E90 ENGINE WOES
 

My friend and I picked-up identical E90s (330i) in Germany this past November 2005. After about 150 miles his started missing and shaking at idle. It was late at night so they they dispatched a mobile BMW assistance guy who diagnosed it as either electrical or mechanical problem involving the #2 cylinder. We took the car to the nearest BMW shop and left it overnight for more 'expert help in the morning. They called the next day and reported that the car was never taken out of "traffic mode" when it was delivered so the battery was not charging sufficiently and at a certain level computer began to malfunction and that is what caused #2 cylinder to not work. Taking out of "traffic mode" and charging battery fixed the problem and we drove 1500 miles without further problems before shipping back to US.

Back in the USA, at 3000 miles the his car's engine developed a ticking sound that varied with RPM whether engine was cold or warm. The BMW dealer in Sarasota (after consultation with BMW of North America), determined that the probable cause was a faulty exhaust camshaft. They opened the engine and said there was a visible defect on the exhaust camshaft related to the #2 cylinder. After 8 workdays, they are still waiting for all the parts from Germany to get it back together. I been stuck driving a Buick loaner.

Anyone out there heard of anything like this? Is there a relation between the initial electrical problem with #2 and this later mechanical problem with #2 or is this just a coincidence? Any advice how I should handle this?

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13050

Man, I hope it's not a design flaw. I have just been through the E46 sub-frame experience, and don't want to repeat it. Ugh.

Ed

It is a new engine design, so I wouldn't be surprised it were were some issues. The more complex an engine, the more prone it is to having sub-systems crap out.

Even the relatively simeple engine in my E36 M3 had an issue back <30K miles where the cam position sensor failed and then a cylinder misfired, both with a couple thousand miles of each other. But then it was bulletproof for the next 50+K miles.

So it could be a major problem or a fluke. Without more cases, it's hard to tell.

That said, I'm glad I'm leasing.

anecdotal right now. wouldn't worry about it overly much.

as long as BMW replaces it under warranty, no real long term harm, right?

Gee, does anyone remember the early build E46 M3's engine issues?

Ed

I guess as long as they fix the problem, it should be fine. Its hard to say if there's any link between traffic mode and the camshaft issue (although I doubt it); but it doesn't really matter bceause BMW is responsible either way and it sounds like they're taking care of it.

Judging from the other posts, it sounds like they may have had a bad run of camshafts. I'd actually be more hopeful about this issue getting resolved because:
1) its not electrical (electrical issues tend to take longer for BMW to come up with fixes for)
2) it wasn't happening to e90s prior to now (so it sounds like its probably just due to a production line worker or out of spec machine)-- so there's a good chance the new camshaft won't have these issues.

Anyway, sorry to hear about your problem-- good luck!

it's actually surprising how reliable their engines are, in general.

YEs, that's one area that BMW usually doesn't screw up (although they've had their moments w/ incidients like the exploding s54 engines). I imagine its because they devote their best and brightest engineers, and maybe a large percentage of their budget to the process of developing engines.

A prime example of why I wouldn't want to buy or lease an automobile in its early production run. :(