Are the BMW diesels as easy to work on as the TDIs?
Generally yes. Still too early to tell. I haven't had to do any serious work on them yet.
Oil changes and oil used are almost identical to TDIs. They have the same type of oil filter and I use my extractor pump to suck oil out thru the dipstick. The engines in both cars hold around 8L of oil. BMW gassers no longer have a dipstick and rely on an electronic oil level sensor. The diesels have an electronic oil sensor but still have a traditional dipstick. OCI is 11k miles (previously 13k) in the X5 35d. OCI in the 535d is 10k miles. Oil used is identical to what CR TDIs require. The oil spec I have to look for is BMW Longlife-04 (LL04). Generally any VW 507.00 oil will also have LL04 approval but not necessarily the other way around. Many VW 505.01 oils also have LL04 approval. BMW diesels may offer a little more flexibility with oil requirements but still require a high quality diesel rated synthetic oil like TDIs do. Oil consumption between changes has been negligible, barely moves on the dipstick, never need to add oil between changes.
The fuel filter is a little harder to get to and is underneath. I've had my BMW dealer (Tulley BMW in Nashua NH) do the FF change. I will DIY eventually.
No timing belt to worry about since all BMWs that I know of use a timing chain. Aside from one of their V8 gassers (N63?) known to have timing chain issues, BMW's timing chains generally have been reliable.
I have not heard of turbo failures in BMW diesels, nor have I heard of DPFs cracking. I have heard of a few cases of NOx sensor failures and a few failures with the SCR tank system. Nothing major.
BMW diesels in the USA have had problems with intake clogging aka carbon buildup aka CBU, similar to TDIs. CBU cleanout is a little more involved than intake cleaning in a TDI. Most CBU cases have been related to the owner babying the car and never driving it hard like it was stolen and also using the car exclusively for short trips. The same guidelines for driving a TDI properly also apply to BMW diesels: (1) Put only the best quality diesel fuel into it, (2) drive the p!$$ out of it, and (3) repeat steps 1 and 2. CBU is preventable.
BMW's Xdrive AWD system is based on their RWD system. The transmission is a conventional torque converter and planetary setup, not a DSG type. The 535d has an 8-speed tranny (ZF8). The X5 35d has a 6-speed setup, what the 335d has. While I will always prefer a manual transmission if I can get it, I have found the ZF8 auto tranny in the 535d to be one automatic transmission that I really DO like.
I used to be a total die hard manual tranny guy but now if it came down to choosing between a diesel automatic or a gasser manual, I'll take the diesel automatic. The gasser is totally out of the question, first and foremost because it's a gasser.
pkhoury said:
Have you test driven one of those? It'd be curious to drive one. I'm guessing no manual transmission option, though? After test driving an older Powerstroke truck, I think I'd want a Cummins myself, and I hear they're easier to work on.
Make sure the dowel pin issue in the Cummins has been addressed. You don't want the dowel pin to work its way out and drop into the timing gears and jam 'em up and cause major carnage.
I owned a 2008 F-350 SuperDuty 6.4L PowerStroke for a while. I liked how it drove. I sold the truck after getting my X5 35d. I could have kept the truck and I now miss it and wish I had kept it. I have no buyer's remorse for getting my BMWs but I'm having some seller's remorse for selling the truck. The truck proved to be too damn useful. I had less need for a truck at the time and I was concerned about the 6.4's long term reliability and reputation for being a maintenance time bomb. The 6.4 is a big improvement from the POS 6.0 but the 6.4 has issues of its own. My 6.4 PowerStroke was in pristine shape and the rest of the truck was in good shape. I shoulda just kept it! That means I probably will have another F-350 again someday.
Ford supposedly has an F-150 diesel in the works. Here's spy video proof:
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/01/28/ford-f150-diesel-spied-video/
The F-150 diesel might be just a test mule for testing an engine planned to go into a vehicle destined for export. If Ford comes through and actually does offer a diesel in the F-150 in NA it would go head to head against the RAM 1500 diesel pickup.
The Nissan Titan XD pickup with the 5L V8 Cummins engine looks interesting. It received its emissions certification, post-dieselgate. Extra emissions testing was done to verify no AECDs were involved. Between the Nissan Titan XD and a Ford F-350 SuperDuty 6.7L PowerStroke, I'd lean more toward the F-350 because it is a commercial vehicle platform which the Titan XD isn't. While I don't need a truck for work, I like having a truck to do something on the weekends. I'm waiting for the SuperDuty trucks to get the aluminum body for 2017 to help survive New England winters and road salt.
Diesel is far from dead IMHO. TDIs may be dead in NA depending on what VW's long term business plans are going forward. VW as a company may eventually be dead depending on how they survive Dieselgate. The diesel pickup truck market OTOH does not appear to be threatened at all and is expanding.
Have fun!
