N51 Owners, Important Topic

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by Kgolf31

Every car has its niche on an expensive replacement item. For the N51 it may very well be the fuel tank.

The S54s need rod bearings after hard tracking...and that isn't an expensive fix, yet people still do it. Suck it up and move on, IMO.

I agree, but nothing wrong with awareness.

[Suprgnat]

Originally Posted by TheSt|G

I agree, but nothing wrong with awareness.

knowledge is power

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by Suprgnat

knowledge is power

[Southjersey128]

Has anyone on this site had a fuel pump problem yet? N51 or N52? In a perfect world they would source a pump that is that expensive from the japs. I've got plenty of Hondas and Toyotas with well over 250k on the clock that come into my shop and the pumps never go bad. On the other hand I've done too many e46 pumps to count.

[mb135is]

Originally Posted by Kgolf31

Every car has its niche on an expensive replacement item. For the N51 it may very well be the fuel tank.

The S54s need rod bearings after hard tracking...and that isn't an inexpensive fix, yet people still do it. Suck it up and move on, IMO.

I don't know, with the S54 you get, well, an S54. One expects higher running costs for a low tolerance, high output engine. And the S54 is one of a kind. You change rod bearings because it's driven as it's meant to. With the 128, there's a whole other N52 available that doesn't have this issue, and it's as sweet as engines come. Sucks when a typical maintenance item is so utterly complicated as to price people out of keeping the cars, and the 128 is supposed to be _the_ car to keep.

Hopefully y'all will figure something out to the contrary.

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by Southjersey128

Has anyone on this site had a fuel pump problem yet? N51 or N52? In a perfect world they would source a pump that is that expensive from the japs. I've got plenty of Hondas and Toyotas with well over 250k on the clock that come into my shop and the pumps never go bad. On the other hand I've done too many e46 pumps to count.

I just assume that like cooling systems, fuel pumps are a 100k item in BMW world.

[128]

Originally Posted by TheSt|G

I just assume that like cooling systems, fuel pumps are a 100k item in BMW world.

I can tell you the main pump lasted forever in the e28/e30 days. Only the in tank prepumps fail routinely.

[kobeballer96]

I honestly rather have a s2000 engine and boost it in my e82 lol if it came down to spending that money on expensive parts, for a faction of the cost your on your way to swap with more reliability and fun!

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by 128

I can tell you the main pump lasted forever in the e28/e30 days. Only the in tank prepumps fail routinely.

That's the one we are talking about; the underseat in tank pump.

[Black Prinz]

Originally Posted by TheSt|G

Got a link to that just so everyone has confirmation?

http://workshop-manuals.com/bmw/3_se...or_(us_cars_w/

Fuel pump is a separate procedure pg 575-577

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by Black Prinz

http://workshop-manuals.com/bmw/3_se...or_(us_cars_w/

Fuel pump is a separate procedure pg 575-577

So pump is normal, regulator requires fuel tank(and all fittings) replacement.

Nice find.

[Fume]

Originally Posted by Black Prinz

http://workshop-manuals.com/bmw/3_se...or_(us_cars_w/

Fuel pump is a separate procedure pg 575-577

Is the 3 series N51 the same as 128i N51?

[TheSt|G]

Originally Posted by Fume

Is the 3 series N51 the same as 128i N51?

Logic would dictate that they are the same, so I would assume yes until information to the contrary appears.

[LuisBoston]

Interesting thread. I have a new hypothesis of why my brand new 128i needed a new fuel tank.

I picked it up Euro delivery, and on the second day I couldn't find an open gas station (it was Sunday) in a good chunk of rural France. I ran the thing almost completely dry until I got to Nice where I was able to fill up. During this trip, the pump would always click off - it wouldn't let me continuously pump gas - I had to feather it to get gas into the tank.

I return to the US, get the car two months later, and have the same problem. Dealer had to replace the fuel tank due to a "sensor". Since I haven't had one problem, except a couple of weeks ago when the pump didn't click off and it overfilled.

Could it be that I often run the tank very low? I thought it was fixed when they replaced my fuel tank in my brand new 128i (N51).

[TheSt|G]

Generally running the tank dry/extremely low is incredibly wearing on fuel pumps/related components. The motors are cooled by the flow of fuel. It is very common for people to run out of gas and then have their fuel pump fail within 100 miles of that.

[MarkkyyMan]

Originally Posted by TheSt|G

Generally running the tank dry/extremely low is incredibly wearing on fuel pumps/related components. The motors are cooled by the flow of fuel. It is very common for people to run out of gas and then have their fuel pump fail within 100 miles of that.

Anyone who has ever owned a late 90's/early 2000's General Motors truck/suv/van knows this.

People run them close to E, with the fuel pump hot they then fill them up with fuel, which shocks the pump and boom bye bye fuel pump. Had several friends do this in high school.

[Southjersey128]

I put a fuel pump in my N51 car yesterday. I had a crank, start then stall, then crank no start after getting coffee on my way to work. After telling the Wawa employees I was going to get it towed, I figured let me bang on the tank where the pump is before I walk home. Fired right, so figured 90k miles and 11 years old is proper service for a BMW pump. I googled n51 fuel pump when I got home and saw that I commented on this 5 years ago. Thought it was funny because I put a fuel pump in an e46 the other day and thought to myself, wonder when mine is going to go bad. Murphy's law, it was later this week.

[tehrui]

I had the fuel pump on my N51 fail on me, took a while to figure out what it was. Car would randomly shut off and refuse to turn on until it sat for about ~30 min.

Needless to say, did some research and was able to have the fuel pump and other misc. parts associated with it replaced under warranty thanks to SULEV. I have a 2009 128i and it had about 90k on the odometer at the time. The dealership gave me a crazy quote ($1k+) to do the work so I had to educate them on SULEV. After a few calls back and forth their warranty department finally agreed it was covered.

If anyone has questions about the process feel free to ask. No reason any SULEV owner should pay for this out of pocket.

[JimD]

I guess if it is covered under warranty this "solution" wouldn't make much sense but is it possible for the N51 owners just to use N52 parts if they experience a failure and the warranty doesn't cover it?

I have N52 but am a little bit interested because some day I need to look into why I keep getting the "gas cap code" and a check engine light in my car. I think the evaporative control system is one of the most useless things on the car so I have not been anxious about it but someday I would like the light to go out. Figuring out where all the pieces of the system are is one reason I have not worked on it. The light has been on for more than a year at this point.

[thedabmane]

Originally Posted by JimD

I guess if it is covered under warranty this "solution" wouldn't make much sense but is it possible for the N51 owners just to use N52 parts if they experience a failure and the warranty doesn't cover it?

I have N52 but am a little bit interested because some day I need to look into why I keep getting the "gas cap code" and a check engine light in my car. I think the evaporative control system is one of the most useless things on the car so I have not been anxious about it but someday I would like the light to go out. Figuring out where all the pieces of the system are is one reason I have not worked on it. The light has been on for more than a year at this point.

You might just need to replace the gas cap.. especially if it’s the original one. The seal goes bad so I would try that before jumping to conclusions!

[jdagostino]

Hi, I just bought a 2012 128i SULEV, do you know if I would be covered 150K miles if I had issue with this. I just realized it was SULEV after I did the deal. I am a little freaked out now about having bought the car.

[jdagostino]

Originally Posted by JimD

I guess if it is covered under warranty this "solution" wouldn't make much sense but is it possible for the N51 owners just to use N52 parts if they experience a failure and the warranty doesn't cover it?

I have N52 but am a little bit interested because some day I need to look into why I keep getting the "gas cap code" and a check engine light in my car. I think the evaporative control system is one of the most useless things on the car so I have not been anxious about it but someday I would like the light to go out. Figuring out where all the pieces of the system are is one reason I have not worked on it. The light has been on for more than a year at this point.

Originally Posted by tehrui

I had the fuel pump on my N51 fail on me, took a while to figure out what it was. Car would randomly shut off and refuse to turn on until it sat for about ~30 min.


Needless to say, did some research and was able to have the fuel pump and other misc. parts associated with it replaced under warranty thanks to SULEV. I have a 2009 128i and it had about 90k on the odometer at the time. The dealership gave me a crazy quote ($1k+) to do the work so I had to educate them on SULEV. After a few calls back and forth their warranty department finally agreed it was covered.

If anyone has questions about the process feel free to ask. No reason any SULEV owner should pay for this out of pocket.

Hi, I just bought a 2012 128i SULEV, do you know if I would be covered 150K miles if I had issue with this. I just realized it was SULEV after I did the deal. I am a little freaked out now about having bought the car. I am super confused now.