It might seem curious to suggest that all drivers of the vehicles of this celebrated Bavarian marque will come across the three specific issues we’re about to explain to you – and of course, we can’t claim this is literally the case.
Nonetheless, we felt the need to put the spotlight on these problems, not least for the benefit of less experienced BMW owners who might have only recently got behind the wheel of a Beemer for the first time.
Yes, the very letters ‘BMW’ are synonymous around the world with prestige, refinement, luxury, and build quality. But unfortunately, none of those terms mean the same thing as “reliability”, so we decided it was a good idea to draw attention to the following common problems with BMWs.
Issues with the electrics
It is almost guaranteed that if you own and drive a BMW for any significant period of time, you will experience some malfunctioning with the electronic aspects of the car.
We’re referring to such things as the operation of the windows, wipers, indicators, heating, and air conditioning. On your BMW, the problem may be that one or more of these functions of the car don’t work – or conversely, they might ‘work’ just fine, except that you can’t make them stop.
The good news is that any electrical problems with your BMW can be looked at and fixed by a reputable MOT centre in Laindon or wherever else you happen to live. But for as long as such faults persist, they can undoubtedly be extremely annoying.
Door handle wear and tear
Problems with the door handle of your BMW can be anything but the merely “frivolous” problem that you might initially imagine them to be. After all, what if you find one day that one of the outer door handles on your BMW lifts just fine, but doesn’t have the effect of opening the door?
This is the kind of issue that always seems to occur when you’re in a rush to get somewhere, and it can feel more than a little farcical.
With the door opening and locking mechanism on a BMW being situated within the door itself, it isn’t a massively complex problem to solve, but it will require the replacement of the faulty mechanism. That will necessitate the use of certain specialist tools.
Oil leaks
As with the other two problems we have described in this rundown, oil leaks can theoretically happen on basically any car, but they do unfortunately seem to occur a lot on BMWs.
There are certain areas where oil leaks can be especially likely to happen on a BMW, including the valve cover and valve cover gasket, the oil pan and oil pan gasket, and the oil filter housing and gasket. And those aren’t the only areas of the car where a frustrating oil leak could arise.
The gasket responsible for connecting the oil filter to the engine of your vehicle can be a particularly unsurprising source of an oil leak. There are certain moving parts that really require oil, and if a leak happens that leaves the engine with less oil, the consequence of this can be elevated wear and tear. That, in turn, can contribute to mechanical problems at a later stage.
BMWs can sometimes suffer brittle gaskets over time, with this vulnerability leading to a significant oil leak. But it can be expensive to have any gasket on a BMW repaired, which is why you might decide to have the entire part replaced, rather than just the gasket on its own. You might be especially likely to favour this option if your Beemer has over 100,000 miles on the clock.
Indeed, it’s worth being alert to your BMW’s mileage for quite a few reasons, with one of them being that the approximately 100,000-mile mark can be a classic stage at which an oil leak can develop for the first time.
Having said that, some BMWs can suffer leaking oil for the first time at around 50,000 miles, or your Beemer might exceed 150,000 miles without showing any signs of an oil leak at all.
Are you doing everything possible to look after your BMW?
While no one doubts the considerable desirability of BMW cars, there hasn’t always been strong consensus on how reliable the German manufacturer’s vehicles are in the ‘real world’. Some reports have praised BMWs as reliable, while others have suggested these cars can sometimes be vulnerable to niggles, faults, and malfunctions.
So, whatever your experiences have been to date with your own treasured BMW, it is important that you are alert to potential issues like those outlined above. Being so will help ensure you get the very best out of your BMW ownership experience for many months and years to come.
