BMW & MINI SERVICES

• Valve cover gasket and oil filter housing gasket(s) will start to leak around 100k miles
• Oil pan gasket leaks begin to show up frequently north of 120k miles
• Rear main seal leaks are uncommon but can happen
• Turbo feed/drain lines occasionally leak
• Coils will begin to fail around 80-100k miles — it’s best to replace all 6 at the same time

Cars will need to be serviced with new pan and fluid as well as Mechatronics seal and sleeve before 100k miles.

• Main Drive belt and tensioner should be done before 100k miles. The main drive belt can/will be eaten by crank pulley if failed and make its way behind
front main seal into timing chain and oil pickup possibly causing catastrophic engine destruction
• Beware of <2008 cars having power steering pulley subframe contact issues
• If an oil filter housing gasket has leaked on the belt this must be done sooner
• Factory Charge Pipe (Plastic) Can explode at even stock boost levels. If tuned/running higher than factory boost level, upgrade to metal.

For the most part, all cars have had a few HPFP’s done by now and this doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore but if you are getting long cold starts and pressure drops in logs, its something to investigate.

• Injectors sometimes fail. They’ve been updated a number of times and are currently on a -12 revision. Most cars shipped with -05 to -07 injectors. Decouplers should be replaced at the same time. Injectors need to be coded to the car.
• Depending on driving aggressiveness Thrust arm bushings will fail around 100k. Can be replaced with ball joint type aftermarket ones.
• Walnut Blasting necessary as often as every 40-50k miles. Do this with new intake manifold gaskets.
• Turbo feed/drain lines occasionally leak
• MSD80 (2006-early 2008 cars) have very rare ECU Injector MOSFET driver failure. Drivers require replacement and can be serviced. New ECU not necessary.

Wastegate rattle both internal and external to the turbo will begin in some cases as early as 70k miles depending on a number of factors. Some things can directly cause this however like vacuum lines. Adding catless downpipes will magnify wastegate rattle issues. Failing wastegate thrust bearings can cause under/overboost conditions as the wastegate arms inside the turbo can Jam.

• Vacuum lines going from the vacuum pump to the vac canisters and ones going from the wastegate solenoids to the turbos can crumble and leak. Will cause underboost codes and or wastegate rattle in most instances.

Caused by a number of different things from the PCV system to turbos. The valve cover PCV system can internally fail and cause significant smoking/consumption. Adding downpipes to the car further makes the smoking more apparent as the cats are no longer ‘filtering’ the smoke coming through them.

Fuel System

When modifying a vehicle to extremely high power levels, fueling needs become a concern. People are currently adding secondary in-tank pumps, secondary high-pressure pumps, and secondary direct port injection fuel rails as well as meth injection to compensate.

• Oil cooler: If you don’t have a factory-installed one, you need one as any spirited driving will drop you into limp mode. If you do have one, this alone won’t keep you safe if you do an extensive amount of hard driving/track/drift/etc. Additional aftermarket oil cooler setups are recommended.
• Water pump/thermostat is good to around 100k. Past that and you’re on borrowed time.
• Adding an intercooler is a good idea for any car, street or track car, to keep the extremely high IATs down that are caused by the twin turbos.

Expect to do vanos solenoids around 100k or sooner depending on how often the oil was changed. You can sometimes get away with cleaning them but typically vanos codes (2A87/2A88) will return. Worst case scenario is oil pressure to vanos hubs is being lost through cam trays (“hook ring seals”) Cam trays/ledges will need to be replaced as well as the updated Teflon cam seals.

If you’re into performance driving you will want an LSD. The factory open diff is sufficient for many but not most. There are a number of aftermarket alternatives available in this regard from gear type to clutch type.

Arguably the most infuriating thing about these cars is they will frequently for a number of reasons engage limp or failsafe mode (half engine light). This can be caused by a number of things from a cooling system issue, under/over boost, vanos, fuel injection, misfire, etc.

Factory charge pipes going to the throttle body randomly fail at stock or elevated boost levels. The factory diverter valves can also leak. The hot side charge piping rarely leaks. Adding an intercooler also adds more couplers and clamps that can leak. Boost leaks can and will cause extra wear on the turbos as the ECU attempts to compensate for the loss of boost by working the turbos harder.

Besides the aforementioned leaking issues, these engines are sometimes riddled with sludging issues because of BMW’s suggested oil change intervals. This can sometimes lead to stuff like Rod knock although this is fairly uncommon and seemingly random

Extremely overlooked and neglected, this simple thing can cause widespread havoc on your car. Keep it in good condition. When it’s starting to fail the IBS system will decouple the battery after you shut the car off thus turning the water pump off after the car shuts down that acts as a ‘turbo timer’ to cool the turbos down after shutdown. New batteries need to be ‘registered.’ If changing battery capacity, the battery needs to be ‘coded’ to CAS module.