Let me start by saying I've had a lot of different cars, and that I've enjoyed my BMWs as much or more than any of the others. So I think BMW has done most things quite well. But with the benefit of hindsight, many miles, and years of experience, it seems clear that some things BMW did were really dumb.
I have a short list of my own and will starting posting my items below. I'm curious to hear what others think.
Long Oil Change Intervals --
I'm not sure what led to this change. Was it because synthetic oil lasts longer before breaking down? Or was it because BMW started paying for the maintenance. (When we paid for it the intervals were short. When they started paying for it suddenly the intervals were much longer, and even "lifetime" for transmissions and differentials.)
I understand that synthetic oils last longer before breaking down. But what about the filters that before had been replaced at 3,000 mile intervals? Was that never necessary? Can oil filters really last many times longer? Why risk it?
And what about the stuff that filters don't filter out? Oil turns dark because of the carbon, dirt, etc. that it picks up and that is suspended in the oil by design. Does it help the engine to let that accumulate in the oil for 10,000+ miles before being changed? Of course not.
For those of us with M62 cars, the clearest example of this mistake is the problem of clogged oil separators. I drove a '97 540I for 230,000 miles and that oil separator never clogged. The spec oil for that car was Rotella 15W-40 which I changed every 3-5,000 miles. (I aimed for 3,000 but wasn't always on time.)
After that car got totaled I bought an '02 540i with 150,000 miles, and it had a clogged separator. Only then, when reading about others having similar problems, did I learn about this and how to attach an external separator.
So how does a 1/4" gravity-fed oil passageway inside an engine get completely clogged? If it were just one car, I'd say it was bad maintenance (wrong oil, infrequent changes). But when it happens to a lot of us, I have to start blaming BMW for specifying the wrong oil change interval.
Now I use good synthetic oil AND I replace it every 3,000-5,000 miles. Small price to pay to keep the inside of the engine clean and lubed.
Last edited by R Shaffner; 09-16-2018 at 08:22 AM.
Having been in business for years the list would not be short.
Internal Oil Separator (Deep down) --
While I'm at it, having an oil separator deep down inside an engine, that takes many hours and several gaskets to replace. (The M62 example above.)
Many later BMW's have external oil separators. I know freezing moisture can be a problem in very cold climates, but still an external separator seems better.
Last edited by R Shaffner; 09-15-2018 at 03:19 PM.
Using Plastic Parts INSIDE an Engine or Transmission --
I admire how BMW has been able to keep the weight down on its cars. As I understand it, the 5 series cars have weighed about the same since the early 1990's if not before. Pretty amazing considering how much more car one gets now, taller, wider, and longer. I know using more plastic and aluminum parts helps a lot with that, but does it make sense to use plastic for key parts that are inside an engine or transmission?
Examples:
The plastic timing chain guides in the M62. The M60 predecessor used a pulley in the valley between the cams. Clearly better. (Duh!) The successor, the N62, uses 2 gears on the crankshaft for 2 different chains. Also an improvement. Why would any engineer think plastic guides were a good long-term solution?
A few years ago I fixed a clutch in a 318i for a widow in the neighborhood. Her late husband had given the car to her, and she couldn't afford what the dealer was asking to fix it. Actually the clutch and the tranny were fine. However, the clutch wouldn't work because a $2 plastic part in the bell housing had disintegrated. (The slave cylinder acts on an arm in the bell housing that uses the plastic part as a fulcrum.) So I pulled the tranny (in my driveway) to replace a stupid $2 plastic part.
Last edited by R Shaffner; 09-16-2018 at 08:29 AM.
Nikasil coating of cylinder walls. Total fiasco as US sulphurous gas damaged this coating to the point that many V8 engines were replaced on BMW’s nickel (pun intended)!
If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue
The oil change interval is probably the worst because based on my experience, N62 and some N52 and basically all newer cars that followed the oil change procedure have valve stem seal failure. Have had a few cars in the shop that were one owner and they ignored the longer interval and their engines are fine.
Beyond the obvious reaaons why thats bad, it has also tarnished bmw's reputation a bit when half the BMWs on the road are smoking... Because then other people on the road see the failures whereas a lot of oher failures can be kept from public view
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iDrive --
I don't have a car with iDrive, and I'm so glad I don't. Since the 1970's, magazines like Road & Track had been talking up ergonomics and making the controls easy to find and use. The key point was to place the controls in different places and give them different buttons and levers, so the driver could find and operate them just by touch, without taking his eyes off the road.
As driver's cars, BMWs had always been praised for doing it right. In my e39, I rarely have to take my eyes off the road to do anything important.
Then BMW took a big leap in the opposite direction with the iDrive. I know that's not what killed the 7 series. SUVs did that. But I bet it helped. I know some drivers who hated the early iDrives in their cars.
Last edited by R Shaffner; 09-17-2018 at 08:39 AM.
SMG --
(I'm just guessing on this one, and I'm happy for someone who owns a SMG car to tell me what they think.)
To me this looks like a cluster-____ from the start. A complex, problem-prone set-up that is between a manual and an automatic, but doesn't act like either? Really? What a marketing blunder that was! Did ANYONE in their research tell them that's what they wanted in a BMW?
I've seen many nice used SMG cars going for deep discounts. Even if the transmission is working ok at the moment, prospective buyers shy way because it's not what they want and they're afraid of problems down the road.
The jack on the E36 is clever, easy to use, and folds up into a useless piece of sheet metal if you poke the car wrong while it's on the jack. After having to call AAA to get the car off a broken original jack, I went out and got a normal scissor jack.
And don't get me started on the over-complicated and finicky convertible top that E36s used.
Matt Cramer
1997 BMW 328i convertible, 1972 Chevy C10 pickup, 1966 Dodge Dart slant six
BMW - where "Why doesn't everybody build cars the way they do?" meets "Why can't they build a car the same way everyone else does it?"
Cheap Wiring Looms, Quality of ECU
Not that significant but....
We considered an executive (Demo) totally loaded 335i for sale at a dealer.
Carbon fiber look mirror covers!
Really?
I forget what the cost of the CF mirror covers were( $100 plus at least )
I would have had to remove them before leaving the dealership
No Dipstick --
Really dumb, in my opinion.
What if someone repaired a bad oil leak and wanted to make sure the engine had the right amount of oil before starting it? Would he have to drain the oil to measure or replace it?
Or what if there's a failure in the sensor/circuit that reads the oil level? Would the car shut down or go into limp mode? Would that disable the car?
All that sounds absurd. How much money/effort does it take to keep a simple dipstick? This couldn't have been a cost issue. Just hubris and an overconfidence in one's new technology.
Keeping the oil at the right level is just too important to deny owners such a simple and foolproof way to check it.
Hiding the Diagnostic/Performance Data from the Owners
(This rant is directed at all car companies. I'll add it here because BMW, especially, should know better.)
I like the way I can read the ODBI codes on my brother's 1992 e34. That old computer isn't sophisticated, the error codes can be like guesses, and the "stomp test" is cumbersome. But at least one doesn't need a special tool to learn what the car knows.
Then OBDII comes along and buying a $60,000+ car isn't enough. One had to spend another $100 to get an OBDII reader/reset tool. What the hell? If the car is smart enough to know shit about itself, then why isn't that information made available to the driver, easily and immediately?
A bunch of us are jumping through hoops, using old PCs and various old programs, just to get data from our cars. Why? It's MY car, damn it. I bought it. That's MY information. Why is it so hard to retrieve? (I know, BMW wanted to make money on the service and maintenance. Not a good enough reason for me.)
Ever since the iDrive, BMW has had computer screens and a mice inside it's cars. Since then, a simple and better version of INPA should have been available on that screen. I agree that it should be harder to make important software changes, but when it comes to reading what the car knows, that should be standard equipment on every car -- especially on any ultimate driving machine.
Long OCIs
lifetime diff/trans fluid
EPS
Turbos
subscription based carplay
dip stick removal
using optical cables in a car
eliminating manuals
auto rev matching in manuals
auto start/stop
run flat tires
eliminating spare tires
plastic valve covers
clutch delay valves
4 door "coupes"
"coupe" SUVs
making 82,435,234,124 different body styles instead of making a couple (well)
eliminating wagons
only offering the remaining wagons in 4 cylinder awd automatic
flash limits on ecus
Last edited by cirrusblau; 11-19-2018 at 03:36 AM.
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