[smovva]

Originally Posted by Killerfish2012

Hello all, my wife drives a 2011 X3 with 58K miles on the clock. I'm wondering if you guys/gals have any input on the water pump longevity? It looks like a stand alone electric water pump design, similar to what's in my 335I. The 335I's water pump was good for 75K miles. They all failed in that range. Wondering what to expect with this car.

On our 2011 X3 F25 35I, water pump failed at about 62K while on BMW extended warranty. Also changed thermostat same time. Also around same time Turbo failed with Waste gate clatter and oil smoke in exhaust and was replaced under warranty, then high pressure fuel pump failed under warranty and then A/C condenser/evaporator in the cabin failed under warranty (big bucks outside warranty by the way as entire dash needs to be removed to access part).

After that spark plug coils failed outside warranty, then valve cover gaskets started leaking outside warranty as did several hoses and an coolant expansion tank for a total of $2.5K and counting.

They don't call it Break My Wallet (BMW) for nothing!! Good thing I brought the 7 yr 70K warranty. I am at 80K now and drooling over the 3rd Gen X3 M40i but wallet says not a chance yet!

[ThomasR]

Originally Posted by smovva

On our 2011 X3 F25 35I, water pump failed at about 62K while on BMW extended warranty. Also changed thermostat same time. Also around same time Turbo failed with Waste gate clatter and oil smoke in exhaust and was replaced under warranty, then high pressure fuel pump failed under warranty and then A/C condenser/evaporator in the cabin failed under warranty (big bucks outside warranty by the way as entire dash needs to be removed to access part).

After that spark plug coils failed outside warranty, then valve cover gaskets started leaking outside warranty as did several hoses and an coolant expansion tank for a total of $2.5K and counting.

They don't call it Break My Wallet (BMW) for nothing!! Good thing I brought the 7 yr 70K warranty. I am at 80K now and drooling over the 3rd Gen X3 M40i but wallet says not a chance yet!

Ouch. As I understand it the coil packs will fail if you don't change the spark plugs at the recommended intervals because they put more load on them.

[Killerfish2012]

I wonder if there are any failures of these in the N52 engine?

[doru]

Originally Posted by Killerfish2012

I wonder if there are any failures of these in the N52 engine?

It looks like those are similar failures as on the N54 engine.
N/a engines have different injectors and the OCI seems to be OK at 7,000 miles or so. The oil in turbo engines start getting black even after 2k miles or so. Not sure if this is a "cause" or not, but I started to change the oil in the N54 a tad sooner. Concerning cooling (WP & T-stat) I think both the small 4banger and the 6 turbo run hotter than the i6 n/a, plus the i6 n/a has the aluminum case WP as opposed to plastic housing on the turbo 6. Not sure what material the 4 turbo has.
The 6 turbo, if the sparks are left too long - where 60 k miles is BMW change interval for 6 turbo - it will take down the injectors. On my N54 the injectors were gone right after I changed the plugs at 61k miles - that's when I purchased the car. So I think even 60 k might be a stretch.
Last year I purchased my X3 with the i6 (N52) and I changed the plugs right after the purchase - car had around 60k miles as well. The original plugs had only a small stubble left - that's how bad they were. Car was not misfiring, but after the plug change, fuel consumption improved. Again, next time I will change them sooner.
VCG and OFHG go faster on the turbo cars as well, plus the gazillion rubber vacuum tubes - all changed with silicon titanium laced hoses. Plus a few other minor "improvements like the aluminium nipple on the return water hose on both engines (N54 & N52) - on my daughter's X3 that nipple literally crumbled in my hands and the O-ring came out like 2 sizes bigger.

[E90705]

Mine died at 77k. At least it gave me a notice by the radiator fan kicking on full blast even when it’s below freezing temps. Not the easiest job. The good thing about our x3’s or N55 is the three bolts are steel and not aluminum.