A few questions from a Z4 newbie

[Silverstar]

But without all the turbo-ey faff you may be just as well off sticking £500 a year in a 'just in case' pot instead.

Better off sticking that £500 in the pot! To be honest I'd probably do the same with a 35i as well but that's just me.

£500 wont get you far on a 35i when it gets poorly, triple that annually till you have around £4k then your safe - trust me on this one.

Of course £500 isn’t going to get you far if something big breaks on the N54 but still the same logic put £1000 a year away or so or better yet make sure you already have cash in the bank lined up just in case. Even with all of the N54 issues I wouldn’t expect to have big bills every year if you do you’ve bought a lemon!

 

[tiglon]

Better off sticking that £500 in the pot! To be honest I'd probably do the same with a 35i as well but that's just me.

£500 wont get you far on a 35i when it gets poorly, triple that annually till you have around £4k then your safe - trust me on this one.

Of course £500 isn’t going to get you far if something big breaks on the N54 but still the same logic put £1000 a year away or so or better yet make sure you already have cash in the bank lined up just in case. Even with all of the N54 issues I wouldn’t expect to have big bills every year if you do you’ve bought a lemon!

Two years in for me and I've had nothing go that wouldn't be just as likely on any BMW engine. Yes, at some point it'll need injectors or something else pricey, but it's not a regular thing.

If you do 5,000 miles a year in your Z, and pay £500 a year for warranty, that's £10k on warranty in 100k miles. Even if all 4 adaptive dampers go (if you have them), injectors, HPFP, rocker cover gasket and maybe another leak somewhere else... have you saved any money? Probably not.

I think one of the reasons for the N54 reputation is that it was a high performance turbo in a very ordinary 3 series car, bought by people who didn't expect high performance turbo bills, so you get a lot of people on the Internet complaining about it. Add in the fact that a lot of N54s were tuned...

 

[blazej]

I replaced the battery last night and my friend registered it using his Carista bluetooth module & app and reset all codes. No new roof errors or dongs, 0 errors on scanning, couldn't be happier with the result (The old lead-acid battery was down to 11.5V!)

I also had one of the brake lights erroring out intermittently. Sprayed the bulb, the connector and the housing with a contact cleaner and that fixed it.

Next up: new tyres and sorting some rattles, particularly the A-pillars.

 

[Kevin]

Good work, @blazej!

 

[mcbutler]

Better off sticking that £500 in the pot! To be honest I'd probably do the same with a 35i as well but that's just me.

£500 wont get you far on a 35i when it gets poorly, triple that annually till you have around £4k then your safe - trust me on this one.

Of course £500 isn’t going to get you far if something big breaks on the N54 but still the same logic put £1000 a year away or so or better yet make sure you already have cash in the bank lined up just in case. Even with all of the N54 issues I wouldn’t expect to have big bills every year if you do you’ve bought a lemon!

Define 'a lemon'.
Problems can come around from outside sources not just mechanical failure bud, speed bumps and bricks ripping up the cars underneath for example.
I have had my 35i for just under 4 years. I bought it pristine, fully loaded with 24k miles I have done 17k miles in her, fully inspected with an annual BMW safety check, always in a heated garage.
I bought a 3 yr full warranty with zero excess from warranty direct for £1100. At the end of that three year warranty period WD had increased the premium for this model car by about 300% plus based entirely on my vehicle, the only one on their books at the time. I checked that with them after a forum comment.
My car had;
1. A full DCT bottom end rebuild, gaskeets, filters, oil, sump pan.
2. New Idrive screen (£2500 plus labour!!!! WTF)
3. New Radiator
4. New heater Blower Motor
5. Propshaft Bearing
6. 6 x New Injectors
7. New cam cover and gaskets
8. New HPFP
9. Literally dozens of diagnostic sessions
And a few more I cant remember.

Most amazingly the HPFP was the SECOND one fitted, first one failed at 11k miles (receipts from purchase)

So in my experience you need cash in the bank to run an N54 car - end of

 

[Silverstar]

£500 wont get you far on a 35i when it gets poorly, triple that annually till you have around £4k then your safe - trust me on this one.

Of course £500 isn’t going to get you far if something big breaks on the N54 but still the same logic put £1000 a year away or so or better yet make sure you already have cash in the bank lined up just in case. Even with all of the N54 issues I wouldn’t expect to have big bills every year if you do you’ve bought a lemon!

Define 'a lemon'.
Problems can come around from outside sources not just mechanical failure bud, speed bumps and bricks ripping up the cars underneath for example.
I have had my 35i for just under 4 years. I bought it pristine, fully loaded with 24k miles I have done 17k miles in her, fully inspected with an annual BMW safety check, always in a heated garage.
I bought a 3 yr full warranty with zero excess from warranty direct for £1100. At the end of that three year warranty period WD had increased the premium for this model car by about 300% plus based entirely on my vehicle, the only one on their books at the time. I checked that with them after a forum comment.
My car had;
1. A full DCT bottom end rebuild, gaskeets, filters, oil, sump pan.
2. New Idrive screen (£2500 plus labour!!!! WTF)
3. New Radiator
4. New heater Blower Motor
5. Propshaft Bearing
6. 6 x New Injectors
7. New cam cover and gaskets
8. New HPFP
9. Literally dozens of diagnostic sessions
And a few more I cant remember.

Most amazingly the HPFP was the SECOND one fitted, first one failed at 11k miles (receipts from purchase)

So in my experience you need cash in the bank to run an N54 car - end of

Well let’s see, I would classify a lemon as a car that’s constantly going wrong. For yours to have so many costly faults and not all attributable to the N54 engine, in a short space of time and relatively few miles and low mileage I would say is a lemon! I have heard of others members on this forum with the N54 who have not experienced so many problems.

Mine is a N52 granted but in the same space of time almost 4 years bought at 33k miles now on around 50k I have had to spend zero on repairs other than routine services and consumables. Only real issue that’s propped up recently is the current drain but that’s suspected to be the aftermarket MMI box.

 

[blazej]

May I ask for the discussion on the merits of N54 engine and related vehicles to be kept to a separate topic, as they are decidedly off topic here. Thanks in advance

It is a new tyre day over here in Glasgow, and gosh were they needed! I didn’t realise just how bad the rears were… Notice the deformation of the inner wall. I know the car was sat for a couple of months, and that tyre had slow puncture so maybe it was just deforming from the weight but the tyre shop guy said did suggest maybe having the suspension looked at by a specialist. Has anyone seen anything like it before, any thoughts on what may be the culprit here?



Oh yeah and here’s the new tyre, Conti SportContact 7 in 255/35 on 19” M326:

 

[B21]

Rears show impact of lots of camber ..stock or maybe more..not enough driving around corners under power..

Doubt that suspension per se affected the tyre wall..

Not a bad idea to get a decent alignment check anyway..

 

[blazej]

It's time for another update on my Z4... This is becoming more of a new owner's diary thread, I guess.
I've had the wheels aligned on a Hunter machine, and they were brought within the manufacturer's spec. Presumably, that's good news for the tyre wear. Done by MB Jarvie in Glasgow for £159. Here's the report.


I also changed the front discs and pads, got it done with my mates in a supermarket's car park, started at midnight and we were finished by 2am Funnily enough, the hardest part of it all was detaching the pad wear sensor plug from its housing above the nearside wheel arch. The parts cost me £207 from autodoc. Oh and for those who stumble upon this in the future: to reset the brake pad service in the onboard computer, you have to release the e-handbrake.

And just last weekend I found a new tiny storage compartment, next to the driver's right knee - I had no idea it was there so that was a pleasant surprise. Love the car more and more every day and will be sad to see it go in just a few months...

 

[matsmith749]

Those tracking changes are super tiny - if you go back after driving 100 miles I would bet you have drifted a similar amount again.

The 'red lights' are such a con job designed to make people spend £150 on getting an unneeded alignment.... imperceptible differences there. What does that represent - maybe a 10th of a turn of the adjuster? Maybe just 'touching' the tyre.

I would bet that the weight of a driver sitting in the car would have pulled that back to the green without any fettling.

Do you feel any difference when driving?

 

[B21]

FWIW that new tracking although all green is to rat s**t.. :thumbsdown:

You should have about 0.5 camber front and at least 1.5 camber rear..there should be some toe-in front and rear :tumbleweed:

 

[blazej]

I was afraid that might be the response re alignment. The report came with the following disclaimer: "Note that the measurements displayed on the "After" graphics are calculated values that display the deviation of the actual measured angles of each wheel from zero (where zero equals the manufacturers specified alignment value for each angle, e.g. toe/camber/etc)."
So the rear is not at absolute 0.03/0.04 camber, but rather that's the difference from the manufacturer's spec default (whatever that might be...?) I guess I could request further info from them.
I've driven to Edinburgh and back and with a "don't ever put it in sport mode when I'm in the car" passenger So haven't had a chance to throw it around any fun corners quite yet. Perhaps it will help with the tyre wear or perhaps this was a £159 alignment conjob, I may or may not find out.

To lighten the mood a bit, here's a snap of the Z4 in the company of my friends' cars here in Glasgow:

 

[axelleveau]

The report came with the following disclaimer: "Note that the measurements displayed on the "After" graphics are calculated values that display the deviation of the actual measured angles of each wheel from zero (where zero equals the manufacturers specified alignment value for each angle, e.g. toe/camber/etc)."
So the rear is not at absolute 0.03/0.04 camber, but rather that's the difference from the manufacturer's spec default (whatever that might be...?) I guess I could request further info from them.

It is the first time I am seeing it this way but I guess it makes sense as the arrows for cambers in before/after have not moved. For example in the BEFORE range for rear showed -2.15 / -2.25 and you were green and on the AFTER it shows -0.05/0.05 and you are a the same position. It feels like an half-assed way to simplify things into a relative value for customers to better understand but then why not do it on the BEFORE as well... And for "enthusiats" like us it means we loose information... :headbang:

 

[B21]

I was afraid that might be the response re alignment. The report came with the following disclaimer: "Note that the measurements displayed on the "After" graphics are calculated values that display the deviation of the actual measured angles of each wheel from zero (where zero equals the manufacturers specified alignment value for each angle, e.g. toe/camber/etc)."
So the rear is not at absolute 0.03/0.04 camber, but rather that's the difference from the manufacturer's spec default (whatever that might be...?) I guess I could request further info from them.
I've driven to Edinburgh and back and with a "don't ever put it in sport mode when I'm in the car" passenger So haven't had a chance to throw it around any fun corners quite yet. Perhaps it will help with the tyre wear or perhaps this was a £159 alignment conjob, I may or may not find out.

To lighten the mood a bit, here's a snap of the Z4 in the company of my friends' cars here in Glasgow:
bmwaudibentley.jpg

Well that makes sense ..as was said I’d like to see the supporting data..but then I’m a sad bunny..

 

[Pondrew]

I've driven to Edinburgh and back and with a "don't ever put it in sport mode when I'm in the car" passenger

Why? It doesn't go an faster, or make more power! :?

 

[blazej]

I've driven to Edinburgh and back and with a "don't ever put it in sport mode when I'm in the car" passenger

Why? It doesn't go an faster, or make more power! :?

It's the faster downshifts and throttle map.
Despite all that, the other day I still got shouted at for accelerating through a tunnel... 'But that wasn't sport mode.' 'Use your common sense.' :tumbleweed:

 

[craigdm]

Hello again, back with a couple of updates and a newest issue/advice request.
I replaced the salmon switches; upon inspecting the originals they showed some sign of wear
I also purchased two bolt covers for the door handles. They were a minor annoyance but the sight of bolts every time I looked at the handles did bother me.

Where did you get those bolt covers for the door handles?
Mine fell off when I hit a bumpy bit of road a few months ago, along with the little cover that hangs under the rear view mirror like a dome.
Bloody run-flats!

 

[Christopher72]

Where did you get those bolt covers for the door handles?

eBay.com :icb:

 

[blazej]

Hello again, back with a couple of updates and a newest issue/advice request.
I replaced the salmon switches; upon inspecting the originals they showed some sign of wear
I also purchased two bolt covers for the door handles. They were a minor annoyance but the sight of bolts every time I looked at the handles did bother me.

Where did you get those bolt covers for the door handles?
Mine fell off when I hit a bumpy bit of road a few months ago, along with the little cover that hangs under the rear view mirror like a dome.
Bloody run-flats!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203165877386
Mine were £10.69, inflation eh? :roll: