years it gets brittle and cracks, I would highly recommending getting a metal replacement off eBay. This is probably the worse hose for failure, it can break off chunks and allow plastic debris in your cooling system and can jam up your water pump.

Radiator hoses - The top thin overflow hose for the expansion tank (17127565094) is prone to bursting, replace it and buy a new clamp (34321156893). Upper radiator hose (17127540127) that clips into the oil filter housing is plastic and also prone to deteriorating.

Vacuum hoses - These should be replaced with silicone rubber, the rubber ones perish after a number of years and can split and be the cause of vacuum leaks. Locally you can buy the SAAS branded 3mm hose (it’s actually 1/8" 3.2mm) from Autobarn, or buy the CRP hose from FCP euro. Do not use 4mm hose as commonly recommended off the forums, it does not fit well.

Boost solenoids - These are sometimes the cause of boost related issues, these also get less effective over time and you can feel a difference in boost response when replacing old ones.

High pressure fuel pump - This part will probably have already been replaced on your car, the latest revisions appear to be reliable. If it’s never been done then keep an eye out for long cranks in the morning and dipping fuel pressures at full load

Coolant flush - These cars are quite old now and may have changed through the hands of many mechanics. The coolant should be blue, if it is not, flush it out and put the genuine stuff in (83192211191), it’s not expensive.

Engine mounts - The engine mounts are hydraulic and are prone to blowing out on the hot side (right hand side). They fail as early as 100k kms.

Automatic transmission service - You'll want to service the Auto to keep it shifting nice. If you leave it until 150k no amount of servicing will make the ZF auto shift better short of a rebuild. You’ll need to get the pan and the ZF lifeguard fluid. Do not use anything other than the ZF fluid!

Manual Transmission Fluid - I would only recommend using BMW fluids, in general they last for ages and give you very slick shifts. MTF LT3 for the N54 gearbox, and MTF LT5 for the N55 gearbox (includes BMW 1M)

Oil filter housing gasket - This is an extremely common leak point and is worsened by the fact that these cars have changed hands many times over the years, resulting in poor repairs. This is a critical gasket and even if the procedures are followed exactly, it can still result in leaks in rare cases. A lot of times the bolts have been over tightened by the previous mechanic, or copious amounts of RTV silicone has been used to seal it. To do it properly you will require both the oil filter housing seal (11428637821), thermostat seal (11428637820) and 2 o-ring seals for the oil cooler (17222245358). You will also want to buy an aluminium cylinder head fitting, as the original one is plastic and prone to cracking.

TIMEFRAME: LONG TERM MAINTENANCE GOALS

Turbochargers - Eventually the turbos will fail, a lot of the 2006-2007 cars and some of the later cars are prone to wastegate rattle. The only proper way to fix these are to remove the turbos and replace the wastegates or the turbos themselves. The installation costs are quite high so not worth throwing the old turbos back in imo. Brand new turbos would be the best option, instead of stuffing around with reconditioning. Aftermarket turbos have a very poor reliability record, so don't buy them unless you can afford to replace a set of smoking turbos.

Injectors - These injectors are expensive and not very reliable, if you plan on keeping your car for a long time then budget in a set of Index 12 injectors at some point. Faulty injectors can be the cause of rough cold starts and misfires. Unfortunately these are very expensive, so just bear in mind this is something that will have to be done eventually.

Oil pan (11137548031)- These are now starting to go after these cars are close to 10 years old. Make sure you buy a new set of aluminium bolts (11132210959). The gasket and bolts are cheap but it’s quite labour intensive. A lot of cars will be leaking from the oil pan, near the transmission, it starts off as a very slow leak then gets progressively worse over time.

Valve cover - These will leak eventually. You can get the gasket on its own but it is not recommended unless you have a relatively new cover. They are prone to cracking and the removal sometimes requires a bit of force to unstick the gasket, resulting in the valve cover being stressed. Might not crack immediately but would probably end up replacing the valve cover later. Just do it once and do it right. Normally you'll get plenty of warning that the gasket is leaking

Suspension - Shocks will have lost a lot of performance by 90k kms, front upper control arm bushings will tend to leak as well, these are hydraulic filled bushings which will fail eventually. Best to start looking at aftermarket suspension options

VANOS Solenoids (11367585425) - These will be the cause of various VANOS check engine lights, some that may be very hard to reproduce. You can clean the solenoids but most of the time only a replacement will fix it.
Drive belt (11287628652) - Worth doing to avoid a shredded belt.

Fluids - You will want to keep on top of the fluids as they hardly ever get changed by owners. Power steering (CHF11S), brake fluid (DOT4), Trans fluid, diff fluid and coolant should all be done eventually

Turbo oil drain seals - These are common to weep oil, the flat oval shaped seal (11422246091) is a common leak source.

Gear selector shaft seal (23128677736) - This seal is a common failure point on the manual gearbox. It weeps oil and leaks onto the shifter (has a foam bushing in it), which is the cause of a sloppy shifter. Worth replacing this and the shifter bushes at the same time. This requires a special tool to remove, removing it with tiny screwdrivers is possible with enough fortitude and swearing but not worth it.

Automatic/DCT - These leak at the oil pan and mechatronics seals on high km examples. Highly recommend servicing the ZF 6AT early on to prolong its life. The ZF AT generally starts to deteriorate in feel past around 120-140k or so, if it hasn't been serviced in the past, usually a service will not make it much better. DCT boxes have a side seal on it that tends to leak on high km examples. This unfortunately needs the transmission removed to fix the leak, as there is no space in the transmission tunnel to get it out

Great guide! I would just add that if you are going to replace the water pump, you might as well replace the thermostat that it's connected to. I made the mistake of just replacing the water pump and 6 months later, my thermostat went bad. If I had just spent the extra $60 and replaced the thermostat while everything was already disassembled under there, I wouldn't have had to spend another 8 hours under the car and an additional $22 on coolant.

[mweisdorfer]

I think replacing radiator hoses on a short term time frame is overkill. I have 173,000 miles on my N54 and I've only replaced maybe 2 hoses tops. I even have the original radiator.

High Pressure Fuel Pumps were all recalled and replaced in 2010. Mine is 10 years old and still going string after 100,000 miles.

Maybe replace the LPFP sensor and the LPFP. That's more likely to be a problem on a tuned car with MHD.

[BM3Rrrr]

Originally Posted by mweisdorfer

I think replacing radiator hoses on a short term time frame is overkill. I have 173,000 miles on my N54 and I've only replaced maybe 2 hoses tops. I even have the original radiator.

High Pressure Fuel Pumps were all recalled and replaced in 2010. Mine is 10 years old and still going string after 100,000 miles.

Maybe replace the LPFP sensor and the LPFP. That's more likely to be a problem on a tuned car with MHD.

Not all, specifically these two: The top thin overflow hose for the expansion tank (17127565094) is prone to bursting, replace it and buy a new clamp (34321156893). Upper radiator hose (17127540127) that clips into the oil filter housing is plastic and also prone to deteriorating.

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by BM3Rrrr

Not all, specifically these two: The top thin overflow hose for the expansion tank (17127565094) is prone to bursting, replace it and buy a new clamp (34321156893). Upper radiator hose (17127540127) that clips into the oil filter housing is plastic and also prone to deteriorating.

Those are the two I've replaced but only after around 150,000 miles. The rest are original to the car from 2007. 😉

[mweisdorfer]

I would say RB 2's at $1999.99 are probably the best bang for your buck considering the failure rate is 0. You also get a $300.00 discount if you pay by check or cashiers check.