BMW 328i engine at 108,500 miles- Pictures!

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This is my son's 2009 328i; the pictures were taken while we were replacing the valve cover gasket. The car has been run on BMW 5W-30 or BMW 0W-30 since new- with a minimum OCI of 15,000 miles.



 
Nice!!! Thanks.
Now tell us, how problematic if at all has the car been.
BMW gets a bad rap here at times.
 
Originally Posted By: AirgunSavant
Nice!!! Thanks.
Now tell us, how problematic if at all has the car been.
BMW gets a bad rap here at times.


Not bad; a battery, a set of brakes and a VANOS solenoid(under warranty). I think it needed a couple of other things- I'll check the records when I get home.
 
I can only imagine what new valve cover gasket cost, if you had the work done at the dealer. $1000? Any idea why it need new valve covers?
 
How much time between oil changes? I always end up changing my oil based on time, rather than mileage. I haven't had the valve covers off my S85 powered M6, but looking at the valvetrain with a bore scope, it's stayed spotless on a steady diet of Redline 10w60, after switching from the initial Castrol TWS.
 
Change the eccentric shaft sensor while the valve cover is off! Common issue on these, they fail often and the cover comes back off to change it. Also the rear breather hoses get brittle, cant hurt to put a new one on while its all apart.
 
Impressive esp for 15k mile oil changes. Looks like it had 5k changes. Who makes the BMW labeled oil for them? Although I think BMW lowered the interval to 10k on new ones. So not sure if the older models were back spec'd to the 10k interval as well.
 
Originally Posted By: MCompact
Originally Posted By: AirgunSavant
Nice!!! Thanks.
Now tell us, how problematic if at all has the car been.
BMW gets a bad rap here at times.


Not bad; a battery, a set of brakes and a VANOS solenoid(under warranty). I think it needed a couple of other things- I'll check the records when I get home.


The only other issues were the blower motor(warranty), the oil filter housing gasket and a belt tensioner.
 
Originally Posted By: Blueskies123
I can only imagine what new valve cover gasket cost, if you had the work done at the dealer. $1000? Any idea why it need new valve covers?


The exhaust heat cooks the right rear corner of the gasket and it starts to leak. Pretty common north of 105k.
 
Originally Posted By: Audios
Change the eccentric shaft sensor while the valve cover is off! Common issue on these, they fail often and the cover comes back off to change it. Also the rear breather hoses get brittle, cant hurt to put a new one on while its all apart.


I am; it had oil in the socket when we disconnected the harness. You are right- you are crazy NOT to R&R it.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Looks good, imagine that a BMW that hasn't need much work and stayed nice and clean. IIRC BMW oils were Castrol synthetic.


You are correct; a couple of years ago BMW switched to Shell.
 
Originally Posted By: Blueskies123
I can only imagine what new valve cover gasket cost, if you had the work done at the dealer. $1000? Any idea why it need new valve covers?


Valve cover gasket and the gasket for the oil filter housing get brittle and leak. Very common repair for a BMW I6.

OP: Nice pics considering that engine was run on the old 15k mile OCI. A+
 
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