[varun2136]

what's up everyone, Out of nowhere my BMW 435i coupe hardtop has been taking me through hell.(screwed up thing is its just my weekend car lol)

the engine oil leak started god knows when and had to replace some oil filter housing

and now there is apparently a crack in some plastic pipe that connects the intercooler to the throttle body, the mechanic said the turbo sucks in air but can't get it to the engine and most likely due to this crack. I've never been in an accident or any I just str8 line drive the car hard but never like the real crazy ones.

After all this I don't even know what else could be the issue.

2 things started this all,

1.) leaking engine oil to changing oil filter housing
2.) the popular/common drivetrain malfunction please drive safely sign.

I'm so far spending 1800 total but after this I have no idea what to expect. hopefully this solves it.

only barely crossed 40k miles and I'm just the second owner. First owner only leased it.

within the 2.5 years I've owned the beamer I drove it 9k miles. so this is just pitiful

with this very vague rant what do you feel caused this?

it happened so quietly I couldn't even tell you where or when or what caused this.

never had any issues at all till this point

[davidr3]

Engine oil leaks are the results of gaskets going bad. Unfortunately on bmw's and certain other cars gaskets are a maintenance item as opposed to the car "breaking".

The pipe your mechanic is referring to is the chargepipe. It essentially delivers boost to the intercooler and the N55 motor had a faulty design where it would crack near the throttle body connection. This is a part bmw not only designed poorly, but also cheaped out on using plastic. This is not the result of an accident. (This is also likely the result of your drive train malfunction)

Do not replace it with another plastic part. Swap it to this https://topgearsolutions.com/vrsf-n5...i-f30-f32-f22/
There are other companies with cheaper/more expensive chargepipes but this is just an example although i'm not the biggest fan of VRSF. It's not a hard swap, maybe search up a video and see if you're up for the challenge, if not just have your mechanic do it. A bunch of shops like speedlogic, SSR performance, etc etc will only charge 100$ to do it.

[Randy Johnson]

Welcome to BMW’s. I’m on my 1st one. Same year and model. I started having trouble around 50k miles. Valve cover gasket, ignition coils, e-brake cable clamp. I fixed each issue myself but troubleshooting was not easy. I spent under $200 for all. I noticed a lot of seals and plastic parts are severely dry rotted and brittle. A few trim pieces were replaced by the dealer a few years ago when still under warranty. South Motors BMW sucks A$$ so I’m surprised they did any warranty work at all. Anyway these cars seem to have a pretty short shelf life. Get out and enjoy it before it blows up!!!!

[thejeremyman9]

If you are going to pay overpriced labor rates and markup on OEM components for all of your repairs it is going to be very expensive to own a BMW. You should strongly consider investing in some tools and watching DIY videos / reading guides and performing maintenace yourself. A good deal of it is relatively simple/procedural and the cost of parts is minimal compared to the labor you will pay for a shop. OFHG is a prime example.

[jh_f30]

Both issues you're talking about are very common and known issues with the N55. Even though 40k is pretty early for issues to arise, these plastic & rubber parts are the better part of 6 years old by now, and they do age and can get brittle just over time.

+1 on the suggestion to get some tools and learn to do some wrenching. OFHG replacement should be around $30 in gaskets/o-rings and can be done fairly quickly.

Chargepipe replacement is also very DIY-able if you have the proper tools & space.

What exactly was the $1800 repair bill for?

[varun2136]

Originally Posted by davidr3

Engine oil leaks are the results of gaskets going bad. Unfortunately on bmw's and certain other cars gaskets are a maintenance item as opposed to the car "breaking".

The pipe your mechanic is referring to is the chargepipe. It essentially delivers boost to the intercooler and the N55 motor had a faulty design where it would crack near the throttle body connection. This is a part bmw not only designed poorly, but also cheaped out on using plastic. This is not the result of an accident. (This is also likely the result of your drive train malfunction)

Do not replace it with another plastic part. Swap it to this https://topgearsolutions.com/vrsf-n5...i-f30-f32-f22/
There are other companies with cheaper/more expensive chargepipes but this is just an example although i'm not the biggest fan of VRSF. It's not a hard swap, maybe search up a video and see if you're up for the challenge, if not just have your mechanic do it. A bunch of shops like speedlogic, SSR performance, etc etc will only charge 100$ to do it.

Wow you were spot on. sorry for the late response. I was barely online since I posted this.

but after everything and having my bmw back on the road like its brand new it really was basically these issues below:

-oil filter housing leak (bad leak)
-oil pan gasket leak (replaced for any potential further issues)
-the plastic pipe that like you mentioned is exactly what cracked

well I got it replaced. I need to ask him with what model he replaced it with.

Overall everything was 2500.

Probably got ripped off but I learned off this first mechanical issue I ever got with my bmw.

only 40k miles too smh

I boasted too much saying I still havent had any mechanical issues till now.

My question now is how did my gaskets go bad to cause such bad oil leak?

[varun2136]

Originally Posted by Randy Johnson

Welcome to BMW’s. I’m on my 1st one. Same year and model. I started having trouble around 50k miles. Valve cover gasket, ignition coils, e-brake cable clamp. I fixed each issue myself but troubleshooting was not easy. I spent under $200 for all. I noticed a lot of seals and plastic parts are severely dry rotted and brittle. A few trim pieces were replaced by the dealer a few years ago when still under warranty. South Motors BMW sucks A$$ so I’m surprised they did any warranty work at all. Anyway these cars seem to have a pretty short shelf life. Get out and enjoy it before it blows up!!!!

damn at least you spent much lower. I just am so busy in other areas of life its hard for me to spend a full day or two on it. I really need to get to the point like you and really study how to work on my car seriously.

how are the issues after you replaced everything yourself?

If you were to invest in quality parts from little things to up how do you feel your bmw will last?

I always hear of people driving beyond 100k miles with their BMW/Audis with no issues it blows my mind

[varun2136]

Originally Posted by thejeremyman9

If you are going to pay overpriced labor rates and markup on OEM components for all of your repairs it is going to be very expensive to own a BMW. You should strongly consider investing in some tools and watching DIY videos / reading guides and performing maintenace yourself. A good deal of it is relatively simple/procedural and the cost of parts is minimal compared to the labor you will pay for a shop. OFHG is a prime example.

yea you're right. I will really run into issues this way.

would you have any suggestions of warranty that I can look into to save these issues.

I will definitely look into videos to keep my n55 engine as long as possible.

its hard to let it go because I got with so alot of carbon fiber trim and features on the inside it looks amazing.

Engine wise cant trust it now after this totally random fail

[varun2136]

Originally Posted by jh_f30

Both issues you're talking about are very common and known issues with the N55. Even though 40k is pretty early for issues to arise, these plastic & rubber parts are the better part of 6 years old by now, and they do age and can get brittle just over time.

+1 on the suggestion to get some tools and learn to do some wrenching. OFHG replacement should be around $30 in gaskets/o-rings and can be done fairly quickly.

Chargepipe replacement is also very DIY-able if you have the proper tools & space.

What exactly was the $1800 repair bill for?

Yea it was very very lame on my end but basically, what I paid for was

-Oil filter housing replacement
-oil cooler gasket
-replaced oil filter stand gasket
-oil pan gasket-n
-the intercooler pipe that goes to the throttle body

I probably repeated two things above but yea,

I appreciate everybod's advice. I gotta plan something out with it just baaarely crossing 40k miles.

Otherwise I have never seen any issues aside from this in owning this beauty.

[jh_f30]

Oil pan gasket job was probably high in labor. AFAIK, the subframe needs to be lowered to replace it. I hope everything gets sorted so you can enjoy many years of enjoyment!

My '13 335i is pushing 160K miles. Stay up to date on regular maintenance and it should treat you well!

[thejeremyman9]

Oil leaks like OFHG, VCG and OPG typically occur in the 40-100k mile range, so you just happened to get unlucky and be on the lower end. My OPG started leaking at 45k miles, hoping my VCG and OCHG last much longer.

The N55 in the f3x is very reliable mechanically, it's just the small stuff like plastic pieces, oil leaks, etc that don't last that long.

[varun2136]

Originally Posted by thejeremyman9

Oil leaks like OFHG, VCG and OPG typically occur in the 40-100k mile range, so you just happened to get unlucky and be on the lower end. My OPG started leaking at 45k miles, hoping my VCG and OCHG last much longer.

The N55 in the f3x is very reliable mechanically, it's just the small stuff like plastic pieces, oil leaks, etc that don't last that long.

yea I've been researching crazy and I really got hit with the

charger hose crack
oil pan gasket
oil filter gasket (bad leak)

but they all are fixed and wow does my car feel amazing like its just so juiced up .

any plastic pieces that are must swaps in a n55 engine to keep it going as long as possible?

I hope it stays this way.

something tells me my oil change that was done at Valvoline had something to do with this even though the problem in the oil leak and that oil change were almost 8 months apart. Its the only thing I can think of how it could of happened?

[varun2136]

Originally Posted by jh_f30

Oil pan gasket job was probably high in labor. AFAIK, the subframe needs to be lowered to replace it. I hope everything gets sorted so you can enjoy many years of enjoyment!

My '13 335i is pushing 160K miles. Stay up to date on regular maintenance and it should treat you well!

Yea it was.

everything is fixed now the mechanic is very reputable and only works on BMW's or Benz. More BMWs than anything.

I just want to know what I should look out for that I should probably get them checked out and replaced if they show signs of wear.

Any advice? I barely just crossed 40k miles.

Got the car in December 2019 and believe it or not only drove it 10k miles till now lol.

Previous owner was a leased owner.

that alone makes me mad that I ran into this.

[WDE82]

Originally Posted by varun2136

what's up everyone, Out of nowhere my BMW 435i coupe hardtop has been taking me through hell.(screwed up thing is its just my weekend car lol)

the engine oil leak started god knows when and had to replace some oil filter housing

and now there is apparently a crack in some plastic pipe that connects the intercooler to the throttle body, the mechanic said the turbo sucks in air but can't get it to the engine and most likely due to this crack. I've never been in an accident or any I just str8 line drive the car hard but never like the real crazy ones.

After all this I don't even know what else could be the issue.

2 things started this all,

1.) leaking engine oil to changing oil filter housing
2.) the popular/common drivetrain malfunction please drive safely sign.

I'm so far spending 1800 total but after this I have no idea what to expect. hopefully this solves it.

only barely crossed 40k miles and I'm just the second owner. First owner only leased it.

within the 2.5 years I've owned the beamer I drove it 9k miles. so this is just pitiful

with this very vague rant what do you feel caused this?

it happened so quietly I couldn't even tell you where or when or what caused this.

never had any issues at all till this point

What? This is two problems.

Oil leaks are inevitable on BMWs.

The cracked pipe is unlucky.

Learn to DIY if you're sweating $1800 for a repair. You're going to sweat more later.

[varun2136]

Originally Posted by jh_f30

Oil pan gasket job was probably high in labor. AFAIK, the subframe needs to be lowered to replace it. I hope everything gets sorted so you can enjoy many years of enjoyment!

My '13 335i is pushing 160K miles. Stay up to date on regular maintenance and it should treat you well!

man 160k? that's amazing

do you recommend I go to only specific places to get work done?

oil change , brake pads replacement, etc?

do u have warranty?

[jh_f30]

Originally Posted by varun2136

man 160k? that's amazing

do you recommend I go to only specific places to get work done?

oil change , brake pads replacement, etc?

do u have warranty?

I do most of my own maintenance myself. Only major thing I had to take it in for was for a valvetronic eccentric shaft replacement. If you have the time/resources, DIYing can save money and get you more intimately familiar with your car, just as long as you're willing to invest in the tools and time. Where in CA are you?

[TheJungatron]

the gaskets get hot and dry out over time. This is just inevitable.

The oil pan gasket is recommended at or after 75k miles so you would have had to do that at some point. (900-1200 at a shop no matter what thanks to the sub frame drop)

You got most of the bad stuff out of the way and should be solid if you treat the car right.

Good luck!

[WDE82]

Originally Posted by Jungatron

the gaskets get hot and dry out over time. This is just inevitable.

The oil pan gasket is recommended at or after 75k miles so you would have had to do that at some point. (900-1200 at a shop no matter what thanks to the sub frame drop)

You got most of the bad stuff out of the way and should be solid if you treat the car right.

Good luck!

There is no mileage for an oil seal replacement. You replace it if it leaks, if you want to. Really, small oil leaks don't cause other problems. They're like the least urgent repair.

[tturedraider]

As others have mentioned you’ve experienced two of the most common N55 issues. One suggestion related to getting the oil changed. Dealers usually have “Value Services” for cars about the age of your car. So, either get your oil changed at the dealer or at your BMW independent mechanic. Using these quick change shops isn’t the best idea.

[varun2136]

Originally Posted by Jungatron

the gaskets get hot and dry out over time. This is just inevitable.

The oil pan gasket is recommended at or after 75k miles so you would have had to do that at some point. (900-1200 at a shop no matter what thanks to the sub frame drop)

You got most of the bad stuff out of the way and should be solid if you treat the car right.

Good luck!

appreciate the feedback.

can you guide me on the main things to look out for to keep my car in good shape?

its funny when I had warranty and took my car for an engine check up they said all was good

and your BMW cpu doesent tell you if anything is actually wrong only surface level stuff

you need that expensive tool to see what fault codes are apparent I believe.

[varun2136]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

As others have mentioned you've experienced two of the most common N55 issues. One suggestion related to getting the oil changed. Dealers usually have "Value Services" for cars about the age of your car. So, either get your oil changed at the dealer or at your BMW independent mechanic. Using these quick change shops isn't the best idea.

yea i bet valvoline screwed me over with some lazy mechanic who didn't feel like doing a good job that day smh

only going to BMW specialists now

[varun2136]

Originally Posted by jh_f30

I do most of my own maintenance myself. Only major thing I had to take it in for was for a valvetronic eccentric shaft replacement. If you have the time/resources, DIYing can save money and get you more intimately familiar with your car, just as long as you're willing to invest in the tools and time. Where in CA are you?

thats true I'm also a mechanical engineer so I feel I can slowly figure things out on an engineering level.

I stay in Torrance , CA Area

any advice based on where I reside?