If there’s one thing about BMWs is that if you insist on working the car yourself, you’ll learn a lot about your car & be a decent mechanic by the time you take care of everything.
I got 12 x3 28i xdrive for my chick n52 engine we hit 212k miles car still huals ass I'm probably 1k$ in on parts and we've had it for years (replacing crank sensor was a fkin bich)
Agreed, lack of upkeep with maintenance by previous owners tend to be common reason the N54 gets a bad reliability rep. I found out after buying mine. 🤦♂️ After sorting out the problems it's been on Stage 1, reliable daily, driven hard often too.
He helped me pick a good modded bmw 335i. I knew what to look for because of him. Luckily the guy I bought it from took great care of the car and did the maintenance! He also knew a ton about these cars also luckily
So I got my bmw 335i in 2010. It was a 2007. Now the previous owner had it on a lease. But only drove it 22k miles. And the driver was a 48 year old 5’2” Korean lady. So why is that important well number one, she never drove it fast. Number two, the seats literally had absolutely no indentations or side wall crumbling on the seats. I’m a big boy so 3 years with me in the seat at 240 lbs your going to know. Cars don’t care if your muscle or fat, in fact I think muscle is probably worse on the seats, it’s very centered pressure where heavy people that are by majority more fat, is more evenly displaced. But a 100lb 5’2” Asian lady... i mean that like a responsible child sitting in your seat, it’s just not going to do very much. Ok so low miles, garage only kept, no passengers and no driver weight, she didn’t go fast, and her service records were perfect. So how did I find this awesome bmw? Well I did a ton of research. I figured out the car I wanted and the price I could haggle it down to. Then I waited. I asked the dealerships who were bringing in the exact 335 I wanted when the owner was planned on returning their leases that week. So for two months I went to dealerships like 3 days a week and waited for customers to come in with their BMW’s. Kids dropped off their parents cars, big guys, old guys, Armenian guys who, let’s just say damn they drove them hard. And one day as I was about to cave in my patients... the Monrovia bmw dealership said they had a black 335i coming in today to be returned and asked if I wanted to take a look at it before they did all their inspections service and cleaning. So they said to swing by in the afternoon, I swung by first thing in the morning like I always did. And when she pulled in, waiting forever to turn in, really slowly moved in, and got out I was like oooohhh this is the one. I asked her how she liked it, she said one time when she got it she pressed on the gas real hard and it scared her so she only drove it slow, everywhere!!! I knew that was the car. And a week or so later it was available to buy and I did. For 24,000$. Almost walked out on the salesman 3 times until he came down on price. Now I owned it for two years before I upgraded it to an M3. I loved that car! To this day, probably still my favorite. More than my Z06, or my M3, or my Kia Optima SX, way more than our Toyota Sequoia... until about two months ago when my wife got a Range Rover Velar... I will admit that’s my new favorite. But that 335 is second. And most of that has to do with nostalgia being my first nice car I ever bought. I worked so hard on my door to door sales summer job that year. But still it was fun, fast, and comfy. This all brings me to say, all I needed to change was the one time the tires, and one time the breaks. Never had a single issue ever. It was awesome.
N54 is a good motor if you just: replace the injectors, ignition coils, spark plugs, valve cover and gasket, vanos solenoids, oil pan gasket, turbo charger, DME, Water pump, Thermostat, Oil filter housing gasket, Engine Belt Tensioner, Engine Belt, High pressure fuel pump, low pressure fuel pump, rear main seal, front main seal and add a belt guard, coolant expansion tank, all coolant hoses! Thank you!
You forgot the Radiator, Charge Pipe, and Transmission Solenoids (Not part of the engine, but they will break like what happened to me.) 🤣 Edit: Didn't notice you said Thermostat.
Good video. I bought a stock n54 a couple years ago. It runs a dream and is at 145k now, but it does need regular maintenance. In that time it's had all new discs and pads, a regular service replacing things like spark plugs and a few other things. Water pump went at 140k (expected) and both rear suspension have needed attention, both of which suffered broken mountings within a few months of each other. I give it a regular oil change, got the transmission fluid changed at 140k as well and I expect to need to keep the maintenance going, but generally speaking it's not been nearly as bad as most videos would have you believe.
I've owned my 335i for about the same period of time. One thing I've learned Is that they are fairly easy to work on and not super expensive to maintain if you do the work yourself. The only thing that ducks is it useless like there is always something that needs to be fixed on it
Dunno... I mean, just maintain it. Reliable when maintained. The maintenance schedule is in the owner's manual. The repeat issues even when maintained? Cooling, and valve cover gaskets. BTW, Japanese vehicle parts nowadays cost a lot now too. Just maintain your s***
Nooooo you’ll run into issues following BMW’s maintenance schedule! Preventive maintenance is key, especially oil change intervals... Besides most people who run n54 engines buy them to tune and then get surprised the maintenance intervals on parts gets even shorter.
@@XXODD1982 I guess some might run into issues. But I based my comment on my experience with the BMW I had. Just do whatever works for your time and budget. If the German car is digging too deep into your pockets, dump it and get something cheaper. Unless your tracking it, all cars are basically the same under the speed limit anyway.
@@XXODD1982 Exactly, when it comes to BMW all you have to do is maintain the car, read your manual, change the oil, and not drive it like a manic. They will practically run forever if you do. People on RU-vid gotta blow it out of proportion like its hard to own the car.
No need for 5 things. 1 thing only: Everything will break. Trust me, I have one too LOL. BUT I still have it and dealt with it. Why? Because there's nothing like an n54.
Good luck on that direct injection most people don't take care of those valves and they start to run like shit. Decent car, but a money pit for sure.. if you like to replace everything then this car is for you ✌️
@@jaytee3565 not really, i have 500whp for my daily and it has no probs just minor things to replace mainly my money went too my motor like bolt ons and upgrades but from experience it's not a money pit until you make it like every other car with potential
This is proberly the only RU-vid channel where I can watch the video's till the end without any problems. It's so self explanatory and always interesting to hear what you have to tell about cars in general👍🏻👍🏻
I binge watched all your videos before buying my e93 a few weeks ago. I've ordered a bunch of mods I've liked from your videos, so thank you! And keep it up.
How’s everyone’s been? Bought mine with 70k now at 90k after a year only done oil filter housing gasket myself which cost nothing jisbthe gasket itself. Been mhd stage 2+ whole time
Bone stock as in no bolt ons even? If so this might be the final little push to make me make the bad decision to tune mine even before upgrading anything even 😂😂 I do baby my car 95% of the time anyway lol I'd just like having that extra power that 5% of the time some punk pulls up to me, or even a muscle car guy and I wanna give them a little run for their money 😉😏😂😂
Laser Jet makes sense, mine has 108k miles or so but I bought it back in October with about 95k miles on it. The only real problems I have had so far haven’t been too bad: vanos solenoids, oil filter housing gasket, and a squeaky belt. Right now I’m leaking out the oil pan right now but I’m not very concerned with it at the moment since it isn’t leaking a ton and it’s on the bottom so it’s not leaking onto important parts. I’m probably gonna wait to get the leak fixed till I get catless downpipes in a few months or so.
Im looking to buy a 335is 2012 convertible with 77k miles on it, check carfax and its well maintained. will be my first bmw. For 13k is it worth it? please honest opinion thank you!
It's a lot I learned and am still learning about my 2008 e60. It hasn't been too bad besides my current problem but even that hasn't cost me too much. Just cost me quite a bit of time.
everything he mentioned....closer to 7-8k if done properly....plus 'normal' wear and tear parts like the waterpump / thermostat which will go together most likely...1300 bucks...
Those are great tips. Yeah my experience with the 335i was heavy maintenance 40-60k mile range and again at 130-150k mile range. Bought the car 2 years old with 30k miles and now have 150k miles. Bought the car for $32k. Probably spent more than that in maintenance over 10 years and has broken down just one time. So I’d say to anyone out there to take good care of the car by budgeting 300 bucks a month and find an independent shop and do it right. I have recently purchased an e90 m3 mt and I’m expecting it to be similar running costs which seem higher than you might initially think. Both great sedans to drive so to me its worth the investment.
BMW car will start to have problem from 90k miles coz all the plastics parts around the engine start to fail.Engine and transmission are reliable.I live in UK so it’s cheaper to maintain.
Bought a E93 335i, had it over one year - guess what? Problems after problems - its a money pit. VCG, OFHG, DME, Water Pump, Shocks, Thermostat and just when I was about to sell - engine seized - limp mode.
BMW cars in general are relatively easy to maintain if you're handy with minor repairs and fantastic fun cars. But if not and limited budget, run away!
Dude I’m having the same issue with my e93. I’ll order parts and they’ll be slightly off but they’re advertised for e93. Just taught me to be smarter and more patient
1:parts are expensive 2:parts are really expensive 3: parts are really fucking expensive 4:damit why do things keep braking!! these parts are astronomically expensive! 5:well at least i can put on the parts myself. oh wait, some stuff needs programed to the car like the battery? nothing is fun to work on on these cars but there super fun to drive!
Mine is a 2006 bought used in 2007 at seven months old and I still have it , so I know the car has been well looked after , I do all the oil changes myself and most of the servicing myself and use an independent BMW dealer for major servicing , my engine upgrades are a Cobb access port tune , forge intercooler , duel cone filters , scorpion zorst , metal charge pipe and bov , oil catch tank , had walnut blasted intake valves , the things gone wrong is hpfp , water pump , and a leaking transmission sump which needs replacing , that's it , no wastegate problems , no coils , no injectors and no oil leeks ( apart from trans ) so its 15 years old and very well looked after and I absolutely love it , I never use it hard till the oil warms up , it makes a modest 390bhp and a massive 507 ft/lbs of torque , its a very safe car and one of if not thee most comfortable cars I've had , I'm an old 68year old hooligan with a 20 year old daughter who absolutely loves it , a few years back I nearly traded it for a merc sl600 v 12cyl bi.turbo tuned to 600 bhp and it didn't feel much different in performance and Molly my daughter almost blew a fuse when she found out , this car just amazes me , and I still love the thing .
Ohhhh huge mistake buying one. Had a rod knock the first day. Engine swaps aren’t cheap on this thing or easy if there’s rust. So many special tools are needed. And fuel pumps are not cheap...
Juan Chavez wait sorry I paid 625 for the pump 135 the thermostat and 300 labour 13 dollar long life antifreeze and 3 dollars for boot set cost me 1098 Canadian final price which is roughly 800 American
I’ve had my 2009 320i for a few months now and your vids have really helped me with some mod decisions. Thanks for all the effort you’ve put into these, super helpful!
Guys is it worth it buying one 125-150k bmw 335i? I always take good care of my cars and baby them but all these negative comments about the n54 engine is worrying me help please !
Love the growth of your channel and your car over the years Christian. You've been a huge part of encouraging me to mod my E92 and I love it. And you really do make some of the best 335i content on RU-vid. Keep it up bro!!
I wished I would have punched myself in the jaw. Bought my e92 for 15k, spent 7 to 8k on bringing everything up to date and still can't afford to tune or upgrade.
Hey watch ur video and love it. Btw good job on keeping up on the maintenance of ur car. I have a e90 335d. I have the 3.0 straight 6 twin turbo diesel. They are very reliable and I get 35 mpg on a stage 2 tune and 350 hp at 520lb ft of torque. I think u would like it because they are strong engine and very reliable. Mine has 139000 miles on it and had it for a year and no problem. Good work on the video and keep it up.
Looking for an N54 but seems like the prices are going back up or something. I used to find alot for $3k and under last year in driveable condition. Now people are posting non running salvage titled cars for $5k up in my area. Some are $20k+ I think people are just crazy 😂
I'm having a feeling like each 335i video you release is a secret message to me saying "get those F-ing injectors and HPFP replaced"! I wish I had a couple grand to spare lying around......
Literally I’m in the market rn. I’m glad I learned so much. If I didn’t glance at ur channel shit I would’ve never known all the common issues etc. much love
yo, my e90 2011 335i idles rough on startup only for 30 seconds, and is good at all other times. Any ideas to what the issue is ? no check engine light
@G I don't know the exact total but a rough estimate off my head, I would say about $1500 or a little over within 2 and a half years of owning it. I do all the work on it myself.
Worst car ive owned is this 2011 335i. Unreliable, too expensive to maintain, almost something breaks every year even with maintenance. Looks and drives good when new but at 70k miles better get rid of it, its a headache!
Bro this is a great walk through with your maintenance and mods as they put them together! I heard from this weird and whacked out scientist about an American made part that if you put in a Flux Capaciter . It was developed he lives in a place called hill valley. That will give you severe performance boost!! I believe he is out west now. Not sure when he is thogh🤔
Just got my 335i sedan a few days ago, my carfax was double the price of what it was worth, I got lucky the owner lived in a different state now. Didn’t have any issues except the window regulator lol.
Woooahhh I’m a 335i owner F30 though, and I definitely do my maintenance! I don’t even go by BMWs stupid suggestion of 12k oil change I do mine every 8k (max). I’ve also changed a lot of the plastic bits into aluminum ones and have an oil catch can to help with the intake valve carbon fouling
Here all the way from Johannesburg South Africa your content is one of the reasons why i now also have an e92 N54. Is it possible to ship vrsf parts to the cradle of humankind? Lol
I Owned a 2002 BMW 535i shops told me it was going to be thousands of dollars of work but I did some research it was a module that cost $45 fixed everything that was wrong, the car was perfect and drove amazing everything I had to do to it was relatively easy to work on and it was kinda fun, if it seems like there’s something major it’s probably not,unless it’s a turbo or a water pump, ect but most likely it’s a Relay a Fuse or a module, RU-vid was my friend
Bmw has life time fluids so I asked the tech how long is a life time and he said 100k miles. These cars are manufactured to be thrown away after 100k miles. Interesting business model, good way to ensure new cars sales. The cars feature recycled plastic for the electrical connections and will degrade over time to the point that they crumble away. Keep spending green stamps just to throw it all away a few years later. Only the old bmws made in germany last all the new beamers will be trash in ten years good luck with your money pit of a car
Should I keep my 2002 330ci coupe bought it 3yrs ago with 60,000 mi replaced almost everything now 115,000 mi Runs great but now , Oil pan leak? How much?
I loved the 328i coupe sport package that I had for 6 years... It was pre owned but the previous owner treated that car like gold so I had next to no issues... I sold that and now I have the 4 series... Gorgeous car that drives as smooth as you would expect it to... If you like style and comfort and don't mind spending a few more bucks on maintenance then I'd highly recommend a BMW... (If you're married with 3 or more kids then I'd reconsider cause the kids are gonna TRASH the interior of your BMW😆) If you don't care about style or comfort and have a wife and kids then get a Japanese or American car or SUV... I'm a 37 year old bachelor... Never been married with no kids so the little bit of extra cost isn't an issue for me... Trust me the women out there that are WORTH looking at (aka sexy women) will notice what a man drives and they like men with style 😉...
You killed it Cristian! I know to go for the sedan with a manual...😉👍I may wait until my SHO Taurus is gone first. 400HP and 440 ft lbs of torque is hard to let go of in an AWD. Especially stock parts on a tune. Love the advice on progression of upgrades and ownership. Thanks brother and best wishes!
I just start my 335i e93 tuning today after 3 years of ownership. Came stock plus all maintenance files. Did MHD stage 1 and throttle sensitivity. Big difference. Do all the repairs and maintenance myself. I can't afford stealer prices of $100 plus 15% gst (New Zealand) per hour.
Just followed on insta, i also have an E93 (2010). Love the car but the previous owner and also a friend of mine neglected some maintenance. Because of this i have done injectors, plugs, coil packs, oil filter housing gasket, walnut blast and most recently a water pump and thermostat which died and left me stranded. Keep up the good work and keep those videos coming!! Hopefully that exhaust will be mine one day soon !!
Okay so how exactly are BMWs, in general, unreliable (exactly what you said), when it's mostly the pre-owner's fault who doesn't take good care of his car? This is applicable to like all other car manufacturers out there. When you're buying second-hand (doesn't matter which brand) you are always dependent on how the guy before you treated the car. But sure - all BMWs are unreliable...
So true, now I’m spending like 3k on parts on e92 n55. Every time I see a error code, it just pisses me off and don’t like fixing it and wasting a lot of my time.
The car logo alone makes for a really nice shirt as well. I know it won’t help spread your brand, but you might make a little extra money by offering a shirt w/o Vehicle Virals written on it as well. 🙃
Not every 335i is unreliable in 2010 they out the n55 engine in and the reliability was significantly better. I have a 2014 X3 with the n55 and consumer reports scored my car a 4 out 5 for reliability.
Honestly drove it without the support pieces for two days and it's been sitting in the garage since then. Haven't had the time to take it to the exhaust shop.
I bought my BMW 335 I in 2009 it was used it had 10,000 miles. After about five years I was around 65,000 miles and everything started going out headlights. I have no audio. So now I’m stuck with it and it currently has 75,000 miles, and I have no idea what to do with it. Do you have any suggestions?
@@VehicleVirals Well, if the owner knows a good and honest mechanic then it is okay to buy this car. Otherwise, not worth it. I suggest to save money for good down payment and buy a new one with warranties. Brand new, 0 mileage and the smells of brand new car is the best.
I got a “lemon “ e90 for $1800 !!!! Rebuilt the DME with new mosfets , got some mid mile index 8s and it runs like a champ . I’m $2300 into a 400whp 335i . They are out there guys !!!
So, im about to buy my uncles 2009 335i xdrive from him amd its been well maintained and is still bone stock (hes older and just wanted a nice daily to drive but doesn't drive it everyday.) I dont want to get super spendy or crazy right off the start but if i wanted to make 50 more hp and torque, just a little amd something safe and simple, where would I start and could get that 50 from? Maybe cold air intale and something else? Anyone I would appreciate feedback!
It's good that you've giving out info, but really homie...do you think people looking for how to fix their BMW on youtube have been doing regular maintenance? Come on now.
I gotta say I've always been an american muscle guy. But after watching a lot of your videos and a lot of maintenance headaches I ended up selling my C3 Corvette and bought a super clean manual F30 335i. I couldn't be happier. My new baby RIPS!
@@yungkaos3500 I've put about 20k miles on it since purchase, so the odo is at 130k now. Nothing has gone wrong yet. Been real nice to me so far. However I did put new injectors in and a few other odds and ends to make sure she's happy.
What was all involved when you went to stage 2 twin turbos? New tune im sure and outlets. Bigger fuel pump? Do index 12 injectors work or do you need different ones? What else am I missing?
@@VehicleVirals ok so I was close. Do the injectors need to be recoded or just when theyre new? I cant run e85 here unfortunately. Only 91 guessing I'd want a higher pressure fuel pump
So looking at a 335i and it’s around 200k miles and I’m a mechanic. I always believed bmw was unreliable but doing research it’s all human error. Would I be shooting myself in the foot buying a high mileage 335i? Not worried about maintenance everything will be replaced one time
I'm gonna be buying one of these soon just takin my time looking I can work.on these my self but still gotta be careful about what the previous owner did or didn't do to the car. Luckily I'm very mechanically inclined. Nice vid bro
I've had five BMWs no issues at all except for on my last 335 the alternator went out when I sold that car it had 320,000 all of my BMWs where somewhere in that range range ... They're high performance cars you cannot get in these cars and put it to the floor every time you take off and expect it to last no car will and that's the problem Mama hands down her 335 to her kid and he puts it to the floor every time he takes off and then he hands it down to another guy these cars can be extremely fast that comes with price price a turbo car you need to keep that oil pristine and most don't you know you and that's all it takes to make or break that amazing n54
I've had five three series and I've had nothing but great luck with all of them no problems at all but I maintained it and I didn't put it to the floor every time I took off you *** fools go out and buy these fast cars and put it to the floor every time you take off and then wonder why it doesn't last they're amazing cars they will last forever if you don't put it to the floor every time you take just a bunch of idiots. Do you think you're going to just punch out a 350 horsepower car every time you get in it and not have issues you drive them right respect them right and they will last you forever my the last 335 had almost 300,000 mi on it when I the only problem I had with it was the
Do you fit in the trunk? BTW, why buy a boring sedan when they make such a terrific hardtop convertible? Have fun in life...live a little. You should try living a little
