E90 330D - Buying advice?

[sgtbash]

Hi Gents

I have owned 7 BMW's, one being an e46 330D but none of the 7 being of E9x variety.

I have the chance to purchase an E90 330D M Sport with 133k on the clock (with 13 service stamps) and I just wondered if there's anything in particular I should be looking out for?

This is a 2007 with an M57, so I understand to be safe in that department. Does anyone have any advice on this?

Thanks in advance!

[e21Keith]

I've had 5 330d, three e46 and 2 e9x. They were all fabulous except for the e46 that was an auto, hate autos and find them unreliable.

On the e9x I ran one to 170k, currently under 100k on the current car. The only problem I've really had was the DPF not regenerating on the first e9x. Was given the runaround by a few "experts" but the problem turned out to be failed thermostats causing the engine to run cold, which you don't know about because there's no temperature gauge. there are 2 thermostats including one for the EGR bypass.

The ride can be very hard on the sport models if you run them on runflats, but then I'm old and prefer a bit of comfort anyway.

I only have experience of the M57 variants.

Edited by e21Keith on Wednesday 26th January 21:39

[helix402]

Have a look at my 335d thread. That’ll will show a lot of common problems.

[graham22]

Mine was becoming bit of a money pit at that mileage.

Mechanically great & still drove really nice but examples of issues:

DPF wouldn't regen, due to swirl flaps leaving into glow plug control unit (£1200 fix).
Couldn't get rear tracking exactly right due to wear in rear suspension - could sort bushes etc but at a cost.
Fuel breather return leaking - tank out job to replace.
Oil pressure light - faulty sensor but not a light you want to see.
ABS pump - reconditioned.
Injector failed.
Heater fan not working on all settings (think there was a recall for this - also saw a E92 on fire on A12 last week ).
Alpine Amp failed.

If you are in a position to sort these yourself then a lot less cost, otherwise getting the car to a garage each time was a pain.

As I said above, still a very competent car for the cost.

[helix402]

Tank doesn’t need to be removed for breather pipe. It can be lowered slightly and rested on the prop.

[sgtbash]

Thanks guys. It's recently had a lot of money spent on it which is why it's tempting - in my mind it should be OK for a while! I don't think it has had the swirl flaps deleted, however.

[helix402]

sgtbash said:

Thanks guys. It's recently had a lot of money spent on it which is why it's tempting - in my mind it should be OK for a while! I don't think it has had the swirl flaps deleted, however.

If the swirl flaps leak I’d recommend a new manifold. I tried a swirl flap delete which caused the dpf to block.

[sgtbash]

helix402 said:

If the swirl flaps leak I’d recommend a new manifold. I tried a swirl flap delete which caused the dpf to block.

Without me googling, what are the symptoms of that?

The only thing I can think of is the idle seems a bit rough, it shouldn't be really being a 6cyl should it? Even though it is diesel!

[helix402]

sgtbash said:

Without me googling, what are the symptoms of that?

The only thing I can think of is the idle seems a bit rough, it shouldn't be really being a 6cyl should it? Even though it is diesel!

Leaking swirl flaps: no symptoms apart from an oil leak

Blocked dpf: lack of power, until ultimately the car won’t start

(These symptoms are based on my experience, others may have different experiences)

[Slippydiff]

sgtbash said:

helix402 said:

If the swirl flaps leak I’d recommend a new manifold. I tried a swirl flap delete which caused the dpf to block.

Without me googling, what are the symptoms of that?

The only thing I can think of is the idle seems a bit rough, it shouldn't be really being a 6cyl should it? Even though it is diesel!

Idle should be rock steady and smooth, if it’s not, get the diagnostics plugged in ...

Unfortunately DPF failure/clogging can be caused by one small item (main cooling system thermostat, or even a couple of glow plug failures) or it can be something like a DPF temperature differential sensor that causes a cascade effect and results in the DPF clogging.

I was going to have my car mapped because it felt sluggish, but once the diagnostics were plugged in by the mapper, it revealed a list of issues that required the following replacement parts : DPF & cat, 4 glow plugs, a pressure differential sensor, and a pre-DPF temp sensor.

With diagnostic time and labour it cost BMW warranty services over £5K ...
The car was transformed, and once the-mapped it was the equal of my old E90 335D, albeit the power delivery wasn’t as linear.