Getting frustrated with my e88, n52.

[519.E82]

Originally Posted by Blue_e82

Just looked it up and its 12 years. Mine is 10 years old but just gonna cross my fingers that its still covered

I was close, year one of the one gang

[KNS]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Honestly, that is a pretty minor list for a 9 year old car.

We often have to replace alternators on 2-3 year old cars.

Is this typical for 1 series? I've got 14 years and 220,000 miles on the original alternator in my E46.

[Lucky1]

Originally Posted by Blue_e82

Just looked it up and its 12 years. Mine is 10 years old but just gonna cross my fingers that its still covered

I think it was bad luck.

[10"]

Originally Posted by KNS

Is this typical for 1 series? I've got 14 years and 220,000 miles on the original alternator in my E46.

no not typical. most alternators need replacement after 10 years on most cars....have no idea what this dude is talking about with 2-3 year replacements. lol

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by JimD

I recently had to spend over $100 to fix a burned out bulb in a tail light.

What????

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by 10"

no not typical. most alternators need replacement after 10 years on most cars....have no idea what this dude is talking about with 2-3 year replacements. lol

An alternator is just like a water pump. Could last a month, could last a year, could last forever. Roll of the dice.

[10"]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

An alternator is just like a water pump. Could last a month, could last a year, could last forever. Roll of the dice.

No it's nothing like a water pump. The water pump for our cars are electronic and intermittent. The alternator is supposed to last a significant amount of time before failing...

[JimD]

The tail light is because the bulb plugs into the module that controls the rear LEDs. The LEDs worked but the bulb did not. I tried a new bulb but that didn't work so I bought the rear tail light from Parts Geek for about $100 and put it in. Not a hard job but a lot of money for a bulb that doesn't work.

I agree the plugs are not a difficult job but it is far harder than it needs to be. I don't think the car really needs a cabin filter that goes all the way across the engine. That results in a huge monstrosity of a plastic housing with multiple pieces. It takes about as long to pull this junk off as it does to replace the plugs. Coils wouldn't take any longer, but they are working fine so I left them alone.

I agree the only answers are bite the bullet or sell it. I just wish BMW would design an entertaining car with parts that worked like Toyotas. Apparently they can't. I also agree my experience is not really all that bad, I was overdue, but I've driven multiple cars for more miles and years without ever being towed. But BMWs are just not consistently like that.

I tried twisting the wires together on the rear brake circuit and it still would not reset. I followed that youtube and have successfully reset other service reminders but when I do the brakes it gets to a screen for mileage, doesn't show any mileage and doesn't reset.

I am also staring at the check engine light and have been for a couple years. It is the gas cap code. I am pretty sure it's the pump that is supposed to pull a vacuum. I think I figured out where it is trying to find the wear sensor for the rear brakes (it is inside the wheel well liner (real convenient)). It's a $100 part on Rock Auto.

I will replace the brakes and will probably put in ceramic but do not plan to spend nearly $500 on parts. They are probably good parts but you can put on ceramic brakes and new rotors for a lot less. But they don't really need replaced yet, regardless of what the stupid car is saying.

The thing that is the most annoying is that BMW doesn't do a particularly good job engineering these cars but puts on these stupid systems that want to argue. If you are going to put on service reminders, why not allow them to be reset? Why does a speedometer have to read ~3mph faster than I'm going? That type of attitude is what I dislike the most about my BMW. I have never had a car with service reminders like this and never missed maintaining them. All this system is to me is an annoyance.

But I do enjoy driving the car and unless it gets significantly worse, I will probably be driving it for quite awhile. Mostly the issues I have had were just annoyances.

[rowsdower]

I bought a Toyota Tacoma a few months ago and just rolled over 5k miles. It now displays “Maintenance Required!” Across the entire dash screen. It is referring to tire rotation only - oil changes are every 10k... I think that maintenance reminders are part of new cars in general, not just BMWs. They are designed to get non-car people into the dealer for every little thing. I have never had trouble resetting the reminders in any of my cars including the 1er.

Mazda is sometimes called the poor man’s BMW. They are more focused on driving dynamics than Toyota, but cheaper than BMW. You would miss a lot from the 1er but your wallet would be happier with a new Miata.

FWIW I am in the same boat... 80k on my 2011 E82 128i and just pouring money into it. Up until 6 months ago it needed nothing but oil changes. If I do sell it, a new Miata will replace it. The new one is at 181hp, very close to the power to weight ratio of a stock E82 and probably better than E88.

[JimD]

I drove a Miata before buying my e88. It accelerated well but seemed pretty gutless, no low rpm torque. That and the almost total lack of truck and total lack of a back seat were the drawbacks for me. My son is driving his mothers old 626 and it hasn't been terrible but has needed significant maintenance to make 250K miles. I think it's up to 3 clutches and two sets of struts. Maybe 2 sets of brakes. My step daughters 323 needed a new engine computer after only 3 or 4 years. But changing oil on hers is as easy as any car I have done - and I've done dozens. I don't think Mazdas are as trouble free as other Japanese makes and may be no better than BMWs. But a Miata would make a fun second or third car.

[MightyMouseTech]

Originally Posted by 10"

No it's nothing like a water pump. The water pump for our cars are electronic and intermittent. The alternator is supposed to last a significant amount of time before failing...

An alternator is also electronic.

[chris_flies]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

An alternator is also electronic.

And then there's the smart charging system and the clutch in the pulley, etc. It's complicated, but, batteries can last 10 year sin these cars, which I guess is a plus...

[bmw1racer]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

An alternator is also electronic.

Actually, electromechanical.

[five_timer]

My wife's Tacoma lights-up with "maintenance due" every 3,500 miles, and it doesn't go off.

My last 2 cars ('06 Z4 and this) have had the N52 and 6M, and I've essentially had flawless, trouble-free driving for 12 years. Both cars needed the electronic idle unit replaced, and that's it, other than regular maintenance (including the water pump at 90k).

I have a nephew who's a mechanic, so that helps. He does servicing cheap, and can check things out for free.

I've always driven my BMWs year-round in the northeast. With snows, DTC and 50/50 weight, I do fine in winter. Can't do that with a Miata, or S2000, or Mustang.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

An alternator is also electronic.

Of the alternators I've replaced in the past myself, all of them have failed due to a bad voltage regulator.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by xQx

Yeah, 10 year old BMW convertible owner, REPRESENT!

The longer I have this car, the less I trust mechanics.

I have a couple of oil leaks that the mechanics want to fix for $750+. Yet, when I park my car in a garage every night, it NEVER drips oil on the floor.

Apparently my bump stops are perished (though not enough that they've actually fallen off), and because of the labor involved in replacing them (estimate $1k+) I may as well get new shocks, new shock mounts and everything done at the same time (easily $1.5k of hardware).... yet, the car drives just fine. Thank you.

I paid nearly $1k to have coils and plugs done when I was starting out. ... now a couple of years on, I'll tell you something: That's a dead easy DIY and coils aren't that expensive.

I paid a bucketload for towing, parts and labour when the water pump failed and the radiator was replaced for good measure... then again for towing and labour and about $200 for a BMW coolant hose two weeks later because one of the hoses right near the radiator miraculously broke... definitely a result of a 10 year old car, not the result of a rough mechanic.

The back window of my convertible became detached... and nobody would go near it. Apparently it's impossible to glue it back into place, and you need a whole new roof. Bargain for $3.5k. ... I went and bought a sheet of acrylic (which weights a lot less than glass) and replaced the old glass window with a new plastic one without removing the roof, for $55.00.

Again, all the experts agree that anything less than replacing your entire roof will result in a broken convertible mechanism which will cost A LOT MORE in the long run, so you'd better not risk it!

Now, I've got a wastegate actuator rod that's become detached from the wastegate actuator lever on the rear turbo (The turbo you can actually get to). I suspected that was the case because of the exhaust note, lack of boost and fact that I could get a hand down there to feel that the rod was loose. I took it to a mechanic to get them to confirm using a scope, but instead they insisted on following standard diagnosis (remove undertray, remove wheel, etc) and SURPRISE SURPRISE it was exactly what I said it was. And OF COURSE it can't be fixed. You'll need two new turbos and we may as well remove the engine and replace your seals at the same time. $6k - $7k.

How about No. I've bought a scope for $7.00 on eBay and if it's broken where I think it is, it should just be a case of drilling out a pin and replacing it with a different fastener.
(Though I may need a dentists drill to do it...)

Should I drive it in the meantime, I have a way of keeping the wastegates completely open so it won't damage the turbos? Of course not. You'd better not risk it. Don't take it out of the garage until you've had the turbos replaced! You don't know what's going on and it might do UNTOLD DAMAGE to your N54.

Thanks for the advice, but I'll trust the logs over you, and I can tell you the JB4 keeps the wastegates at 0% and ... surprise surprise, with a JB4, the N54 is perfectly capable of not spontaneously blowing up if you run it without boost.

I get pissed at how much this car costs to maintain, but I'm beginning to suspect it's actually not the car.

I've been to three different mechanics with this car because of that sort of behaviour, the one I've settled on I do trust to do a good job, but long gone are the days that I blindly accept their recommendations.

Assuming you have no oil leaks because nothing shows up on the floor of your parking space is a bad assumption. These cars have an under tray which can hide oil leaks unless the oil leak is severe. This is why many people who have DCTs are caught off guard when their trans develops leaks because they see nothing on the floor. The only way to know for sure is to actually look by popping open the access doors.

The indie I've gone too is very good about doing inspections as part of having your car in for service. They send you a report which includes pictures the mechanic takes of various areas of your car.

[Lucky1]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

Assuming you have no oil leaks because nothing shows up on the floor of your parking space is a bad assumption. These cars have an under tray which can hide oil leaks unless the oil leak is severe. This is why many people who have DCTs are caught off guard when their trans develops leaks because they see nothing on the floor. The only way to know for sure is to actually look by popping open the access doors.

The indie I've gone too is very good about doing inspections as part of having your car in for service. They send you a report which includes pictures the mechanic takes of various areas of your car.

Yup, my oil pan gasket is leaking just a bit from one small area and I get no oil on my driveway. I would never have known if a BMW dealership hadn't misdiagnosed other oil residue for an OFHG leak and tried to get me to replace it for the second time for $500 + tax. Took it to my mechanic who did the OFHG replacement and he was able to conclusively show me it wasn't leaking but my oil pan was. Can you imagine if I took the dealership's advice?? I'd have unnecessarily shelled out for one job that fixed nothing and would still have an oil leak.

These cars are definitely leaky boats as I've seen some express on this forum lately. But the engine is still as smooth and strong as the day I bought it. Year is only just over half over but if this is the only major fix I have to do this year its still not that bad overall. Last year was a $1,700 or so unexpected maintenance year, this year looks to be around the same. Still only $141 a month amortized over the year. Beats a new car payment 4x that.

[Gray_Panther]

Originally Posted by fast1eddy

Get a Carly adaptor and the app. You can code cool things on your car as well as run diagnostics and reset service lights. Simple to use and cheap. Which I'd have got it sooner.

What he said. Well worth the $100.