Greetings, from me and my new (old) car

[Championface]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to introduce myself and say it's good to be here :ty:

Since this community seems pretty clued up, I wanted to show you my new car that I picked up 2 weeks ago. Well, new old car...

I'm now the proud owner of a 2008 E90 335i! The 335i was always the slightly more unobtainable car for me, but it was a great deal and the dealership (Zambesi Auto) were quite happy to take my '06 130i off my hands - with no shortfall! W00t!

Since it's an '08, it's running the (absolutely) fantastic N54 motor. I usually lean towards MT, but since it was such a good deal I was happy to settle with the 6 speed Steptronic 'box, and I have to say, I love it. It had 102k KM on the clock from the floor, couple of rad options and a full service history with BMW - with no comments on the system.

I just wanted to get a general feel from other owners. Things I should look out for, suggestions, comments, all are welcome. I've got about 2 months left on the Motorplan so I want to tackle any potential issues before then.

After the first week, a small(ish) problem came up. It started running quite hot after driving for about 30 minutes or more. The first warning light told me my coolant was running low, and once it went over 120 degrees, the amber temperature light came on. I had a look under the hood and discovered the coolant expansion tank had a leak somewhere and was squirting coolant out when the temperature went up. I booked it in to Auto Alpina, they replaced the tank, flushed it out and added new fluids and the cars been great ever since.

Anyway, sorry for the long introduction. I look forward to hanging out in future :rollsmile:

 

[ChefDJ]

Welcome to the forum :thumbs:

Stunning car and brilliant intro :bravo:

 

[China]

Welcome buddy!!!

Even though ur car is 6 year old now....it will still run with the big boys!!

:thumbs:

 

[Philip Foglar]

Very nice car! Many congrats and welcome to the forum!! :thumbs:

 

[Rommies]

hey man welcome! If I'm not mistaken it is quite a common issue. The coolant tank cracks then the coolant obviously comes out.
Hopefully no damage was done to the motor.

Glad you sorted it quickly.
I was and still is a big fan of the N54 motor.

Anyway! Enjoy your stay here :thumbs:

 

[mubeend]

Welcome welcome.

Sent from my GT-I8190 using Tapatalk

 

[Rommies]

Also be sure to check if there is any comments in the history of the car about fuel pump & injectors. If my memory serves me correctly it is also listed as a "common issue" which got sorted under motor plan.

I'm sure some more X35i owners could shed some light on this.

 

[Championface]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

Also be sure to check if there is any comments in the history of the car about fuel pump & injectors. If my memory serves me correctly it is also listed as a "common issue" which got sorted under motor plan.

I'm sure some more X35i owners could shed some light on this.

Well, I have a contact who's run reports for me on both cars previously, once I give him the VIN number. In this case, the only comment on their system was that the previous owner had extended the motor plan.

I'd always read a lot about the HPFP failure in the past but firstly (as far as I'm aware) there were a lot less cases of this in South Africa compared to North America. And secondly, I'd also read that they fixed this pretty quickly and that anything from '08 onwards should be safe. Well, I hope so at least.

I will say though, I've started noticing recently that it's a tiny bit rough on a cold start - the idle is a little shakey. By the time I drive up the road to the first stop sign in the morning - once it's warmed up a bit - it's fine again. So, I am starting to suspect I might need new injectors, as you said.

Other than that, it's fuckin' awesome haha

 

[FiRi@Rennzport]

Hi buddy....congratulations on the awesome purchase. I just purchased one myself in January Also with the n54 motor. Brilliant pieces of machinery....

Here's the advise I was given when purchasing as well as what I been advised and done to my car in the past 4 months.

Under motor plan, try and get your vacuum hoses, charge pipe and sensors changed, especially if planning on modding. My 08, still has the two piece charge pipe which was later replaced with the 1 piece. See if you can get the injectors done as well, that will be a bonus.

Out of motor plan, a Carbon clean by our resident doctor, George smooth is a MUST. The x35 motor has a nasty build up of carbon and once the intakes are clean, you will feel the car is much more responsive, better economy and your idling should be sorted as well.

An aftermarket solution which will help combat the build up of carbon is getting an oil catch can, and this again could be obtained from our forum sponsors, either rennzsport or project shift.

There are some extremely knowledgeable guys in this group, who's advise and help will aid you in looking after your beast. I would read up on Kishs, Carbon doctor and Prevans threads, to have some nice info on how awesome these cars are and to pick up a lot of useful info on maintenance.

Enjoy the car.....I'm sure it's already bringing huge smiles to your face

I'm sure the others are gonna give you solid advise soon.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[Championface]

Hi buddy....congratulations on the awesome purchase. I just purchased one myself in January Also with the n54 motor. Brilliant pieces of machinery....

Here's the advise I was given when purchasing as well as what I been advised and done to my car in the past 4 months.

Under motor plan, try and get your vacuum hoses, charge pipe and sensors changed, especially if planning on modding. My 08, still has the two piece charge pipe which was later replaced with the 1 piece. See if you can get the injectors done as well, that will be a bonus.

Out of motor plan, a Carbon clean by our resident doctor, George smooth is a MUST. The x35 motor has a nasty build up of carbon and once the intakes are clean, you will feel the car is much more responsive, better economy and your idling should be sorted as well.

An aftermarket solution which will help combat the build up of carbon is getting an oil catch can, and this again could be obtained from our forum sponsors, either rennzsport or project shift.

There are some extremely knowledgeable guys in this group, who's advise and help will aid you in looking after your beast. I would read up on Kishs, Carbon doctor and Prevans threads, to have some nice info on how awesome these cars are and to pick up a lot of useful info on maintenance.

Enjoy the car.....I'm sure it's already bringing huge smiles to your face

I'm sure the others are gonna give you solid advise soon.

Wow, this is great. Thanks for the info, exactly the kinda thing I'm looking for!

When taking it in for the expansion tank replacement, I told the service consultant to give it a "once-over" and make sure everything is fine, since I've only got a small amount of time left on the motor plan. She basically said they can't do that, unless they find a fault - which would make sense, I suppose. She's the only one I've dealt with so far, maybe someone else would be able to help with this. But basically, is it even possible to convince them to replace things like the hoses, charge pipe, sensors, etc unless there's an identified issue? Was that something you managed to pull off? If so, which branch would you be able to refer me to?

Ah, I didn't think of carbon build up. That could explain the shakey idle as well.

Out of motor plan, I used to take my 1 Series to Savspeed and Tune Tech for services. They've both been great over the last couple of years, but would a 335i be better off at any other workshops that you know of?

 

[Shay_shay]

Congrats bro. Many happy miles and happier smiles : )

 

[Championface]

Just a quick update:

I booked her in for that rough idle issue. I had already suspected that I needed to replace the injectors, and that's exactly what the dealer did - all 6 of them.

Holy shit, what a difference! I was happy with the car before, but for some reason I wasn't phased by the laggy throttle response. With the new injectors, there is absolutely zero lag on pull-off.

So this is what an N54 SHOULD feel like. Happy as nuts over here :inlove: