2008 BMW 335d E91
Discussion
A small announcement from the wife means I need something larger than my 3 door Megane.
Like most PHers I've been thinking about the next car as soon as I bought the last one - an E91 seemed the obvious choice but while I wanted a 335d, they seemed to hold their value quite well and there weren't that many on the market so it looked I'd have to settle for a 325d/330d.
The time to look was over and I needed to buy something so I had a look on Facebook and found something that caught my eye - not exactly what I was after, but it was the cheapest 335d that wasn't a write off / >200k miles / in Bradford and more interestingly had £8ks worth of extras, so i thought I'd have a look.
Drove down to have a look and I was impressed. The seller was nice bloke, the car was in a good condition, couldn't find anything wrong with it. Agreed a price and returned the next weekend to collect - only dampened slightly by buying a train ticket for the wrong day (!) and having to buy the correct ticket mid journey.
Let's get the bad bits out of the way first - it's a pre-LCI, it's done 135k, it's grey, it's an SE.
Good bits - panoramic sunroof, adaptive bi-xenon headlights (inc high beam assist), iDrive CIC retrofit. £8k worth of options (even down to stupid stuff like puddle lights that project "BMW" on the floor).
It drives much better than a car of this mileage has any right to - doesn't feel loose or baggy at all.
Up to 8/10ths it drives very well but when you push it the weight suddenly becomes apparent
Despite the hate online, the gearbox seems alright to me - certainly not slow and clunky or anything. Manual mode is clearly a gimmick, though.
Due to the refinement and gearbox, it doesn't feel that quick but it just hides it well.
Brakes are surprisingly decent too - I expected it to be a bit weak with single piston calipers but the discs are 348mm and only just fit under the 17" wheels.
In terms of tech, it's clearly a generation newer than I'm used to - there's even a button that cools the cupholders.
The previous owner retrofitted the iDrive CIC system - which is the next generation newer iDrive system than came as standard (CCC).
I'm used to dealing with car audio and expected to chuck the 10 year old system in the bin and fit a decent headunit, but having used it I'm really impressed - navigation (with up to date maps and traffic), bluetooth, USB, parking sensors etc all bundled into a decent interface built into the car. I'm not sure I could justify the ££££ he spent on it, but I'm glad he did!
The boot is a lot smaller than I perhaps expected - it's midway between my Megane and my wifes Kia Cee'd. And because of the iDrive system, and a lack of spare wheel, there's no space under the boot floor either. But really I wanted a 5 door with a slightly larger boot, not a 5-series or something, so I hope it'll be ok.
Most importantly - the wife approves!
It's parked up until I've sold my current car so forgive the poor pictures...
Like most PHers I've been thinking about the next car as soon as I bought the last one - an E91 seemed the obvious choice but while I wanted a 335d, they seemed to hold their value quite well and there weren't that many on the market so it looked I'd have to settle for a 325d/330d.
The time to look was over and I needed to buy something so I had a look on Facebook and found something that caught my eye - not exactly what I was after, but it was the cheapest 335d that wasn't a write off / >200k miles / in Bradford and more interestingly had £8ks worth of extras, so i thought I'd have a look.
Drove down to have a look and I was impressed. The seller was nice bloke, the car was in a good condition, couldn't find anything wrong with it. Agreed a price and returned the next weekend to collect - only dampened slightly by buying a train ticket for the wrong day (!) and having to buy the correct ticket mid journey.
Let's get the bad bits out of the way first - it's a pre-LCI, it's done 135k, it's grey, it's an SE.
Good bits - panoramic sunroof, adaptive bi-xenon headlights (inc high beam assist), iDrive CIC retrofit. £8k worth of options (even down to stupid stuff like puddle lights that project "BMW" on the floor).
It drives much better than a car of this mileage has any right to - doesn't feel loose or baggy at all.
Up to 8/10ths it drives very well but when you push it the weight suddenly becomes apparent
Despite the hate online, the gearbox seems alright to me - certainly not slow and clunky or anything. Manual mode is clearly a gimmick, though.
Due to the refinement and gearbox, it doesn't feel that quick but it just hides it well.
Brakes are surprisingly decent too - I expected it to be a bit weak with single piston calipers but the discs are 348mm and only just fit under the 17" wheels.
In terms of tech, it's clearly a generation newer than I'm used to - there's even a button that cools the cupholders.
The previous owner retrofitted the iDrive CIC system - which is the next generation newer iDrive system than came as standard (CCC).
I'm used to dealing with car audio and expected to chuck the 10 year old system in the bin and fit a decent headunit, but having used it I'm really impressed - navigation (with up to date maps and traffic), bluetooth, USB, parking sensors etc all bundled into a decent interface built into the car. I'm not sure I could justify the ££££ he spent on it, but I'm glad he did!
The boot is a lot smaller than I perhaps expected - it's midway between my Megane and my wifes Kia Cee'd. And because of the iDrive system, and a lack of spare wheel, there's no space under the boot floor either. But really I wanted a 5 door with a slightly larger boot, not a 5-series or something, so I hope it'll be ok.
Most importantly - the wife approves!
It's parked up until I've sold my current car so forgive the poor pictures...
A very good friend of mine has been running a pre LCi 335d coupe as a daily for the last 4 years. On the whole it's been pretty reliable. Issues he has had, and I think they are all very well documented, abs pump, rebuilt locally for £200, turbo boost pipe leaking, replaced with an upgraded item from Forge Motorsport for £125 + fitting. LED side lights in a rear lamp failed, replaced with a new light unit from ECP for £199. Other than that just regular service items. It's good on fuel with a surprising turn of speed, it certainly catches out a few so called hot hatches.I'm sure these respond really well to a remap, if and when the current set up becomes boring, maybe something to consider.
I put 160k on my 335d . Pretty bullet proof.
Crank Pulley went, easy fix. And the usual vacuum hose scenario, easy fix.
Exhaust Manifold gasket was a case of nipping the nuts up, apart from that, it just worked.
Did start to feel a little tired at the end, but to be expected. That one does have some nice options, especially the lights, enjoy.
Crank Pulley went, easy fix. And the usual vacuum hose scenario, easy fix.
Exhaust Manifold gasket was a case of nipping the nuts up, apart from that, it just worked.
Did start to feel a little tired at the end, but to be expected. That one does have some nice options, especially the lights, enjoy.
Sold my Megane so it's back on the road.
Went for a swim (remember when we could leave the house to do that?!). Parked up next to a Fiesta, only to realise it's taller than an E91! I never realised what a "compact" estate it was.
First mod, phone holder, charger and dashcam hardwired. Dashcam isn't fitted yet as the windscreen needs replacing.
For a big car, up front there's little space, so in goes a sunglasses holder
Went for a swim (remember when we could leave the house to do that?!). Parked up next to a Fiesta, only to realise it's taller than an E91! I never realised what a "compact" estate it was.
First mod, phone holder, charger and dashcam hardwired. Dashcam isn't fitted yet as the windscreen needs replacing.
For a big car, up front there's little space, so in goes a sunglasses holder
Next, some more exciting (or at least, in-depth) stuff.
Scanned with INPA, all 6 glow plugs were showing as faulty
Seemed unlikely, Google suggested instead it was probably the glow plug controller.
I'd seen no ill-effects but i'd seen references that a glow plug fault could cause the DPF not to regen.
Officially you need to remove the inlet manifold to get to it, but as is always the way I found a video on YouTube where someone does it in situ in 5 minutes, so I thought I'd have a go.
Engine cover and scuttle off, and after more than 5 minutes, I'd found where it was - you can just see one of the nuts securing it, which gives you a sense of how buried it is!
(as usual, the slightly manky food isn't for me - it's for my dog!)
Removing the bolts took a rather absurd combination of extensions and wobble joints
But after a lot of manipulation, out it came
Scanned with INPA, all 6 glow plugs were showing as faulty
Seemed unlikely, Google suggested instead it was probably the glow plug controller.
I'd seen no ill-effects but i'd seen references that a glow plug fault could cause the DPF not to regen.
Officially you need to remove the inlet manifold to get to it, but as is always the way I found a video on YouTube where someone does it in situ in 5 minutes, so I thought I'd have a go.
Engine cover and scuttle off, and after more than 5 minutes, I'd found where it was - you can just see one of the nuts securing it, which gives you a sense of how buried it is!
(as usual, the slightly manky food isn't for me - it's for my dog!)
Removing the bolts took a rather absurd combination of extensions and wobble joints
But after a lot of manipulation, out it came
Edited by Jakg on Monday 7th August 21:53
Why did the glow plug controller break?
If the car doesn't warm up fully, the glow plugs never turn off, the controller burns out.
Now when I bought the car, I knew the thermostats were a common problem on the 335d, but when I was talking to the seller they said they'd recently had the EGR thermostat replaced. The car has no temperature gauge, and I forgot to check.
After a 45-min drive, the max temperature it got to was 59° C.
The EGR thermostat looked new so I figured it must be the main thermostat.
With the engine cover, airbox, pipework & EGR cooler off, access wasn't too bad. You can just about see where it goes from the coolant in the middle.
New thermostat and some new bolts
Put it all back together and used the opportunity to replace the coolant.
I used the correct G48 coolant. I didn't realise that there was a special kind of coolant for BMWs - I've used the wrong stuff on my Z4.
Put it all back together and unfortunately, it leaked... from the EGR thermostat.
When disassembling I'd removed it and noticed that one of the threads had ripped out and been replaced by a nut, and there was a lot of black sealant all over it. And the sealing O-Ring was destroyed.
In addition, the mating face on the EGR cooler was bent.
No wonder there was sealant all over it...
A bolt was missing too (which I'm still waiting for) but overall not impressed with the quality of that job!
I bought a second hand EGR cooler (only £17 - this one was off a 118D), which was perfectly flat.
I also managed to break the EGR thermostat by splitting the two halves and couldn’t put it back together, so thought buying a new one would give me piece of mind.
The cars new EGR thermostat was unbranded, but the EGR cooler came with a BMW genuine one.
I'd bought a new BEHR one and for the first time I found one of the mythical "OE part with the part number ground off" parts!
Put it all back together and it runs much warmer now
It takes a long while to warm up on the drive, but I haven't got it hot enough to open the thermostat yet to bleed the system properly. It would be much easier if I could just drive it - but that's obviously difficult at the moment.
If the car doesn't warm up fully, the glow plugs never turn off, the controller burns out.
Now when I bought the car, I knew the thermostats were a common problem on the 335d, but when I was talking to the seller they said they'd recently had the EGR thermostat replaced. The car has no temperature gauge, and I forgot to check.
After a 45-min drive, the max temperature it got to was 59° C.
The EGR thermostat looked new so I figured it must be the main thermostat.
With the engine cover, airbox, pipework & EGR cooler off, access wasn't too bad. You can just about see where it goes from the coolant in the middle.
New thermostat and some new bolts
Put it all back together and used the opportunity to replace the coolant.
I used the correct G48 coolant. I didn't realise that there was a special kind of coolant for BMWs - I've used the wrong stuff on my Z4.
Put it all back together and unfortunately, it leaked... from the EGR thermostat.
When disassembling I'd removed it and noticed that one of the threads had ripped out and been replaced by a nut, and there was a lot of black sealant all over it. And the sealing O-Ring was destroyed.
In addition, the mating face on the EGR cooler was bent.
No wonder there was sealant all over it...
A bolt was missing too (which I'm still waiting for) but overall not impressed with the quality of that job!
I bought a second hand EGR cooler (only £17 - this one was off a 118D), which was perfectly flat.
I also managed to break the EGR thermostat by splitting the two halves and couldn’t put it back together, so thought buying a new one would give me piece of mind.
The cars new EGR thermostat was unbranded, but the EGR cooler came with a BMW genuine one.
I'd bought a new BEHR one and for the first time I found one of the mythical "OE part with the part number ground off" parts!
Put it all back together and it runs much warmer now
It takes a long while to warm up on the drive, but I haven't got it hot enough to open the thermostat yet to bleed the system properly. It would be much easier if I could just drive it - but that's obviously difficult at the moment.
Edited by Jakg on Friday 10th April 02:40
With it up in the air I had a general poke around and noticed common problem - a very oily looking intercooler hose
The seals are a weak point and ridiculously priced from BMW (~£30 and then ~£200 for the hose!) so I just replaced the whole hose with an MTC unit.
Slightly fiddly to fit, especially as I had to remove a small tab from the intercooler (which was easy - but there were no instructions and it's a well made custom part so I thought it was a straight swap)
The seals are a weak point and ridiculously priced from BMW (~£30 and then ~£200 for the hose!) so I just replaced the whole hose with an MTC unit.
Slightly fiddly to fit, especially as I had to remove a small tab from the intercooler (which was easy - but there were no instructions and it's a well made custom part so I thought it was a straight swap)
Before I bought, my research said all 335ds - SE or M Sport - came with M Sports suspension.
Made sense, same situation with my Z4.
...however it turned out that was the case, for the E92 (coupe) - not the E91!
A suspension refresh is more work than I should probably take on right now (as my wife reminds me - this is not a project car), but I thought the M-Sport spec front anti-rollbar would sharpen the front-end a little.
I don't normally like to mess with anti-rollbars as unless you do it right you can end up inducing the opposite behaviour you want, but in this case I'm not looking for outright grip, just the front end to feel a little better when not on the limit.
Plus, the car already has an M-Sport rear anti-rollbar from the factory - this is included when you get a sunroof (presumably due to the extra weight). So really I'm just balancing it up...
In BMW fashion, you can often find the part you need on a completely different car - so I got one off an X3, but the same part number.
It turned up with drop links and bushes, which I binned.
The bushes put up a fight - they are just the basic rubber D-shaped ones you'd find on most cars but they were stuck fast and I had to chisel them off.
They had stuck to the bar with a slightly stretchy consistency.
I'm not sure what process causes the rubber to go like that, but it looked a lot like they'd worn, and someone had pumped them full of silicone to remove the play. Maybe I'm just suspicious...
Some wire wheel action later and it's looking better
And some new powerflex bushes as well
Made sense, same situation with my Z4.
...however it turned out that was the case, for the E92 (coupe) - not the E91!
A suspension refresh is more work than I should probably take on right now (as my wife reminds me - this is not a project car), but I thought the M-Sport spec front anti-rollbar would sharpen the front-end a little.
I don't normally like to mess with anti-rollbars as unless you do it right you can end up inducing the opposite behaviour you want, but in this case I'm not looking for outright grip, just the front end to feel a little better when not on the limit.
Plus, the car already has an M-Sport rear anti-rollbar from the factory - this is included when you get a sunroof (presumably due to the extra weight). So really I'm just balancing it up...
In BMW fashion, you can often find the part you need on a completely different car - so I got one off an X3, but the same part number.
It turned up with drop links and bushes, which I binned.
The bushes put up a fight - they are just the basic rubber D-shaped ones you'd find on most cars but they were stuck fast and I had to chisel them off.
They had stuck to the bar with a slightly stretchy consistency.
I'm not sure what process causes the rubber to go like that, but it looked a lot like they'd worn, and someone had pumped them full of silicone to remove the play. Maybe I'm just suspicious...
Some wire wheel action later and it's looking better
And some new powerflex bushes as well
Edited by Jakg on Monday 7th August 21:55
t that’s needed will be bought on amazon about 2 days after the original due date. 
Been busy with DIY so a pretty small update.
First MOT in my ownership was a clean pass, which was nice.
You can fit 2x 1 ton bags of garden waste in the boot, although it was completely full.
Stupidly I left it overnight so the car is full of bugs...
Also tried out the removable towbar - fitting was ridiculously simple. And I even found a receipt for it being fitted to the car for £650!
Annoyingly I had to loosen a bolt to swing down the electric socket - not sure if that's to be expected with a removable towbar?
First MOT in my ownership was a clean pass, which was nice.
You can fit 2x 1 ton bags of garden waste in the boot, although it was completely full.
Stupidly I left it overnight so the car is full of bugs...
Also tried out the removable towbar - fitting was ridiculously simple. And I even found a receipt for it being fitted to the car for £650!
Annoyingly I had to loosen a bolt to swing down the electric socket - not sure if that's to be expected with a removable towbar?
Jakg said:
A suspension refresh is more work than I should probably take on right now (as my wife reminds me - this is not a project car)
On that note...
Got a great deal on a Bilstein B12 pro-kit (shocks & springs)
At the same time I also upgraded to M3 front wishbones - more camber and better bushes/ball joints - this requires the M3 headlight level sensor too.
When you add new shock mounts front & rear and some nuts / bolt - then it's a lot more £££ than I initially realised!
Most of the suspension came apart easily, although the design is a little more complicated than you'd find on say an E46 as there are almost two wishbones - no more complicated than my old Megane though.
One of the wishbones wouldn't pop out of the hub (BMW term - "wheel carrier") no matter what I did, and I couldn't find my ball joint press on it as it was too tall - I ended up cutting the top off it to get the tool on, but the heat from cutting it loosened it up anyway.
Also, your mean to be able to counterhold the nut on the arms with a torx bit - but when I tried that using a spanner on the nut and my impact wrench on the torx head, it was my torx bit that lost!
The TRW wishbones are the BMW part with the logo ground off
Front strut disassembled
New ones built up
Rears were much easier - once I'd dismantled all the interior to get to the top mounts
With the wishbone / guide rod / track rod end and now strut removed, the hub was unsupported with the disc and caliper attached - which meant it was very heavy. Although I used the jack to take the weight, not only was it really awkward, but I caught the disc backplate on something.
The fold is no big deal, but it pulled through bolts, too.
A new one was quite expensive, but I really needed the car back on the road so I needed to have a proper look.
Tried to remove the brake disc and the head of the bolt immediately rounded despite doing all the right things.
I tried tapping it round with a chisel which worked on my Z4, but didn't really seem to work here.
Settled for hammering a T45 in there instead which came out without fuss.
With the disc off, it's clear whats happened
Some repair washers later
With the suspension done, there were some other jobs to attend to while it was in the air
Brake warning light was on, despite both sets of pads being ok.
I've reset the light through the computer, but it doesn't take the warning away unless the sensor is actually disconnected / reconnected to prove you've done the work.
Both sensors were damaged so I replaced them - the front sensor wasn't even attached to the caliper and was just hanging loose, broken.
I'm not quite sure on the cable routing btw.
Also flushed some new brake fluid through
I'd also been hearing a "whooshing" sound under acceleration - I presumed it was a vacuum leak but when I took the undertray off I could see the new boost hose had popped off.
The o-ring had somehow split
I worked out the problem was probably the "lip" on the intercooler needs to be fully removed (i'd just loosely cut a bit off the end) to ensure the connector is fully fitted.
I contacted MTC to get a new o-ring - they mentioned this regularly happens if you install without lubrication. Maybe it wouldn't happen so regularly if they included instructions (I originally used lubricant when installing btw).
Again, I needed the car now so I used the o-ring off the standard hose to re-assemble, but theres no longer a visible gap between the intercooler and connector
Finally with the airbox off I put a Pipercross panel filter in
First impressions of the above are... terrible.
The wishbones are longer to introduce the camber, but therefore the track rod ends need adjusting out significantly to prevent massive toe.
I tried to bring them out a bit to make the drive to the garage pleasant, but I just couldn't shift them.
The drive there was horrible - it's crazy how bad you can make a car handle with some bad geometry.
The garage used oxy-acetylene to heat them up enough to adjust - you could hear that horrible dry metal thread squeak with every turn they made.
Once aligned - much better. Ride is clearly stiffer, but a lot of the vague and floatyness of the front end is gone.
There's a couple of teething problems I need to investigate before I can really explore it more though.
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