[BMW550mike]

Hello all, first off I'd like to say that this is probably one of the most informational communities I've ever been apart of. So many of you actually offer your help from experience or intuition and it's helped me answer many of the questions I've had in the past where a Service Advisor or Dealership Tech just could not help. That being said I would like to offer my personal experience with a 2011 F10 550i I've had the pleasure of owning for the past 5 years. I originally purchased the vehicle with 30,000 miles on it and no extended vehicle warranty (at the time I was trying to ball on a budget and this ended up shooting myself in the foot later on). Having said that in my approximate 5 years of ownership there have been a few hiccups in my experience with the specific N63 V8 engine. First off I would like to say that being a current owner of this vehicle that's odometer currently reads 135,000miles, I have never once doubted its ability to get me from point A to point B (while having an exhilarating time in between) it has been and continues to be one of the most rewarding experiences of a 7 year old car that one could have. Although I absolutely love this car, it has not been without its faults; after all nothing is completely perfect. That said here are a few things to watch out for even if you stay ON TOP of it's maintenance schedule and follow it to a T. First off these cars are notorious for burning oil in heavy consumption after about 80-90k miles due to a worn out Head Cover Gasket, this fix will set you back approximately $6000 - $8500 depending on where you choose to have your maintenance completed. Symptoms of this issue include light or heavy blue smoke out of the exhaust on idle or acceleration. Another one to keep an eye out for are the Coolant lines/reservoir. This issue will set you back anywhere from $1400 - $2000 again depending on where you source your maintenance work. Symptoms of this are white smoke coming out of the exhaust, excessive coolant consumption followed by a "Coolant Level Low" warning in the iDrive Vehicle Check System. There are the usual spark plug/coil replacement to be done every 50,000 or so miles and because you can take a corner at 80mph and not feel a thing, suspension parts like arm bushings and ball joints are considered a "wearable" item on these vehicles. At the end of the day, by all means if you have the money they are a fantastic sleeper car to own. I've taken down many of those gaudy, loud, in your face wannabe performance cars with all the badging etc. that will attempt to drag race everything that moves and my god is it a rewarding feeling. One thing to always keep in mind is that these vehicles tout performance engines and are expensive to keep up with if you cannot follow a steady maintenance schedule, but they come with some of the most rewarding ownership experiences if you take care of them. Thank you guys for your time, this is my first post on this site so I apologize for any of my informalities with the structure. I'm always here to help if you have any questions I haven't answered, I would be more than happy to share my experiences thus far.

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by BMW550mike

...First off these cars are notorious for burning oil in heavy consumption after about 80-90k miles due to a worn out Head Cover Gasket, this fix will set you back approximately $6000 - $8500 depending on where you choose to have your maintenance completed...

Do you mean the valve seals or valve cover gasket? A bad valve cover gasket will just leak oil; bad valve stem seals will leak oil into the combustion chamber, burning that oil and producing the blue smoke.

Something else that will cause oil burning is a clogged PCV system. I am ignorant as to how BMW handles the cranckcase ventilation.

[BMW550mike]

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

Do you mean the valve seals or valve cover gasket? A bad valve cover gasket will just leak oil; bad valve stem seals will leak oil into the combustion chamber, burning that oil and producing the blue smoke.

Something else that will cause oil burning is a clogged PCV system. I am ignorant as to how BMW handles the cranckcase ventilation.

Originally Posted by ezaircon4jc

Do you mean the valve seals or valve cover gasket? A bad valve cover gasket will just leak oil; bad valve stem seals will leak oil into the combustion chamber, burning that oil and producing the blue smoke.

Something else that will cause oil burning is a clogged PCV system. I am ignorant as to how BMW handles the cranckcase ventilation.

My apologies, they must be the valve stem seals then.. Which like you said leak into the combustion chamber and burn oil profusely. My S/A kept referring to the job as a head cover gasket replacement for some reason. They did a few other things with the crankcase seals when they did the work originally which is what put me a tad over 8k for the repair.

[windowmaker]

As a general guideline for owning a car with this engine, I'd recommend the 3rd party drivetrain warranty since it would save you money and headaches amortized over the period of the contract. I got my car used at 47k and at 63k it spun the rod bearings which was a 10k job paid by my 3k costing 3yr/30k mile warranty plan.

I couldn't predict what sort of driving the previous owner was doing, or what mods had been taken off prior to sale so knowing the list of ~5 major common things that tend to fail it definitely makes sense to opt into a warranty plan.

[Mani59]

Great read, thanks, would be good to see some pics!

[BMW550mike]

Originally Posted by Mani59

Great read, thanks, would be good to see some pics!

Originally Posted by Mani59

Great read, thanks, would be good to see some pics!

Thank you guys for the support, I remember when I was shopping around for my 550 I was never able to find any long term ownership reports to help with my buying decision. I'm more than happy to give help and answer questions since my car has been around the block a few times lol. I'll post pictures shortly👍

[BMW550mike]

Originally Posted by BMW550mike

Thank you guys for the support, I remember when I was shopping around for my 550 I was never able to find any long term ownership reports to help with my buying decision. I'm more than happy to give help and answer questions since my car has been around the block a few times lol. I'll post pictures shortly👍

A few external cosmetic mods on the car include the M5 style front fascia and an Agency Power vented carbon fiber hood. The only internal engine mods I've completed on the car are Dinan High Flow Throttle bodies and a stage 3 Dinan ECM that was completed less than a year ago. Photos attached -

[ezaircon4jc]

That venting should help dissipate a good amount of that under hood heat!

Looks good!!

[philipm785]

Beautiful car - thanks for sharing the pics and your experience.

[lsturbointeg]

Very nice!

[DarkgraphiteNYC]

Sweet looking ride Mike. I have the m5 style bumper too.

I've had my 535 [IMG][/IMG]for a little over 5 years also and am at 94k miles. It had 39k miles when bought.

I am wondering if you ever changed the tranny fluid? My car was CPO for about 3 years after my purchase and changing the tranny oil wasn't covered or done. Since I plan on keeping my ride, had I known to change the fluid at 60k I would've paid out of pocket.

Just wondering.

[OnlyGerman]

Originally Posted by DarkgraphiteNYC

Sweet looking ride Mike. I have the m5 style bumper too.

I've had my 535 [IMG][/IMG]for a little over 5 years also and am at 94k miles. It had 39k miles when bought.

I am wondering if you ever changed the tranny fluid? My car was CPO for about 3 years after my purchase and changing the tranny oil wasn't covered or done. Since I plan on keeping my ride, had I known to change the fluid at 60k I would've paid out of pocket.

Just wondering.

I would get it changed. Mine was changed at 135k and fluid still looked ok. Better to get it done before it gets all black.

[DarkgraphiteNYC]

You changed yours at 135k for the first time? Interesting. The dealer discouraged me when I was about 90k miles since I missed the window at about 60k.

I am assuming the tranny has been good since then. How many miles you have now since then?

[BMW550mike]

Thanks NYC, yours is sleek af too! I have not had the tranny oil replaced. Like you said I too was discouraged by a handful of SAs when I asked when that had to be replaced. Was given the whole "fluid is good for the lifetime of the transmission" excuse... whatever that means lol. And yes, Xlife I am also curious how the car was running after the replacement fluid?

[DarkgraphiteNYC]

Originally Posted by BMW550mike

Thanks NYC, yours is sleek af too! I have not had the tranny oil replaced. Like you said I too was discouraged by a handful of SAs when I asked when that had to be replaced. Was given the whole "fluid is good for the lifetime of the transmission" excuse... whatever that means lol. And yes, Xlife I am also curious how the car was running after the replacement fluid?

Thanks. It is good to know that you made it to 135k without changing the tranny fluid! This is encouraging. Cheers!

[OnlyGerman]

I just bought the car at 135k so decided to change the fluid. Also, I have an extended warranty so thought to dismiss any deniability for future issues to get it changed. Indy said fluid still looked pretty good...May of been changed before but who knows. Car is shifting same as before but I did not have it long before I did the change to notice.

[addy27]

Originally Posted by BMW550mike

A few external cosmetic mods on the car include the M5 style front fascia and an Agency Power vented carbon fiber hood. The only internal engine mods I've completed on the car are Dinan High Flow Throttle bodies and a stage 3 Dinan ECM that was completed less than a year ago. Photos attached -

Did you actually get the dinan high flow intake since I don’t see dinan throttle bodies for the 550i, just the air intake and inter coolers.

[BMW550mike]

Originally Posted by addy27

Did you actually get the dinan high flow intake since I don't see dinan throttle bodies for the 550i, just the air intake and inter coolers.

Greetings addy, to answer your question yes. These were some mods I did to the car based on a recommendation from a friend of mine who drives the same model car just the TU version of the N63 engine. I was interested in performance over most anything else at that point because I was for a short while between trading in my 550i for an M5. I do have a high flow intake manifold from N63intake and not from Dinan. went a little on the cheaper side for that mod. The sku for the Dinan high flow TB is "D760-3650A". Hope this helps! Thanks

[addy27]

That part number is for E60/E65 models which were the previous gen. If I look up the throttle body for N63 F10 on realoem, it shows the same part number being used on the F10 M5 so I'm not quite sure what benefit these would bring.

[BMW550mike]

Originally Posted by addy27

That part number is for E60/E65 models which were the previous gen. If I look up the throttle body for N63 F10 on realoem, it shows the same part number being used on the F10 M5 so I'm not quite sure what benefit these would bring.

@addy the high flow throttle bodies deliver air at a higher rate than the stock ones. When you pair that up with a high flow intake system, it boosts hp, and overall acceleration.

[addy27]

Originally Posted by BMW550mike

@addy the high flow throttle bodies deliver air at a higher rate than the stock ones. When you pair that up with a high flow intake system, it boosts hp, and overall acceleration.

I understand how they work, I'm just curious as to why dinan did not come up with the newer throttle bodies for the N63/S63 engines. I mean they came up with the air intakes, but use stock TBs and MAFs and still gain 131hp(according to them). Neither Dinan, nor Alpina for that matter developed bigger TBs for these engines. I'm guessing the qty of air going in was not that big of an issue to get the numbers they are getting (600hp+)

[addy27]

Originally Posted by addy27

I understand how they work, I'm just curious as to why dinan did not come up with the newer throttle bodies for the N63/S63 engines. I mean they came up with the air intakes, but use stock TBs and MAFs and still gain 131hp(according to them). Neither Dinan, nor Alpina for that matter developed bigger TBs for these engines. I'm guessing the qty of air going in was not that big of an issue to get the numbers they are getting (600hp+)

Intact when Alpina bumped up from 540hp to 600hp, they only made the air boxes bigger and the air ducts going into the air box bigger. Still they used the same air filter/MAF/TBs.