540i xDrive litany of faults
Discussion
Would appreciate some thoughts on what is an unacceptable number of faults on a car. I bought my 2017 540i xDrive (28,000 miles) from a main dealer in July 2021. Since taking it in for a service 12 months later, the problems I've encountered are as follows:
Oil filter housing disintegrated during removal of oil filter.
Oil leak from O/S diff seal needed replacing.
Coolant leak, dumped the entire contents of the tank on a petrol station forecourt while I was filling-up. Replace pump.
Coolant leak. Replace coolant expansion tank.
Headlights flashing randomly while driving. Light control unit replaced.
Electrical failure, car unresponsive and locked out of car. Corrosion around connectors.
On three of these occasions it has rendered the car undriveable and off the road. It was off the road for almost a month, between mid-May and the start of June. In addition, there is an advisory for imminent replacement of the rear propshaft flexi, which has started to split. So the car will be off the road again. That’s a lot of issues in just 10 months.
This is the sixth new or used BMW that I have owned in the past 20 years and the first time I've encountered so many issues, so I'm a little perplexed and exasperated. All thoughts and suggestions welcome, thank you.
Oil filter housing disintegrated during removal of oil filter.
Oil leak from O/S diff seal needed replacing.
Coolant leak, dumped the entire contents of the tank on a petrol station forecourt while I was filling-up. Replace pump.
Coolant leak. Replace coolant expansion tank.
Headlights flashing randomly while driving. Light control unit replaced.
Electrical failure, car unresponsive and locked out of car. Corrosion around connectors.
On three of these occasions it has rendered the car undriveable and off the road. It was off the road for almost a month, between mid-May and the start of June. In addition, there is an advisory for imminent replacement of the rear propshaft flexi, which has started to split. So the car will be off the road again. That’s a lot of issues in just 10 months.
This is the sixth new or used BMW that I have owned in the past 20 years and the first time I've encountered so many issues, so I'm a little perplexed and exasperated. All thoughts and suggestions welcome, thank you.
Get rid. You've got a bad one.
I'm in the same place with mine now. A 2017 330i that I've had for just over 18 months. So far it's had 4 major trips (by major I mean >1 week at the dealer for fault finding, replacing parts). And a 5th is now booked. It's on <58k miles from new.
The first 4 were:
Replace the PCV system, due to huge plumes of smoke from the exhaust
Replace the turbo 3 months later, due to huge plumes of smoke from the exhaust
Replace the cat 6 months after that, as the huge plumes of smoke had damaged the cat - after 2 trips to the dealer, they finally accepted the the stored fault of 'Catalytic Converter Efficiency Error' actually meant that the cat was f**ked
Oil Filter housing disintegrated, dumping most of the coolant all over my driveway (this is really a water / oil heat exchanger). The dealer didn't see the need to change the oil, despite the fact that failure of this component could, in my mind, contaminate the engine oil with water. So I paid for an extra oil change as dealer / warranty wouldn't cover it.
It's now developed an alarming 'clonk' from the right hand front corner, which is most likely caused by the steering rack starting to fail (I can actually feel the jolts through the steering wheel)- my BMW dealer can't possibly do anything about it until the 7th July due to booked up work and, without investigating, they've told me that "It should be OK to drive". Luckily I've got another car, so the 330 is waiting until 7th July to go in for investigation / fix and not being used.
When this latest problem is fixed, it's getting a fresh MoT and being traded for something else. Probably Japanese and slightly boring (maybe a Lexus RX450).
Like the OP, I've had loads of BMWs over the last 20 years:
2003 E46 320i - owned from new - had one issue caused by coil packs in 85000 miles
2006 E90 320d - owned from new - never had a problem in 80k miles
2009 118d - owned from new - no issues in 45k miles
2011 320d 'Efficient Dynamics' - owned from new - no issues in 110k miles
This one though, is carp. It's just a bad car. So, much as I quite like it when it's working the fact is that I can't trust it not to break again so it's time to punt it on to the next owner.
I'm in the same place with mine now. A 2017 330i that I've had for just over 18 months. So far it's had 4 major trips (by major I mean >1 week at the dealer for fault finding, replacing parts). And a 5th is now booked. It's on <58k miles from new.
The first 4 were:
Replace the PCV system, due to huge plumes of smoke from the exhaust
Replace the turbo 3 months later, due to huge plumes of smoke from the exhaust
Replace the cat 6 months after that, as the huge plumes of smoke had damaged the cat - after 2 trips to the dealer, they finally accepted the the stored fault of 'Catalytic Converter Efficiency Error' actually meant that the cat was f**ked
Oil Filter housing disintegrated, dumping most of the coolant all over my driveway (this is really a water / oil heat exchanger). The dealer didn't see the need to change the oil, despite the fact that failure of this component could, in my mind, contaminate the engine oil with water. So I paid for an extra oil change as dealer / warranty wouldn't cover it.
It's now developed an alarming 'clonk' from the right hand front corner, which is most likely caused by the steering rack starting to fail (I can actually feel the jolts through the steering wheel)- my BMW dealer can't possibly do anything about it until the 7th July due to booked up work and, without investigating, they've told me that "It should be OK to drive". Luckily I've got another car, so the 330 is waiting until 7th July to go in for investigation / fix and not being used.
When this latest problem is fixed, it's getting a fresh MoT and being traded for something else. Probably Japanese and slightly boring (maybe a Lexus RX450).
Like the OP, I've had loads of BMWs over the last 20 years:
2003 E46 320i - owned from new - had one issue caused by coil packs in 85000 miles
2006 E90 320d - owned from new - never had a problem in 80k miles
2009 118d - owned from new - no issues in 45k miles
2011 320d 'Efficient Dynamics' - owned from new - no issues in 110k miles
This one though, is carp. It's just a bad car. So, much as I quite like it when it's working the fact is that I can't trust it not to break again so it's time to punt it on to the next owner.
Edited by Magnum 475 on Tuesday 13th June 13:46
I think that when you get a bad car, you just have to accept that's what it is. Mine was bought as an Approved User Car from BMW, so I expected it to be fine. Got that wrong! I'm also really not impressed with the overall build quality, compared to the E90 & E46 it's a big step backwards. And compared to the E-Class that I had before it, it's really, really bad.
Clearly time to get out and buy something better
Clearly time to get out and buy something better
Blimey, that is a catalogue of issues for such a young car. You don't live near the coast do you? Some interesting corrosion issues and premature degradation going on. Based on personal experience, that is certainly not indicative of the brand.
I suspect who ever did the last oil change massively over torqued the oil filter housing. That is the primary reason why they shatter to pieces when undone by the next person.
As for the other stuff, who knows. Without knowing the cars history prior to your ownership, there are too many variables at play but I'll put a tenner on it being neglect and/or incompetence related rather than BMW being a terrible brand.
I suspect who ever did the last oil change massively over torqued the oil filter housing. That is the primary reason why they shatter to pieces when undone by the next person.
As for the other stuff, who knows. Without knowing the cars history prior to your ownership, there are too many variables at play but I'll put a tenner on it being neglect and/or incompetence related rather than BMW being a terrible brand.
rottenegg said:
Blimey, that is a catalogue of issues for such a young car. You don't live near the coast do you? Some interesting corrosion issues and premature degradation going on. Based on personal experience, that is certainly not indicative of the brand.
I suspect who ever did the last oil change massively over torqued the oil filter housing. That is the primary reason why they shatter to pieces when undone by the next person.
As for the other stuff, who knows. Without knowing the cars history prior to your ownership, there are too many variables at play but I'll put a tenner on it being neglect and/or incompetence related rather than BMW being a terrible brand.
Thanks for the response; some interesting points you make there. I've written to BMW and will see what they say. I suspect who ever did the last oil change massively over torqued the oil filter housing. That is the primary reason why they shatter to pieces when undone by the next person.
As for the other stuff, who knows. Without knowing the cars history prior to your ownership, there are too many variables at play but I'll put a tenner on it being neglect and/or incompetence related rather than BMW being a terrible brand.
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