APRIL 2019 21BUYING GUIDE
Although the E90 was nowhere near
as pretty a car as its predecessor,
sales were strong from the off
WHAT TO PAY?
At the time of writing, I found nearly twice as many E90 330ds for sale with AutoTrader
as 330is, and 65% of them were fitted with automatic transmission. The cheapest
330d available was a 2008 manual, 170,000-mile coupé, being sold for £2,395.
Although a runner, it was being sold for spares as the engine was knocking.
However, a few hundred more would buy the 2005 automatic saloon being sold for
£2,749 with ‘only’ 185,000 miles on the clock. At the other end of the scale, I found a
2011 LCI SE saloon, with only 61,000 on the clock, selling for £9,495.
Of the 330is for sale, the vast majority were autos, too, and the cheapest saloon
available was a 2005, one-owner, 156,000-mile car priced at £2,490. The most
expensive 330i was a 2007, automatic saloon with 60,000 on the clock, that was up
for £8,950.a symptom of another issue and, in my
experience, the most common cause is
a thermostat problem. If the thermostat
is stuck open, then the engine will never
warm properly, and nor will the DPF.
Problems can also result from a blocked
diesel injector or a faulty EGR valve, causing
the engine to over-fuel. The same effect
can also be caused by a blocked air filter.
“However, DPFs can be cleaned
off the car quite effectively nowadays,
using specialist chemical treatments,
then replaced and run through a ‘forced
regeneration’ scheme to return operational
functionality. Unfortunately, lots of
workshops won’t bother with this, choosing
the simpler option of replacing the DPF at
a cost of £1,913 (plus fitting) from BMW.
There are aftermarket alternatives available
now for about half that price.
“The car itself will run a ‘burn cycle’
every time the system senses an increase
in exhaust back pressure due to a
semi-clogged filter. Fueling is adjusted
to dramatically increase exhaust gas
temperature for a short period, during
which time the DPF core will be purged of
the carbon build-up.”
A blocked DPF will trigger a warning
light on the dash but, before that happens,
the driver might start to notice unusual
hesitation while the car is unsuccessfully
trying to initiate a burn cycle. Alternatively,
it might be that the air flow from the turbo
is being restricted by the blocked DPF.
Andy has seen a number of cases wherea blocked DPF has actually prevented the
engine from being started!THE PETROL OPTION
The E90 330i is powered by the naturally-
aspirated, six-cylinder, three-litre N52
(2005-2007) and N53 (2007-2013)
engines. BMW really started to become
aware of engine weight with the N52; it
was the first water-cooled motor to make
use of magnesium in the block, and won
awards at the time.
Other innovations included one-use
bolts, special head gaskets and carefully
lightened componentry, and the result was
an efficient engine that’s lasted well. It’s
not a perfect motor, of course, and there
are some specific aspects to watch out
for when buying. Timing chain problems
are high on the list, and occur with greater
frequency on this engine than with the
diesel-powered M57.
Fuel injector problems are more