[rainfall]

My factory warranty will expire and I'm not sure if it is worth paying $2500-$3800 for +36 months of warranty. I plan to keep the car, don't plan to tune or track it.


Did anyone have long-term issues w/ your car? If so...

1. How much was the repair?
2. Did you tune the car?
3. How many miles did it have?

[Unicorn123]

40K miles, rear differential replaced under warranty.

I believe this was an aberration...the diff leaked and was noisy. No root cause determined. Parts were ~$2500 retail if you were to pay.

[snaketh]

41k Miles. Charge pipe broke. Not modded, was fixed under warranty. Dealer said a very common fault with N55.

Love this engine. Tempted by the B58 though.

[amw896]

if you aren't planning on tuning then it might be worth it just for peace of mind. I would stick with BMW certified only though. I've heard nightmare stories of some third party programs.

[Questofthetune]

I’m at 57,xxx miles and have only had a coolant hose get nicked when a rock hit the retaining clip on the highway. It fell and rubbed the belt- was the reservoir hose so no overheating (had a obd reader telling me temps). Easy warranty fix no issues since. Running e85 and jb4

[LCONE]

I bought my 2015 M235i XDrive CPO with 62,000km on it in April 2018 and now have 80,000km. Since owning I have had the following work completed.

- Front Left Control Arm
- Front Left Strut
- Front Right Strut
*Note these first three items were to chase down a loose rattle sound over bumps*
- Rear Output Shaft Seal
- Valve Gasket
- Passenger Door Pull & Lock Assembly
- Transfer Case Fully Replaced

Let's just say I'm glad I got the extended warranty. This is my second BMW both were not very reliable. But that is/was expected.

BMW = Buy More Warranty

[Kolyan2k]

I had charge pipe replaced around 30k, but its a cheap fix anyway. Then few other minor issues, the most annoying was water in taillights

[snaketh]

Originally Posted by Kolyan2k

the most annoying was water in taillights

Was that a warranty fix? Easy to notice? I wanna see if mine gave that issue.

[Luddy]

Originally Posted by snaketh

Was that a warranty fix? Easy to notice? I wanna see if mine gave that issue.

I am at 30,600 miles. Had the tail lights replaced twice due to water. Generally noticed it in the reverse light area. Second time it was also in the red. Both times warranty covered it. They told me this last time that the part was a new revision of the tail light assembly so fingers crossed.

The main warranty issue I had was at 900 miles when the FEM (fronted electronics module) flat out failed. All electronics on the car except tail lights died and had to get a tow. Car sat at the dealer ship over the weekend so the battery was dead too. They replaced FEM and battery under warranty and sent a 500 dollar check for the inconvenience.

I call the FEM failure a fluke so overall I feel I have had good luck with the car since that early incident.

Worth noting for the tail lights my car is kept outside so not that the lights should leak but it gets 100% of the south eastern PA seasons.

[Kolyan2k]

Originally Posted by snaketh

Was that a warranty fix? Easy to notice? I wanna see if mine gave that issue.

Yes, easy to notice. Replaced by warranty. Had water in reverse lights, then replacement had water all over, 2nd replacement did the trick. No issues so far. I am also at 30k

[Kolyan2k]

The small issues were: for whatever reason 1 time my fuel gauge light stopped working, apparently dealer knew about this issue or had some fault code or something so they ended up replacing the entire cluster. another famous issues is the audio amp, sometimes it stops working and then was fine after restart, they installed new amp, no more issues

[rainfall]

very helpful answers! With these answers in hand and given that I drive like grandma 80% of the time and a responsible adult the other 20%, I don't think I'll be getting the extended warranty.

[wjjkoevoets]

51,000 miles, I'd say about 13,000 with tune. No engine issues so far *knocks on wood*

[Kolyan2k]

Originally Posted by rainfall

very helpful answers! With these answers in hand and given that I drive like grandma 80% of the time and a responsible adult the other 20%, I don't think I'll be getting the extended warranty.

I think BMWs are pretty reliable cars....at least until 50k miles. What happens after I dont know. Also I dont think it make a difference how you drive. I used to believe that driving like grandma will keep your car trouble free, that is until I bought S2000 and red lined it every single day many times per day. I had zero issues up until I sold it like new with 80k miles. After that I stopped babying my cars and no issues so far with my BMW or Lexus. I dont red line them, but I drive the way I like

[XutvJet]

I've got 30K miles and closing in on 3 years with my 2016 M235 6MT. No warranty issues or problems to report. On very occasions, my subs will stop working, but it's easily addressed by stopping the engine, letting the car go through a full shutdown, and then the subs come back on. It's been a known issue for years with no fix.

Long terms issues with the N55?

1) Valve cover gasket. It will likely leak within 5 years.

2) Oil filter housing gasket. It will likely leak within 5 years.

3) Overflow coolant line from radiator house to expansion tank. It will likely break within 5 years.

4) Charge pipe. It will likely break within 5 years.

5) Water pump. It will likely fail within 5-7 years.

6) Transfer case on X Drive models. There seems to be a high number of failures with these.


IMO, save the money and roll the dice. The chances of all of these things happening are low. You should expect to be paying $1,000/yr to maintain a 4+ y/o BMW, some years worse than others and some better than others.

[ScottAndrew]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

I've got 30K miles and closing in on 3 years with my 2016 M235 6MT. No warranty issues or problems to report. On very occasions, my subs will stop working, but it's easily addressed by stopping the engine, letting the car go through a full shutdown, and then the subs come back on. It's been a known issue for years with no fix.

Long terms issues with the N55?

1) Valve cover gasket. It will likely leak within 5 years.

2) Oil filter housing gasket. It will likely leak within 5 years.

3) Overflow coolant line from radiator house to expansion tank. It will likely break within 5 years.

4) Charge pipe. It will likely break within 5 years.

5) Water pump. It will likely fail within 5-7 years.

6) Transfer case on X Drive models. There seems to be a high number of failures with these.


IMO, save the money and roll the dice. The chances of all of these things happening are low. You should expect to be paying $1,000/yr to maintain a 4+ y/o BMW, some years worse than others and some better than others.

Jesus Christ. My old E46 with its hated engine was good for 16 years with no major work, just one sump gasket, a new serpentine and plenty of oil changes.

Is the N55 really that bad??

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by ScottAndrew

Jesus Christ. My old E46 with its hated engine was good for 16 years with no major work, just one sump gasket, a new serpentine and plenty of oil changes.

Is the N55 really that bad??

The N54 we had for 8 years never had any issues other than valve carbon build-up which seems to be a lot less on the N55, I'm sure the N55 being a slight derivative outside the only major change from twin turbo to twin-scroll turbo, wouldn't be significantly different in reliability.

[bryan_G01]

MAF sensors will need replacing probably, also the O rings i have heard do rot, especially if they dont change the one in the oil filter housing, or the one on the left side of the intake tube.

[celsdogg]

Originally Posted by ScottAndrew

Jesus Christ. My old E46 with its hated engine was good for 16 years with no major work, just one sump gasket, a new serpentine and plenty of oil changes.

Is the N55 really that bad??

outside of the charge pipe and transfer case, those issues have been staples of BMW engines for a long time including the M54.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by ScottAndrew

Jesus Christ. My old E46 with its hated engine was good for 16 years with no major work, just one sump gasket, a new serpentine and plenty of oil changes.

Is the N55 really that bad??

Everyone I know/knew with an E46 spent a small fortune on the cooling system, suspension, and rear shock mount welding.

All the repairs for the N55 I noted are easily done by a DIYer or indy BMW shop for less than $1,000 except for the transfer case.

[ScottAndrew]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Everyone I know/knew with an E46 spent a small fortune on the cooling system, suspension, and rear shock mount welding.

All the repairs for the N55 I noted are easily done by a DIYer or indy BMW shop for less than $1,000 except for the transfer case.

Wow, aside from an alternator and one leak, it was routine servicing and service-replacement parts only for 122,000 miles. There’s a myth in Britain that the M54 is bombproof and trouble-free; possibly a little cognitive dissonance creeping in!

[Tony88]

Originally Posted by Luddy

The main warranty issue I had was at 900 miles when the FEM (fronted electronics module) flat out failed.

Mine failed too! Sounds like yours really up and killed itself. I brought my car in for a failed windshield washer pump at around 20k miles and ended up having to get the FEM module replaced. I thought it was a fluke as well so hopefully we're the only ones!