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Old 06-15-2013, 12:21 PM
F1Stix F1Stix is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: North Texas
Posts: 23
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21 months and 60K miles on 35D. clean diesel is a pain

We purchased a new 2011 35d in late 2011. Love the vehicle! It has the Sport package and the handling is very good. The 20" wheels seem to help too.

This post is going to center around the emissions systems and the related problems the X5's are having.

We have had two EGR coolers crack open and leak soot. This gives you a combusted diesel smell in the cabin and the soot trail is visible on the front of the engine. First one cracked at 11K. Second was 32K. The second one was the updated part, FYI. The second one failed late at night on a return road trip. We all got to inhale nasty smells for 5 hours.

A week after the second EGR cooler was replaced, the urea tank heater in the primary tank failed. Back to dealer for replacement. 2 months later the urea tank level sensor failed in the secondary tank. Back for repair. By this time I am starting to tire of the multiple trips to the dealer. Yes, they give us a nice loaner and wash the X5, but the lost time and worry is starting to add up.

A month later the back up camera is acting up. Setting codes and ding ding dinging at us every time we go into reverse gear. Back to dealer for check out. They reset codes and cant duplicate. Send us on our way. The next hour it goes into trouble again once we arrived home that afternoon. We call dealer back, but it is Friday evening. Everyone is gone. We return the X5 back a week later. The dealer resets again. They wont repair because they cant duplicate. I refuse to take X5 back. I asked them to try harder. Two weeks later, we call for update. They tell us some modules are being ordered and will be swapped. 3rd week, we call back and the X5 is fixed. So we think. We dont even make it out of the dealer lot before it dings again. Now I am losing control of my emotions. Looking for someone yell at. LOL. They take it back in for additional repair. We called a few days later and received no return phone call. Called again, still nothing. Decided to drive to dealer and check for ourselves. We find the door panels off, the side mirrors off, the center console removed, the rear hatch is open and all the panels are removed. The door panels are laying face down on the concrete and all scratched up. Multiple modules are hanging and wiring is stripped open all over the place. The also banged a dent in the passenger door against their lift as we were walking around the corner to check on the X5. Of course I am freaking out, but keeping calm and trying to explain what they are doing is pissing me off. After explaining to service manager the issues, he seems to really not care. Said the issues on the door panels, etc can be polished out. LOL There are pry marks all around the edges of the door panels. That is not going to polish out. We take a ton of pictures of the car. It was an epic mess of parts, pieces and wiring like you could not imagine. I am now thinking it is time to go up the food chain some. We called BMW NA and plead our case. They call back a week later with apologies, but no repair updates. they said they were waiting on the dealer to update them. A month has passed now. Dealer finally calls and well as BMW NA. BMW NA says they have a check for us for 1K for our troubles and all the repairs we noted on the panels, etc will be made. I said, keep your money, but get us an extended warranty to 100K. This car has been breaking down way too much and we are nearing the 50K warranty period. BMW NA told us now way. But the dealer said they would. Thank goodness because the X has continued to break down after the 50K warranty expired. BTW, the door panels creak and squeak all the time now. Its annoying. Paintless dent repair fixed the ding in the door from their lift. Multiple wood panels were replaced.

Fast forward to past 50K. We are now smelling diesel in the cabin again. Not sure what it is, because the EGR cooler is not showing any signs of leaking. The dealer cant find an issue. We take the X back. A week later it is smelling again. It seems it only comes into the cabin when the heater is on. They still cant find it, but did smell it once. We gave up and took the X back. Its summer now and we just run the AC on recirc.

A few more months has passed and the wife gets a ding ding ding telling her to have the passenger fasten the seat belt. Of course no one is sitting there. This goes on randomly for a few weeks. I cant get it to do it for me when I drive alone for a few days and...you guessed it, neither could the dealer when we took it in. I told them to just change the darn pressure sensor in the X and I will pay for it. I was tired of hearing about it. You see the thing never stops dinging until you either turn the car off of reach over and buckle the seat belt up for the ghost sitting next to you. They actually agreed to change it out for no charge. The wife goes to pick it up a few days later and is leaving the dealer lot when ding ding ding, it does it again. I told her to bring it home and let me have a look at it. Turns out the pressure sensor was never changed or if it was there was no evidence of such. There was dust on the connectors that has been collecting under there over the past 19 months. I dont see how they could have changed the sensor without the dust being rubbed off the plastic connector?? Maybe I am paranoid? I cant prove it. In the end I found a lose wire that was causing the issue and fixed it myself.

A few more months go by and the CEL comes on. I have expanded coverage autoenginuity and pulled the codes. NOX reading too high. We call the dealer again. The guys actually recognize our voices now. We get the X in and receive a call back a few days later. The SCR is bad. It takes several days to have it shipped in. The cost is 2K. It comes with multiple other parts. I think a few parts for the Urea tank, mixer valve, etc. The total is nearing 3K. The X has 60K miles on it. We pick it up today. Thank goodness for the warranty.

The engine and transmission are flawless. The suspension, brakes and handling are above board. My point is the electrics are weak in BMW's and the clean diesel technology is shit. My understanding is this system engineering was farmed out and has been a huge issue with BMW diesels. Dont drive one out of warranty. Diesel emissions controls have a long way to go. They have taken the ultra reliable diesel engine and turned it into a nightmare with these cheap and cheesy systems.

I really enjoy the X5. So much so I bought another one, but it is not Diesel.
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2011 X5 35D fast
2013 X5M faster
2006 M5 fastest
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