2008 BMW 335I

TL* THE CONTACT OWNED A 2008 BMW 335I. WHILE WALKING TO THE PARKED VEHICLE, THE CONTACT NOTICED SMOKE COMING FROM UNDER THE HOOD OF THE VEHICLE. THE CONTACT OPENED THE DOOR AND SAW FLAMES COMING FROM THE FLOORBOARD. THE CONTACT EXTINGUISHED THE FIRE WITH A FIRE EXTINGUISHER. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE BLOWER MOTOR CAUGHT ON FIRE AND MELTED THROUGH THE DASHBOARD AND GLOVE BOX. THE DEALER (HANSEL BMW OF SANTA ROSA, 2925 CORBY AVE, SANTA ROSA, CA 95407) STATED THAT THEY HAD TO WAIT TO HEAR FROM THE MANUFACTURER BEFORE THEY COULD MAKE ANY DECISIONS ON HOW TO HANDLE THE FAILURE. THEY ALSO DIRECTED THE CONTACT NOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING IN THE VEHICLE. THE MANUFACTURER WAS CONTACTED AND STATED THAT THEY NEVER HEARD OF THE BLOWER MOTOR CATCHING ON FIRE. THE VEHICLE WAS DESTROYED. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE VEHICLE WAS INCLUDED IN NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 17V670000 (ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING). THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 115,000.

WHILE DRIVING AT 35 MPH IN AN AREA WHERE THERE WAS NO PULL OFF AND A BLIND TURN AND THE TEMPERATURE GAUGE WAS WELL WITHIN THE NORMAL RANGE, AN OVERHEAT ENGINE LIGHT INDICATOR CAME ON AND THE CAR IMMEDIATELY LOST POWER LEAVING US IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD OBSTRUCTED AROUND A TURN. THE TIME BETWEEN THE WARNING AND THE CAR LAST POWER WAS A FEW SECONDS WITH NO OTHER WARNING. THIS WAS AN EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS AND DANGEROUS SITUATION. AFTER ABOUT 5 MINUTES, WE WERE ABLE TO RESTART THE CAR AND GET IT ABOUT 1/2 MILE, THUS REMOVING IT FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, AGAIN LOSING POWER WITH NO WARNING. A QUALIFIED CAR REPAIR CENTER SAID IT WAS A FAULTY WATER PUMP (THE CAR HAS 56,000) AND THEY SAID THAT MANY OTHER BMW OWNERS WITH MY TYPE OF CAR ARE HAVING THE SAME ISSUE; IN FACT THEY TOLD ME ANOTHER OWNER HAD THEIR CAR IN FOR REPAIR WITH THE SAME ISSUE AND BMW WAS NOT COOPERATING. I RESEARCHED BOTH COMPLAINTS ON THIS SITE (WHICH CONFIRM THE SAME ISSUE) AS WELL AS BMW OWNER'S FORUMS WHICH LIKEWISE CONFIRM THE SAME ISSUE AS WELL. I CALLED BMW AND THEY SAID THERE WAS NO RECALL AND THAT THEY WOULD NOT ADDRESS THE ISSUE. THIS IS A DANGEROUS AND UNFORTUNATE POSITION FOR BMW TO TAKE. NOT ONLY IS IT UNACCEPTABLE FOR BMW TO IGNORE A KNOWN WATER PUMP ISSUE THAT FAILS PREMATURELY, BUT THE CAR LOOSES POWER WITHOUT TIME TO REACT. FOR THE SAKE OF SAFETY, I ASK THIS PLEASE BE ADDRESSED. *TR

WHY DRIVING MY VEHICLE, I RECEIVED A YELLOW WARNING FOLLOWED IMMEDIATELY BY A RED WARNING. WHILE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND THE ISSUE THE CAR BEGAN TO LOSE POWER, CAUSING UNSAFE HIGHWAY HANDLING. ONCE I WAS ABLE TO GET OVER, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE CAR WAS OVERHEATING. THE WATER PUMP FAILED RENDERING THE CAR DISABLED. I HAVE DRIVEN QUITE A FEW CARS AND HAVE NEVER SEEN A WATER PUMP DISABLE THE CAR SO QUICKLY AND CREATE A DANGEROUS CONDITION. UPON DOING SOME RESEARCH, TALKING TO REPAIR MECHANICS THIS PROBLEM APPEARS TO HAPPEN ALL TOO OFTEN IN BMW'S. *JB

VEHICLE IS NOT ALLOWED RECALL SINCE VIN# DOES NOT APPLY HOWEVER ALL THINGS WRONG WITH VEHICLE ARE EXACTLY WHAT CAN BE FOUND UNDER RECALLS: NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID NUMBERS 12E029000,09V257000, 09V257000. BMW FAIRFAX AND BMW NORTH AMERICA STATE RECALL CANNOT BE PROCESSED BECAUSE MY VIN DOES NOT APPLY. IT IS BOTHERSOME TO KNOW THAT I AM EXPERIENCING ONLY THESE 3 PROBLEMS THAT SO HAPPEN TO BE THE ONLY ERRORS AND ALL 3 ARE ON THE RECALL LIST FOR MY MAKE, MODEL, AND YEAR. PERHAPS IF MORE VEHICLES WITH MY PART NUMBERS COME FORWARD THEN MAYBE BMW CAN OWN UP AND ACTUALLY HELP CURRENT BMW OWNERS WITH THESE MALFUNCTIONS INSTEAD OF FORCING CUSTOMERS TO PAY OUT OF POCKET ON KNOWN BMW RECALLS AND MALFUNCTIONS. THE ERRORS ARE ENGING AND ENGING COOLING: COOLING SYSTEM: FAN, SEAT BELTS: FRONT, AND AIR BAGS:FRONTAL. IF YOU ARE HAVING ISSUES WITH BMW AND THEM NOT BUDGING ON YOUR MALFUNCTIONS THAT HIT THE RECALLS PLEASE STEP FORWARD BECAUSE BMW NEEDS TO CORRECT THEIR MALFUNCTIONS AND NOT LET US PAY OUT OF POCKET ON SOMETHING PUT TOGETHER IMPROPERLY. *TR

AFTER STARTING MY BMW IT OCCASIONALLY WILL RUN FINE FOR BETWEEN SEVERAL HUNDRED FEET AND THREE QUARTERS OF A MILE AND THEN BRIEFLY STALL. THIS HAS HAPPENED WHILE ON THE HIGHWAY. IT SEEM TO HAPPEN AFTER IT HAS BEEN PARKED FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME (ANYWHERE FROM A FEW MINUTES TO A LITTLE OVER AN HOUR). ONE TIME I HAD TO COAST OFF THE ROAD AND RE-START THE CAR. THE OTHER TWO TIMES THE CAR HAS BRIEFLY STALLED (ALL THE DASH LIGHTS COME ON AS IF IT HAS BEEN SHUT OFF WITH THE KEY ON), THE CAR SLOWED DOWN AND THEN THE MOTOR CAUGHT AGAIN AND BEGAN RUNNING NORMALLY. MY CAR HAS BEEN INTO THE DEALER SEVERAL TIMES. THE LAST TIME THEY REPLACED THE #4 SPARK PLUG AND THIS SEEMS TO HAVE FIXED ANOTHER PROBLEM I HAD WITH THE CAR RUNNING WITH LOW POWER FOR A FEW MOMENTS, HOWEVER IT HAS NOT CURED THE STALLING ISSUE. I AM REPORTING THIS BECAUSE I THINK THAT IT COULD BE VERY DANGEROUS IF SOMEONE WERE PASSING A CAR OR IN HEAVY HIGHWAY TRAFFIC WHEN THIS HAPPENED. I AM HOPING THAT THE DEALER WILL EVENTUALLY BE ABLE TO FIX MY PROBLEM. I HAVE APPROXIMATELY 44,000 MILES ON MY CAR SO I HAVE ABOUT 8,000 MILES LEFT IN WARRANTY. *TR

I PURCHASED A 2008 BMW 335I. SINCE 2008 IT HAS BEEN SERVICED AT LEAST TWICE FOR ENGINE SERVICE LIGHT WHICH RESULTED IN REPLACING HPFP. IN AUGUST 2010, THE ENGINE SERVICE LIGHT ALONG WITH A SLOW AND RATTLING START, ODORS OF GAS, AND SHAKY ROUGH RIDE -SINCE THEN, MY 335I HAS BEEN SERVICED SIX TIMES WITHOUT AVAIL. BMW NA RECALL AND BMW FAIRFAX, VA MECHANICS REPLACED THE FUEL MODULE AFTER THE SEVENTH SERVICE APPOINTMENT SINCE AUG 10. THE CAR EXPECTEDLY LOOSES POWER WHILE DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY. *TR

I HAVE A 2008 BMW 335I AND THE CAR HAS LOST POWER ON FOUR OCCASIONS, WHILE IT WAS BEING DRIVEN. THE DEALER WAS NOT RESPONSIVE TO MY COMPLAINTS EVEN AFTER IT SPENT OVER A MONTH AT THE DEALER IN 2009. THEY KEPT SAYING THE REPAIRED THE CAR, I WOULD DRIVE IT HOME AND THEN THE NEXT DAY WHEN I WENT TO START IT THE CAR WOULD AN ENGINE FAILURE LIGHT WOULD COME ON AND THE CAR WOULD SHAKE TERRIBLY. THE KEEP TELLING ME IT IS THE FUEL INJECTION AND THAT HAS BEEN REPLACED A NUMBER OF TIMES BUT I AM FEARFUL TO DRIVE THE CAR ON THE HIGHWAY IN CASE THE ENGINE FAILS AGAIN. *TR

ON JULY 24, 2010, MY 2008 BMW 335I SEDAN EXPERIENCED AN HPFP FAILURE IN HEAVY TRAFFIC AT HIGHWAY SPEED. MY 335I (DELIVERED JULY 2008) HAS HAD LONG START CRANKS FOR AT LEAST ONE YEAR. MY WASHINGTON, DC BMW DEALERSHIP HAS SAID IT CANNOT REPLACE THE HPFP UNTIL IT FAILS OR THROWS AN ELECTRONIC CODE. ON JULY 24, I WAS DRIVING APPROX 500 MILES TO A VACATION. 350 MILES INTO THE TRIP, ON I-87 AT APPROX 65MPH IN VERY HEAVY TRAFFIC, A CAR CUT INTO MY (MIDDLE) LANE. I MOVED TO THE LEFT LANE AND QUICKLY APPLIED MEDIUM THROTTLE TO KEEP UP WITH TRAFFIC. MY ENGINE STUMBLED SEVERELY AS I CHANGED LANES/ACCELERATED AND THE HALF-POWER ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON. THE CAR BEGAN RUNNING EXTREMELY ROUGHLY, WOULD NOT ACCELERATE AND LOST SPEED RAPIDLY, IN THE LEFT LANE OF VERY CROWDED HIGHWAY. THE CAR BEHIND ME NEARLY REAR-ENDED ME. I SHUT OFF ANY ACCESSORIES (AIR CONDITIONING, STEREO, ETC.), PUSHED THE GAS PEDAL TO THE FLOOR AND WAS ABLE TO MAINTAIN APPROX 50-55MPH ON A LONG DOWNHILL AS I MERGED OVER TO THE RIGHT LANE AND WAS ABLE TO GET OUT OF TRAFFIC. AS I PULLED OFF, THE CAR NEARED A STALL, WITH THE ENGINE IDLE JUMPING WILDLY. I TURNED THE CAR OFF. A MINUTE OR TWO AFTER TURNING IT BACK ON, THE HALF-POWER ENGINE ICON CAME ON AGAIN, ALONG WITH A SERVICE ENGINE SOON LIGHT, AND THE ENGINE AGAIN HAD ALMOST NO POWER TO ACCELERATE AND RAN ROUGHLY. THE HPFP AND LOWER PRESSURE FUEL SENSOR WERE REPLACED BY KEELER BMW, LATHAM, NY, ON JULY 29, 2010. MY CAR HAD RECEIVED THE SOFTWARE UPDATE DURING A PAST SERVICE. I'VE KNOWN ABOUT THE HPFP PROBLEM FOR SEVERAL YEARS. BECAUSE OF THE LONG CRANKS, I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR MINE TO FAIL AND HOPED IT WOULD NOT BE IN A DANGEROUS SITUATION. I NOTED A RECENT ARTICLE IN WHICH A BMW SPOKESPERSON SAID THE FAILURES ARE NOT OCCURRING AT HIGHWAY SPEED. GIVEN MY EXPERIENCE, BMW NEEDS TO BE HONEST ABOUT THIS PROBLEM. I WAS DRIVING AT HIGHWAY SPEED, IN VERY HEAVY TRAFFIC, AND FEEL FORTUNATE TO HAVE COME OUT WITHOUT GETTING IN AN ACCIDENT OR WORSE. *TR