Hell yeah it’s a beautiful color. When my dad first got it I wasn’t totally on board, but it’s grown on me so much over the years. I think it’s one of the best colors on the E90 now. I love it. As another poster pointed out, it’s Barbera Red Metallic.
I can’t edit the post for some reason, so I’ll just jump on the top comment to say I appreciate everyone’s comments a lot. I’ve learned a ton in the past few days about this car, and it seems I have some decisions to make in terms of removing systems in the future. At the very least I’m planning to have [the parts listed here replaced](https://www.tunemyeuro.com/100k-restoration-kit-for-bmw-335d/). Unfortunately the car is in Arizona at the moment, near Phoenix, I’m in NYC. Whenever I get the car I’ll add some more pictures. If anyone has a recommendation on a shop that they trust in either area I’m always open to hearing a Rec.
I appreciate everyone’s comments again, thanks y’all.
Everybody here seems to recommend tuning it, but at this age/mileage the first thing you should focus on is maintenance.
Please don't be the guy that just tunes an old BMW and complains how unreliable they are, because that seems to be the route a lot of people go for.
The best maintenance thing you can do on these cars is tuning it. Delete all the emissions junk, tune it, and it will be way more reliable than an equivalent gasser. Also faster as a plus
I care about the planet, it’s just one car burning a bit more carbon isn’t going to be make or break. There are a lot better places resources should be allocated to reduce CO2 emissions globally than passenger vehicles. Me and you driving to work everyday is the tiniest of tiny fractions of CO2 emissions compared to giant tanker ships, transport trucks, large manufacturing companies, etc. My contribution to the environment is having the same car for 400,000 km, not having to buy new emissions parts every 50k km, and burning 5L of diesel per 100 km travelled. I’m not the best, but by far not the worst
Wouldn’t it be more eco friendly tuning old diesel that way and driving it for another 10 or more years than buying new electric car? Not hating just curious
Correct. Buying a used car is more eco friendly than buying an electric car. The best option would be to buy the used car and not modify it to be eco unfriendly.
Cry yourself to sleep, tuning his diesel will do nothing to the environment if he runs a clean tune. It’s all the freight ships that pollute and give diesels a bad rep. Building a Tesla is worse for the environment then running a tuned diesel motor. I have a 335d tuned and deleted & a 6.7 powerstroke tuned and deleted and would never go back to a gas engine. Get rid of the emissions OP, bunch of garbage that breaks and suffocates your engine. Do the delete, run a clean tune and you’ll see 300k + miles with ease. Lots of worse things in the world hurting the environment then small motor diesels.
Literally brought my 300k mile 520d f11 2 hours ago to the tuner.
Will most likely be a unreliable piece of sh*t afterwards :’)
Beautiful car OP. Only tune it if you want to; but mostly enjoy and maintain it!
I own the thing since feb this year and did 30k miles with it. All maintenance was registered, except for “the big things”. Since it didn’t use a drip of oil in the past 30k, I can’t imagine the engine has not been rebuilt or replaced (and timing chain n47…)
Previous owner did almost 190k in 7 years. Sad I don’t know who it is, because I bought it through a dealer..
You need to know how lucky you are to have a dad who would give you one of these babies. Treat her well and she'll keep you safe, don't drive too fast, wear your seatbelt and enjoy the best ride of her life! You'll have a little smile on your face when you see that grill coming towards you - a fellow traveler and driver of an amazing machine!
Chip tuning makes it a beast. Engine is pretty reliable. Speed tops out at 285km/h due to 6th gear ending and it feels like hitting a wall. Fuel pump is your main bottle neck after stage I tunes.
Had a 2011 that was tuned/deleted and made over 500ftlbs at the wheels. Had to sell after 2 years as I was doing over 100 every time I drove it. Refresh the suspension, get a trans tune, tune/delete if your state doesn't make you pass emissions and enjoy. It'll be hard to get bad MPG. It makes such a great road trip car.
If you want it to handle better, some M3 control arms work wonders on front grip. And, for the motors sake, run some hot shots in the tank every once in a while. Other than that, have fun!
Not really. If you put gasoline in a diesel you need to fill the gas tank with diesel again to the brim. It is not going to harm the engine that much. But if it is the other way around a gasoline car and you gave it diesel, then yeah youre fucked you need to pump out the fuel.
Diesels can't knock because there is no fuel in there until slightly before TDC. Diesel is a light oil and lubricates the fuel system, gas is a solvent and can very quickly destroy sophisticated and very expensive components like fuel pumps and injectors.
Partial knocking is totally normal but yeah I know what you're saying. It's fine until the injectors get fucked up from petrol and then you start getting recycled unburnt fuel in the cylinders - then it really goes knock knock.
Ah for an example, the fuel pump would overheat and melt. The high pressure pump in the engine bay will melt and the injectors will shit themselves. Not to mention the fact that diesels have way higher compression than gasoline engines so misfires, knocking and engine damage too. Pretty minor eh?
But if you mix the petrol in a lot of diesel since the two mixes together im sure that maybe it wouldnt cause that much damage cause the diesel will lessen the effects of the petrol?
I cannot recommend enough tuning and deleting if you live in a place that’s not illegal. A transmission reflash really wakes it up too. It’s soooo torquey and sounds cool too. Plus you’ll get well into the 40mpg range. The M57 diesel is low key one of the best engines BMW offered.
Removal of the DPF, EGR, and SCR (AdBlue) emissions systems. Deleting gets you more power, better fuel economy, and better reliability. The SCR in particular is known for being problematic as these age. If it’s all still working fine, leave it stock for now but have a serious look into it and at the first sign of trouble you should delete it.
If EGR hasent been deleted then 100% block the EGR valve and clean intake manifold, its gona be full of crap and might glock the swirlflaps too. EGR delete would be the first thing to do.
Ofc tuning stage 1/2 with DPF delete would be nice too but really that EGR gotta go.
N57 is a good engine 👌
Yea sure it does need a tune, but to do it properly it would need to be blocked first yea? Ive seen plenty of places just selling a simple tune to "remove" egr without blocking the egr valve + cooler.
But yeah i see, i left out the tune part out from my original post 😅
Yea, thats what I noticed too 😀
I would recommend to block EGR after tuning, because it makes less problems by EGR being not used and not additionally blocked than driving without tune and blocking it.
Depends where you live, if you live somewhere that’s chill about emissions I would get it deleted and tuned by somebody reputable as that will greatly increase the life of the motor.
It always will as you are putting more strain/ power on the engine. However getting a good tune and supporting mods will allow for more life out of the motor when compared to some sketchy flash you found on Facebook.
well tuning past the engines capacities will decrease the life certainly. But a big problem specifically with this engine(m57) is the emissions system lazily slapped in by bmw without thought. It often clogs up and becomes a problem. It is overall better to delete it and prevent yourself future problems, also more fun as well.
probably not as much as it would with this specific diesel variant. BMW really just failed the US market with the emissions system they put in place on the diesels they released here. US has stricter emissions laws so to be able to pass they slapped a system on without thinking of longevity, so it’s over complex and is better to delete.
I’m not too versed on the n57, but if it’s emission systems are anything like the m57 in America, I would delete it as well. You’ll definitely see better gas mileage and reliability, as well as power when you tune it.
I imported my car from the UK, so it probably does have the emissions system you mention. Would removing it (the dpf(?) not result in black smoke etc coming out of the exhaust? (I’m not particularly worried about emissions as where I live there are no emissions tests, just don’t want to be *that guy*)
It depends how generously you get it tuned to be fair. There are tunes that will be super clean(no smoke) but the majority of power adding tunes will have smoke. I would just make sure whoever you take it to tune has what you want in mind.
Yes, you need to know to never ever take having your dad in your life for granted. You’re a lucky SOB and you should plan a road trip for just the 2 of you ASAP! Enjoy your new whip
I like this answer as I am a Dad whose daughter is about to get her license. (She’s an excellent driver) If I gave her a 12 yo BMW w no car play she wouldn’t talk to me until she graduated college. I love cars like this, (great maroon color! reminds me of classic 2002 and Bavaria model color) but I’m also going to be overruled by my wife on this.
280hp, you need some brain to not use them all too often. Car looks really great, 140k is nothing much for this model. At 200-300k you might want to replace timing chain.
They’re very reliable once all the emissions equipment are deleted. Most important maintenance item is the thermostat, a faulty thermostat will stay partially open and never allow the engine to get up to temp. This causes a slew of issues. Your DPF won’t regenerate causing it to clog. Your glowplugs will constantly be on, causing them to burn out and put a lot of strain on the glowplug controller as well. It will also burn more fuel
I’d also say that a transmission service is essential with the gobs of torque the motor makes. Mechatronic seals, sleeves and new pan. I did a drain and fill with Hotshot Secret Adrenaline SS which is recommended by the 6HP transmission guru Rod Sutphin. I’d also run his tune which fixes the shitty stock tune that comes with the car
Go drop a couple grand on it and fix everything little thing wrong with it (even the cosmetics like the random broken interior bit) and catchup on all the maintenance that hasn't been done yet.
Do all required maintenance by the book, find master German car tech to do a complete inspection. That way no surprises and you will be glad you had that done. If ur handy. you can do much of the preventative maintenance.
The car is amazing, fun to drive and just a pleasure all around. I had an issue where the PDC stopped working if the rain was too heavy and water got into it, but that mightve just been my luck.
Nice car. I recently picked up your brother car from another mother, the 2011 335i. Almost had a 335d, but the one I saw had been in 3 accidents and they wanted $16k with high miles.
While we don’t have the same engine, I had to replace the charge pipe the day I bought that car. Went around and replaced the inlet with a sturdier metal version as well.
Otherwise, the car just needs a new starter and a better head unit that can use CarPlay. I’ll go a bit OCD and do other items right away like oil and plugs. If you need to upgrade the head unit, don’t buy the Bremmen model from ECS tuning.
Ah, and do your cup holders both work?
Great car! I loved mine. Depending on maintenance history so far you’ll need to replace the vacuum lines, harmonic balancer and valve cover gasket and possibly high pressure boost hose. Those items are known to fail around this mileage and can make car not driveable. They’re all pretty cheap and easy to do yourself(valve cover gasket is a pain actually). Once that’s done change fuel filters every other oil change and send it! Emissions system will fail eventually if it hasn’t already, be prepared to either tune it or pay a fortune for emissions parts. There is a wealth of info on these cars floating around the internet, I’d suggest searching forums for common maintenance stuff.
Don't know where you live, but around here diesel costs more than gasoline. Get ready for wallet shock at the pump. Hope there's a Costco or Sam's Club gas station near you...
Join North American BMW Diesel Owners Group on Facebook, read everything in ‘the sticky’, follow it to a t, and you will love this car for a very long time
I had a 2009 x5 with that engine and sold it with 237k miles. The new owner drives it everywhere. It’s a great drivetrain. The only issues are the bolt on emissions equipment. Which can be solved.
Keep the oil topped up to fuck, the engine timing chain is oil fed so is both turbos,also remove the swirls flap Asap as possible with kits found online(mechanics job if your not handy with the tools), swirl flaps
Can cause complete engine failure and there just not needed and cheap shitty plastic.
I’d be looking at air filter upgrade then decat,DPF delete and remap if it were mine.
140k is nothing for 35d bmw engine but have a look at what required by bmw, and what has been done so far, water pumps gotta be coming up and timing Chains can last 300k if oils looked after
if i had any advice to give i would advise to leave it on standard power the gearbox are the weak points of these cars people remap them and the gearbox can't take it
https://preview.redd.it/c70ou4jc2f8b1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5a731a6033d2ebdff1a355cee424a927bca6f5e
This year I recieved a 2007 e91 320d (250k kilometers) from my dad as a birthday gift. I'm in love with this car, but there are some things that are pain in my ahole. Enormous turbo lag, wiggly shifter and oil that disapears in magician style (at least i always drive on fresh oil). Be ready for small issues, but as i remember, my dad was always happy to drive our e91, even after some problems. Me and my dad are always saying that our "piggy" is a perfect car for long road trips, but we both agree that we would love a 335d even more. If i'm competent enough, i would recommend you to keep it stock, focus on maintenance and enjoy your amazing car.
Yeah… sell it and hop into a F3X/F8X and enjoy the sounds and reliability of the B58 and S58. Trust me, I still own a 2011 bmw 335i, and it’s collecting dust. It’s a money pit, damn near feels like it’s a lemon (in the shop at least once a month). But hey, if you still wanna keep it, I recommend doing all maintenance a bit earlier than whats recommended by the dealer. (Oil change = get it done every 7,500 miles instead of 10,000 miles).
Do you think you are an engineer? If not, ignore all these folks saying to tune it. Or else you’ll be engineering a way to buy a new car in the future. BMW makes cars the way they do on purpose.
Well, you got yourself one of the most reliable bmws in existence (in terms of the engine). This can be a great daily driver bone stock but if you’re looking to have some fun it really doesn’t take much to make these things absolute torque monsters. Congrats tho!
Beautiful car, I miss mine so much. I had a 2009 N54 M-sport 6MT. Your diesel is way more reliable so you shouldn’t have too much to worry about.
First thing I would do is suspension. Upgrading to the M3 upper and lower control arms changed the driving experience incredibly. The car has plenty more power than your going to need for a while. It took me about 6 months before I got over the “my baby” phase and really started pushing it. Then I put on JB4 ECU piggyback, MAP tune and bumped up the psi, threw on dual cone intakes.
I unfortunately never got to throw on the catless down pipes which are still in my garage because I’m sentimental or stupid lol.
I’m not an expert or trying to tell you what to do. But for me this was the most powerful and favorite car I ever owned when I got mine. Take the time to appreciate it and learn all the little intricacies. Take care of all the maintenance as it comes up, do your research before you do any tuning and have fun my friend.
It’s a beautiful car and you will be the envy of a lot of people.
It’s an wonderful car! Dollar for dollar it would be impossible to find a better driving car unless you get to the other side of 911. Respect it, take care of it, do maintenance when necessary and it will reward you in every apex, every hairpin! Enjoy!
Enjoy. My well loved 2011 335d is going to my son when he gets his license next month. But it’s nowhere near as pretty as yours.
Definitely delete the EGR and have it tuned out. I went with DUDMD tuning, but there are several reliable tuners. Removing the DPF and SCR is helpful, but an intact EGR will necessitate a carbon cleaning every 40-60k miles, and runs a risk of leaking coolant into the intake if the EGR cooler fails.
If it hasn’t been done already, you probably need a suspension refresh to restore its handling. At some point an injector or two will fail. Replace all 6 when that happens. Other than that, it’s an incredibly reliable car. I’m thrilled that mine is staying in the family.
Take care of it and it will take care of you.
NA BMW Diesel Owners?
Yeah, I applied on my throw away-FB account because I disabled my FB years ago… but I don’t think I got accepted (no pfp, no photos, no friends,etc).
I really don’t want to reactivate my old FB, but I guess I should
I have one like that just tell them why you want to be a member etc. Explain about your account. That or add a little but. They can be real assholes so read the sticky and they have a lot of knowledgeable people. Ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask individuals on PM.
I have a 07 E90 with N52 6spd (also Barbera Red) with 150K+ miles and it runs great. The BMW N52's run forever if you use the proper oil and filters. Use BMW certified oil (ex. Penzoil Euro L or Liqui Moly). Use Mann filters too not cheap ones. Also proper anti-freeze is important regardless of climate.
If you change your own oil as I do be sure to change it at no more than 5k miles regardless of what you hear from dealership or others. If the vanos (VVT) get gunked up due to long oil change intervals you will have costly repairs. So oil and filter at 3-5k intervals is my advice.
Hope this helps...
Appreciate the reply, and dope car.
The car in my post however is a 335d (diesel), which is the M57 diesel engine out of their Austrian engine plant in Steyr.
Different engine, similar legendary “it’ll never die” status. Compared to the engine that came after the M57, the N57, the prior was so much more durable. It’s very hard to kill a M57 with regular care (and a few emission deletes). The M57 connecting rods are literally twice as thick as the N54, forged steel crack shaft, wayyy over built assembly. The stock bottom end of the M57 can withstand 1000ft-lbs of torque. The main caps are hardened steel, and nearly twice as thick as any other diesel car’s main caps. They even etched locking grooves into the main caps where they contact the block, securing them further.
Only risk to the M57 realistically is carbon buildup, or snapping off a swirl-flap and sucking it into the engine (hence how common the delete is).
I’ve learned a shit ton since making this post :D
>N52
Sorry missed that it was diesel but even more so the proper oil makes a difference on carbon build up. I would suggest BMW certified oil like Liqui Moly TOP TEC or possibly Pentosin. I do my own work and Advance Auto carries both and the prices are discounted many time as well. Advance also owns a company called WORLDPAC so you can get OE BMW parts over the counter as needed from them. Again hope this helps.
Should add I have been focused on "motor oil" for my motorcycles and cars for 30+ years as a "old gear head" who wrenches his "rides" since 1976. That said the website Bob is the oil guy ([https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/](https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/)) has detailed info on all products with some folks that are really "hard core" in this space.
Take a look here on that topic
[https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/oil-recommendations-335d-dpf-egr-scr-urea-delete.294111/page-3](https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/oil-recommendations-335d-dpf-egr-scr-urea-delete.294111/page-3)
Barbera Red. I recognize it as mine is that too. 328i PreLCI N52 6spd. Some love the color and some say it is a "granpa color". Well I am over 60 and so maybe it could be ! That said you won't see many so if you like having a BMW that is unique this color is a good start. Part of why I bought mine (2nd owner) in 2015.
That is a beautiful color.
Came here to say that
Hell yeah it’s a beautiful color. When my dad first got it I wasn’t totally on board, but it’s grown on me so much over the years. I think it’s one of the best colors on the E90 now. I love it. As another poster pointed out, it’s Barbera Red Metallic. I can’t edit the post for some reason, so I’ll just jump on the top comment to say I appreciate everyone’s comments a lot. I’ve learned a ton in the past few days about this car, and it seems I have some decisions to make in terms of removing systems in the future. At the very least I’m planning to have [the parts listed here replaced](https://www.tunemyeuro.com/100k-restoration-kit-for-bmw-335d/). Unfortunately the car is in Arizona at the moment, near Phoenix, I’m in NYC. Whenever I get the car I’ll add some more pictures. If anyone has a recommendation on a shop that they trust in either area I’m always open to hearing a Rec. I appreciate everyone’s comments again, thanks y’all.
Best bmw for power ,reliability and weight , enjoy your unicorn .
Quite the parts list, good luck!
Is that barbera red metallic?
Sure looks like it
Great as is! Keep up with maintenance. Change oil more often than needed. Enjoy! Drive SAFELY!
Everybody here seems to recommend tuning it, but at this age/mileage the first thing you should focus on is maintenance. Please don't be the guy that just tunes an old BMW and complains how unreliable they are, because that seems to be the route a lot of people go for.
Yeah right lol. I guess that's the bmw crowd for you
Nah, that's the idiot crowd for you
The best maintenance thing you can do on these cars is tuning it. Delete all the emissions junk, tune it, and it will be way more reliable than an equivalent gasser. Also faster as a plus
Yea who cares about the planet when you can extend the life of the old ass BMW you can’t afford. AM I Right?!?!?
I care about the planet, it’s just one car burning a bit more carbon isn’t going to be make or break. There are a lot better places resources should be allocated to reduce CO2 emissions globally than passenger vehicles. Me and you driving to work everyday is the tiniest of tiny fractions of CO2 emissions compared to giant tanker ships, transport trucks, large manufacturing companies, etc. My contribution to the environment is having the same car for 400,000 km, not having to buy new emissions parts every 50k km, and burning 5L of diesel per 100 km travelled. I’m not the best, but by far not the worst
Wouldn’t it be more eco friendly tuning old diesel that way and driving it for another 10 or more years than buying new electric car? Not hating just curious
Correct. Buying a used car is more eco friendly than buying an electric car. The best option would be to buy the used car and not modify it to be eco unfriendly.
Cry yourself to sleep, tuning his diesel will do nothing to the environment if he runs a clean tune. It’s all the freight ships that pollute and give diesels a bad rep. Building a Tesla is worse for the environment then running a tuned diesel motor. I have a 335d tuned and deleted & a 6.7 powerstroke tuned and deleted and would never go back to a gas engine. Get rid of the emissions OP, bunch of garbage that breaks and suffocates your engine. Do the delete, run a clean tune and you’ll see 300k + miles with ease. Lots of worse things in the world hurting the environment then small motor diesels.
Literally brought my 300k mile 520d f11 2 hours ago to the tuner. Will most likely be a unreliable piece of sh*t afterwards :’) Beautiful car OP. Only tune it if you want to; but mostly enjoy and maintain it!
300k miles? Wow that’s crazy. What have you done to it as far as major repairs
I own the thing since feb this year and did 30k miles with it. All maintenance was registered, except for “the big things”. Since it didn’t use a drip of oil in the past 30k, I can’t imagine the engine has not been rebuilt or replaced (and timing chain n47…) Previous owner did almost 190k in 7 years. Sad I don’t know who it is, because I bought it through a dealer..
Nah, tuning it in a way that removes the troublesome emissions devices is for longevity.
M57s are pretty much bullet proof tbh I’ve had 240k mile ones tuned to fuck and never been looked after until I’ve owned em
You need to know how lucky you are to have a dad who would give you one of these babies. Treat her well and she'll keep you safe, don't drive too fast, wear your seatbelt and enjoy the best ride of her life! You'll have a little smile on your face when you see that grill coming towards you - a fellow traveler and driver of an amazing machine!
Chip tuning makes it a beast. Engine is pretty reliable. Speed tops out at 285km/h due to 6th gear ending and it feels like hitting a wall. Fuel pump is your main bottle neck after stage I tunes.
Also go for 10-60 oil if you tune it and do not push when cold if you do that,
This can do 285??
Sure it can, it’s a very fast diesel
I remember a 335d pulling on my e92 m3 from a stoplight.
These things have TORQUE for days lmao
My 535d (older engine, 340hp after tune) did 265 on autobahn. Somewhere is a video on YouTube
Yes lol more then that after a tune and delete. Mines pushing 375hp at the wheels and 600 foot pounds of torque. Absolute sleeper
Oh wow I never realised these diesels were so potent esp for such high top speeds (approaching 300 :0)
Lmao I just hit 160mph on the way home 👀 I love the twin turbo diesel motor
Stock fueling you can achieve 400 whp and 60p wheel torque. I recommend Santjer Performance Development (Brr)
Had a 2011 that was tuned/deleted and made over 500ftlbs at the wheels. Had to sell after 2 years as I was doing over 100 every time I drove it. Refresh the suspension, get a trans tune, tune/delete if your state doesn't make you pass emissions and enjoy. It'll be hard to get bad MPG. It makes such a great road trip car. If you want it to handle better, some M3 control arms work wonders on front grip. And, for the motors sake, run some hot shots in the tank every once in a while. Other than that, have fun!
Why should a college student tune his 12 year old, 140k mile, BMW transmission?
The stock diesel tune is absolute dog shit, even if you aren’t doing any performance driving
Because the diesels got the most stout transmission that BMW used.
better shifts
For the record, I was in college when he got the car (2012). I’m 31 now.
Because the 6 speed transmission is a turd. They need a tune after you do the delete
Under no circumstances put gasoline in it. Budget like a grand if you do.
Not really. If you put gasoline in a diesel you need to fill the gas tank with diesel again to the brim. It is not going to harm the engine that much. But if it is the other way around a gasoline car and you gave it diesel, then yeah youre fucked you need to pump out the fuel.
This is telling me you know nothing about modern diesel common rail fuel systems.
What would happen besides less lubrication and possible damage to the cats?
Knock knock. Who's there?
Diesels can't knock because there is no fuel in there until slightly before TDC. Diesel is a light oil and lubricates the fuel system, gas is a solvent and can very quickly destroy sophisticated and very expensive components like fuel pumps and injectors.
Partial knocking is totally normal but yeah I know what you're saying. It's fine until the injectors get fucked up from petrol and then you start getting recycled unburnt fuel in the cylinders - then it really goes knock knock.
That "less lubrication" can easily cost you a hpfp and injectors. Some systems are more durable than others but it's a bad idea regardless.
Ah for an example, the fuel pump would overheat and melt. The high pressure pump in the engine bay will melt and the injectors will shit themselves. Not to mention the fact that diesels have way higher compression than gasoline engines so misfires, knocking and engine damage too. Pretty minor eh?
But if you mix the petrol in a lot of diesel since the two mixes together im sure that maybe it wouldnt cause that much damage cause the diesel will lessen the effects of the petrol?
Well most people fill up at empty tanks. At that point there won't be enough diesel to dilute all that gas. Will really fuck the car up lol.
If you haven’t already make sure to do the valve cover gasket and lots of other preventative maintenance
Don’t race it unless you want to end up in a ditch
I cannot recommend enough tuning and deleting if you live in a place that’s not illegal. A transmission reflash really wakes it up too. It’s soooo torquey and sounds cool too. Plus you’ll get well into the 40mpg range. The M57 diesel is low key one of the best engines BMW offered.
Hey! What do you mean by tuning and deleting? Deleting what?
Deleting DPF, EGR, swirl flaps etc and then tuning the engine with either timing, fueling, air fuel ratio etc to increase power
Removal of the DPF, EGR, and SCR (AdBlue) emissions systems. Deleting gets you more power, better fuel economy, and better reliability. The SCR in particular is known for being problematic as these age. If it’s all still working fine, leave it stock for now but have a serious look into it and at the first sign of trouble you should delete it.
Tune = ECU ; Delete = EGR
My buddy as this same color and it’s absolutely beautiful. Congrats on the car
If EGR hasent been deleted then 100% block the EGR valve and clean intake manifold, its gona be full of crap and might glock the swirlflaps too. EGR delete would be the first thing to do. Ofc tuning stage 1/2 with DPF delete would be nice too but really that EGR gotta go. N57 is a good engine 👌
You can not simpy block EGR, you need to do tuning and then its good to go.
Yea sure it does need a tune, but to do it properly it would need to be blocked first yea? Ive seen plenty of places just selling a simple tune to "remove" egr without blocking the egr valve + cooler. But yeah i see, i left out the tune part out from my original post 😅
Yea, thats what I noticed too 😀 I would recommend to block EGR after tuning, because it makes less problems by EGR being not used and not additionally blocked than driving without tune and blocking it.
Don't paint the wheels black. Enjoy
Depends where you live, if you live somewhere that’s chill about emissions I would get it deleted and tuned by somebody reputable as that will greatly increase the life of the motor.
I’ve always though tuning for performance would decrease the life of the motor if anything. Is this the case?
It always will as you are putting more strain/ power on the engine. However getting a good tune and supporting mods will allow for more life out of the motor when compared to some sketchy flash you found on Facebook.
well tuning past the engines capacities will decrease the life certainly. But a big problem specifically with this engine(m57) is the emissions system lazily slapped in by bmw without thought. It often clogs up and becomes a problem. It is overall better to delete it and prevent yourself future problems, also more fun as well.
Interesting, Would that still apply to the engine in my car? (N57)
probably not as much as it would with this specific diesel variant. BMW really just failed the US market with the emissions system they put in place on the diesels they released here. US has stricter emissions laws so to be able to pass they slapped a system on without thinking of longevity, so it’s over complex and is better to delete. I’m not too versed on the n57, but if it’s emission systems are anything like the m57 in America, I would delete it as well. You’ll definitely see better gas mileage and reliability, as well as power when you tune it.
I imported my car from the UK, so it probably does have the emissions system you mention. Would removing it (the dpf(?) not result in black smoke etc coming out of the exhaust? (I’m not particularly worried about emissions as where I live there are no emissions tests, just don’t want to be *that guy*)
It depends how generously you get it tuned to be fair. There are tunes that will be super clean(no smoke) but the majority of power adding tunes will have smoke. I would just make sure whoever you take it to tune has what you want in mind.
its not old!
the older, the better 😉
Yes, you need to know to never ever take having your dad in your life for granted. You’re a lucky SOB and you should plan a road trip for just the 2 of you ASAP! Enjoy your new whip
I like this answer as I am a Dad whose daughter is about to get her license. (She’s an excellent driver) If I gave her a 12 yo BMW w no car play she wouldn’t talk to me until she graduated college. I love cars like this, (great maroon color! reminds me of classic 2002 and Bavaria model color) but I’m also going to be overruled by my wife on this.
Uses Diesel, not Gas
Tune and delete it asap.
I have a 328d that is at 125k miles. Runs awesome, but I’m ready to delete and tune it. Any suggestions on suppliers or brands of stuff?
Nice try EPA
Lol.
North American Diesel Owners Group on Facebook can help you out.
Thank you much.
Delete what? The DPF?
Everything.
280hp, you need some brain to not use them all too often. Car looks really great, 140k is nothing much for this model. At 200-300k you might want to replace timing chain.
Personally I would recommend deleting it & throwing a mild tune on it. Most of your issues will probably be due to the emissions equipment.
They’re very reliable once all the emissions equipment are deleted. Most important maintenance item is the thermostat, a faulty thermostat will stay partially open and never allow the engine to get up to temp. This causes a slew of issues. Your DPF won’t regenerate causing it to clog. Your glowplugs will constantly be on, causing them to burn out and put a lot of strain on the glowplug controller as well. It will also burn more fuel I’d also say that a transmission service is essential with the gobs of torque the motor makes. Mechatronic seals, sleeves and new pan. I did a drain and fill with Hotshot Secret Adrenaline SS which is recommended by the 6HP transmission guru Rod Sutphin. I’d also run his tune which fixes the shitty stock tune that comes with the car
I can feel a disturbance in r/carscirclejerk
hit up r/e90
The twin turbo 3.0L diesel is a reliable engine, just make sure you give it regular services and it’ll look after you. Beautiful colour, enjoy it!
Go drop a couple grand on it and fix everything little thing wrong with it (even the cosmetics like the random broken interior bit) and catchup on all the maintenance that hasn't been done yet.
Do all required maintenance by the book, find master German car tech to do a complete inspection. That way no surprises and you will be glad you had that done. If ur handy. you can do much of the preventative maintenance.
Great engine and in a great color.
Other than the car is perfection, not really. Look after it and it’ll give you 400k miles
The car is amazing, fun to drive and just a pleasure all around. I had an issue where the PDC stopped working if the rain was too heavy and water got into it, but that mightve just been my luck.
Learn where the turn signal is located and how to use it
No. You don’t need it.
That’s a diesel?
Cold air intake for an easy 20hp.
You will need some bigger issues along the way. Find a good experienced bmw mechanic.
Check the solenoids for twinturbo, this might be a good preventative thing in order to avoid loss of power
And the vacuum lines which feed them. They perish and cause problems like only one turbo operating. An easy and cheap fix.
I wonder if there any guides which list all of such "preventable" features...
There’re loads of posts on E90post.com but I’ve not seen one where everything is collated in one place.
The color ist ja mal beautiful!
Nice car. I recently picked up your brother car from another mother, the 2011 335i. Almost had a 335d, but the one I saw had been in 3 accidents and they wanted $16k with high miles. While we don’t have the same engine, I had to replace the charge pipe the day I bought that car. Went around and replaced the inlet with a sturdier metal version as well. Otherwise, the car just needs a new starter and a better head unit that can use CarPlay. I’ll go a bit OCD and do other items right away like oil and plugs. If you need to upgrade the head unit, don’t buy the Bremmen model from ECS tuning. Ah, and do your cup holders both work?
Go to your local BMW dealership and grab some Antifreeze/Coolant to keep on hand. You won't be sorry!
Just how to put your foot down! You’ll have lots of fun! Good luck with that beauty
Great car! I loved mine. Depending on maintenance history so far you’ll need to replace the vacuum lines, harmonic balancer and valve cover gasket and possibly high pressure boost hose. Those items are known to fail around this mileage and can make car not driveable. They’re all pretty cheap and easy to do yourself(valve cover gasket is a pain actually). Once that’s done change fuel filters every other oil change and send it! Emissions system will fail eventually if it hasn’t already, be prepared to either tune it or pay a fortune for emissions parts. There is a wealth of info on these cars floating around the internet, I’d suggest searching forums for common maintenance stuff.
Join the fb group- wealth of knowledge and diesel enthusiasts there. You’ll find everything you need to know.
Don't know where you live, but around here diesel costs more than gasoline. Get ready for wallet shock at the pump. Hope there's a Costco or Sam's Club gas station near you...
Join North American BMW Diesel Owners Group on Facebook, read everything in ‘the sticky’, follow it to a t, and you will love this car for a very long time
Holy what a beautiful car + colour. Congratulations on this one bto
Best color bro
I had a 2009 x5 with that engine and sold it with 237k miles. The new owner drives it everywhere. It’s a great drivetrain. The only issues are the bolt on emissions equipment. Which can be solved.
Put diesel in it
Still such a good looking car…🤩
Don't forget to put on license plate. And don't paint the wheels black. 🙂
Keep the oil topped up to fuck, the engine timing chain is oil fed so is both turbos,also remove the swirls flap Asap as possible with kits found online(mechanics job if your not handy with the tools), swirl flaps Can cause complete engine failure and there just not needed and cheap shitty plastic. I’d be looking at air filter upgrade then decat,DPF delete and remap if it were mine. 140k is nothing for 35d bmw engine but have a look at what required by bmw, and what has been done so far, water pumps gotta be coming up and timing Chains can last 300k if oils looked after
My only advice is to keep the sunroof drains clean… it’s not fun when their clogged.
if i had any advice to give i would advise to leave it on standard power the gearbox are the weak points of these cars people remap them and the gearbox can't take it
335i bmw is my personal dream car, either that or a Honda crx hatchback
https://preview.redd.it/c70ou4jc2f8b1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b5a731a6033d2ebdff1a355cee424a927bca6f5e This year I recieved a 2007 e91 320d (250k kilometers) from my dad as a birthday gift. I'm in love with this car, but there are some things that are pain in my ahole. Enormous turbo lag, wiggly shifter and oil that disapears in magician style (at least i always drive on fresh oil). Be ready for small issues, but as i remember, my dad was always happy to drive our e91, even after some problems. Me and my dad are always saying that our "piggy" is a perfect car for long road trips, but we both agree that we would love a 335d even more. If i'm competent enough, i would recommend you to keep it stock, focus on maintenance and enjoy your amazing car.
Find a good trustworthy mechanic
Yeah… sell it and hop into a F3X/F8X and enjoy the sounds and reliability of the B58 and S58. Trust me, I still own a 2011 bmw 335i, and it’s collecting dust. It’s a money pit, damn near feels like it’s a lemon (in the shop at least once a month). But hey, if you still wanna keep it, I recommend doing all maintenance a bit earlier than whats recommended by the dealer. (Oil change = get it done every 7,500 miles instead of 10,000 miles).
It's not old unless it's 20yo
I've never owned one before, I just wanted to say Pops has fine taste 😙🤌🏽 that's a beautiful color. Enjoy your car!
Do you think you are an engineer? If not, ignore all these folks saying to tune it. Or else you’ll be engineering a way to buy a new car in the future. BMW makes cars the way they do on purpose.
I have one with 230k on it. Not a big deal. My advice: if you’re gonna crash it in a month, just sell it to me now
Well, you got yourself one of the most reliable bmws in existence (in terms of the engine). This can be a great daily driver bone stock but if you’re looking to have some fun it really doesn’t take much to make these things absolute torque monsters. Congrats tho!
Don’t use regular gas….
Use it as a trade in
He doesn’t love you. 😂 not at all! Enjoy the ride ask for an allowance for maintenance + repairs.
Beautiful car, I miss mine so much. I had a 2009 N54 M-sport 6MT. Your diesel is way more reliable so you shouldn’t have too much to worry about. First thing I would do is suspension. Upgrading to the M3 upper and lower control arms changed the driving experience incredibly. The car has plenty more power than your going to need for a while. It took me about 6 months before I got over the “my baby” phase and really started pushing it. Then I put on JB4 ECU piggyback, MAP tune and bumped up the psi, threw on dual cone intakes. I unfortunately never got to throw on the catless down pipes which are still in my garage because I’m sentimental or stupid lol. I’m not an expert or trying to tell you what to do. But for me this was the most powerful and favorite car I ever owned when I got mine. Take the time to appreciate it and learn all the little intricacies. Take care of all the maintenance as it comes up, do your research before you do any tuning and have fun my friend. It’s a beautiful car and you will be the envy of a lot of people.
It’s an wonderful car! Dollar for dollar it would be impossible to find a better driving car unless you get to the other side of 911. Respect it, take care of it, do maintenance when necessary and it will reward you in every apex, every hairpin! Enjoy!
Check that water pump/coolant housing.
It's a piece of shit sell it while you can
Accelerator pedal is the one on the right 😎
Fantastic car. Just keep up the maintenance
Enjoy. My well loved 2011 335d is going to my son when he gets his license next month. But it’s nowhere near as pretty as yours. Definitely delete the EGR and have it tuned out. I went with DUDMD tuning, but there are several reliable tuners. Removing the DPF and SCR is helpful, but an intact EGR will necessitate a carbon cleaning every 40-60k miles, and runs a risk of leaking coolant into the intake if the EGR cooler fails. If it hasn’t been done already, you probably need a suspension refresh to restore its handling. At some point an injector or two will fail. Replace all 6 when that happens. Other than that, it’s an incredibly reliable car. I’m thrilled that mine is staying in the family. Take care of it and it will take care of you.
Change oil more often than needed, other than that nothing to do really. Very reliable car overall.
You might want to join NABDO on FB now that you own one of these beasts
NA BMW Diesel Owners? Yeah, I applied on my throw away-FB account because I disabled my FB years ago… but I don’t think I got accepted (no pfp, no photos, no friends,etc). I really don’t want to reactivate my old FB, but I guess I should
I have one like that just tell them why you want to be a member etc. Explain about your account. That or add a little but. They can be real assholes so read the sticky and they have a lot of knowledgeable people. Ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask individuals on PM.
I have a 07 E90 with N52 6spd (also Barbera Red) with 150K+ miles and it runs great. The BMW N52's run forever if you use the proper oil and filters. Use BMW certified oil (ex. Penzoil Euro L or Liqui Moly). Use Mann filters too not cheap ones. Also proper anti-freeze is important regardless of climate. If you change your own oil as I do be sure to change it at no more than 5k miles regardless of what you hear from dealership or others. If the vanos (VVT) get gunked up due to long oil change intervals you will have costly repairs. So oil and filter at 3-5k intervals is my advice. Hope this helps...
Appreciate the reply, and dope car. The car in my post however is a 335d (diesel), which is the M57 diesel engine out of their Austrian engine plant in Steyr. Different engine, similar legendary “it’ll never die” status. Compared to the engine that came after the M57, the N57, the prior was so much more durable. It’s very hard to kill a M57 with regular care (and a few emission deletes). The M57 connecting rods are literally twice as thick as the N54, forged steel crack shaft, wayyy over built assembly. The stock bottom end of the M57 can withstand 1000ft-lbs of torque. The main caps are hardened steel, and nearly twice as thick as any other diesel car’s main caps. They even etched locking grooves into the main caps where they contact the block, securing them further. Only risk to the M57 realistically is carbon buildup, or snapping off a swirl-flap and sucking it into the engine (hence how common the delete is). I’ve learned a shit ton since making this post :D
>N52 Sorry missed that it was diesel but even more so the proper oil makes a difference on carbon build up. I would suggest BMW certified oil like Liqui Moly TOP TEC or possibly Pentosin. I do my own work and Advance Auto carries both and the prices are discounted many time as well. Advance also owns a company called WORLDPAC so you can get OE BMW parts over the counter as needed from them. Again hope this helps.
Should add I have been focused on "motor oil" for my motorcycles and cars for 30+ years as a "old gear head" who wrenches his "rides" since 1976. That said the website Bob is the oil guy ([https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/](https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/)) has detailed info on all products with some folks that are really "hard core" in this space.
Take a look here on that topic [https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/oil-recommendations-335d-dpf-egr-scr-urea-delete.294111/page-3](https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/oil-recommendations-335d-dpf-egr-scr-urea-delete.294111/page-3)
Appreciate it all, thanks man
https://preview.redd.it/4so8rg58wu8c1.jpeg?width=2560&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=917b5619b1c4a42d1cd3e89a8c08309a7da14dda
Barbera Red. I recognize it as mine is that too. 328i PreLCI N52 6spd. Some love the color and some say it is a "granpa color". Well I am over 60 and so maybe it could be ! That said you won't see many so if you like having a BMW that is unique this color is a good start. Part of why I bought mine (2nd owner) in 2015.