High Mileage 128i Reliability

[russo414]

Hey guys! First off, I'm Anthony and I am brand new to this forum (although I have been reading through it for awhile). I don't know if this is in the right spot, so i apologize in advance if it is!
So I am about to be 17 and I am looking for a car. I have wanted a 128i for a long time now and have done a good bit of research.
The 128i's that I have been looking at are all between 90k-120k miles. My concern would be getting one with such high mileage and have to constantly pour money into repairs.
So basically, how reliable are these cars past 120k miles, and how much more mileage can I expect to see. (Assuming all proper maintenance was done). Also are there any major repairs I should be looking out for to be done, or that I will have to do.

[asiflicious]

Originally Posted by russo414

Hey guys! First off, I'm Anthony and I am brand new to this forum (although I have been reading through it for awhile). I don't know if this is in the right spot, so i apologize in advance if it is!
So I am about to be 17 and I am looking for a car. I have wanted a 128i for a long time now and have done a good bit of research.
The 128i's that I have been looking at are all between 90k-120k miles. My concern would be getting one with such high mileage and have to constantly pour money into repairs.
So basically, how reliable are these cars past 120k miles, and how much more mileage can I expect to see. (Assuming all proper maintenance was done). Also are there any major repairs I should be looking out for to be done, or that I will have to do.

They're pretty solid cars and as long as you don't buy a neglected or abused and do the proper maintenance it should last a long long time. I owned one for a year (20k-40k) and never had a single issue whatsoever

[minirips2]

128i's ARE pretty solid, but like any of these cars, they need to be well maintained to ensure long term reliability. With that kind of mileage, I'd be looking at doing the water pump/thermostat, full fluids change, maybe battery (make sure to register the battery replacement), and any wear items like brakes that haven't been done. Take your time, and find a good one. There is a perfectly good reason why these cars are not expensive to acquire-because they can be expensive to keep!
If you are not familiar with the 128i, consider having a good independent shop or BMW dealer do a PPI. With a scan of the modules, it's about 200 dollars. Money well spent that might be useful for negotiation. Good luck finding a clean car.

[desertman123]

If you can work on it yourself you'll be golden

Biggest issues tend to be water pump and some oil gaskets

[asiflicious]

Originally Posted by minirips2

128i's ARE pretty solid, but like any of these cars, they need to be well maintained to ensure long term reliability. With that kind of mileage, I'd be looking at doing the water pump/thermostat, full fluids change, maybe battery (make sure to register the battery replacement), and any wear items like brakes that haven't been done. Take your time, and find a good one. There is a perfectly good reason why these cars are not expensive to acquire-because they can be expensive to keep!
If you are not familiar with the 128i, consider having a good independent shop or BMW dealer do a PPI. With a scan of the modules, it's about 200 dollars. Money well spent that might be useful for negotiation. Good luck finding a clean car.

Yup and those are all things you'd most likely have to do for any car with that mileage

[gjm120]

Originally Posted by desertman123

If you can work on it yourself you'll be golden

Biggest issues tend to be water pump and some oil gaskets

Agree with this.
Many minor repair or maintenance items are not too difficult but time consuming. If you can do the work yourself you save the shop hourly rate which is high for any car. If you are not inclined to do any work yourself, it is still invaluable to know what is needed to be done on these cars.

[Zombie_Head]

Originally Posted by russo414

Hey guys! First off, I'm Anthony and I am brand new to this forum (although I have been reading through it for awhile). I don't know if this is in the right spot, so i apologize in advance if it is!
So I am about to be 17 and I am looking for a car. I have wanted a 128i for a long time now and have done a good bit of research.
The 128i's that I have been looking at are all between 90k-120k miles. My concern would be getting one with such high mileage and have to constantly pour money into repairs.
So basically, how reliable are these cars past 120k miles, and how much more mileage can I expect to see. (Assuming all proper maintenance was done). Also are there any major repairs I should be looking out for to be done, or that I will have to do.

Welcome to the forums!

I just picked up my new to me 125i (128i for you Americans) last Wednesday. The main reason i went for this model instead of the 135i is the reliability. What i mean by that is not the actual engine itself, it is solid and bullet proof like any BMW engine, just that they have a tendency to have injector issues, wastegates, boost leaks and so on. This is normal on any car reaching high milage, just the amount of work is more than i am willing to do, since it is my only car (daily), running costs and insurance play a role.

The N52 engine is bulletproof, but it suffers from a few common issues like the turbo models. The valve cover gasket tends to go, at that point if the eccentric shaft sensor has not gone yet, replace it while you are in there. The oil filler housing gasket tends to go as well and finally the dreaded water pump and replace the t-stat while you do that as well.

As far as i know, those are the main issues that one should pay attention to, unless proven by the previous owner, i would personally do them as preventive maintenance to avoid headaches.

[russo414]

Hey guys! Thank you all for the replies, they are helping a lot.
Just as a little clarification, I've done my research and found the N52 motor to be a very solid bullet proof motor. However, I have never really found anything that may suggest how many miles this car may potentially last to. This will be my daily driver and I plan to keep this car for many years. I just want to make sure that it will last me to potentially 200k plus miles (especially if I purchase a 128 with 120k miles).

[Esteban]

Originally Posted by russo414

Hey guys! Thank you all for the replies, they are helping a lot.
Just as a little clarification, I've done my research and found the N52 motor to be a very solid bullet proof motor. However, I have never really found anything that may suggest how many miles this car may potentially last to. This will be my daily driver and I plan to keep this car for many years. I just want to make sure that it will last me to potentially 200k plus miles (especially if I purchase a 128 with 120k miles).

Here's a thread all about high mileage 1ers. There's some 128i's in there:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=936493

[russo414]

Originally Posted by Esteban

Here's a thread all about high mileage 1ers. There's some 128i's in there:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=936493

Thank you! I'll take a look.

[Lucky1]

Originally Posted by russo414

Thank you! I'll take a look.

There's a 328i owner that went over 300k miles, search on E90post. Same engine. He put a ton of money into it though and its hard to know what was really necessary or not. I have 121,000 miles on mine and have zero concerns about the next 50,000 - 80,000 miles. I'm sure things will happen but they won't be disastrous. Now I have spent tons more money on the headlight system (xenon bulbs and ballast) and still have another side of the car to go. More concerned with that kind of thing than the engine. There are cars that are worse with far less reward (smooth, punchy yet still silky inline 6).

[Zombie_Head]

Originally Posted by russo414

Hey guys! Thank you all for the replies, they are helping a lot.
Just as a little clarification, I've done my research and found the N52 motor to be a very solid bullet proof motor. However, I have never really found anything that may suggest how many miles this car may potentially last to. This will be my daily driver and I plan to keep this car for many years. I just want to make sure that it will last me to potentially 200k plus miles (especially if I purchase a 128 with 120k miles).

You can get easily 300,000+ miles and probably a lot more than that ( way more) if you keep on top of maintenance.

There will be typical items that would need replacing every 50,000 miles or so (more or less) such as water pump + thermostat, maybe the typical VCG/OFHG. Sensors are also important and would probably need to be changed every 100,000 miles or so (O2 sensors, VANOS sensors and so on).

[chris_flies]

I have 170,000 miles on mine. It still feels solid at the track, and the engine looks clean as a whistle (as far as I can see from looking into the oil fill cap with a flashlight).

[NorthernDancer]

Get maintenance records so you know exactly what has and has not been done. This usually means buying privately and from someone that cares about the car. 120K miles is OK if car has been maintained. I've actually bought 3 cars over the phone/internet privately because the owners gave me the right answers. I work part time at an auto auction and I know dealers will tell you anything to make a sale.

[russo414]

Alright guys, so I found two (clean looking) 128i's near me. I read through both CarFax reports, but neither had listings of the Water pump and T-stat. I emailed the dealers to see if they can prove if this was done, and if they cannot I will use that in negotiation. Is there anything else I should be looking out for?

[minirips2]

Make sure they have two keys. New keys are only available at a BMW dealer, and they have to be coded to the car. They're not cheap, and only having one key is very risky. Like Northern Dancer said, maintenance records are like gold. They are also usually unavailable at a used car dealer, because most of them come from auctions. It seems like it's only genuine car guys who track maintenance. Take CarFax information with a grain of salt. I scraped up a friend's 'Vette once. He sold it with clean CarFax because I did the right thing and took care of it.

[Zombie_Head]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

I have 170,000 miles on mine. It still feels solid at the track, and the engine looks clean as a whistle (as far as I can see from looking into the oil fill cap with a flashlight).

I literally just took a look in my oil filler cap as well

I was looking for the power steering fluid to check its level, could not find it, then i realized my car has the S216 option (servotronic).

[KellyK]

im at 78k and the car is flawless. i extended the warranty which saved me when i had a couple engine misfires, but now out of warranty i've had no issues!

[chris_flies]

Originally Posted by KellyK

im at 78k and the car is flawless. i extended the warranty which saved me when i had a couple engine misfires, but now out of warranty i've had no issues!

It's just getting broken in!

[128ibro]

As long it's past 120k I believe all minor maintenance have be done on it. I recommend you to get N51 to get covered under SULEV warranty ( only for emission components) for 15 years or 150,000 miles which come first

[02Pilot]

As someone who's been turning wrenches on BMWs for longer than some of you have been alive, allow me to offer a different set of assumptions on which to base your calculations.

There seems to be an assumption that basic maintenance is normally done. It isn't. The OCI on these cars is extremely high, far too high in fact if engine longevity is your objective, and even so some let it go past the interval. Tires don't get rotated, brakes run down to metal-on-metal, all manner of suspension faults are allowed to fester on noisily. The average American driver knows nothing about the service or repair except that it's inconvenient and it costs a lot, so they don't like having it done. Unless you buy from a private party who can document every single thing done to the car, you must assume that nothing has been done.

Borrowing a calculation from a friend who's a BMW pro tech, a modern BMW is going to cost you (depending on model) ~$1500-3000 a year in maintenance; the E82 is at the bottom of that scale. For every year of previous service where this wasn't paid, you as the new owner get to make it up in fixing deferred maintenance items.

Put simply, assume you a buying a neglected car unless you have printed documentation in hand that shows otherwise, and that you are on the hook to make it right. Doing otherwise tends to result in nasty surprises.

[E91WAG3N]

Originally Posted by 02Pilot

As someone who's been turning wrenches on BMWs for longer than some of you have been alive, allow me to offer a different set of assumptions on which to base your calculations.

There seems to be an assumption that basic maintenance is normally done. It isn't. The OCI on these cars is extremely high, far too high in fact if engine longevity is your objective, and even so some let it go past the interval. Tires don't get rotated, brakes run down to metal-on-metal, all manner of suspension faults are allowed to fester on noisily. The average American driver knows nothing about the service or repair except that it's inconvenient and it costs a lot, so they don't like having it done. Unless you buy from a private party who can document every single thing done to the car, you must assume that nothing has been done.

Borrowing a calculation from a friend who's a BMW pro tech, a modern BMW is going to cost you (depending on model) ~$1500-3000 a year in maintenance; the E82 is at the bottom of that scale. For every year of previous service where this wasn't paid, you as the new owner get to make it up in fixing deferred maintenance items.

Put simply, assume you a buying a neglected car unless you have printed documentation in hand that shows otherwise, and that you are on the hook to make it right. Doing otherwise tends to result in nasty surprises.

This.

I'd rather buy a car with 100k and full history than one with 50k and none. 128's do have fewer potential problems than their turbo brothers but that does not mean they don't require repairs or maintenance. Coil packs, Eccentric Shaft Sensor, Oil Filter Housing Gasket, Water Pump, and Valve Cover Gasket are common components to fail on N51/N52 cars sub 100k. You'll still have to address fluids, brakes, tires, and other consumables to keep the car on the road. These maintenance items typically don't happen in sync and you'll be on the hook for some of them right off the bat or within the first few months.

At 100k, the original suspension will be toast and need refreshing. Oil pan gasket starts to leak, and if it's an automatic, I'd be very weary of the longevity of the transmission.

All that said, these cars should sail past 200k miles if properly maintained. The only qualms with each progressive generation of cars is the addition of electronics and modules that can fail over time. It's quite common to see e30s, e36, now e46s over 200k in good condition.