BMW 335I engine failure problems

Filed Nov 9, 2023 · Engine, Transmission · PA

I bought a BMW on November 3rd and within 48 hours on the 5th of November at 6:30 the engine seized while the car was driving when I took it to BMW they did a carfax on it, it said the car had 197,000 miles on it and the car was listed with 97,790 miles and the odometer still says 97,000 and the transmission is also slipping because it had 197,000 miles on it and the font headlights won't work.

Filed Aug 15, 2023 · Electrical, Engine · SC

BMW has made their early 2011-13 engines(n55) a defective engine, the problem I’ve been experiencing with these engines is there new engine system called the valvetronic system. If the something in the valtronic system goes bad and most likely does when you listen to bmw recommendation of changing oil every 10,000 it becomes very annoying to fix and can also lead to damaging the car ecu/dme so they built a car that would have problems and would also take out your car ecu which would make costly repairs

Filed Feb 14, 2023 · Engine, Transmission · NY

My vehicle functioned normally without any faults for the approximately year and a half/ ~20,000 miles I used it. The one day I attempt to start my vehicle in colder weather (-6 degrees fahrenheit) and my starter fried and my engine seized up. I have heard of other occurrences like this happening where BMW owners attempted to start their vehicles in colder weather, have a fault come up as "starter/ignition malfunction" and then leading to an engine seizing. I believe this to be a faulty product from BMW.

Filed Aug 12, 2022 · Engine · TX

Without any warning, the vehicle experienced a major engine failure while I was driving at about 70 mph on the highway. The vehicle immediately lost power and went into limp mode, making it impossible to safely maintain speed on a busy highway. Vehicle was towed to the dealership and it was determined that it had experienced a VANOS bolts failure on the intake side. Inspection of the failed VANOS bolts revealed that they were of the old design that BMW had issued a Recall for. Even though the Recall status for the vehicle in regard to the VANOS bolts indicates that it was completed, it appears the wrong components had been used in the repair. I have been informed that BMW has denied my request to have the recall done properly with the proper components.

Filed Dec 1, 2020 · Electrical, Engine · 115,000 miles · TX

I loved my bmw until I realized it has a faulty engine. I noticed the drive train malfunction light once when I went through a car wash. I turned off when I restarted the car. My car was up to date on all oil changes etc, I take it to bmw specialist only. I noticed a light tick sound and reported it to bmw at my last oil change. They disregarded it and said they did notice oil on the gasket. No changes requested at that time. My car never showed signs of leaking oil and the oil pressure at times showed to be low but would always return to normal. I was told it was because the hybrids work differently. On my way home on the frontage road of i35 my car just shut down and never restarted. I was able to guide it into a parking lot and the engine just stopped turning and the drive train malfunction light turned on. I had it towed to a mechanic and they basically said they had to replace the entire engine. A new engine cost $18000 and a used is around 13000. That does not include labor!!! I had to then have my car towed home to just park it. This is the only car I have, I owe thousands on it and the engine completely broke! As I'm doing research I see multiple complaints with the same issues and same result, complete engine failure!!! This needs to be investigated! From what I gather it is related to the drivetrain malfunction light sending a signal to the engine & stopping oil from reaching the top of the motor, leading to vanos complications and leading to metal in the engine leading to a complete damage to the engine. Cheap issue leading to failure of the entire vehicle. I've also gathered there is a fault with the start/stop that causes this issue. I am left with no car, I'm a full time nurse and now in debt with no working car! This could have been prevented had a recall been done a few years ago with all the initial complaints!! Several forums including on this site!!

Filed Jan 24, 2020 · Airbags, Engine · WA

My name is [xxx], and I took my bmw to one of portlands dealerships to get my car services. First two days were fine, then after that my passenger and driver air bag lights were constantly flashing on my warning notifications tab. I reached out to the dealership and they wanted me to come back. After I was done with them they charged me over $700 for inspecting the issues and problems reported, then quoted me over $4,000 worth of air bag replacements. The dealership cleared the codes before I left and declined their offer. I saw on kelly blue book that there were recalls on this model. At this time I'm hesitant to trust the dealership because last time I was there I was told I needed a new engine, worth over $26,000. The car is almost at 70,000 miles and I find that very hard to believe.I almost asked the technician if he would be willing to take a lie detector test on my expense. I understand that dealerships typically make more money in the service department than selling new and used cars. I was told by them there were no recalls on my car, but I do want to make a report. Not feeling comfortable to drive my car, I have been storing it in the garage and only using it very lightly. My engine issues started with a small ticking sound. The dealership of portland wanted me to replace tensioners and the timing belt, but the sound was coming from the fuel injectors, after that they wanted me to replace my whole engine.I have been misled by them multiple times. When I bought the car, my luck wasn't so great, after two weeks of purchasing it a small rock on the penetrated my window while I was on the highway. I got insure to cover it but they needed a quote from the dealership. I got 3 different quotes, all hundreds of dollars apart from $800-+$1,000. The reason why I am making this report is regarding my safety and concerns for these airbags, wanting to be assured safety. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Jan 23, 2020 · Engine, Fuel system · 159,000 miles · FL

High pressure fuel pump - critical failure while driving in heavy traffic on the highway, the engine died without warning while in motion. Brakes and steering became incredibly heavy (presumably without power) as I pulled over with very little time to react. Car would not restart, just repeatedly turn over without trying to start. Pulled codes to discover that the high pressure fuel pump just failed completely - p142e $0018pd. Stalling in motion without any warning signs was scary. Turbo wastegates - caution turbos rattle severely while driving and performance is reduced. Extra time and space is needed when merging and overtaking. No engine codes.

Filed Dec 20, 2018 · Engine · 107,000 miles · CT

Engine seized 10 miles after oil filter housing gasket was replaced. Car has 107k miles and has been meticulously maintained. Now I'm going to have to spend from $8k-$10k for a new engine. Never received a warning light. From what I've been reading, this is not uncommon after that specific job is done and the gasket starts leaking around 100k so it is necessary to address.

Filed Feb 19, 2017 · Engine, Fuel system · 178,000 miles · GA

The car has had numerous issues since purchased. This all came to a head when driving home, under normal conditions, it suddenly would not shift past 1st gear. I proceeded to pull off to a side street and attempt to idle home, as I was about 1 mile from home. After approximately .5 mile, the transmission suddenly lost first gear, there was an audible bang under the hood, and the car completely lost power. After being in a service center for a couple weeks, I am now informed that the engine is locked down and that the car will require a new engine to be working again. This car had been an absolute nightmare and has turned me quite calloused towards bmws quality standards.

Filed Feb 17, 2016 · Electrical, Engine · 20,000 miles · CT

Tl* the contact owns a 2011 bmw 335-I. Comments: I was driving my on a long uphill section with plenty of room to pass and I started passing two cars when my engine lost power and stalled. The cars I was passing kindly started to slow down to let me move past them, but I kept slowing down at the same rate as they were, remaining side by side with them, leaving me no room to move back to the right and with the truck coming in the opposite direction closer and closer. Eventually I felt I had no choice, and managed to get off the road on the opposite side so the truck could pass between the two cars and mine. I tried to restart my car. It did start albeit with the engine malfunction ? Reduced power light on. The recurred the next day I drove my car to bmw of darien which told me that for the third time (twice on my previous 2008 335is convertible) the fuel pump had failed. Then I received recall no. 13v‑044: power supply system about a potential failure of the electrical system resulting in engine stalling, but could not ever get an answer from bmw whether the cause of the engine stalls with my car was really the fuel pump. I have been trying to get to the bottom of this dangerous engine failure for almost two years. Bmw customer service has been completely evasive. One gentleman called me once on my cellphone, not on the phone number I had provided. I called them and wrote to them multiple times. I am happy to provide you with copies of that correspondence that seems to indicate that they did not have a response! Thank you very much for looking into this. Best regards.the contact requested the complaint to filed in their own words pulled from an email sent to the federal safety agency.