prevention/repair of common issues Z4 35i

[marioz4]

After having E89 30is for several years without any issues, 50.000 miles i decided to go back and get E89 year 2010 35i with 56000miles. In few days this car have put big smile on my face ( and probably few speeding tickets) and already started to worry me after reading few common issues it suffers ( i kno wi should hav edone my reaserch b4). Here is the ( basic and most important) list

Piezo injector failure
Leaking adaptive suspension ( last 4 MOT advice is light mist)
HPFP (High pressure fuel pump)
Faulty coil packs
LPFP (low pressure fuel pump)
Rattling wastegate actuators
Alloys cracking ( x3 taking my ones for repair next week and taking off RFT soon)


Instead of waiting for car to start causing problems, is there a way to do maintenance or/and replacement after xxx miles? I drive across Europe very often after and i would hate for car to get busted lets say in France where i will get simply ripped off.

Would you replace any of above ( or do specific maintenance) even if they still work ok, so that after you get lets say 40.000 miles problem free ( well at least not this problems) and if so where would you do this and cost involved, i live in London.

Also i noticed huge difference between 30 and 35, when starting the car cold, its much more noisier when started cold for first 1-2 min until it get warm, is this normal? Last but not the least, geeting in 2nd gear from first feel bit rough, but as i read its just the way it is!

Thanks and happy driving

[mr wilks]

"get busted in France where i will get ripped off " that did tickle me now there is a country that likes to milk & motorist who's broken down
Anyways best skating over that bit

2010 50k i would check that some of the concerns have not already been covered as 9yrs in id expect at least 1 or 2 of the issues to have already occurred .
waterpump is one you could add & possibly do as prevention before fail .
rattling waste gates / if yours don't rattle now then stick with yearly/7k oil changes & don't thrash the car cold then no reason why they will suddenly start
signs can predict early symptoms of injector / hpfp issues so again if the car starts / idles & pulls through the rev range without faults then just crack on mindful of potential fail
coilpacks aren't major money so you could carry a couple of spares with you or simply swap all 6 & save a few of the old ones
alloys / just pay £700ish to CMwheels for a set of Veemann's (with non runflats ) then enjoy the car wheels with a single crack not too bad but 3 wheels cracked id be having those straight off the car
gearbox ? my manual 35i was on 50k , gearbox was fine in all gears so maybe look at change of oil in yours , that said manual Bmw boxes aren't the slickest of things

welcome to the forum & post up some pics when you get chance

[john-e89]

Holy shamoly can you imagine the fun the Europeans are gonna have with us when we brits break down.....

Going on memory...not a good move admittedly..... ..adaptive shocks are £1600 a pair, so brace yourself, drop them and make sure they use plenty of lube...

Welcome to the forum Mr Wilkes....?? OP joined in 2012.....

[GuidoK]

I think you should devide the noted problems in problems that could leave you stranded and problems that get gradually get worse and worse.
The problems that could leave you stranded, it makes sense to do them as a preemptive measure, but for the other problems I dont see any reason.
Except when they would be really really hard to get to and while doing other (preemptive) work in that area fix them at the same time.

[mr wilks]

Welcome to the forum Mr Wilkes....?? OP joined in 2012.....

7 posts in 7 years he can have the welcome as goodwill gesture anyway what are you doing on the forum , thought you had your name down for the Peak district forum day out today

[john-e89]

Welcome to the forum Mr Wilkes....?? OP joined in 2012.....

7 posts in 7 years he can have the welcome as goodwill gesture anyway what are you doing on the forum , thought you had your name down for the Peak district forum day out today

I did the first leg of the drive mate, got some health issues so had planned to break off early but it was a cracking two hours out, fantastic weather, just a tad busy, well it’s gonna be in this weather in the Peaks, good run though.

[marioz4]

@ Mr Wilks – thanks for the welcome...even if not my first always good to feel welcomed 
I have no way knowing what has been done, I will call BMW and BMW specialist where 2 previous owners serviced the car.
1st owner did 14k after 2y and then on 30k year 5 – not best I know, I guess he followed BMW computer
2nd owner did each 5k and yearly service so that’s great!!!
If I change alloys should I go down to 18 and take RFT out, to get better ride or keep 19 and just throw away RFT?

@ John-e89 1600 for a pair? That’s 3k for 4, I think there is company that produces adaptive shocks ( Blistein cost aprox £400 for 1) – also there is way bypassing BMW adaptive and putting just normal ones, I know this option is not very popular with many but I really don’t push the car to the limit that I really need adaptive, at least not for 3k if all 4!

@ guidok – Great advice, so I guess water pump, coilpack and hope for the best! Where can I get this 2? Dos water pump give any sings that it will give up or just decide to die with not advance notice?

Any good London and surrounding BMW specialist?

Any yes French are...well let’s say when I needed help...very “friendly” for a fee!

[john-e89]

Yep 3k for 4 shocks. AFAIK nobody does adaptive any cheaper than the dealers so you’re a bit stuck there, could be wrong of course. You certainly can put non adaptive shocks on, no problem at all with that, you might have to get the dash light coded out though.

[Silverstar]

@ Mr Wilks – thanks for the welcome...even if not my first always good to feel welcomed 
I have no way knowing what has been done, I will call BMW and BMW specialist where 2 previous owners serviced the car.
1st owner did 14k after 2y and then on 30k year 5 – not best I know, I guess he followed BMW computer
2nd owner did each 5k and yearly service so that’s great!!!
If I change alloys should I go down to 18 and take RFT out, to get better ride or keep 19 and just throw away RFT?

@ John-e89 1600 for a pair? That’s 3k for 4, I think there is company that produces adaptive shocks ( Blistein cost aprox £400 for 1) – also there is way bypassing BMW adaptive and putting just normal ones, I know this option is not very popular with many but I really don’t push the car to the limit that I really need adaptive, at least not for 3k if all 4!

@ guidok – Great advice, so I guess water pump, coilpack and hope for the best! Where can I get this 2? Dos water pump give any sings that it will give up or just decide to die with not advance notice?

Any good London and surrounding BMW specialist?

Any yes French are...well let’s say when I needed help...very “friendly” for a fee!

For west London I hear Gilberts BMW in Acton are good. Many years ago I used Birds BMW Garage in Iver (Bucks), whilst very good they are somewhat pricey.

[R.E92]

The parts are £500~ per strut. It only seems to be the front ones that fail prematurely.

[marioz4]

Thanks and fail they did both front leaking like mad - so i decided to chnage all 4 of them with non adaptive ones, all 4 new + front springs + aliment £1400 - i dont think i will miss adaptive suspension that only words when in sport mode. Will post now with pices new post

[R.E92]

Thanks and fail they did both front leaking like mad - so i decided to chnage all 4 of them with non adaptive ones, all 4 new + front springs + aliment £1400 - i dont think i will miss adaptive suspension that only words when in sport mode. Will post now with pices new post

The adaptive dampers work in all modes. The idea is that by default they are soft for greater comfort while driving but when set in sport it firms up for improved handling.

[marioz4]

Thanks - i did not know it work all the time, well too late now car in garage all 4 new normal suspension in...i hope i will not regret it!

I am also changing dif and trans oil, i been told its a must!

[R.E92]

Thanks - i did not know it work all the time, well too late now car in garage all 4 new normal suspension in...i hope i will not regret it!

I am also changing dif and trans oil, i been told its a must!

I wouldn't say either are a must, never heard of diff oil being replaced. The DCT transmission has a common fault where the sump leaks so that's something that needs doing at the same time as a trans flush.

[marioz4]

Thanks - i did not know it work all the time, well too late now car in garage all 4 new normal suspension in...i hope i will not regret it!

I am also changing dif and trans oil, i been told its a must!

I wouldn't say either are a must, never heard of diff oil being replaced. The DCT transmission has a common fault where the sump leaks so that's something that needs doing at the same time as a trans flush.

Had long chat and did research, YES dif oil needs regular changing, this life time b*** s**** from bmw is basically life of dif some 100k+ but if you chnage oil on 50k or even 30k dif will last 10x time than original BMW "lifetime". Same for transition oil, regular chnage is needed. Problem occur when you change oil first time on high mileage then new oil dos more damage than if you just leave it as it is.

So two options, changing each 30-50k to have long life or not changing at all and as such your gear box will blow on 100k+ and u will need a new one or ne wcar something that BMW wants to happen. My gear chnage is much better now with new oil. my is manual