What Went Wrong With My E90 BMW 335i | My Advice To You

[@infidel900rr]

This is a "mechanic" issue, NOT the car. Known issues are well vetted on the N55 and can be addressed early on. Just make sure you bring to a BMW specialist only! I've owned two N55's daily driven with high mileage - no surprises other than a starter that went bad at 100k mi.

[@imyeg6]

Name and shame the garages involved.

[@FootToPedal]

Thought long and hard about this, decided to make it purely informational so I can help others avoid my pain

[@jamesbaggaley1460]

@@FootToPedalyou can - by naming the garage. This is why I always get motor legal protection for situations like this - such a shame those cowboys got away with it, and will continue to do so.

[@mssbed]

Agreed 100%. why not,

[@zdx197]

Sorry to hear mate. As a long time BMW fan and having owned multiple BMW's I know how it feels. And an N54 is even worse, everything around the engine just breaks and needs replacing with time, the N54 block itself is very strong though. If you buy an older BMW especially with N55 or N54 better have the same amount ready to spend on repairs and service. The "best" N55 would be the N55 EWG they put in the OG M2 as it had most of the issues fixed (incl the oil starvation problem). The B58 is by far BMW's most reliable straight-six turbo, little issues, closed deck design, some forged internals, efficient, great mid-range power, etc. S58 is promising too but obviously different price-range. BMW's are some of the most fun driving machines out there (outside of actual sport/supercars ofcourse) that you can upgrade/mod to your personal taste of how you want it to drive. But I'll be the last one to say BMW's (especially older ones) are reliable, because most of them are not and repairs bills can be steep, especially when you let all the work be done by a shop.

[@shal_26]

Really unfortunate circumstances. Finding the right workshop is key with any complex germen motor. Great video. I learnt a lot, unfortunately at your expense. I hope your new car serves you well!!!

[@FootToPedal]

Completely agree, thanks man, glad you found it useful!

[@bernardoprodrigues]

Mate, my first YT comment, but your warranty story resonated so much. I'm from Portugal, I have a Z4 3.0i e85. I activated my warranty, my mechanic found the gearbox had some unusual slack (the car was still drivable at this point). I demanded that only my mechanics would work on the car, the warranty company and them agreed on a price per hour (this was a life saver move). The warranty had their own gearbox specialist that "refurbished" it, but instead completely ruined it - it sounded like a box of nails when it came back. After that they sent 3 incorrect gearboxes (1 for a diesel BMW, one for an e90 330i and one for a Z4 e85 that was broken). From the start I told them to send the gearbox to a portuguese specialist, they denied until the end, and by the end they did not want to pay the full bill (around Eur5k). I involved lawyers, big headache. They were forced to pay, and I should have my car ready from the specialist in about a weeks time (it has been 3 months since I last saw my car). These companies will take advantage of you where they can, it's truly madening.

[@FootToPedal]

Really sorry to hear that, what a complete nightmare. Hope you manage to get everything sorted out and can enjoy the car when you get it back!

[@lawrencehorton6034]

In regard to our previous conversation, I can relate that the 8 speed automatic is probably more fun because of the extremely fast automatic gear shifting, which I’m sure adds to the excitement of the driving experience but I would think that that experience would be temporary in nature compared to having an MT. Let me explain. I would be inclined to believe, and I could be wrong, that the only time you’re really going to be using the paddle shifters with the AT is during spirited driving. If you’re just doing some daily driving or commuting to work, I would think that you’re not going to be using the shifters that much… so shifting engagement with the AT is going to be a temporary thing. Although, in the case of the manual stick the relationship with the car is 24/7 whether you’re driving spiritually, during every day or even bumper-to-bumper driving… the engagement between the clutch and the stick never ends. And I think that that’s really the biggest difference between the AT & MT. The consensus seems to be that the AT is probably a whole lot more fun because of its extremely quick shift response but that engagement is likely to be short lived and the car will probably be driven as a basis/glorified automatic most of the time. If you’re going to be breaking the speed limit a lot or going to the track, maybe not…but I could be wrong and I’m still on the fence between the two. Let me know your thoughts in the near future.

[@FootToPedal]

Yeah that's fair enough! I do very much feel it's just personal preference and there isn't a right or wrong answer, if I was using mine just as a second car on weekends for example, I think I would have probably gone for the manual. But I'm not particularly bothered about having an automatic in my daily and the ZF8 really is a brilliant transmission. My car is still on the break in period so I haven't fully opened it up yet, but initial impressions are very good indeed! Another thing is that the ZF8 has various modes so can be dialled back for daily use and ramped right up when pushing harder which gives it a lot of character. A manual will always be more 'engaging' by definition and totally understand why anyone would go for it, if I didn't have another car that was a manual I'd probably be more tempted by it. But I'm happy with the ZF8 for now in my M2!

[@clardrives9301]

I’m sorry man, things WILL get better and I’m really happy you were able to work something out with the dealer on trading it in. I’ve got an N54 335xi 6MT and I myself just had some DME and cooling issues, the water pump failed and stranded me. Got it sorted out at a good shop and it was pricey, but it’s still a lovely car and I do believe even at 125k it’s got plenty of life left in it but I’m preparing myself for the next curveball. Love from across the pond brother.

[@FootToPedal]

Thanks man, I appreciate that! Sorry to hear about your N54 car, I'm glad you got things sorted and I hope you get plenty more miles out of it before you face any further issues!

[@weereidy6960]

i have an e92 335i. the secret to reliability is a car with a lot of maintenance and careful owners. mines has had a couple issues but nothing major for an old car. just unlucky you had a badly abused car

[@mrnicktoyou]

I just bought a e90 325i and the issues it has have been based on bad previous work by mechanics. Im doing all the work on it myself and im finding bolts missing, not torqued properly, wrong o'rings, it's incredible.

[@FootToPedal]

Wow thats crazy, such basic things too, not sure where people like that get qualified, if they do at all!

[@Rmmlom]

That is the truth. Never been to a mechanic, but those we know who have, well said Sr.

[@sergejhorcicka6153]

Sorry to hear that mate, I am actually looking at some e91 335i but find something with good maintenance is hard :(

[@gw7624]

I had an E92 325i and had nothing but problems, from injectors, suspension, shocks, corroded exhaust, leaking rocker cover, and finally a rod bearing issue that ended up with me selling the car for scrap. My 4 series by comparison has been fairly solid over the past two years with the exception of a Harman/Kardon amp replacement. If you're in the market for an older BMW, avoid the E9x generation like the plague.

[@FootToPedal]

What a nightmare, sorry to hear it!

[@rayo1371]

Sorry to hear as a fellow enthusiast this must have been agonizing

[@FootToPedal]

Thanks, it really has been!

[@JorgeTorres-gx1gx]

My 2007 N54 335xi lasted 67,000 before it simply stopped working. Good oil change intervals, good gas and very well looked after. A few bad fuel pumps, coil packs, spark plugs and wastegate's later i basically gave it away with a CEL light on after bankrupting me. Never again will I buy a BMW!

[@FootToPedal]

Damn, sorry to hear that!

[@Carvetii]

i had exactly the same with my 135 N54 absolute nightmare. i will never buy a BMW again either

[@jamesbaggaley1460]

Lots of idiots out there. Sadly, nobody seems to take any care anymore… Luckily I found a specialist I can trust, but they are few and far between.

[@FootToPedal]

As sad as it is, this is very true at times. Glad you've found a good specialist that you can trust!

[@nqubekompompi9911]

You were so unlucky, you should have went for e90 323i, 325i or 330i they have an N52 ENGINE which is the most reliable engine bmw has ever made

[@FootToPedal]

Yeah the N52 is great, had that in my E86 but wanted a change hence the move to the N55!

[@JimJohnson79]

Think it’s only the pre-lci e90s that have the n52 in the UK. Lci have the n53 a non turbo version of the n54 that I hear suffers the same issues as the n54 but without the turbo fun.

[@jnwhitaker]

My ex-partner has an M135i with the B55 engine which had the valvetronic motor fail and the overcurrent burned out the ECU. Total cost was £3,300 to repair, of which about £3,000 was directly due to the lack of a 2p fuse in the circuit. As an electrical engineer it baffles me lol

[@FootToPedal]

Madness isn't it, glad it wasn't just me that thought this was a bit of an oversight on BMW's part!

[@viperidaenz1]

Low mileage for an old car means it's been sitting around not being used for long periods of time, and probably only short trips. Old oil, with out time at operating temperature to evaporate moisture and blow-by Sitting around some of the valves open for long periods of time means moisture gets in the cylinders, hence your corrosion. You should look for an 'average' mileage car, not a super low mileage one. Also, valvetronic is effectively your throttle. The DME keeps the throttle open unless there is a valvetronic fault and uses valve lift as the throttle under normal operation.

[@FootToPedal]

It's fair point but this had done pretty consistently 3k to 4k miles per year with annual oil changes, I wouldn't expect that to cause too many issues but the problem with used cars is you never know truly what the car has been subject to. My guess was that someone has tried to work on this car themselves in the period before I bought it and messed up the job, perhaps the spark plugs had been left out for some time allowing some moisture to get in. And yeah this is why I was initially surprised at the extent of the Valvetronic issues because my throttle response seemed fine, I have no idea if the car was just operating on the backup throttle the entire time I owned it though...

[@kebabsasmedturtle]

ive had an e90 325i and the car has so many problems ive spent more on repairs then the car is worth itself and the engine is still running like crap, ive recently bought a 335i e92 (n54) and ive had minor problems with it so far a random alternator failure which i replaced myself so it costed like 125 bucks to fix but so far i love this car it runs great and is so much fun to drive i will def keep this car, got a great one for the price too m sport with red seats, comfort package, dynamic package and cold weather package

[@etyl2494]

The video came just in the right time as I bought a 2013 M135i yesterday :D. It has a later variant of the N55 so should be more reliable and neither me nor the mechanic I brought with me noticed any issues. It runs really smooth. However, it does have 220k km (136k miles) and later on in it's life it had a tune done to get it from 320hp to 420hp. The guy said it was well maintained by a BMW specialist (non authorized) but he was quite clueless when it comes to cars and couldn't tell me much about the tune - allegedly new transmission and some other parts were included. I know it sounds sketchy as hell but it was at a very good price and the guy seemed solid and just had it as a highway smasher - checks out with Cebia mileage records, most kms done in the last few years. The first thing I'm planning on doing is getting it to authorized BMW specialist and having them do a thorough check on the engine and the transmission. Wish me luck :D.

[@FootToPedal]

Best of luck and hope the video is useful to you! The early M135i's are meant to be really great cars. Probably worth getting an oil analysis done at that mileage too just to check there is nothing concerning occurring inside the engine. Hope you enjoy it!

[@etyl2494]

​@@FootToPedal good idea, will get it done when the next oil change comes. Had an oil leak but it was just the oil cap, also cylinder pressures are looking good!

[@dannyh6511]

And a fellow Z4C and E30 touring owner, i am gutted for you mate. Looking forward to see what the new daily driver is - am guessing it'll be an Msomething40i

[@FootToPedal]

Thanks man, you have good taste! Stay tuned!

[@justinsautter]

My heart goes out to you, what an awful experience. Makes me more weary buying a used car, even if everything looks right from the outset. Hopefully the new ride is great and you didn't come off too terrible in the end financially. At least you can say you scratched that "itch" even if it turned into a nasty scar I guess.

[@FootToPedal]

Thanks, appreciate that! Yeah you just never know sometimes, of course I'm fully aware of the risks but never would have expected so much to go wrong with a car in the condition mine appeared to be. Very glad I cut my losses when I did though as it was truly spiralling, thankfully the new one is worlds apart. You're not wrong about the scar though 😂

[@RacingEnigma]

I am buying a 2011 example next week and watching this video has just got me thinking if it's a warning. Your previous videos helped me make up my mind but the timing of this one...🙆🏾‍♂️

[@FootToPedal]

You'll be fine, just be diligent - good luck with the purchase!

[@gsgcarreviews]

Such a bummer, i bought a 335i with rod knock. I swapped an a fully resealed engine and it popped within 800 miles. Its now been back at the shop for another swap and i finally pick it up this week (after waiting 2 months)

[@FootToPedal]

Wow how unlucky, hope the car is fully sorted once you get it back!

[@BurstNibbler]

Last week I picked up a cheap 2008 E90 N53. I have a local specialist but I just hope I don't get too many problems.

[@FootToPedal]

Hope things go smoothly for you!

[@GadgetMart]

My advice to you is when you’ve got a sweet car, do not change it for the sake of ‘upgrading’

[@UtaHagawi]

what if you have an itch and want to drive something new? Would you suggest leasing, or renting something? its good advice, but what are the alternatives to chancing it on something

[@FootToPedal]

Yes but also nice to try and get different experiences! Though, I wanted nothing more than my E86 back when the E90 started going badly wrong!

[@GadgetMart]

@@FootToPedal Same. Remember me watching your E86 videos? I had a sweet high mileage 2.5i E85, I pushed myself financially to buy a low mile E86, it’s been a disaster. I’m using coolant, very small amounts. I’m suspecting head gasket which is extremely rare for the N52. In short I badly miss my sweet E85 - long gone.

[@GadgetMart]

@@FootToPedal I knew you had made a mistake selling that. Just as I knew I had made a mistake as my E85 drove away

[@GadgetMart]

@@FootToPedal I’m 18 months in. I’ve rebuilt all 4 brake callipers Replaced both horns, upgrade the headlight bulbs, done both disa flaps, done both vanos solenoids, serpentine belt, ABS pump, both rear drop links and ARB bushes, coolant expansion tank. Still doesn’t run as sweet as my E85, that was an utter joy.

[@alexcucala]

Sorry to hear that, the 17 of september bought my 325d e90 lci in Spain )which comes from Germany). By now I don't use it too much because I want to do maintenance but by now I know it has a remap and it can have a bit of diesel particle filter issue which really doesn't bother me because I will delete the egr and the dpf

[@FootToPedal]

Hope all goes well with it!

[@alexcucala]

@@FootToPedal Thanks

[@bkStudioHD]

Is it the m57 engine model ?

[@4RingsRetro]

That is some terrible luck, especially for the genuine BMW enthusiast that you seem. The 335i was a lovely car... I'm sure what you've got in the pipeline for us is equally interesting. I'm into Audi. Got a C5 Allroad, a 1999 2.8V6 quattro and a workhorse B6 1.9tdi. Haven't found any of them a nightmare to work on. Any interest in you trying an Audi? Looking forward to what's coming!

[@FootToPedal]

Thanks, stay tuned for the video on the new car in the coming weeks! I do really like a lot of Audis, grew up around some of the early 2000s models. Would love an older RS4, also like a lot of the newer ones! Glad you've had good experiences with yours, they sound like enjoyable cars!

[@johanslabbert2869]

From my experience with owning several older Mercedes (W114, W123, W126) and BMW (E36 325i, E36 328i cabrio, E93 335i), BEFORE you buy one, find a good independent specialist as near as possible to you. These are well made cars but they are complex, not every corner garage can work on them. Of course you can always go to the dealers and in my experience they do excellent work but my oh my you pay top dollar for it. Must be the great coffee in the waiting room 😅 In fact, use this tactic for just about any European vehicles. But especially the RWD Germans. And if you don’t find a specialist, you go Japanese.

[@FootToPedal]

Great advice, thanks man!

[@alexforero2674]

Excelente video gracias por compartir sus conocimientos y experiencias 👏🏼

[@brenglover72]

There is a massive drain from the motor trade. You need to be careful - like many other trades / disciplines " time served" and " qualified" no longer applies.

[@cozza819]

Nightmare! Sorry for you. Things like this have always been my fears with 10+ year old German high performance cars from that era 07-14'. When something goes wrong, which it will you're on the hook for £1000's.

[@FootToPedal]

Thanks man, unfortunately that does sometimes happen it seems!

[@Rmmlom]

It unbelievable unless you are a track day or professional driver. Something the dealer will not tell you, and less the companies. Don't buy a car with a turbo. And if you do maintenance is the key. Do your maintenance religusly. Or forget the turbocharged engines. Became the now and day companies know what they are doing with the consumers. And it's called $$$$$.

[@vicgill1980]

Just bought 2009 E90 335 XI with 215 000 km auto for $3645 Canadian…hmm. Before I take it to mechanic will take it to my church first to see if I can get the car baptized

[@FootToPedal]

If nothing else you got a cheap 335i, hope it works out for you!

[@peterfenwick4662]

Sounds like an absolute nightmare. I have to admit this and a few other videis on KZbin have put me off buying a 335i. A couple of questions though When the repair at the warranty approved repairer was done so poorly and the gearbox screwed up, why didn't you just ask/tell the Warranty company to sort it? Surely as the damage was done by their approved repairer, it's on them, not you? Why when BMW discovered the damage that was clearly present at the time of sale, didn't you reject the car? Pretty sure you're within our rights to do so. I'm sure you considered these things, so interested as to why you didn't go down this track.

[@FootToPedal]

The issue with the warranty was that it took some time for the gearbox specialist to identify the missing parts and get everything put back together, only at that stage did I have a full picture of what had gone wrong with it. By this point the original warranty had lapsed, plus I would have had to prove the condition of the car before it went to the mechanic, because they were adamant they'd not done anything wrong. If you couple that with the fact it'd been going on for 2 months already, I decided to move on with my life, this was obviously far before I knew the extent of the other far more serious problems with the car! On the second point, just to clarify I bought the car from an independent dealer rather than a BMW main dealer. But the issue was it took so long to get all the problems identified that it was more than 6 months after I bought the car so no opportunity to reject it at that point. But yeah I explored a lot of options throughout the variety of problems I was faced with and unfortunately each time had very little wiggle room

[@peterfenwick4662]

@@FootToPedal the whole thing sounds awful.

[@FootToPedal]

It really has been!

[@anthonymckay6520]

your car wasn't looked after before you got, that's sad, but later in the video you name almost everything that can go wrong. Let me just say this this, every single car maker in the world all suffer from issues with their cars. cars are not built to last.

[@DulceSeeker]

11:37 that route is a small claim court which works fine in UK or not? I mean you're looking at significant bills you can also use other means of protection you are not a business but a customer?

[@FootToPedal]

Yeah you can go down the small claims court route if you so wish, it does cost money to do it and the main reason I didn't is I'd been dealing with the stress of it all for over 2 months by the time I got the car back, and frankly I was done and wanted to move on rather than string it out further, not to mention the time it would take to go through court (time I don't have tbh 😂). But yes in short I could have tried the small claims court if I had all the evidence to do so, which is another issue because I had no in depth photos of the engine bay before it went to the first mechanic, so harder to prove who caused the damage!

[@DulceSeeker]

@@FootToPedal understandable I do not know what were your possibilities regarding this. If you know that car is going "this route" its better to get runaround or 2nd car (Octavia,Fabia, Civic, Mazda 3, Toyotas...) and keep getting back to the original mechanic once you basically reach I dont care its not my fault I think its very likely that you can play it on the original warranty. I know its easy to say and dont get me wrong I had my fairshare of "these situations" with my first car A6 1.8t where they forgot to plug radiator hose 1mile and car was done for and never seen anything from them...

[@FootToPedal]

Yeah its a fair point - and sorry to hear about your A6!

[@AzanAli-]

Things like this make me want to buy a Prius sometimes 😂

[@FootToPedal]

Tell me about it 😂

[@premsworldfamily6616]

so before you sold the car did they fix the faults?

[@FootToPedal]

@premsworldfamily6616 when I part-exchanged the car the dealer was going to finish up the repairs and then send it to auction

[@premsworldfamily6616]

@@FootToPedal oh ok so the dealer probably just put it in auction and didnt fix it....but wouldnt replacing the valve tronic not fix the car and give the engine a couple of flushs and put fresh oil and filter not work?

[@FootToPedal]

There were a lot of problems with the car and I was thousands into it in repairs when I sold it, I think the dealer will have atleast got it running again but I doubt they will have spent much more time on it! I'm not sure if they encountered any further issues after the eccentric shaft and valvetronic servomotor were replaced, but it's possible they did!

[@premsworldfamily6616]

@@FootToPedal wow so alot was spent - but even after having the valvetronic and eccentric were you still have jerky start ups? or did it fix the issue?..so i take it you wanted rid after hearing about the rust in the cylinders?

[@FootToPedal]

I actually never got the car back after it went in so not sure if it was still running rough after they did that work, however I was planning to sell the car when I got it back anyway, after I found out about the other issues I decided it wasn't worth me trying to fix so then got rid of it

[@mry82]

Too bad!

[@cobrajeff96]

I dont do German cars anymore. Because of the German price.

[@FootToPedal]

Yeah that's understandable 😂

[@gartgreenside3657]

Obviously every brand and model and engine is slightly different, but basically you made a schoolboy error - buying a car made after 2006/2008.

[@user-xu5vl5th9n]

Cowboys identifying as mechanics.

[@FootToPedal]

Seems that way sometimes!

[@ahmedza9303]

Brother your lack of knowledge got you into a mess, you took the car to a bad garage and furthermore u then took it to bmw who are no good in conducting repairs. These issues could've been resolved easily, in future don't buy a 10year old bmw if you not willing to do somework yourself, buying an older bmw requires a person to be hands on with the vehicle in terms of maintenance, otherwise you will spend thousands at mechanics without getting anything resolved.

[@FootToPedal]

lol