[arkow]

Hi All,

I was wondering how the X3 is holding up for everyone, below are the items i had replaced on my 2012 X3 35i (75k miles):

1- AC evaporator - i replaced it twice, once under warranty and the other i had to pay (around 30k miles and then 51k miles) this is expensive if you don't have warranty, about $700 because they have to take entire dashboard out to get to the part
2- Waterpump - 52k miles - $800
3- valve cover gasket - 60k miles
4- Coolant expansion tank - 60k miles
5- tailgate motors - 65k miles (failed after 4 years) - $950

Items i need to take care of:
1- TPMS malfunction, dealer says 2 front sensors are bad, but discount tire says they are good as they can read the pressure using their tool. dealers wants $750 to replace both sensors.
2- PDC sensor - 1 sensor in front, $750 because they have to take bumper off

So far i am not a happy camper even though i love the car, moral of the story is get extended warranty because it will pay itself off...

[nyalpine90]

why not trade it in?

[arkow]

Originally Posted by nyalpine90

why not trade it in?

I was thinking about it, Its not paid off yet plus the only car i would choose is the X5, but the 35i might be too weak for the size of that car..and finding 50i is a bit tough..

[nyalpine90]

what about new gen X3?
completely new car inside n out.

[arkow]

Originally Posted by nyalpine90

what about new gen X3?
completely new car inside n out.

I would rather get a used CPO car.

[doru]

Next in line is the oil filter housing gasket.
The parts you mentioned except the AC evaporator are not too bad to DIY. You have the turbo engine, the WP has a greater failure rate than the na i6 engines. I cannot comment on the 4 cylinders cars - not accustomed to them.

Not sure if I would want an X5. I sold mine to get the X3 (unicorn with all possible options, N52 engine). Quite happy with it. Big difference doing your DIY's between this engine and the N54 I have in the 335is.... The X5 was always waiting for something to go wrong.

[arkow]

Originally Posted by doru

Next in line is the oil filter housing gasket.
The parts you mentioned except the AC evaporator are not too bad to DIY. You have the turbo engine, the WP has a greater failure rate than the na i6 engines. I cannot comment on the 4 cylinders cars - not accustomed to them.

Not sure if I would want an X5. I sold mine to get the X3 (unicorn with all possible options, N52 engine). Quite happy with it. Big difference doing your DIY's between this engine and the N54 I have in the 335is.... The X5 was always waiting for something to go wrong.

When i visited the dealer to get the tailgate motors replaced that i also need oil filter housing gasket but when i looked i don't really see any leaks..but will double check.

I really like the X3, don't get me wrong, its just all the things that fell apart right after warranty expired got me a bit angry..

I had N54 335 before, nice car, i kinda of regret selling it..

[DWeiss]

I've got a 2013 X3 28i (F25) that's got about 55k miles on it, haven't had to replace or fix a thing. Been driving without the automatic stop on for what it's worth. I bought an extended warranty that will cover me 3 years 36000 miles, but I'm hoping I don't have to bring it in much.

[najnad]

The oil filter housing gasket is a slow leak, doesnt seem like much of a problem, but it is. It happened to me...slow leak, got onto serpentine belt after enough build up, belt slips off pulley and destroys itself. Thankfully, just the alternator is connected to that belt, and thankfully it didnt damage anything else flapping around.

[arkow]

Originally Posted by najnad

The oil filter housing gasket is a slow leak, doesnt seem like much of a problem, but it is. It happened to me...slow leak, got onto serpentine belt after enough build up, belt slips off pulley and destroys itself. Thankfully, just the alternator is connected to that belt, and thankfully it didnt damage anything else flapping around.

Now this is interesting as once in a while i hear this high pitch squealing noise, make me wonder if the oil drops are causing this, hmmmmm..

[arkow]

Originally Posted by DWeiss

I've got a 2013 X3 28i (F25) that's got about 55k miles on it, haven't had to replace or fix a thing. Been driving without the automatic stop on for what it's worth. I bought an extended warranty that will cover me 3 years 36000 miles, but I'm hoping I don't have to bring it in much.

That's good, i wasn't so lucky. Having warranty is a blessing with these cars, i had a 335 and warranty helped a lot.

[Barbera335]

On my 2011 X3 N52T with 84k miles

1. A/C evaporator was leaking
2. Coolant expansion tank leaking
3. All 4 door seal edge protectors discolored and had to be replaced
4. Glove box door trim delaminated
5. 12 Volt battery failed and had to be replaced

On the to do list
1. Leather on the drivers seat lower cushion is cracking above the side panel and will need to be replaced
2. Front headlamp lenses are becoming cloudy and will need to be replaced

Overall I am happy with the car and I don't think the repairs needed have been out of line so far.

[arkow]

Originally Posted by Barbera335

On my 2011 X3 N52T with 84k miles

1. A/C evaporator was leaking
2. Coolant expansion tank leaking
3. All 4 door seal edge protectors discolored and had to be replaced
4. Glove box door trim delaminated
5. 12 Volt battery failed and had to be replaced

On the to do list
1. Leather on the drivers seat lower cushion is cracking above the side panel and will need to be replaced
2. Front headlamp lenses are becoming cloudy and will need to be replaced

Overall I am happy with the car and I don't think the repairs needed have been out of line so far.

seems like AC evaporator needs replacing on all these cars, I had it replaced twice on my 335 and X3, I know 2 friends that had them replaced as well. I forgot about the battery as Well, had mine done around 50k miles.

[Tjalle]

The evaporator seem to be a problem - it should not - no vibrations - seem to be bad supplier. Bad supplier means BMW more likely to accept "slightly out of warranty claims" - supplier will pay.

Battery also seem to be a general problem. Probably due to multiple sources which draw electricity - AND - charging to less than max, to enable coast- charging. Good for BMW - less fuel= less penalty to US government. Drawback is drained battery due to "not fully charged" and multiple sources draining battery.

Solution is - for those with garage - to have "intelligent charger" like eg CTEK.

[arkow]

Originally Posted by Tjalle

The evaporator seem to be a problem - it should not - no vibrations - seem to be bad supplier. Bad supplier means BMW more likely to accept "slightly out of warranty claims" - supplier will pay.

Battery also seem to be a general problem. Probably due to multiple sources which draw electricity - AND - charging to less than max, to enable coast- charging. Good for BMW - less fuel= less penalty to US government. Drawback is drained battery due to "not fully charged" and multiple sources draining battery.

Solution is - for those with garage - to have "intelligent charger" like eg CTEK.

My buddy paid over 1k to have dealer replace AC evaporator on his E90 M3..I tried to have BMW cover the cost on the AC evaporator on the X3 (around 51k miles and this is the second time it failed it was replaced around 30k miles) and they said no, only gave me a discount... go figure..

[ba ba boosh]

Originally Posted by arkow

Hi All,

I was wondering how the X3 is holding up for everyone, below are the items i had replaced on my 2012 X3 35i (75k miles):

1- AC evaporator - i replaced it twice, once under warranty and the other i had to pay (around 30k miles and then 51k miles) this is expensive if you don't have warranty, about $700 because they have to take entire dashboard out to get to the part
2- Waterpump - 52k miles - $800
3- valve cover gasket - 60k miles
4- Coolant expansion tank - 60k miles
5- tailgate motors - 65k miles (failed after 4 years) - $950

Items i need to take care of:
1- TPMS malfunction, dealer says 2 front sensors are bad, but discount tire says they are good as they can read the pressure using their tool. dealers wants $750 to replace both sensors.
2- PDC sensor - 1 sensor in front, $750 because they have to take bumper off

So far i am not a happy camper even though i love the car, moral of the story is get extended warranty because it will pay itself off...

You need to find a legitimate BMW Indy Mechanic in your area. Wheel sensors should be $60 each to buy (new) and should not cost $630 in labor costs to replace two of them. Bear in mind I have the platinum extended warranty and it's total BS. If I read the fine print I would not have purchased it. I spent about over $4k to buy it, and dealerships charge $250 an hour in labor to find the problem, and only if they find a problem they will fix it for free. If they don't find a problem they still charge you the $250 an hour. My Indy is a Certified BMW Master Technician at a local dealership before opening his own outfit, he doesn't charge for assessment, just charges for labor when he finds out what is wrong.

[arkow]

Originally Posted by ba ba boosh

You need to find a legitimate BMW Indy Mechanic in your area. Wheel sensors should be $60 each to buy (new) and should not cost $630 in labor costs to replace two of them. Bear in mind I have the platinum extended warranty and it's total BS. If I read the fine print I would not have purchased it. I spent about over $4k to buy it, and dealerships charge $250 an hour in labor to find the problem, and only if they find a problem they will fix it for free. If they don't find a problem they still charge you the $250 an hour. My Indy is a Certified BMW Master Technician at a local dealership before opening his own outfit, he doesn't charge for assessment, just charges for labor when he finds out what is wrong.

At discount tire the sensors are $60 a pop, so I will change them out and see if that is the issue with TPMS malfunction. Wow, i am shocked about the Platinum warranty, I know a BMW mechanic who does work on the side so that helps..

[doru]

Originally Posted by Tjalle

Stuff deleted

Battery also seem to be a general problem. Probably due to multiple sources which draw electricity - AND - charging to less than max, to enable coast- charging. Good for BMW - less fuel= less penalty to US government. Drawback is drained battery due to "not fully charged" and multiple sources draining battery.

Solution is - for those with garage - to have "intelligent charger" like eg CTEK.

I believe a trickle charger can do the trick. Reading through multiple batteries articles and forums, it seems that a normal battery charger loads the battery up to around 80-85% even though the charger will show "Max charge" or 100%.
A trickle charger will charge the battery close to 100%. Also, these articles/forums seem to agree that the smaller the amp charge of the trickle charger, the more the battery gets charged. Trickle charges vary from 0.75 amps to 2 amps. So apparently the 0.75Amp would be the best. Not sure what happens to the battery once the trickle charger reaches supposedly 100% charge and its still connected?

[Kirsty2011X3(28i)]

My AC has been blowing hot air. I'm at the dealership (for other things) and they say I need to replace the A/C Evaporator Core, costing over $3.6K parts and labor inclusive. What specific questions should I ask to find out what the exact problem could be, and how they determined the whole thing needs to be replaced? THANKS!

[Brandoch]

Originally Posted by Kirsty2011X3(28i)

My AC has been blowing hot air. I'm at the dealership (for other things) and they say I need to replace the A/C Evaporator Core, costing over $3.6K parts and labor inclusive. What specific questions should I ask to find out what the exact problem could be, and how they determined the whole thing needs to be replaced? THANKS!

Its a common fail point, just did it myself in my e93 M3. It requires taking the whole dash apart, removing everything up to the firewall. It's like a 15 hour or more job. Get them to do the heater core at the same time because it's the same job, so you might as well pay once and not have to ever think about it again.

[Dekero]

Hey just my 2 cents...but

The Oil filter housing gasket IS A HUGE issue... And needs to be addressed immediately... AND you need to add a Crank seal Guard as well...

In the event you are unaware of this... The BMW motors tend to shred the belt which gets bound up behind the Crank pulley and ingested thru the Crank seal into the oil pan...where it blocks the oil passages causing a low oil condition and destroys the motor and rod bearings... Think I'm overstating? My good friend just had this happen to his X5 35i....and the truck was totalled..

Get it fixed, replace the belt, and I'd suggest the tensioner and idler pulleys, and definitely install a crank seal guard..
They are less than $35 bux on ebay and work great.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/S55-N54-N55-N52-Crank-Seal-Serpentine-Belt-Guard-for-BMW-128i-135i-328i-528i-M2-/145076972493?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p4429486.m46 890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

[Brandoch]

Originally Posted by Dekero

Hey just my 2 cents...but

The Oil filter housing gasket IS A HUGE issue... And needs to be addressed immediately... AND you need to add a Crank seal Guard as well...

In the event you are unaware of this... The BMW motors tend to shred the belt which gets bound up behind the Crank pulley and ingested thru the Crank seal into the oil pan...where it blocks the oil passages causing a low oil condition and destroys the motor and rod bearings... Think I'm overstating? My good friend just had this happen to his X5 35i....and the truck was totalled..

Get it fixed, replace the belt, and I'd suggest the tensioner and idler pulleys, and definitely install a crank seal guard..
They are less than $35 bux on ebay and work great.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/S55-N54-N55-N52-Crank-Seal-Serpentine-Belt-Guard-for-BMW-128i-135i-328i-528i-M2-/145076972493?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p4429486.m46 890.l6249&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

That was a 5 year old post