[Sangricarn]

Hi everyone,

I have a 2022 m240i with about 25k miles and I've been very careful with taking my car to the dealership for any little thing that seems fishy to me, and the car has treated me well so far.

I'm a relatively inexperienced guy with car work, I've done brakes, replaced a radiator, tires, sensors, just the normal basic stuff. Haven't done anything super in depth, but I'm interested in gaining skills. Just stating that for context, now on to my inquiry:

What mods do you all recommend for ensuring reliability? I've heard the b58 is supposed to be reliable, but I'd like to get ahead of any known issues. Even if it's outside of my capabilities, I'm willing to pay someone to do it, but of course, I'd like to learn the skills to do it myself if there's any mods that aren't too risky.

The car is in the shop right now for a "minor" coolant Leak at the oil filter housing assembly, and the dealer has reassured me that it's fixed and it's minor. This has me worrying about future issues cropping up as I know one of the common problems with the b58 is coolant leaks. I'd like to have a plan for what to do after my final warranty service.

Additionally, I have repeatedly had problems with my wheels and tires getting beat up by the potholes around here and was wondering if there's anything I can do about that (other than being a better driver &#128128

[Pentland]

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Stick to the recommended oil change schedule; more frequent won’t hurt but won’t necessarily benefit either.

[Sangricarn]

Originally Posted by Pentland

If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Stick to the recommended oil change schedule; more frequent won’t hurt but won’t necessarily benefit either.

I've heard of installing more robust parts to help with reliability as a preventative measure for older bmws, like getting stronger rod bearings for example. Are there not things I can do along these lines that might help? I know one of the most common issues I've heard about is coolant leaking from the water pump. Is there a good aftermarket part to prevent this from happening for example?

[Rdurty2]

Leave the car alone. You are talking about rod bearings??!!! Opening the engine to replace parts? Cmon. You are going to cause more problems instead of making things better.

These are solid cars. There are b58s with over 200k on them with minimal maintenance.

Just drive the car and keep up with oil changes and other maintence intervals.

Your water pump may never leak. Don’t replace parts just because some people have had an issue. Most of those issues are on the gen 1 b58. Also no there are no aftermarket water pumps. You stick with OEM.

[Sangricarn]

Originally Posted by Rdurty2

Leave the car alone. You are talking about rod bearings??!!! Opening the engine to replace parts? Cmon. You are going to cause more problems instead of making things better.

These are solid cars. There are b58s with over 200k on them with minimal maintenance.

Just drive the car and keep up with oil changes and other maintence intervals.

Your water pump may never leak. Don’t replace parts just because some people have had an issue. Most of those issues are on the gen 1 b58. Also no there are no aftermarket water pumps. You stick with OEM.

I guess I'm just being too anxious. Everyone always talks about how expensive German cars are to maintain, and I'm used to driving Japanese cars, so I'm just trying to be responsible and be on top of stuff.

One of the reasons I picked a car with a b58 is the good reputation of the motor, but having this coolant Leak just has me worried about future issues down the line. I guess I just have to accept that I can't control what happens and just do my best to take care of it.

I just saw a new post on the bmw subreddit about someone having a water pump leak yesterday too 😭 (to be fair, it was at 70k miles though)

I'll just have to get over it, and hope for the best. Thanks for the feedback lol

[TallGibbs]

Sangricarn if your motivation is to “avoid expensive German repairs” (your reference to German repairs being expensive) then your plan to pre-emptively replace parts is going to do the OPPOSITE of that.

If you go in early (before a failure) to replace a part and use an OEM part, you will dramatically drive the total vehicle repair costs higher vs waiting to see what actually fails/leaks and only replace those parts.

Of course, my reply only pertains to the situation where you “fix the small problems early.” If you have an actual issue, let it go for too long, then it becomes a big issue then you could have saved yourself $$$ by fixing it early. However, given your self proclaimed “being too anxious” I doubt you would let a small issue become a big issue.

As previously stated, your best bet is to do the OEM prescribed preventative maintenance and any recall repairs that may come out in the future.

[Rdurty2]

Also I don’t think there is a single German car company that can make a good water pump.

Keep in mind you only see posts about people complaining when they have issues, but you never hear from the thousands of people who don’t have problems or have very minor ones. Those people never post online.

[Sangricarn]

Originally Posted by Rdurty2

Also I don’t think there is a single German car company that can make a good water pump.

Keep in mind you only see posts about people complaining when they have issues, but you never hear from the thousands of people who don’t have problems or have very minor ones. Those people never post online.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. This makes me feel better. You make a very good point about us only seeing the worst cases online. I'll just try to stay vigilant moving forward. I hear a lot of pessimists saying stuff like "they only build it to last through the warranty period" and that stuff makes me want to be proactive, but you're right, it's silly to fix something that's not broken yet. Especially since I can't know for sure what will break.

Cheers.

[MPR]

Just stay on top of oil changes with approved oil, and do them at 5K instead of 10K intervals; I use LiquiMoly 0w20 that has the BMW Longlife-17 FE+ certification. Obviously stay on top of other engine services, with oil being the most frequent.

[boost.m240]

Rod Bearings on a B58 is overkill. I have never heard of someone swapping B58 bearings unless the engine was built to make high HP. This makes sense, given that the engine is already out and apart if this is the case.

This is not an S55/N55/S65/S85/S54/S14 etc

[RockCrusher]

What others have said. No mods to increase reliability.

Keep up on services: oil/filter, engine air filter (and cabin air filter), brake fluid flush/bleeds every 2 years.

My SOP has been 5K mile oil/filter services this when I drove quite a bit. Nowadays I change the oil every 6 months. (Since April 2023 I've put about 550 miles per month on my M2.) A good time is at the start of the driving season and then just before winter arrives. But with these out of phase oil/filter services I do not have the CBS reset. When the CBS flags a service is due I have the car in this. It is free with my M2 (and was free with my 230ix too).

Also my auto tech buddies recommended a coolant drain/refill every 4 years. This prolongs the life of the water pump seals and hoses. I've followed their advice since my 1st car way back in 1972. First water pump I had to replace was in a car at 170K miles. At least one previous car I drove to 150K miles. Never had to replace the water pump. But the throw out bearing went bad.

'course, brakes.

Oh, I changed the serpentine belt on schedule.

Change the plugs on schedule. Miles or in some cases the automaker calls for plugs to be changed on time.

I only once replaced coils. I did this just out of curiosity. The engine was not manifesting any signs of coils being bad. After new coils the engine perked up. (This same car just before I replaced the coils I had the O2 sensors replaced, at 132K miles. The CEL would come on: Bad sensor heater circuit. Engine ran fine though. But after new sensors engine ran better...)

With other cars I replaced the sensors when they triggered a CEL accompanied with a sensor code.

Except for the TDi my cars since 2002 have not had serviceable fuel filters. The fuel filter has been part of the in tank fuel pump. But if your car has a fuel filter of course service that on schedule.

Still even with the best of care things wear out as the miles begin to accumulate. As I mentioned above the water pump. Fuel pump quit at around 200K miles.

But with various cars I've had things wear out from wheel bearings (well, one wheel bearing: 80K miles; the replacement bearing and the 3 original bearings were still good when I sold the car with 317K miles); air/oil separator; MAF; pinhole leak in radiator; glow plugs (in my VW TDi (diesel); another car's fuel pump quit at around 100K miles. (This pump worked real hard: Tank design was a saddle shape to clear the front diff of an AWD drive system. Oh, Porsche Turbo which is why the tank was at the front of the car. The saddle basins were not connected. Fuel was pulled from each basin by a siphon jet. The fuel pump pumped not only the fuel the engine burned but a lot more to keep the siphon jets working.)

Believe it or not I had an oil filler tube cap leak. (It would leak and trigger a CEL.) Even though the cap was secure I could move it a bit and hear the faint hiss -- engine was idling.

And a gas cap tether broke. Caused me to look at the gas cap closer. The o-ring was cracked and had the tether not failed the cap would have probably begun to leak soon.

CV boots on the axle shafts split. Tech cleaned the bearings found them ok. Greased them fitted new boots and I put another 60K trouble free miles on shafts. They were fine when I sold the car.

Bottom line is as the miles accumulate you will have things wear out. You pay attention to the car and what it is trying to tell you. I heard a what proved to be a bad water pump rumbling. But with another car I smelled anti-freeze on a hot day when I walked up the car just a few minutes after I had parked it. At the dealer on the lift tech and I spotted a leaking water pump.

It is important to when servicing the car -- if you do some of your own servicing -- to carefully check the car for any signs of trouble. Tech found the split CV boots when I had the car for service.

(With a new/used car with a CPO warranty the tech spotted a transmission seal leak that resulted in a new transmission being fitted thanks to the CPO warranty. Not only did this new transmission not leak it shifted tons better than the original transmission. (Which had just under 10K miles on when I bought the car.))

Yet another time I heard a "dry bearing" sound. Was a bad accessory drive idler roller bearing. Then some miles/time later heard an intermittent and faint chirp. Another idler roller bearing. And at the first bad one I had all of the idler roller and tension rollers replaced. Which just highlights that replacing otherwise good components with new ones doesn't guarantee the new parts will not manifest problems.

And with another new car I bought a spare set of idler rollers and a tensioner to have just in case. I put 317K miles on the car. When I sold the car the new -- but 16 year old -- rollers and tensioner were still in the trunk. Never needed them.

Keep the car clean. This includes avoiding parking the car under trees and other plants. Some trees drip sap. All shed leaves and in wind can shed limbs...

Remove any bird mess ASAP.

Avoid accidents.

Use car regularly. This includes the A/C. This helps keep the A/C seals/o-rings and compressor in good condition.

[Rdurty2]

Originally Posted by RockCrusher

What others have said. No mods to increase reliability.

Keep up on services: oil/filter, engine air filter (and cabin air filter), brake fluid flush/bleeds every 2 years.

My SOP has been 5K mile oil/filter services this when I drove quite a bit. Nowadays I change the oil every 6 months. (Since April 2023 I've put about 550 miles per month on my M2.) A good time is at the start of the driving season and then just before winter arrives. But with these out of phase oil/filter services I do not have the CBS reset. When the CBS flags a service is due I have the car in this. It is free with my M2 (and was free with my 230ix too).

Also my auto tech buddies recommended a coolant drain/refill every 4 years. This prolongs the life of the water pump seals and hoses. I've followed their advice since my 1st car way back in 1972. First water pump I had to replace was in a car at 170K miles. At least one previous car I drove to 150K miles. Never had to replace the water pump. But the throw out bearing went bad.

'course, brakes.

Oh, I changed the serpentine belt on schedule.

Change the plugs on schedule. Miles or in some cases the automaker calls for plugs to be changed on time.

I only once replaced coils. I did this just out of curiosity. The engine was not manifesting any signs of coils being bad. After new coils the engine perked up. (This same car just before I replaced the coils I had the O2 sensors replaced, at 132K miles. The CEL would come on: Bad sensor heater circuit. Engine ran fine though. But after new sensors engine ran better...)

With other [...]

This is like ChatGPT just threw up

[Pentland]

Originally Posted by Rdurty2

This is like ChatGPT just threw up

It must be his SOP.


“Avoid accidents”. Excellent advice. If only his parents had heeded it.