The latest on my car's HPFP issue saga Well, the latest on my 535i N54 engine HPFP recall is that the original dealership Maintenance manager did confirm that my car did have an outstanding open item according to BMW's records - a campaign to update the programming for the HPFP. The current history showed NO pump replacement or software updates done. He provided me the name of the local BMW dealer to contact and go over this campaign issue with that tech to determine the extent of the work that should be done (i.e. SW update only or SW update + replacement of the pump). I plan on calling early next week and will update this forum with the outcome so other owners of similar powered BMW's will know what's been prescribed for mine. Keith R.
Sib B13 03 09 Does anyone have access to this actual service bulletin dealing with the N54 HPFP problem? It would be worth the read if someone can post a link. It would be greatly appreciated. The Bulletin # is SIB B13 03 09. It would also be nice to know the vin #'s and build dates it falls between.
I am supposed to get my car back tomorrow. Hopefully, things will be better and the "fix" will last longer than before. On a side note, I was at the Houston Auto show yesterday, and at the BMW display, I asked the lady there about reliabilty issues with the 535i N54 engine. she was adamant that BMW stepped up immediately on this issue and has fixed them right the first time. I explained that she was only partly correct. That BMW out of the box blamed USA Gasoline, and that I was in for my second HPFP.
Anyone claiming that BMW stepped up and fixed the problem right out of the box is either technically ignorant or ill informed since the problem began in MY 2007 and continues right into MY 2011 without BMW being able to demonstrate that they know the root cause or being able to supply a proper solution to eliminate the N54/N55 HPFP failures.
N54 x35i - HPFP - Failure - AGAIN . . To follow up on the experience of wdpenhale. We've leased our 2008 335xi with the typical 3 year / 36,000 mile lease. We live a little more than 20 miles from the dealership. To date we have spent more than 5% of our contract lease miles doing nothing but driving to and from the dealership for warranty repairs (quality and reliability failures). . . . What if we lived 100 miles from the dealership? In over 1.6 million miles of personal driving, with 41 different automobiles, I have never had such a Jeckyll and Hyde experience with a car. The first year was love with a few snags. The second year was fun but very frustrating. The last 8 months have been miserable. A direct comparison: Prior to owning our first BMW we drove three Honda products. A Civic, an Accord and an Acura TL. Between them, 305,000 miles driven over 14 years of ownership. Collectively, those three cars, added together, required half as many service interventions (warranty, etc.) as this single BMW 335xi has needed in it's 34,000 miles of life. . . Roughly 1800% of the Honda/Acura collective requirements. . . . . And no, the car is not abused. It's driven the same as our other cars, including my 540i sport and our previous 330xi. It just seems like BMW has lost it's way. Maybe it turned down the same path as Toyota ... ? . . .
UPDATE: N54 x35i - HPFP Failures - AGAIN . . . Update: . . . Just got our 2008 335xi back out of the shop tonight (for the xxth time). They replaced the HPFP ... AGAIN. They replaced all the injectors. They reflashed the software ... AGAIN, per the recall. When we picked it up at the dealership service department, it still smelled strongly like gasoline, but it seemed to run fine. We wondered around the dealership lot for a few minutes waiting for the "Service Engine Soon" light to re-appear. It didn't ... hm-mm. Do you suppose they might actually have fixed it this time?!? Oh Lord, let it be so. Drove across town, 21 miles, and just before we turned onto our block ... there it was ... AGAIN! Service Engine Soon Pulled into our garage and immediately it smelled like a gasoline refinery. It was still running fine, I think. It's really hard to tell though, it's been more than half a year since it ran right so I don't have much to compare it to. Called the service manager to let her know the joyful news. With a major snow storm on the way, we'll postpone the return-return-return-return-return-return-return-return-return-return-return-return-return to the service department (for the same failure) until next week. Only one thing left to be thankful for . . . Oh how thankful I am that I didn't actually purchase this piece of cr*p. In a few months the lease will be up and this tube of dung will be somebody else's nightmare. Where are the Rolaids ? . . .
I was to get my car back yesterday, Monday. The Service Manager called and said to come and get it. He sent a guy to pull my car around front. He was gone for a while and then I saw him walking with his head down. He said that he started my car and all the warning lights came on complete with Orange Engine Icons, not good. Do they not check these things out once they repair them? So he handed me back the keys to my loaner.....
About six months ago BMW NA was having the dealers drive the repaired vehicles for up to 100 miles to try and confirm the repairs corrected the N54 HPFP failure issues. This did not seem to prove very useful as many customers had similar experiences to yours when they picked up their car or within a couple days.
OK, picked up my car at lunchtime today. I think that reliability is relative. I have drivien for a whole 10 miles with no problems, ha! I am going to press my luck and go drive it some more.....
Well this ought to get real interesting when all the NA I 6's get replaced by a TT 4 pot. BMW will be left without a single reliable gasoline engine. Lovely, just lovely.
I think the dealer's service departments are sometimes in denial. We had one of the first 2008 535's in Dallas. It suffered from fuel pump failure in the first week of ownership. I found the fuel pump info on the BMW forums but the dealer insisted it was software issues, etc. Long story short-- two fuel pumps before 25k miles. After that--good to the end of the lease.
The issue is not turbos but Direct Injection gas engines. BMW's N54/N55 HPFP issues are very unusual and should have been corrected years ago. Other car makers have had minor HPFP drive issues or an occasional HPFP failure before 100,000 miles but none have had five model years of continuous HPFP failures even after numerous pump re-designs/upgrades. Let's hope the turbo fours are more reliable.
HPFP Issues Thanks for the update. I think the operative word in your reply is "good to the end of the lease." I, unfortunately, bought mine, ha! It is interesting that I have not been sent a "BMW Service Survey Request" on my latest go around on the HPFP Issues. I wrote the GM of my dealer explaining all the problems I have experienced, and got a short "I will look into it and get back to you." That was a week ago. I am thinking that this is like OJ looking for the "real" killer, ha!
True. Since DI is used only on the turbos, and DI will be used on the TT 4 pot, I connect the dots and end up with the same unfortunate conclusion. I wake up every morning and thank God I have an NA V8.
