hansen

After have a decent time with our 2006 BMW 525i, we added a BMW325xi and a BMW335i the family. We actual have 3 BMWs in our family, not including 3 others after good referrals to my brother and brother-in-law. A few weeks ago, the 2006 525i came to a stop. The vehicle was purchased new, well maintained, and cared for. I made a mistake by not buying the extended warranty. The vehicle has just hit the 85k mark and was mostly driven on the freeway. After doing a lot of research on the internet, I noticed BMWNA has a lot of soft recalls knowing problems exist in their products. For my particular year motor the N52B30AE, there was a problem with the oils passages for the head. If the customer complained under warranty, they would do several band-aid fixes to try to resolve the problem. If it was brought back serveral times, they would replace the head. BMW knew the problem existed and actual re-casted the head with improved oil passages. You would think a company would do full recalls and repair or replace their known defective products. I sent an email to BMWNA to see if they could or would assist me, but they have not responded. I was told it could be several things such as the timing chain slipped to something catastrophically failed with our BMW. As of now, it may need a new head or a new motor replacement which I find as outrageous. A new motor from BMW is $15K, rebuilt motor is $8k, or new head $5k not including install.

The 07 BMW 335i has been plagued with problems and BMWNA refuses to do a full recall on their known defective products. They extended the warranty for the fuel pump and injectors for 120k or 10 years instead of just replacing the known defective parts. They have another soft recall, if it is not broken and the customer does not complain, don't fix it until it breaks knowing their product defective. Our 335i BMW was brought in once and they cleared the light and reprogrammer the vehicle. The vehicle will have to go back in again for the next band-aid fix. I assume it is BMW's way to not be responsible to cover their know defective products hoping the consumer's soft recall will expire.

It really appears the BMW will not stand behind their products. Soft recalls and service bulletins informing their dealerships conduct band-aid fixes to hide the problems and replace the defective component if the customer continues to have problems. In the next few years when it comes time to replace our vehicles, I will seriously consider purchasing vehicles from Mercedes or Accura. I have heard they stand behind their products. Thank god, I did not buy a new 2012 BMW 525 like we planned.

craigm1841

problems with your car? join the club...

carlos916

callicles

Man I also have a BMW 525i with the same engine and so far it has been trouble free with 90k km on the clock but now am getting worried. Did not know that they had these oil passage problems and wondering if I should sell it now.

donpb

i just had to add a quart of oil to mine recently after getting the oil changed six months ago. maybe that's my problem too.

fov001

I recently purchased a BMW 525i 2005. is under 60K but I am concerned now. Does the problem happens after certain milage?

tonyb635

Sadly, every manufacturer has this behavior as it's all about the weak US dollar! BTW Don't ever by a Trane AC unit for your house, it's nothing more than a piece of crap... I also had a Acura TL and had to get it towed to the the dealer for a fuel repair that left us stranded in a parking garage. When I got the car back about 3 weeks later I notice a huge hump in the right rear passenger floor. Come to find out when they put it on the lift they didn't have the lift rails in the proper position and it bent the floor upwards. Of course they denied it, but the car had never been on a lift except for at that dealer. My insurance had to cover it. So I think this ill behavior carries across all mfg's and right into the the dealers. I can also personally see them getting much tighter in what they will pay. Must be due to the weak economy...

hansen

Car maintenance/upkeep is a given and the owner should be responsible. However if the manufacture knows a problem exist and redesigned the head to correct the defect, in my opinion that should constitute a recall. They knowingly put out a product that was defective and corrected the problem several years latter, equals a recall in my books. It looks like if your 5 series was built prior to 10/01/08, it does not have the updated head. BMW's service bulletin is SBSI B 11 09 07 - N52 Engine HVA system. They have 4 soulutions to resolve the problem and the first two are a total waste of the consumers time, bassically reve your motor up to bleed the air out of the lifters. Medium term, aleast the lifters were replaced with a newer design and the permanent fix was a head replacement with the new oil passages. Updated head number for the N52(B30) motor is 7588273.01 and for the N51(B30) motor is 7588277.01.

The same for the 335i, 535i and 135i. BMW had major problems with the fuel pump and injectors. They only acted after bad plublicity and a news commentary from "20/20 or ABC" and BMW issued their famous soft recall. Basically I know the fuel pump is defective and will fail, but I won't do anything about it until it does fail. BMW extended the warranty to 10 years or 120k, I guess if it fails at 121k the consumer will have to pay $3-5k for the repair??? Let's hope my lemon BMW 335i fails before that! It will go back to the shop next week for band aid fix number 2.

My 325xi will have to go back for the 2nd time for seat presure sensor, another soft recall. Amazing???

After the 5 series is repaired, I will consider trading it in for something other than a BMW.

My complaint is not car problems, it is the manufacture BMW knowingly put out product which is bad/defective and they refuse to take action until the part fails.

1BadDuc

+1 There are horror stories out there for every manufacturer. Look at Toyota. Even Nissan has had serious issues with their VQ35 burning oil and they use that engine in nearly every car they make. These things will happen regardless of the brand you choose.

hooch999

Are you comparing Toyota/Nissan with BMW?? Did you notice 2x price difference by any chance?

BTW Toyota has no problems with their engines and cars in general, those idiots who got in troubles with gas pedal stuck because of floor mats just should not drive generally. Nissan has issues with engines built in US only - no surprise here. Overall Nissans are truly problem free vehicles.

I agree with Hansen completely, BMW should get class actions for crap they put in their overpriced over-hyped cars.