would you recommend an E90 out of warranty?

[MarkR540]

lately i have been thinking about buying a new car and i have been noticing some good deals on on 2006-07 E90s with good miles on them for under $20k. Id like to get an e90 330i 6-speed but not sure if id be willing to jump on one out of warranty.

I used to work on bmws and i know these cars are pretty much dealer only if it isnt an oil change or brakes. most fixes require software updates or a module to be programmed and i dont have an isid.

but overall how reliable has your E90 been? im avoiding N54 powered cars because they tend to eat wastegates and high pressure fuel pumps. other than that an E90 is pretty solid from what I have seen,

[mryakan]

My 323 e90 was very reliable over 3 years, not sure if would have stayed the same has I kept it. Haven't had any problems on the 328 either. I think it all depends on the car and your luck.

[rtd328]

Yeah, I would say an n52 powered e90 would be fine. Sure, it will have problems, and you might want to resign yourself to the "lifter tick" associated with the n52 if it's out of warranty (since most people don't want to pay for an updated head to be installed!).

But really, you just need to maintain a BMW properly, and reject their advice on the 15,000 mile oil change. Half that interval is a more acceptable number.

[MarkR540]

as far as lifter tick goes i think most of them have been replaced under warrantm however, im sure theres a few out there.

the first thing was replace the entire head now the bulletin specifices to replace the exhaust valve lifters.

from my experiences the E90 is a lot less problematic than say an E60 or an E65.

and i have owned 4 BMWs before I bought my audi. they were all great cars

[fun2drive]

I have not decided if I will extend my warranty of not. I never have I do all my own work on my M3's and have changed the oil and filter a couple times on the vert I have as well as tire rotation. I also have Carsoft which allows me to read all codes so this is a hard decision.
My E93 has never had issue one, only scheduled maintenance and one SI for the convertible top noise (any vert purchased before 12/2007) should have this done. Mine was the 2nd vert on Euro Delivery 2 April 2007.

All in all a very nice car. I bought a Conti donut spare, have an M3 inflation kit so if this sounds like I am chucking the run flats when they are shot I am.
My tire wear at 28K miles is very good 6/32, 6/32 front, 9/32, 9/32 rears on tires that were slightly over 10/32 new. Had to replace one tire and two wheels do to pot hole below water which bent both wheels and destroyed one tire. Tire wear is even and these are the Conti SSR's which are wearing like iron.

Only issue I have with the entire car besides lack of a dip stick is the run flats...

[rtd328]

I'd like the car better if it had a dipstick and a spare tire, but I still like a lot of things about the e90. A lot have probably had the lifter issues resolved, but mine did not, and I'll be moving forward with the updated cylinder head soon.

Otherwise, it's a car with superb smoothness. OP, you'll enjoy driving an e90 if you choose to buy one.

[Blue330i2006]

I haven't had a lick of trouble with mine, way out of warranty and driven like a rental. I LOVE IT. I would not be afraid to buy another with 100k on it if maintained Old School.

[floydr]

I'd like the car better if it had a dipstick and a spare tire ...

You know, I don't really get this "no dipstick likey". Yeah, I've seen people complain when the fail and have to get a new sensor, but I'VE NEVER READ OF A PERSON HAVING A FAILED ENGINE due to oil too low.

Get over it.

[rtd328]

You know, I don't really get this "no dipstick likey". Yeah, I've seen people complain when the fail and have to get a new sensor, but I'VE NEVER READ OF A PERSON HAVING A FAILED ENGINE due to oil too low.

Get over it.

Read my post. I'm very happy with the car. And I'm certainly not missing going under the hood to check the oil. Just an option I would like to have.

Although engine failure due to lack of dipstick probably won't be common... Lots of people don't check their oil anyway, so it doesn't matter. I check it a couple times a week, but I imagine most cars will lose the dipstick in the next decade or so.

[floydr]

Read my post. I'm very happy with the car.

Nothing to do with you - just tired of seeing the complaints (two or more in this thread).

The sensor in my '01 330xi never failed in 145K/8 years. Of course, I'm an owner of a 335d M57 engine that has a dipstick...

[rtd328]

Nothing to do with you - just tired of seeing the complaints (two or more in this thread).

The sensor in my '01 330xi never failed in 145K/8 years. Of course, I'm an owner of a 335d M57 engine that has a dipstick...

Being honest, I had no clue that the e46 had that kind of sensor... I'm well-versed on the e36, getting familiar with the e90, but just kind of skipped the e46. But it's good to know that it held up for you without issue.

For the OP... Looks like you've been around the BMW brand enough to know that some of the electronics of the cars are iffy. I'd like to think that independent mechanics will be able to work on these cars as they see more of them come out of warranty, but who knows. They are certainly getting more complicated. For the sake of reliability, I like your plan to stick with the naturally-aspirated inline 6.

[gdp]

I think the no dipstick design is great when these cars are new and all is good, but as they age and people are more informed on how to repair them, it is going to be a hinderance for the DIY type. Probably one of the "+"'s BMW weighed in to the decision to get rid of it so people may go back to the dealer for repairs. Having a dipstick is nice to check condition of oil (maybe if trying to locate a coolant leak into the oil), buying a used car (who won't pull the dipstick to at least check the oil condition on a potential purchase). Also I find it ironic that you have to start and operate the car for quite a period to even get a reading to see if there is sufficient oil. And my experience is that the last bargraph never illuminates. I personally changed the oil on my car and added the correct amount of oil and the last bar never came on, i even tried another half quart and no light. So how do you know if its overfilled??

[mryakan]

buying a used car (who won't pull the dipstick to at least check the oil condition on a potential purchase). Also I find it ironic that you have to start and operate the car for quite a period to even get a reading to see if there is sufficient oil. And my experience is that the last bargraph never illuminates. I personally changed the oil on my car and added the correct amount of oil and the last bar never came on, i even tried another half quart and no light. So how do you know if its overfilled??
Are you telling me you can tell the condition of syntehtic oil by just looking at it or rubbing it between your fingers? :confused If so, I am curious what kind of cybernetic implant you have :shifty.



Also I find it ironic that you have to start and operate the car for quite a period to even get a reading to see if there is sufficient oil. And my experience is that the last bargraph never illuminates. I personally changed the oil on my car and added the correct amount of oil and the last bar never came on, i even tried another half quart and no light. So how do you know if its overfilled??
Well, FYI, even way before they invented fancy sensors, you were supposed to run the engine for a few minutes before you get an accurate engine level reading with the dipstick. So really this is not something specific to the sensor.
If you drain it properly and you fill the exact amount it required, why would it be overfilled? :confused
Sorry, but it all seems wining to me, no real logic behind any of it, no offense.

[aquila163]

Get used to not having dip sticks. Soon no cars will have them. The engine has to be sealed up so well for the engine management system to work properly the manufacturers just have to eliminate any air intrusion point. The right moment of crank case pressure and the dipstick comes loose and the engine malfunction light is on. The manufacturers would really rather put in a dipstick than the money they have to raise the price of the car to cover an electronic oil level system. How much more would it cost them in wasted warranty service and customer complaints to have cars in the shop for malfunction lights because the dipstick is loose. Ask anyone who paid a diagnosis fee for a loose gas cap. Or ask any dealer that took a CSI hit because the customer thought their inability to put a gas cap back on should have been covered under warranty.

[StigNV]

It's a certain piece of mind having the dipstick. I'm not used to running without one after 3 years now. Scenario based issue going from the wiper fluid level, the icon goes off when it needs a full gallon. So how much fluid is left, and how close are you to the bottom of the reservoir? I have a 20 mile patch of road between stations with snow and that wonderful road gunk that can cake up on your car and might not have the ability to clean it off.

I've only needed to add oil one time on my car, and put the whole quart in. HAL (car computer) seemed to be happy with that. But it seems like the engineers use a standard measurement: quart, gallon, etc. when it needs a fluid. But I hate the idea of being down a whole quart.

Owning an old school Porsche, oil is my life blood on that car. It is also something to OCD about because they all like to leak oil as well. The old analog gauges are quirky and I'd never want to trust them fully, I like to verify what they are saying by seeing the dipstick.

Being a pilot, they even have a sight gauge for oil, and sometimes dipsticks on the jet engines, and those only use oil for lubrication purposes, not cooling. Thy say don't worry about it on some engines, like the Rolls Royce, I mean BMW engines:D.
But at the end of the day, should an engine sieze, and you live through the experience to face the FAA and they ask you, did you check the engine oil; the answer of it's a maintenance function isn't going to hold water. As the person in charge of your vehice, you are the one ewsponsible for the condition of your vehicle. Computers give bogus info as well. Whose TPM will fire off on a big bump in the road, or an intermittent light warning, or a reduced power that resets itself. Honestly. Old habits die hard, and I miss having a dipstick or a sight gauge to back up the Buck Rogers tech telling me everything is good, or death and doom is emminent. Situational awareness, as it were is invaluable.

[aquila163]

I wonder if there would be the case where the oil level warning system failed and the engine was damaged by oil starvation if you could hold BMW liable even out of warranty. It is 'not possible' for the owner to take responsibility for low oil level in this situation. It's very possible to loose enough oil between what are now 15-20k mile oil services to damage the engine. There is no way to see if the oil level system works or not or a back up method for the owner to know they were in trouble. Someone is going to get a free engine way out of warranty on this one.

[mryakan]

I wonder if there would be the case where the oil level warning system failed and the engine was damaged by oil starvation if you could hold BMW liable even out of warranty. It is 'not possible' for the owner to take responsibility for low oil level in this situation. It's very possible to loose enough oil between what are now 15-20k mile oil services to damage the engine. There is no way to see if the oil level system works or not or a back up method for the owner to know they were in trouble. Someone is going to get a free engine way out of warranty on this one.
That would be one heck of a perfect storm for the sensor to fail, the software not to detect the sensor failure, the user not to notice that the sensor is not displaying the oil level anymore and for the engine to lose more than a quart between oil changes and fail as a consequence.

[michaelg518]

Being a pilot, they even have a sight gauge for oil, and sometimes dipsticks on the jet engines, and those only use oil for lubrication purposes, not cooling. Thy say don't worry about it on some engines, like the Rolls Royce, I mean BMW engines:D.
But at the end of the day, should an engine sieze, and you live through the experience to face the FAA and they ask you, did you check the engine oil; the answer of it's a maintenance function isn't going to hold water. As the person in charge of your vehice, you are the one ewsponsible for the condition of your vehicle. Computers give bogus info as well. Whose TPM will fire off on a big bump in the road, or an intermittent light warning, or a reduced power that resets itself. Honestly. Old habits die hard, and I miss having a dipstick or a sight gauge to back up the Buck Rogers tech telling me everything is good, or death and doom is emminent. Situational awareness, as it were is invaluable. Being a pilot and an ASI in training I have to agree with the other pilot. It is important to be able to check all of the systems with some form of redundancy and I find that I do miss having a dipstick in my car as well. I think that the computers are great but everything fails eventually.

[mryakan]

Being a pilot and an ASI in training I have to agree with the other pilot. It is important to be able to check all of the systems with some form of redundancy and I find that I do miss having a dipstick in my car as well. I think that the computers are great but everything fails eventually.
But this is a car not a plane. You will not crash and die if you run out of oil, and you will not have to do a crash landing if you get a warning that it is low. You just pull over. Sure redundancy is great, but sometimes there are technical and economic reason to make it infeasible (think failure rate and risk vs reward). Really not apples to apples when comparing to plane, more like apples to steak.

[awahl]

Only issue ive ran into with mine is leaking oil filter housing gasket which caused an 1100 dollar repair of water pump and thermostat, a couple failed ignition coils, oh and a jacked up iDrive system now...hmmm only, turned into a couple more than i should. Nearing 90k miles though, I think this might be my last BMW for awhile at least, after 14 of them...Im not a fan anymore, I think its the dealer experience the most though that has turned me off.

Best of luck, I love driving my car, just not a fan of ridiculous stuff breaking. 500 dollar water pump, no thank you.

[Georgere]

One word - recommend

[jtk86]

havent had any issues with my 328 and im about to hit 55k miles, whats this lifter tick you guys are talking about?