E89 long term use report

[RichBZ]

I have been a follower of this group for a long time and I have found it very helpful. I thought it might be of interest to the group to share my going-on 14 year ownership of my 2011 E89.

I ordered my E 89 in January of 2010, it did not arrive until June 2010, it arrived as a 2011 model. I ordered it with the exterior red paint and Kansas beige leather. I spent an additional $500 for the wood dash and console trim. I also ordered the cold weather package (heated seats and steering wheel). The dealer told me I had two engine options, the N52 or the N54. I chose the N52 because I heard of some issues with the N54. Lastly I ordered the manual transmission. Below I will list the years and any maintenance items I experienced over the years. Please note I drive my E89 year around and have driven in light snow. I change the engine oil myself every 6 months all other maintenance were completed by my local BMW dealer.

2010 car delivered 19 miles

2011 no issues

2012 replace rear brakes ( under warranty) and brake flush 32100 miles

2013 Vanos recall 38200 miles- flat tire, driving on highway at 75 mph heard a pop and tire light came on. drove home and found a 2 inch piece metal stuck in sidewall, run flat tires work well.

2014 brake flush, replaced cracked front windshield 39900 miles

2015 Coolant flush 43000 miles

2016 Replace all 4 tires with Michelin run flat,replace battery,brake flush 47120 miles

2017 Noise emblem went missing , replace with one I bought on Amazon 48343 miles

2018 Replace rear brakes 59020 miles

2019 Cooling system flush, transmission oil change, replace rear tires and center console lid. 63989 miles

2020 Brake flush and replace front brakes 70700 miles

2021 Rear Diff oil change, front thrust rod bushings replaced, transmission shift shaft seal replaced, replace battery. PCV recall 72789 miles

2022 Oil filter housing gasket replaced, brake flush 76976 miles

2023 Replace all 6 ignition coils and spark plugs, replace valve cover gasket. 79640 miles

2024 currently 81968 miles

Hope you all find this of interest Rich

[B21]

Good report..

That N52 engine is pretty bomb proof..as it appears is the chassis..

With your oil change regime it should run forever!

[KennyP]

Seems you have been lucky with maintenance and repairs. Only basic servicing and a few things that are well known to go bad on bmw-s like those oil filter housing gaskets and valvecover gaskets...

I have had to do a bit more than that. Imported my 2009 35i from Germany in the spring of 2016. Its going to be 8 years of ownership in a few months.

I also have done almost all those things you listed...
all the regular maintenance: oil, brakes, spark plugs, battery
Oil filter housing gaskets
New original valvecover with gasket and pcv
New set of ignition coils
DCT service and diff oil change.
i have replaced all bmw badges on the car, wheel center badges actually replaced twice....

Im suprised you havent done anything to the suspension... not even a single stabilizer bar endlink...

I basically have done almost all the suspension repairs you could think of:

front adaptive shocks failed... went to a kw v3 suspension setup.
replaced all front control arms with m3 arms... one went bad so decided to do them all...
replaced tie rods once..
replaced front stabilizer end links twice
replaced front shock top mounts
replaced front wheel bearings twice
replaced rear trailingarm bushings and balljoints once
replaced rear wheel bearings once

On the engine side i havent done very much more than you but still:
As i mentioned before :
replaced oilfilter housing gaskets
replaced valvecover and its gasket(new pcv came with the valvecover as its built into the cover)
replaced ignition coils
in addition to that:
intake valves cleaned from carbon deposits
replaced aux belt and tensioner
replaced hydraulic chain tensioner
replaced front and rear main seal
replaced water pump and thermostat
replaced oil pan gasket
replaced alternator
replaced boost solenoids (preventative)
replaced all vacuum lines (preventative)

Now other things like electrical, trim etc repairs:

trunk lid harness plug connection had to be cleaned as it had some moisture allowing for voltage to jump from one circuit to other and that tiny voltage kept a small part of my third brakelight to be on all the time.
replaced rear taillights due to moisture getting inside
replaced roof salmon relays
replaced driver seat base heating element
replaced door tweeter grilles both sides... A repair shop happened to bend them
retrimmed steering wheel
fixed hall sensor wires in rear roof shell
fitted new xenon bulbs and angeleyes bulbs.
Replaced drivers seat ivory white nappa leather with the leather from a donor seat that was in great condition...
replaced both mirror adjustment motors
replaced one dimming mirror glass
fitted a new original windshield
replaced rear numberplate lights
repaired trunklid softclose wiring both left and right...
replaced one of the rear parking sensors..

+ all the cosmetic stuff... refurbishing wheels, paint, polishing, waxing, ceramic coating, protective film on headlights, interior care.

Car is now at 127k km-s, thats about 79k miles.
When i got the car in 2016 it had 82k km-s on it thats near 51k miles.

[DubaiRich]

Any pics of said vehicles?

[KennyP]

Originally Posted by DubaiRich

Any pics of said vehicles?

I dont really photograph mine much. Only a few odd quick shots with the iphone here and there after cleaning it or doing some work on it. So they arent that good tbh.

But ill add a small selection from last year or so.



























Most recent one from december after installing new xenon bulbs and led bulbs for the angel eyes... both matching 6000Kelvin



and a fun one taken during last winters big snowstorm... it really does get used in the winter aswell




Now show yours!

[DubaiRich]

Awesome shots. The pic after the car wash could be in almost any American city.

I have not yet begun to pic whore...

[B21]

Was all the replacements required or were some done out of preference for improvement?

[KennyP]

Originally Posted by B21

Was all the replacements required or were some done out of preference for improvement?

hmm... well regarding suspension...
rear wheel bearings i did as a precaution... when fronts went out the first time i decided to do all 4.
Regarding other suspension parts i usually replace things in pairs... when one side shows wear i just replace both...
And i usually dont wait until i get obvious suspension noises. If it doesnt feel tight i start to look for a culprit. Also i usually dont just upgrade stuff... when things wear out and theres an option to upgrade it then ill maybe upgrade those parts.
Struts replaced because both front shocks leaked oil..
top mounts replaced because the had developed cracks in them...also bearing was not good...

Rear trailing arm bushes were not totally shot, but i did not like how much rear suspension flexed and moved during annual inspection when they put the car on those plates that move. I did pass the inspection, so it wasnt that bad, but when i asked the guy doing the inspection about the flex in the rear he said that yes they are a bit soft and a bit past their prime. And im glad i did replace and upgrade them. Car is a lot more controllable and stable now.

Regarding engine repairs... all the things basically needed doing...
Boost solenoids i replaced just because they can leak vacuum and make turbo response more laggy. I did notice a small improvement after but that could have been a placebo. They arent that expensive if you go with pierburg brand.. So why not...
Vacuum lines was also preventative so i upgraded them to higher rated lines
All the gaskets and seals basically needed doing... front main seal wasnt that bad but had them both done.
All those gasket issues started with the valvecover and its pcv...When that fails, and you keep driving, it can damage other gaskets and seals aswell. Push those main seals out for example. And apparently it doesnt take much.
So after the valvecover replacement i kept replacing gaskets and seals from top to bottom... first main seals and after that oilpan gasket aswell.
Now i have basically replaced all the potential leak points on it. Well turbo oil feedlines i havent yet touched...but they dont leak....so all good there.
Chain tensioner was a bit oily... it looks like a big bolt and has a washer that seals it and my mechanic shop noticed a bit of oil there so i replaced the whole thing with a new one.

Aux belt and tensioner is basically a must do after you find oilfilter housing leak... well atleast the belt is... oil leaks down the front of the engine from the filter housing and gets on the belt.. and it can ruin the belt... Furthermore when belt snaps on these engines it can wind itself up behind the main crank pulley and then get pulled through the front main seal into the engine and basically ruin the engine. So its just better to be cautious and replace it. You can actually buy an aftermarket plate that prevents that from happening...

Waterpump did not fail electrically as it usually does... mine developed a crack in its plastic housing and i was slowly loosing coolant..
Alternator basically just stopped charging the battery...

Recent front bulb replacement was because one of the xenon bulbs basically gave up.
Though i had thought about replacing them before. Old bulbs arent as bright as new ones...

Also have to say that previous owner had done some work on it aswell... but what exactly i dont know. I do know that he had index 12 injectors installed.. because in 2009 index 12 injectors didnt exist yet so they had to be installed later on...

[B21]

Seems to me that the N54 E89s just seem to wear their suspension /brakes out so much more than the others..that big engine generates a lot of heat in the engine bay too..I was shocked at how hot the engine bay on my 35is compared to my 20i…can’t do the plastics and gaskets any good..

Thanks for the detail…

[KennyP]

Yep heat is an issue.
Thats why i installed vacuum lines with higher temperature rating.
Heat also can do those boost solenoids in as they sit right above turbos and are made of plastic.

Also i have noticed that 135 and 335i guys have started to buy like whole sets of coolant piping and just replacing them... again heat does them in and the older these cars get the more brittle these coolant pipes become. Something to consider as these cars get older...

I havent noticed that brakes wear fast... ive replaced pads twice.. second time also did rotors. Maybe its because i have always used bmw original pads and not went with the aftermarket options. With the rotors i did go with ATE brand though...
My thought process on pads is this: BMW has this all inclusive free maintenance for the first 5 years or something on new cars.. so they probably design their pads to last a long time so they wouldnt have to replace them that often (like for free during the free maintenance plan). Is this true or not i dont know.. but they seem to last fine...

[RichBZ]

Attached is a picture of my Z4 taken last week.
Rich

[KennyP]

Looks clean! Love the red. Isnt crimson red like one of the rarer colors on z4-s?
I know that there is only one red car in my small country for example...

[spadman]

...my 2013 35i. Only major work Water pump and thermostat, Brake rotors and pads and oil pan gasket.

[B21]

Nice…I see a few discreet mods..MMI etc..what alloys are they?

[spadman]

Thanks...those are vredestein wheels 20X8.5 F and 20X9.5 R

[spadman]

correction those are Vorsteiner VFF-103 wheels