[Davidpollara95]

What's going on guys, so I purchased my 2008 328i in August of 2013 and have had nothing but problems. Back in October my coils went and couldn't get the car past 30. Had them replaced and all was well. Yesterday the exact same thing happened so my question, is the 08 328i prone to these problems or do I have bad luck. I also want to add that I baby my car so the dealers answer to this break is driving the car too hard is invalid in my case. Any ideas?

[ctuna]

Did they replace all the coils the first time?
Are the coils that didn't get replaced now failing?
How many miles on the car?

[Davidpollara95]

I can't tell which are failing now but they replaced 5&6 but I mean what are the odds. And there is almost 74,000 the first time it happened was at exactly 70,000 on the dot

[e92_enthusiast_1]

So a few bad coils == nothing but problems? I'd say you're lucky. You're gonna give yourself bad juju with the negative vibes you're giving out on your car.

[bernard54321]

Always replace all 6....

[NGEE]

Easy answer - don't baby the car. It's made to be DRIVEN!

Coils have an unpredictable failure rate. It's not unreasonable to expect coil replacement at 70k+. You can replace them when they fail, or replace them all now as a maintenance item. Make sure to get OEM.

But yeah, there are certain things that you can predict will fail - like water pump/thermostat, oil filter housing gasket, fuel pump, valve cover gasket, etc. Pay to play.

[mike3000fl]

you replaced coils 5 and 6 and are shocked the other 4 are now showing symptoms. lol.

your car is 7 years old, coils are supposed to go out.

look at it this way. 7 years ago your car had new tires. Back in October one of the tires wore out and was replaced. You are currently shocked because 5 months later the other 3 wore out. guess what bro, they are supposed to wear out together. replace the other 4 coils and be done for another 70,000 miles.

you are going to be really "fed up" when you find out you have to replace the left and right brake pads at the same time.

[tturbolife]

I don't think anyone on here would say that is having "nothing but problems"

[Turb0Surge]

Originally Posted by mike3000fl

you replaced coils 5 and 6 and are shocked the other 4 are now showing symptoms. lol.

your car is 7 years old, coils are supposed to go out.

look at it this way. 7 years ago your car had new tires. Back in October one of the tires wore out and was replaced. You are currently shocked because 5 months later the other 3 wore out. guess what bro, they are supposed to wear out together. replace the other 4 coils and be done for another 70,000 miles.

you are going to be really "fed up" when you find out you have to replace the left and right brake pads at the same time.

^ exactly... When one coil fails, the others aren't far behind.

[Taran.J]

Welcome to owning a fine piece of German engineering

[Efini]

pretty minor problem if you are familiar with bmw. replace all of them...

[mike3000fl]

so i trimmed two of my fingernails yesterday and damn it, the other 8 are getting long now too. so fed up of this.

my left nike wore out and i replaced it last week, now the right one is falling apart also. fed up as can be with this shizzit.

anyway realistically you have two options:

A) spend the $$$ and replace all six coils at once and don't be fed up again for awhile.

B) spend less $ and fix each coil as they fail, and they will all generally fail within the same timeframe (i have been thru 3 in a 5 month period).

If you chose option B to be cheap (like I did), you lose the right to bitch when the next coil goes out. It is supposed to go out.

If the same coil keeps going out, you have my permission to come back here and be fed up.

[rcl]

While it sounds like the op is being a bit dramatic, I don't believe that it should be so easily accepted that coil packs "are supposed" to last 70k miles. My old maxima's coil packs lasted 180k miles until I sold the car, and my Infiniti G lasted until atleast 98k when I sold her. Actually the water pump/T stat never went out either.

Sounds like BMW's coil packs aren't that good. I don't mind doing maintenance, but replacing parts that prematurely fail would aggravate me as well. It's funny how people on the forum are so convinced that these things are normal and within reason. Considering the relatively higher cost these cars come with, the parts should be higher quality and last longer, not shorter. But maybe that's just me.

[ctuna]

When one fails the others aren't far behind.
Get ready for a water pump bill.
And start checking for oil leaks.
Also you might want to change all those lifetime
fluids and your plugs.
Also don't take it to the dealer.

[rr006rbc]

I hope you don't have an N51 engine in your 328i. Because if you do..your dealership is straight ROBBING you. SULEV - super ultra low emissions vehicle warranty for the N51-equipped 328s is good for 15yr/150k miles. Check your engine model.

like NOW.

[DC_Oldboy]

Originally Posted by Taran.J

Welcome to owning a fine piece of German engineering

+1 It sucks when something fails but like Taran said, it's the price you pay when driving a fine machine. Don't be feel bad about it.

[sjf430]

I wish I had only that fail of my car, tbh that for me is part of general maintenance, what I change my plugs I change my coils

[parabola]

Originally Posted by rr006rbc

I hope you don't have an N51 engine in your 328i. Because if you do..your dealership is straight ROBBING you. SULEV - super ultra low emissions vehicle warranty for the N51-equipped 328s is good for 15yr/150k miles. Check your engine model.

like NOW.

Do you have any documentation to back this up?

[Efthreeoh]

Sometimes it just amazes me on how BMW gets away with absolutely poor quality and craftsmanship and you guys just take it right up the ass. No, coils are not supposed to fail; no, electric water pumps shouldn't fail, and t-stats shouldn't fail, HPFP either. But, oh with a BMW since it's a common failure, it becomes "normal", then "acceptable". Man, if the OP's car was a Cadillac ATS, or a Lincoln MKZ, or an Infinty Q50, or a Lexus IS350, the entire line up of those manufacturers cars would be emphatically declared in masse as Pieces Of Shit and the Roundel-brand from Bavaria would be crowned über alles!

You gotta pay-to-play... F-that; it's more like you gotta pray-to-play. Pray you bought the extended warranty.

Coils are supposed to last 70K... yeah right; maybe some cars have properly designed coils and well-manufactured parts and the coils never fail (there are cars that actually do that).

Price you pay for driving a fine machine... what a F-ing BS line that is! The 3-series is a common grocery getter, a police car and taxi in some parts of the world. It is an over-priced economy car with cheap parts, tarted up as near luxury in the US so BMW can make $20,000 profits on, and that most people are scared to own after the warranty is up.

[AS4EX]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Sometimes it just amazes me on how BMW gets away with absolutely poor quality and craftsmanship and you guys just take it right up the ass. No, coils are not supposed to fail; no, electric water pumps shouldn't fail, and t-stats shouldn't fail, HPFP either. But, oh with a BMW since it's a common failure, it becomes "normal", then "acceptable". Man, if the OP's car was a Cadillac ATS, or a Lincoln MKZ, or an Infinty Q50, or a Lexus IS350, the entire line up of those manufacturers cars would be emphatically declared in masse as Pieces Of Shit and the Roundel-brand from Bavaria would be crowned über alles!

You gotta pay-to-play... F-that; it's more like you gotta pray-to-play. Pray you bought the extended warranty.

Coils are supposed to last 70K... yeah right; maybe some cars have properly designed coils and well-manufactured parts and the coils never fail (there are cars that actually do that).

Price you pay for driving a fine machine... what a F-ing BS line that is! The 3-series is a common grocery getter, a police car and taxi in some parts of the world. It is an over-priced economy car with cheap parts, tarted up as near luxury in the US so BMW can make $20,000 profits on, and that most people are scared to own after the warranty is up.

Makes no difference if it's got a roundel or H emblem on the hood, it's a car and things aren't going to last forever, nor do companies want parts to last forever because then, where else are they suppose to make their money? It is then the buyers/owners responsiblity to check the vehicle and how it was previously maintained (pre-owned speaking), and beyond that, it's the owners responsibility to not be an ignoramous about the car and perform required maintainence. Time and time again you get people like the OP (BMW or not) who want to bitch and moan it's garbage but more than not, they probably beat the shit out of the car and hardly put any money into it for it to last (not saying the latter is OP, but I'll leave some eggs in the basket).

Example; aunt owns a IS250. She gets far too many flat tires throughout a year, car is rarely washed, constant engine issues, recently needed a total rebuild. She says the car is garbage. But I'm sure it's not as bad as it would be if she would put a little more effort into taking care of it. She bought it new too.



Oh and if you baby the car, why did you get a BMW in the first place? That's like, getting a motorcycle just to get to your mailbox.

[Delta0311]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Sometimes it just amazes me on how BMW gets away with absolutely poor quality and craftsmanship and you guys just take it right up the ass. No, coils are not supposed to fail; no, electric water pumps shouldn't fail, and t-stats shouldn't fail, HPFP either. But, oh with a BMW since it's a common failure, it becomes "normal", then "acceptable". Man, if the OP's car was a Cadillac ATS, or a Lincoln MKZ, or an Infinty Q50, or a Lexus IS350, the entire line up of those manufacturers cars would be emphatically declared in masse as Pieces Of Shit and the Roundel-brand from Bavaria would be crowned über alles!

You gotta pay-to-play... F-that; it's more like you gotta pray-to-play. Pray you bought the extended warranty.

Coils are supposed to last 70K... yeah right; maybe some cars have properly designed coils and well-manufactured parts and the coils never fail (there are cars that actually do that).

Price you pay for driving a fine machine... what a F-ing BS line that is! The 3-series is a common grocery getter, a police car and taxi in some parts of the world. It is an over-priced economy car with cheap parts, tarted up as near luxury in the US so BMW can make $20,000 profits on, and that most people are scared to own after the warranty is up.

I agree with what you're saying. BMW has become something of a car cult at this point, which is why they sell so well in the US. No the coils should not be going out at 70k miles. For preventative maintenance I replaced them on my old 328 at 80k miles. Meanwhile my friend has a beater civic that has 130k miles and it is still on the original coils. In my case I had the hpfp replaced at 27k miles and my water pump failed at 30k. Yeah BMW engineering is not exactly top notch any more. You know something is not right when most people on here dread owning their BMW past 100k miles, especially when it is a 335 and out of warranty.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by E90Ryan

Makes no difference if it's got a roundel or H emblem on the hood, it's a car and things aren't going to last forever, nor do companies want parts to last forever because then, where else are they suppose to make their money? It is then the buyers/owners responsiblity to check the vehicle and how it was previously maintained (pre-owned speaking), and beyond that, it's the owners responsibility to not be an ignoramous about the car and perform required maintainence. Time and time again you get people like the OP (BMW or not) who want to bitch and moan it's garbage but more than not, they probably beat the shit out of the car and hardly put any money into it for it to last (not saying the latter is OP, but I'll leave some eggs in the basket).

Example; aunt owns a IS250. She gets far too many flat tires throughout a year, car is rarely washed, constant engine issues, recently needed a total rebuild. She says the car is garbage. But I'm sure it's not as bad as it would be if she would put a little more effort into taking care of it. She bought it new too.



Oh and if you baby the car, why did you get a BMW in the first place? That's like, getting a motorcycle just to get to your mailbox.

Coil failure has nothing to do with maintenance nor driving the car hard or easy. Coils transform electrical energy from one level to another, in the case of an automotive engine from low voltage to high voltage; there's no real magic to them other than good design (coil configuration, insulation) and good manufacturing technique. The OP's car has 70K on it, so the 100K plug replacement is not yet required and he said he doesn't run the engine at constant high RPM. Not that running the engine hard should really materially affect coil life, even letting the plugs go 20,000 miles past 100K should not affect the coil life. It is a simple case of poor design and manufacturing. There are millions of cars that don't have coil problems that are far less expensive than BMW. Coil-over-plug design has been a common design practice in the automotive industry close to 15 to 20 years now, so sourcing well-made, well-designed, coil parts should be easy for BMW. BMW is putting a cheap failure-prone part in an expensive car. It should be tolerated.