[summilux]

My 328i has had all the regular stuff fail (gaskets, waterpump, starter) so I have more than enough stuff to complain about if I wanted to. But as I was changing the oil this weekend I was reminded that BMW engineers did a few things right: 1. The drain plug trap door is brilliant. Other cars force you remove the entire underbody shield. PITA when you are on creeper 2. The filter is right there staring you in the face. Easy peasy to get to. These little engineering decisions make an oil change painless and enjoyable for the home mechanic.

[galahad05]

Originally Posted by JRocker3

35k tops? Do people really only keep cars for 35k miles... am I just being naive? :

If I found my car was a piece of crap I would've gotten rid of it long ago.
It now has over 115k miles on it (got it with 1.5 miles on it straight from a factory order).

Love the car, and it's a bit unreliable. You can have both.

[torrque]

If you think only BMW has these problems, think again...
I come from a couple of Audi's in my life.. The A4 destroyed the cam follower at 125k miles, followed by damage to the cam and high pressure pump. Lucky I caught it in time... but it still needed major heart surgery for new cam, follower, seals, etc. I did all the work myself, about 3 days of work and all knuckles broke. It would have been a 5k bill at the dealer; cost me 1K in parts and tools needed.

Most B7 and some of the B8 engines can suffer catastrophic engine failure if not caught due to this issue...

They also have a timing belt AND a timing chain in the back. The belt requires change every 60k or 4 years, if it breaks, bye bye valves and pistons, it's not a free revving engine.
Cooling system has to be overhauled very often, there are many plastic tee's and U's that fail. The valve cover (plastic), when getting old, has the nice habbit of sucking oil into the intercoolers via the breather hose, so you think your engine is using 3 quarts /1000 miles, but you'll find your intercoolers flooded...
Do you want me to go on ? I have more...

Porsche Carrera owners, S and non S, from 2000 to 2007 or 8 , can suffer an IMS bearing (Intermediary shaft) failure, which brings down the whole engine too.... Then they have cylinder walls cracking at times when tracked as they are very thin... Gearboxes(automatic) fail and do not engage 1st anymore (currently happening to a friend's car, only 75k very gentle miles on it, he drives very easy, never tracked).

So go pick your poison... I'd rather only change injectors, fuel pumps and coil packs, than having to go through intake cams and such.

[torrque]

Originally Posted by JRocker3

35k tops? Do people really only keep cars for 35k miles... am I just being naive? :

Yep, you are. I never owned the car more than 2 years, and never clocked 35k on any of cars that I owned. Here is a rough list of cars I sold, some cars missing but not worth noting:

2013 Shelby GT500, 2008 Audi A4 Quattro, 2010 BMW M5, 2008 BMW 335XI Sedan,2008 BMW M3, 2004 BMW M3, 1999 BMW M3 convertible, 2001 Audi S3

[mecheng77]

Originally Posted by torrque

If you think only BMW has these problems, think again...
I come from a couple of Audi's in my life.. The A4 destroyed the cam follower at 125k miles, followed by damage to the cam and high pressure pump. Lucky I caught it in time... but it still needed major heart surgery for new cam, follower, seals, etc. I did all the work myself, about 3 days of work and all knuckles broke. It would have been a 5k bill at the dealer; cost me 1K in parts and tools needed.

Most B7 and some of the B8 engines can suffer catastrophic engine failure if not caught due to this issue...

They also have a timing belt AND a timing chain in the back. The belt requires change every 60k or 4 years, if it breaks, bye bye valves and pistons, it's not a free revving engine.
Cooling system has to be overhauled very often, there are many plastic tee's and U's that fail. The valve cover (plastic), when getting old, has the nice habbit of sucking oil into the intercoolers via the breather hose, so you think your engine is using 3 quarts /1000 miles, but you'll find your intercoolers flooded...
Do you want me to go on ? I have more...

Porsche Carrera owners, S and non S, from 2000 to 2007 or 8 , can suffer an IMS bearing (Intermediary shaft) failure, which brings down the whole engine too.... Then they have cylinder walls cracking at times when tracked as they are very thin... Gearboxes(automatic) fail and do not engage 1st anymore (currently happening to a friend's car, only 75k very gentle miles on it, he drives very easy, never tracked).

So go pick your poison... I'd rather only change injectors, fuel pumps and coil packs, than having to go through intake cams and such.

Completely agree, VAG products overall are horrendous with
Reliability. Even the basic golfs and jettas. They have many
Serious issues. Bmw has a handful of minor issues, yes sometimes
They are more complex than the avg to repair but
Learn to wrench is the key

[TheBigChill]

Who just received their PCV Valve Heater recall letter

Remember when a PCV system consisted of a $10 one-way valve and short length of 3/8" hose? I do.

Now, with BMW ingenuity, not only does it take 3 hours and hundreds of dollars to fix a PCV issue, but one can also set your car on fire while it sits not in use. Here's to progress!

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by torrque

They also have a timing belt AND a timing chain in the back. The belt requires change every 60k or 4 years, if it breaks, bye bye valves and pistons, it's not a free revving engine.

A timing belt AND a timing chain? WTF kind of backwards shit is that?

Isn't it usually one or the other?


FWIW I believe the B58 has the timing chain in the rear of the engine. Not sure who the bright star was with that idea.

[torrque]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

A timing belt AND a timing chain? WTF kind of backwards shit is that?

Isn't it usually one or the other?


FWIW I believe the B58 has the timing chain in the rear of the engine. Not sure who the bright star was with that idea.

Yes; timing belt spins the water pump and intake camshaft from main engine crankshaft. Timing chain in the back spins the exhaust camshaft from the intake camshaft, and it has a tensioner which also fails in time...

The engines are very noisy due to all those components, and they sound like a diesel. To give them credit, once you renew those, they are bullet proof for another 100k. I have never heard of rod bearings issue on an Audi.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by TheBigChill

Who just received their PCV Valve Heater recall letter

Remember when a PCV system consisted of a $10 one-way valve and short length of 3/8" hose? I do.

Now, with BMW ingenuity, not only does it take 3 hours and hundreds of dollars to fix a PCV issue, but one can also set your car on fire while it sits not in use. Here's to progress!

Oh, do I have a story...

So back in the day (1981) when I was 18 or 19 and owned a 1972 Ford Pinto (with the most excellent 2.0L Ford of Germany 4-banger), one night over semester winter break coming home from my GF's house, I heard a strange engine sound, looked out the rear hatch window, and she was spewing a huge plume of white smoke. I bought the car used and beat the shit out of it. Not knowing the pedigree of the car (it was my second Pinto), I thought I holed a piston or something.

I had the engine from my 1st Pinto in the storage garage behind our house as a spare. Keep in mind it was January in Maryland and well below freezing. The spare engine I knew the pedigree of, so I proceeded to swap the engine. Now at that house, we had a gravel driveway, so an engine hoist didn't roll, so once the engine was out and hanging on the rented hoist, I had to lower the car and roll it away. It's cold as shit outside just above 15 deg. F. While the engine is hanging there at eye level, I decided to pull the PCV valve from the enclosure attached to the right side of the engine block...

So back in 1972, the PCV system was nothing more than a ball valve that opened and closed depending on engine vacuum. A simple device hooked by a rubber EVAP hose to the intake manifold. Well the fucking little ball in the fucking ball valve had fell out of the fucking valve body and into the oil pan. The engine was pulling oil directly out of the sump!

I had froze my ass off for 2 days pulling that goddamned engine out on the gravel driveway in 15 deg weather when all was needed was a 50 cent PCV valve. Lesson learned...

That day I promised myself I'd have a heated garage with a lift someday; 30 some odd years later, I do...

[TheBigChill]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Oh, do I have a story...

So back in the day (1981) when I was 18 or 19 and owned a 1972 Ford Pinto (with the most excellent 2.0L Ford of Germany 4-banger), one night over semester winter break coming home from my GF's house, I heard a strange engine sound, looked out the rear hatch window, and she was spewing a huge plume of white smoke. I bought the car used and beat the shit out of it. Not knowing the pedigree of the car (it was my second Pinto), I thought I holed a piston or something.

I had the engine from my 1st Pinto in the storage garage behind our house as a spare. Keep in mind it was January in Maryland and well below freezing. The spare engine I knew the pedigree of, so I proceeded to swap the engine. Now at that house, we had a gravel driveway, so an engine hoist didn't roll, so once the engine was out and hanging on the rented hoist, I had to lower the car and roll it away. It's cold as shit outside just above 15 deg. F. While the engine is hanging there at eye level, I decided to pull the PCV valve from the enclosure attached to the right side of the engine block...

So back in 1972, the PCV system was nothing more than a ball valve that opened and closed depending on engine vacuum. A simple device hooked by a rubber EVAP hose to the intake manifold. Well the fucking little ball in the fucking ball valve had fell out of the fucking valve body and into the oil pan. The engine was pulling oil directly out of the sump!

I had froze my ass off for 2 days pulling that goddamned engine out on the gravel driveway in 15 deg weather when all was needed was a 50 cent PCV valve. Lesson learned...

That day I promised myself I'd have a heated garage with a lift someday; 30 some odd years later, I do...

It's interesting that it was consuming so much oil with the ball removed, if I'm understanding you correctly. Oil levels in the head are never so high that a broken and more free-flowing PCV valve can simply slurp oil into the intake manifold like a straw. I'd assume the only issue on a normally aspirated car would irregular idle.

Other than aged and sticky PCV valves, I've never had an issue with them on NA cars. On boosted cars, I always just replaced them with a low cracking pressure check valve that's rated for positive pressure. Many of the OEM PCV valves used on cars can't hold the pressure that forced induction places on the intake manifold, and you actually end up pressurizing the head and valvetrain. No bueno.

Anyhow, I just shook my head after reading the BMW recall letter, and then found national coverage of the recall along with instances of burned down cars and houses as a result. From what I can tell from the car's schematic, pulling the Fuse for the O2 sensor heater wires will disable the PCV valve heater (they share a fuse).

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by TheBigChill

It's interesting that it was consuming so much oil with the ball removed, if I'm understanding you correctly. Oil levels in the head are never so high that a broken and more free-flowing PCV valve can simply slurp oil into the intake manifold like a straw. I'd assume the only issue on a normally aspirated car would irregular idle.

Other than aged and sticky PCV valves, I've never had an issue with them on NA cars. On boosted cars, I always just replaced them with a low cracking pressure check valve that's rated for positive pressure. Many of the OEM PCV valves used on cars can't hold the pressure that forced induction places on the intake manifold, and you actually end up pressurizing the head and valvetrain. No bueno.

Anyhow, I just shook my head after reading the BMW recall letter, and then found national coverage of the recall along with instances of burned down cars and houses as a result. From what I can tell from the car's schematic, pulling the Fuse for the O2 sensor heater wires will disable the PCV valve heater (they share a fuse).

The 2L Ford has a PCV box on the side of the block (where the valve sits in a rubber grommet) with a deflecting plate over the opening in the block for the pressure to be relieved from the block. I had the same thought as you at the time and called a professional mechanic friend of the family. He confirmed that the PCV valve if open with no ball in it could pull enough oil out of the sump to make the engine smoke. Anyway, I just put a new PCV valve in, dropped the engine back in (I pulled it with the trans attached) and didn't have a problem afterwards... Well until i found out the choke system was not working correctly, but that's a different story for a different day

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

That day I promised myself I'd have a heated garage with a lift someday; 30 some odd years later, I do...

I have the heated part don't have the lift yet. Having a space and proper tools to DIY makes owning cars a completely different experience. Less ownership stress knowing you won't get raped by shops and dealers.

About 10 years ago I knew nothing about fixing cars. Ironically, I tinkered with antique farm equipment and ATVs (worked on a farm), but never turned a wrench on a car. I had only been driving a couple years at that time, and an alternator failed on my car. The shop that replaced it took forever, used a cheap part that failed a short time later, and they broke some bolts. It was a nightmare. They told me it would cost more because more labor was involved due to their own screw up. I decided "F this, how hard can it be to fix?". I bought an OEM alternator, and fixed it myself for a fraction of the cost in a couple hours. From then on I haven't been to a shop except for tire mounting, alignment, and exhaust welding. I bought a welder last year and have been teaching myself how to use it.

I've also been fixing family and friends cars when I have time because of their own bad experiences with shops. It's amazing how many people really don't care and one person with a bad attitude can make a real mess.

[gT-BMW]

hey guys whatever you do dont buy a ford focus with dct auto trans. Mine been in shop 4 times for transmission!

[Needbmwpartzz]

Originally Posted by CTinline-six

I have the heated part don't have the lift yet. Having a space and proper tools to DIY makes owning cars a completely different experience. Less ownership stress knowing you won't get raped by shops and dealers.

About 10 years ago I knew nothing about fixing cars. Ironically, I tinkered with antique farm equipment and ATVs (worked on a farm), but never turned a wrench on a car. I had only been driving a couple years at that time, and an alternator failed on my car. The shop that replaced it took forever, used a cheap part that failed a short time later, and they broke some bolts. It was a nightmare. They told me it would cost more because more labor was involved due to their own screw up. I decided "F this, how hard can it be to fix?". I bought an OEM alternator, and fixed it myself for a fraction of the cost in a couple hours. From then on I haven't been to a shop except for tire mounting, alignment, and exhaust welding. I bought a welder last year and have been teaching myself how to use it.

I've also been fixing family and friends cars when I have time because of their own bad experiences with shops. It's amazing how many people really don't care and one person with a bad attitude can make a real mess.

Liked the story(fed up with shoddy mechanics work turn normal guy into DIY guy)

How's the learning to weld going/thinking of trying to pick this up too?!

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by Needbmwpartzz

Liked the story(fed up with shoddy mechanics work turn normal guy into DIY guy)

How's the learning to weld going/thinking of trying to pick this up too?!

It's going pretty well, I'm getting better. Right now I'm just using a stick welder. I recommend going to harbor freight and picking up a cheap welder and some scrap metal and going to town. It's fun!