Came across this x35d with 224,000 miles on Autotrader

[First]

Originally Posted by Thecastle

I dunno, I've had tons of trouble with my BMW diesel. I would not say diesels are more reliable than gasoline cars. I would say with modern emissions they are less. But some folks have great luck.

I've had Lots of emissions failures, lots of mechanical failures on my 2011 335d. They aren't reliable but they are fun, mine is now JR tuning stage 2 now that the warranty is out. Under warranty my 2011 335D was in the shop constantly, so much so my family was always curious as to which loaner I would have next, and I wouldn't see the car for months at a time while BMW scratched its head about what was wrong. In fact I found buying a used D the cheapest way to lease a new BMW ;-)

I didn't buy a 2nd diesel when I purchased my X5 becasue of the nightmare of problems my 335d has. But then again I'm an owner of an N62 so I guess I'm a glutten for BMW's lack of durability. I havent gotten rid of the 335D mainly becasue I enjoy it and its deperciated so fast I'm still upside down 2 years latter with a 20% downpayment and extra payments...

The diesels have the following trouble spots
ABC's (EGR, DPF, SCR)
Carbon build up x1000
Vibration damper failures
vacuum hose failures
eat engine mounts
Boost hose failures
EGR cooler failures
injector failures...

I'm hardly unique... I've replaced my EGR valve 3x, EGR cooler 4x, MAF 4x, Differential Pressure Sensor 4x, DPF, SCR, SCR tank, Boost Hoses and I have less than 55K miles.. I also just replaced the battery and I'm about to do the vacuum hoses and vibration damper.

I've heard that the 335d's weren't as reliable as the X5d?? Don't know much about the 335d as how much they're different than our X5d's but a friend who's a BMW tech tells me he see's the 335d's a lot but not really the X5d.
Curious to see if any other members who know more chime in

[Thecastle]

Originally Posted by First

I've heard that the 335d's weren't as reliable as the X5d?? Don't know much about the 335d as how much they're different than our X5d's but a friend who's a BMW tech tells me he see's the 335d's a lot but not really the X5d.
Curious to see if any other members who know more chime in

Engine wise the 335D and x5d are nearly identical. I read about all kinds of problems on the x5D's as well over at e90post. There isn't a lot of diesel action here, so that may lead one to believe the X5 diesels are more reliable, than they may be in reality. Please don't take my comments to say I'm anti-diesel, I love mine, I just don't think in the modern emissions era diesels have any real advantage of gasoline cars in terms of durability.

From what I read the x5's and 335 are equally reliable. The same basic failures effect both, the engines are the same (except that the x5 has a low pressure EGR path in addition to high pressure EGR where as the 335D only has high pressure). Vibration dampers, EGR cooler's breaking, DPF failures (I read a lot of those one X5s) SCR tank failures (so often BMW has extended the warranty on the X5 for the tanks), vacuum hoses, injectors (see more fuel pump failures on the x5's). Initially it took a bit longer for CBU to show up in the X5's.

I would say that there is no durability advantage of the diesels over their gasoline counterparts, they just suffer from different problems. BMW's engines all seem capable of several hundred thousand miles (as most cars are now a days), but you'll probably spend several times their value in repairs.

Diesels, emissions failures, dampers, etc. Even the new N57's in the 2014+ X5 are having a lot of failures according to my service adviser basically the same as what effect the M57s.
N62, oil leaks, valve stems, coolant pipe
N54 oil leaks, cooling system failures, etc.

They all have their trouble spots to watch.