Here’s my work-in-progress. I’ve always wanted a BMW and got the fever for a 335d. After a long search I found a 2011 with 37K miles, clean Carfax, one owner. I bought it from an independent who deals only with low-mileage BMWs (former dealership guys). It’s still under the new car warranty. I went into this with my eyes open about CBU and maintenance, although I wish my eyes had been open even more. Eight weeks after purchase, on a 300-mile highway trip the SES light came on and it ran rough. Called BMW and they said it was safe to drive it home. Turned out to be a failed injector and drove home 150 miles on five cylinders. That was fixed under warranty. Two months later another SES, although no obvious drivability problems. This was a couple of days of reprogramming, and another new injector, under warranty. Another month or so and another SES light. This time the dealer did a walnut blasting under warranty. But when they put it back together they heard noise and there was vibration on the test drive. Speculation that a piece of carbon was rattling around in the head. They need to keep the car and fix the new problem. So now the engine is out of the car; the head is off the engine; the cams are out, all the valves are arranged on the workbench. They need a tool from Germany that’s back-ordered so it will be at least two more weeks. I’m driving a loaner X3 diesel (pretty nice). The dealer has been good through all of this – I have no complaints (except that I will have been without my car for 5 weeks). It’s covered, and just before this happened I bought a three-year extended. But my confidence in this car is really shaken. I've put 4,000 miles on it and it's been in for work for nearly a month total in eight months. I have a feeling that despite all this major work (it has to be $12K or more) that damn SES light will return. Despite the great pleasure of this car when it’s working, I think my diesel experiment will be a one-time thing.
UPDATE: The BMW dealer said it will cost $7300 and BMWNA will provide 50% good will. this assumes all injectors get replaced plus the walnut shell blast. Thoughts anyone?
I think in another thread the price of diesel injectors came up, something like $630-650 each?! Eek! IF your $7.3k includes the injectors and the walnut shell treatment and you're "only" $3750 out of pocket, that's a deal, unless you have a cheaper alternative. BMW goodwill on repairs & service isn't easily come by, so, relatively speaking, it's not something to refuse casually in hopes of getting more.
Sounds similar to a situation I was in. Took the car in for, what the codes said, was one failed injector. Two days later, received a call from my SA saying they needed to do a carbon cleaning and replace all 6 injectors. BMW NA stepped up to goodwill 50% of this, to which I obliged. Fast forward 2 months. I had no carbon build up and the 6 injectors didn't fix the problem. They were just throwing parts at the car, to the tune of $7500. The dealership reversed all the work, and finally told me I needed a new engine and that I needed to cough up $18k or remove the car. Once this came to light, BMW completely reneged their goodwill offer and told me to pound sand. 6 months now, I haven't had my 335D. I do have a 3rd party warranty, and its at a friends shop where the issue is still being tracked down. Unbelievable really. Hopefully your story ends different. On a lighter note, my x5d runs well...
