21 months and 60K miles on 35D. clean diesel is a pain

[F1Stix]

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.

[blue dragon]

I feel really bad for you with those experiences. Perhaps you should have looked into the lemon laws in your state?

[F1Stix]

Thank you for the reply. We did check into the lemon laws. If I recall, the law has a mileage qualifier. You see, we drive the X a lot more than the average person/family. The mileage, it seems.... disqualified it. I understand this.

We put on over 35K mileage per year on average. Really more, but it stays in the shop so much that figure is somewhat low.

We pick it up today with the new SCR cat and associated parts. The bad thing is the X diesel value is dropping like a rock, it appears. I have seen multiple copies of the 2011's selling for under 35K retail. If we want out, it will be an expensive endeavor. If we stay in it, it will surely hammer us in repairs in the future. I would hate someone else to have to deal with this vehicle.

I want to add, this vehicle has never been modified. It was a present to my wife. She wanted it left alone so it would be super reliable. LOL

[ard]

I had a 2010 that sounded like that, emissions wise....32k- Lemoned it


Picked up a 2012 that hasnt spend a night at the dealer. 26k

I agree BMW really failed at this initial clean diesel project. I'd actually thought the 2011s were pretty solid, but guess not.

A

PS Lemon Law in Texas? lets say they arent a consumer friendly state.... ALTHOUGH, you can still file a lemon claim, you just cannot use the 'automatic presumption of reasonable repair attempts'. Did you ask an attorney?

[ChuckG]

I have a 2010 X5 35d with 42k miles. The only out of the ordinary problem That I have had was a burnt out glow plug caused by a power supply that put out too high voltage. The engine ran just fine with the bad glow plug the only way I knew anything was wrong was the check engine light. I have been very pleased with my diesel X5 and plan to buy another one in the next two years.

Chuck

[F1Stix]

We drove to the dealer late afternoon yesterday to pick up our X5. The dealer had it clean and ready for us. We were both glad to have it back. We had a nice uneventful drive back. They are about 1 hour and 10 minutes from us if we stay near the speed limit.

All was good for the drive back. Also, the wife drove to pick up our son from his friends house this morning, but on the way back the check engine light has illuminated again. No clue what it is yet, I am typing this from the driveway as I pull the codes. Im not really surprised at this point. Not sure what I am. Disappointed seems like a nicety right now.

[F1Stix]

Ok, autoenginuity is showing the same code. P2201 and 4B6A. Both are high NOx, and emission related.

It has a freeze frame of the data when the code was set as follows:

calculated load 0%
coolant temp 187F
engine rpm 1487/rpm
vehicle speed 50 mph
air intake temp 90F
airflow rate 5.59 lb per min
absolute throttle position 14%

Looking at the nox sensor data streaming off the ecm now.

[F1Stix]

The Nox data is looking good. Never exceeds 1650 ppm. Mostly under 1000 ppm.

But the catalyst values are out of spec. Back to the dealer it goes..............

[rh71]

Originally Posted by F1Stix

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.

This whole paragraph I'm thinking your wife has set a heavy purse or something similar down on the seat and when you test it obviously it's not the same scenario.

I feel for you though - I'd be fuming if I saw my car taken all apart with nobody to care for it at the dealer.

[ard]

im willing to bet you can lemon this.... look into the federal aspect of this and talk to an atty. One of the free, fly by night ones you get when you google lemon laws. At least get an opinion.

My car first had an emissions CEL at 9000 miles, but lemoned at 23 months and 32,000 miles. I got back 9000/120000 of purchase price, or 92.5%. (They, of course, offered 32/120....)

I did not use an atty, they take a chunk of any final settlement- make sure you understand this.

Finally even if you dont complete a lemon, you WILL get BMWs very best efforts at repair.

Best Luck

A