E90 year 2007 engine failure

[TJ GOH]

Dear all,I was wondering if any of you have had this problem before. My car encountered engine failure from day two I got my car from Auto Bavaria in feb 2008 (new). It was thereafter reprogrammed by AB after I brought my car in but a day or two later the engine failure lights came out again and my car was in AB for nearly a month (Imagine buying a new car and not being able to drive it for a month !).They (AB) apparently changed the harness or something and gave me a further warranty on the engine til Feb 2011 which is a year extra on top of the usual 2 year warranty.In any event the car was fine until last month June 2010 wherein the engine failure lights again surfaced and this time the car lost power instantly. This time I took my car to Ingress and was told by Ingress that only a minor reprogramming was required. I took back my car and after 3 days the engine failure lights came out again with the instant loss of power. I took my car to Ingress again and showed them the extra warranty and I was informed by Ingress that BMW Malaysia only told them to reprogram the car again although Ingress advised them that the valvetronic motor(VM) was faulty. So after the reprogramming was done, after a few days the engine failure occurred again. This time I took the car to AB and after deliberation with them the car was sent in for 3 days and the VM was replaced. I have since taken back the car.I have since given BMW the appropriate legal notice and they have since not reverted which is something I am not surprised.Now if this issue concerns anybody in particular perhaps you can post your story here in order for the appropriate action can be considered against BMW. I personally am of the opinion that any car be it a BMW or a Kancil which experience engine failure from the day one or two of purchase is not of merchantable quality for sale to us the consumers.Your feedback is Important.RegardsTJGOH

 

[astroboy]

TJGOH, sorry to hear your experience and understand your frustration. Welcome to the BMW Club Malaysia's forum. This is a club member funded forum and we always advice those newly registered to head over to our newbie section to give a brief intro of yourself so everyone know who our new friend is.

Newbie section: http://www.bmwclubmalaysia.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=30

My personal understanding of BMW is that its a high precision machinery, tuned to perform at the borderline of technology allows. To achieve this, many more sensors, motors and parts are used in our cars compare to another competitor's machine. Like the saying: "Too many cooks spoil the soup", so when there's many more parts in the car, chances of something fail is statistically higher, despite new, compare to a say Camry, who don't even have such a thing called Valvetronic Motor.

The problem that u faced is rare, but still its easier to "strike" compared to lottery. Mine is a 2007 E90 as well, and has been returning to SC quite a number of times for warranty rectification to the engine, not VM though. And at times, I do bitch about it but the driving experience offered by this car is something that can't be substituted. The net result is, I still have a big grin on my face after driving the car, even until today.

So was your car's problem solved after replacing the VM? VM is a critical part that will fail thru time and not cheap to replace. Now u have a new unit and should last you many years/grins to come. :wink:

 

[E46Fanatic]

In any event the car was fine until last month June 2010 wherein the engine failure lights again surfaced and this time the car lost power instantly. This time I took my car to Ingress and was told by Ingress that only a minor reprogramming was required. I took back my car and after 3 days the engine failure lights came out again with the instant loss of power. I took my car to Ingress again and showed them the extra warranty and I was informed by Ingress that BMW Malaysia only told them to reprogram the car again although Ingress advised them that the valvetronic motor(VM) was faulty. So after the reprogramming was done, after a few days the engine failure occurred again. This time I took the car to AB and after deliberation with them the car was sent in for 3 days and the VM was replaced. I have since taken back the car.

I know of a few of cases of the N52 with the VM failure. It usually happens after 70k kms mileage, some of them experiencing this around 100k kms. Whats the mileage of your car BTW?

 

[JCKL]

I know of a few of cases of the N52 with the VM failure. It usually happens after 70k kms mileage, some of them experiencing this around 100k kms. Whats the mileage of your car BTW?

E46F

What're the early symptoms of VM failure, I'm a bit worry that it may happen to my E90 soon.

 

[E46Fanatic]

E46F

What're the early symptoms of VM failure, I'm a bit worry that it may happen to my E90 soon.

I only heard this from friends experience, but apparently it happens just like that, and you loose power and can't rev beyond 3+k rpms or something (at least it doesn't leave you stranded by the roadside unlike the electric water pump failure)

Dug up a thread in BMW SG and here is a video of someone who complained about erratic idling which PML fixed by changing the valvetronic motor on his 320i. Not sure if this is the condition before the VM goes kaput tho.