[ALF_E90]

I only bought my 330 in late November, the manufacturer's 3 year warranty expired in mid Dec. A week ago I decided after looking at some issues on here to buy a warranty for the car - the first time I have ever purchased a warranty of any kind - and today I started it up for my return journey from one of my dealers and it vibrated like hell and was down on power, with a yellow engine warning light. This went out after a while, though came back when I stopped for fuel, but the whole journey the car had a vibration under acceleration. I would guess coilpack since they seem a common issue and the car had one done a year ago (I can see from the paperwork...).

I booked it into my local BMW dealer with a sob story about the warranty I purchased before this issue - but of course the warranty is not valid for 30 days from purchase (which the lady I called did not know, I told her that, foolishly!). She'll try for a goodwill but we'll see...

First warranty, first breakdown since I was a student (15 years ago...)

[flyfs6]

Sorry to hear about this. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will
come along with a likely answer. What model is your car? (sorry can't see this on my phone if it's listed).

What warranty do you have?

[ALF_E90]

It is a late 2007 330iSE - Efficient Dynamics model so N53 engine, which as far as I know is direct injection and from a quick look on here seems to suffer this more than the older ones. Were the engines immediately prior to this conventional injection?

The warranty I have bought but which is not yet in force is BMW's own, the top level one Comprehensive one with breakdown etc.

The car has only done 22k miles (it had 18 on it when I bought it). I like it but it has more than it's share of weird steering warning lights that prevent me from starting it, cruise control disengaging itself, etc - so far I love the drive but trust it less than the two Alfas I had, and it certainly feels a lot less hewn from granite than the two VAG cars I have run.

I'm sure it will settle when my warranty is actually in force

[flyfs6]

Hopefully they show goodwill by repairing the car FOC in return for you showing BMW UK goodwill by buying their warranty.

Could be the coil packs. If it was a 335i I would have suggested a HPFP.

[Jeff123]

With that mileage and just over the 3 year warranty, I'm sure that BMW will help you out - if it has a full BMW service history.

[greatbm]

Originally Posted by flyfs6

Hopefully they show goodwill by repairing the car FOC in return for you showing BMW UK goodwill by buying their warranty.

Could be the coil packs. If it was a 335i I would have suggested a HPFP.

Both my failures have been HPFP but under warranty. N53 engine is Direct injection but not turbo used in 325/330 that why I extended the warranty after the manufacturers 3 year ran out, expensive repair.

[ALF_E90]

Well silly me for thinking large normally aspirated petrol engines ought to be the most reliable, especially at such low mileage/age. They always have been for me before and I usually run cars from 3 to 6 years old. I tend to think of turbos as usually the big expense as cars age but BMW seem to have more issues with NA petrol engines - probably related to the fact they are so economical and have more diesel-like technology on them like high pressure injectors.

As an aside it is probably the direct injection that has made me underwhelmed with the engine note except at higher revs - DI seems to trash engine notes, my last car had it and sounded like a diesel at start up, and it made a big difference to Porsche engines.

Anyway it was a coil pack. The good news was that BMW agreed to pay for half the labour and 80% of the materials. The bad news is that that still cost me £150, which is about what I thought a coil pack cost to replace anyway? Obviously I have much to learn about BMW prices!!