BMW Service Questions

cdude

I have 2008 335xi with 27k miles on it. Cars warrenty and maintenance will expire in net year. I am debating if its worth for me to buy extended warrenty and maintenance plan.

Car aleady had its fuel pump and injectors replaced so I am not sure whats the long term reliability of its car. Dont know if I do regular maintenance will the car will be trouble free .

cdude

I am not plannomg to keep the car past 100k but driving the car after warranty makes me worried.

German cars are quite expensive to fix after warrenty

roadburner

Having owned nine BMWs over the past 28 years I wouldn't buy either plan. My 2004 X3 has 110,000 miles on it and from 50,000 to 100,000 miles it did not require any maintenance aside from a four wheel brake job and the scheduled oil services/inspections- all of which which amounted to less than $2000. My 1995 E36 required less than $500 in repairs over the same mileage. That said, if the urban legends about hellishly expensive BMW servicing costs are going to keep you up at night, then buy the plan(s) that ease your concerns.

cdude

Did any of your cars had turbos on it and any other issues electrical..

roadburner

No turbo BMWs yet, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy one. The primary reliability issue with the N54 is the HPFP, which already has an extended 10 year warranty from BMW. In fact, I have looked at several 2007-2008 335i sedans and coupes and the only thing that has kept me from buying one has been the fact that it is difficult to find one equipped the way that I want(RWD, SP, CWP, manual gearbox, Logic 7, no navigation, and not silver or black).

As far as electrical issues go, the X3 required a passenger SRS sensor(replaced under the new car warranty) and one brake light bulb.

I replaced the battery on the 3er at 10 years/101000 miles as a precaution and 5000 miles later it needed a brake light switch(a whopping $30!).
At 114000 miles I had to spend almost $13 to replace the miniature bulbs in the headlamp and fog lamp switches. I think I also replaced a couple of tail lamp bulbs.

Bottom line: The electrical "issues" on both cars have cost me a combined total of nearly $200.

cdude

Wow thats cool. That you didnot had that many electrical problems with your car

roadburner

I would be more inclined to recommend an extended warranty on a 5, 6, or 7 Series BMW as they can be problematic due to the amount of mechanical and electronic complexity built into them. How much is the warranty offered by your dealer, and what does it cover?

srs_49

And, what are the deductibles, and does the deductible apply per visit or per incident? By that I mean if you have a $100 deductible and you have to take the car back 3 times to fix a covered problem, are you out $100 or $300?

Mr_Shiftright

and go *right* to the "exclusions" section of any extended warranty to learn what you don't get.

cdude

Its $50 per repair visit.

mirojobmw

re: 2000 BMW 323i\130,000 miles

Since I had my tires rotated and balanced about 6 weeks ago, my DSC has been acting up. First, it was coming on once a day. When it kicked on I would hear a noise (click?) in the engine, car would kind of pull, but then drove fine but light stayed on until I turned car off then on again. Then after a suggestion, I checked my tire pressure & they (Tires Plus) overinflated my tires to 40. I deflated them down to about 30 where they should be about at, then the DSC was coming on about once week, or at about 100 miles. Then for the last 3 days it is coming on again more frequently. Half of the time the light just comes on w/ no noise/slight pull (ie indication it is coming on).

As a side note, I had some engine work (spark plugs, coils, tune-up) done on the car about 1 mo ago and they did full diagnostics and module did not show any error codes.

Any suggestions as I'm not looking to put much more into the car as will be getting rid of same w/in the year.

thanks!

iajtapmas

I may buy a Preowned BMW 3281 manual transmission from a private buyer. What concerns me is that going by the car fax reports the first oil change was done at 11k and the next at 15K. Is this normal? Will appreciate any advice

kyfdx

Oil service is included in the BMW maintenance plan... It's an experienced based system, that usually calls for an oil change around 15K miles (though, it's variable..).

Though it's not officially in the program, BMW has allowed low-mileage drivers to have their oil changed at the 1 year mark, even if they haven't reached the oil change interval... Rather than re-setting the system, they just get an additional oil change, and then have it changed again when the indicator calls for it...

That scenario fits perfectly with what you report.. At one year of service and 11K miles, the car's oil was changed.... then again, at the regular service interval of 15K..

It's all good!

regards,
kyfdx

iajtapmas

Thank you very much for responding.

shellybilingto

OVERHEATING I have a 1993 bmw 318i 4 cylinder,
E30 engine series 1.8L, 4-spd automatic trans, DOCD car that keeps overheating. I have a brand new radiator (install by a certified mechanic shop, but couldn't afford to have them work on it after that), I also needed, so I bought and install, a brand new fan clutch. Now here's my question, I have bought 2 thermostats, one from O'Reilly's Auto Parts and one from a specialized European Automotive shop. Both places gave me a thermostat that opens up at 192 F, with the specialized shop insisting they were giving me the right thermostat, an OEM part. I told them that my car requires one opens up at 176 F, but they still insisted that I was getting the correct one. Could installing that thermostat cause my car to still overheat, fairly quickly? Also we checked the waterpump and and it appears to be good, but were not sure. Oh, also the hose going from the tank is cool, but the return hose going back to the radiator was steaming hot after I test drove it and the temperture read hot in the red zone. Thank you, Shelly B.

Mr_Shiftright

Well if the thermostat were stuck, or in backwards, yeah, it could overheat the car quickly, but being the wrong temperature rating--no, that wouldn't matter.

Given the age of the car, and being a 318, you'd best check for a bad head gasket, too.

roadburner

An M42 shouldn't need a cylinder head gasket prior to 200K miles unless it has been severely overheated(or the profile gasket has never been replaced). It sounds as if the cooling system wasn't bled properly.

Mr_Shiftright

One might hope, but there's no such thing as 'shouldn't" to the thorough investigator because all cars are treated differently in their long life. You gotta look at everything as possible or you might get tripped up on diagnosis. I brought up the head gasket because he said it overheats "fairly quickly", and a bad head gasket or cracked cylinder head is very good at boiling water for tea.

But sure, let's hope that's not it. Seems like an air block would cause his temp gauge to move around alot.

A simple pressure test should solve this problem. Pressurize the system, then while holding the pressure, remove the spark plugs one at a time. If you see coolant on the tip of any of them, there you go.

roadburner

A head gasket problem is certainly possible, but as I said extremely rare if the car has never been overheated. If the OP has continually overheated the car the whole engine may now be toast. That said, I can guarantee that an incorrectly bled cooling system can generate all kinds of bizarre symptoms.

Mr_Shiftright

Well it IS a 20-year-old car, so head gaskets simply wear out like anything else. It's certainly not a "fault" of the car, any more than wrinkles on a person. :P

And if we add in the inherent weakness of the cooling systems of most 3-series in the 1990s, one has to at least be suspicious of overheating stresses, as you pointed out.