[Rialas]

.......The "most unreliable car I've ever owned" competition.
(335i).

[Yoxall]

My first Bmw might be a contender.

Bmw 330d e46, manual 04 plate.

Needed 5.5k spending on it. Had it a year. every month something would need doing. I learnt a lot during the process. Which I have used buying my current 335d

Pre fuel pump

Crank pulley

6 glow plugs and control unit

All new vac hoses

Egr control unit

Clutch, flywheel

Front control arms

Discs and pads front and rear

2 injectors, that was the final straw it had to go. I loved it but it was never ending.

I hope no 1 bests that, if so I feel your pain!

[Rialas]

Ok. You win. Lol

[Rialas]

I've had, from purchase intermittent engine check light, limp mode,
It gets sorted, then shortly after a fuel refill, limp modes again.

Now stuttering on acceleration, (again), service light, (although serviced not long ago), and now also running on 4/5 cylinders at idle.
I "lol" but it's a complete and utter pain.

[Rialas]

Probably due an amg, or one of the big audis.

It's got tyring.

[Ao1]

try "old grey steve", A1BN in Stevenage. He is near you and will get to the bottom on it.

[Yoxall]

I missed turbo off that list as well !

335i's can be a nightmare a friend owned a e90 manual and it was never right he spent a fortune on plugs, injectors And the other usual issues they have He traded it in and got a golf r.

The worst part is not knowing what the problem is. I don't mind spending money on cars it's a passion/hobby of mine, when you get a problem u pay and it's fixed? Not with the 335i it would seem.

They are complex cars so are 335d's but they seem to not have as many issues.

AMG is a good choice. I love my 335d e91 I don't know what I would have next due to my mileage 35-40k a year !

[Rialas]

Originally Posted by Ao1

try "old grey steve", A1BN in Stevenage. He is near you and will get to the bottom on it.

Cheers, he knows and works on my car.
I'll give him a call Tuesday.

[Rialas]

Originally Posted by Yoxall

I missed turbo off that list as well !

335i's can be a nightmare a friend owned a e90 manual and it was never right he spent a fortune on plugs, injectors And the other usual issues they have He traded it in and got a golf r.

The worst part is not knowing what the problem is. I don't mind spending money on cars it's a passion/hobby of mine, when you get a problem u pay and it's fixed? Not with the 335i it would seem.

They are complex cars so are 335d's but they seem to not have as many issues.

AMG is a good choice. I love my 335d e91 I don't know what I would have next due to my mileage 35-40k a year !

Exactly.
Going round in circles, and never knowing for sure what has caused the latest hissy fit.

Although this time, the rough idle should be easier to analyse I hope, unlike the previous intermittent check light/limp modes.

[Rialas]

Good old amg V8 power.

This BMW 3 litre is pushing too much power for it's own good imho.

[Rialas]

And don't even mention the naff stereo it came with. Rant morning.

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by Rialas

Cheers, he knows and works on my car.
I'll give him a call Tuesday.

Oh joy.... CAll me in the morning get it booked in and we'll go from there

[MattOz]

My 335i had been great. I'll get my coat.......

[RajB]

Think you've just been unfortunate. I've had issues with mine but truly even going to the V8 Merc's etc won't necessarily be a smooth ride.

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by Rialas

Good old amg V8 power.

This BMW 3 litre is pushing too much power for it's own good imho.

It's barely pushing any power :P

Sadly the 335 suffers from a great engine block mixed with awful auxiliary components. With yours sharing the M135i engine it should be more solid though as I've not heard so much whinging from M135i owners as there was from N54 335i owners!

Are you under BMW warranty? What work have you had done so far?

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by djgandy

It's barely pushing any power :P

Sadly the 335 suffers from a great engine block mixed with awful auxiliary components. With yours sharing the M135i engine it should be more solid though as I've not heard so much whinging from M135i owners as there was from N54 335i owners!

Agree with that from what I can understand from talking to Kostas on the phone sounds a little fuel related to me perhaps with something else in the mix, I'll know a little later on today whether my hunch is right and poor fuel quality(which I've mentioned on several other posts re these cars and 330i's for that matter) may be part of the issue

[Rialas]

Originally Posted by djgandy

It's barely pushing any power :P

Sadly the 335 suffers from a great engine block mixed with awful auxiliary components. With yours sharing the M135i engine it should be more solid though as I've not heard so much whinging from M135i owners as there was from N54 335i owners!

Are you under BMW warranty? What work have you had done so far?

Thanks.
New alloy charge pipe (first thing that broke within a week of purchase), and mapped, nothing extreme.
No warranty.

It's with the capable hands of Steve a1, and his team today.

[Juz5i]

Hope he gets to the bottom of it for you.

I've had my N54 335i for a couple of years now & I've not had a single problem with anything.
Must be a right ball ache chasing a problem around without knowing for certain what's causin it.

[bishbosh]

My worst car was a VW Golf tdi Mk3.

Bought 2nd hand, dropped a valve after 400 miles and 3 weeks. Went into sh1t garage where it remained for most of my ownership. Head was cracked, replacement engine ordered. Replacement engine was duff, got another engine. Daft mechanic installs it and it runs. This is 6 weeks after it went into the garage, mind!

Next day, CV joint pops off - back to same garage. Got it back next day.
2 weeks later, knocking sound and white smoke on boost.

No one wants to know but I find a VW specialist who diagnoses timing belt over the phone.

AA trip to specialist who confirms timing belt and that the tensioner was not tensioned correctly!

£60 later and it's fixed, no more white smoke, however engine sounds noisy now.

Got rid of the f*cker a week later.

Total ownership time, 2 months 2 weeks. I knew a hell of a lot less then than I do now!

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by Juz5i

Hope he gets to the bottom of it for you.

I've had my N54 335i for a couple of years now & I've not had a single problem with anything.
Must be a right ball ache chasing a problem around without knowing for certain what's causin it.

We see this a fair bit and there's simply no logical answer re why some cars prove reliable and some are don't.

I wish for all the tea in China mine was pain free yet it hasn't been AirAndre's having the same sort of issue with his car too constantly needs an arm around its shoulder yet I see some in here big miles on the original turbo's only requiring routine service items to keep it on the road and trust me the old chestnut re full BMW service history in may cases doesn't mean jack with some of the issues these cars come up with.

With these cars chasing problems is part of the game but a lot of the issues these cars have are or seem more habitual than you'd like hence you smell something you start to look in certain area's. Sometimes you're proven wrong and you learn something more often the answer lies in your "historic knowledge" re why these cars have issues.

Such a shame really as Andy stated the engines themselves are very good its the other bits bolted on that let the sider down and cause so many breakdowns

[Ao1]

Originally Posted by old grey steve

Agree with that from what I can understand from talking to Kostas on the phone sounds a little fuel related to me perhaps with something else in the mix, I'll know a little later on today whether my hunch is right and poor fuel quality(which I've mentioned on several other posts re these cars and 330i's for that matter) may be part of the issue

Hi Steve, going back to the nightmare the buyer of my car had I am wondering if it was anything to do with the very low mileage I do and condensation forming in the tank. I rarely if ever drove it below a ¼ tank, but it was typically ½ to ¾ full. Maybe over time a lot of water collected from condensation and when the tank was run low it sucked water into the engine. I don’t take any chances with the M3. I keep it full to the brim.

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by Rialas

Thanks.
New alloy charge pipe (first thing that broke within a week of purchase), and mapped, nothing extreme.
No warranty.

It's with the capable hands of Steve a1, and his team today.

Oh that's nothing.

I thought you'd already had a £2k injector bill