2002 BMW 3 Series Engine
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
Chronological view of owner reports
I HAVE A 2002 BMW 325CI WITH AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION WITH ABOUT 22000 MILES. MY CAR'S ENGINE SUDDENLY STALLED WHILE IT WAS MOVING. THE SERVICE ENGINE SOON LIGHT AND ENGINE OIL LIGHT CAME ON AT THE SAME TIME. IT DIDN'T RESPOND WHEN I STEPPED ON THE GAS. I HAD TO TURN OFF AND RESTART THE ENGINE BEFORE IT WILL RUN AGAIN. AND THEN THE SERVICE ENGINE LIGHT AND ENGINE OIL LIGHT WENT AWAY. THIS HAS ALREADY HAPPENED TO MY CAR TWICE. THE FIRST TIME IT WAS ON A FREEWAY AT OVER 65 MPH. I THINK THAT THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS. I HAVE PUT MY CAR IN PETER PAN BMW AT SAN MATEO TO CORRECT THIS PROBLEM. I AM NOT SURE IF THEY CAN FIX IT. I'VE SEEN OTHER PEOPLE REPORTING THE SAME PROBLEM ON BIMMER.ORG. I'M REALLY DISAPPOINTED BY BMW'S QUALITY. *JB
MY SERVICE ENGINE SOON LIGHT BEGAN APPEARING IN NOVEMBER 2003. I BROUGHT MY CAR IN THE FIRST TIME AND GLOBAL IMPORTS IN ATLANTA GA INFORMED ME THAT THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG. AGAIN, IN LATE DECEMBER 2003, THE LIGHT CAME ON AGAIN. ON 1/6/2004, I BROUGHT MY VEHICLE INTO GLOBAL IMPORTS. THEY INFORMED ME A VALVE WAS REPLACED AND I WAS ON MY WAY. TWO DAYS LATER ON 1/8/04, WHILE DRIVING DOWN GA 40 AT APPROXIMATELY 70 MPH, MY VEHICLE SHUT DOWN ON ME. LITERALLY, THE WHEELS WOULD NOT TURN AS I STRUGGLED TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF MY VEHICLE. I SWERVED IN AND OUT OF LANES. IT WAS FORTUNATE MYSELF OR OTHERS ON THE HIGHWAY WERE NOT INJURED. WHEN MY VEHICLE CAME TO A STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HIGHWAY, IT WOULD NOT MOVE. AFTER SEVERAL ATTEMPTS, THE VEHICLE MOVED AT ONLY 2 MPH WITH A LOUD, UNPLEASANT NOISE. THERE WERE NO WARNING SIGNALS AT ALL TO ALERT ME OF AN UPCOMING MALFUNCTION. BMW ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE RESPONDED WITH A TOW TRUCK TO ASSIST ME A LITTLE OVER AN HOUR LATER. I WAS TOWED INTO GLOBAL IMPORTS. THE CAR IS STILL PRESENTLY THERE AS I AWAIT A NEW DIFFERENTIAL. THIS CAR WAS PURCHASED AS A NEW VEHICLE IN FEBRUARY OF 2003 FROM BRIAN HARRIS BMW IN BATON ROUGE, LA. THE CAR PRESENTLY HAS 17,000 MILES. LESS THAN ONE YEAR OLD! *AK
PERIODICALLY, MY CAR WILL BE RUNNING FINE AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT COMES ON AND IT STARTS TO SHAKE AND WHEN YOU PUSH THE GAS IT FEELS LIKE IT IS GOING TO CUT OFF. USUALLY IT WILL "FIX" ITSELF BY THE TIME I GET TO THE DEALER. BUT EVEN WHEN IT DOESN'T, THEY DON'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG. IT'S BEEN MONTHS SINCE THE BMW REPAIR GUYS SAID NOTHING WAS WRONG AND "RESET" THE ENGINE. HOWEVER IT'S DOING IT AGAIN AND I'M FEARFUL THAT MY CAR IS GOING TO SHUT DOWN ON ME ON A BUSY FREEWAY AND IT'S LESS THAN A YEAR OLD AND ONLY HAS A LITTLE OVER 20,000 MILES!*AK
WHILE DRIVING AT ANY SPEED,THE VEHICLE STALLED. THE DEALERSHIP INSPECTED THE VEHICLE AND NOTICED THE EXHAUST SYSTEM NEEDED REPLACEMENT. PLEASE PROVIDE FURTHER DETAILS. *JB
WHILE DRIVING, THE VEHICLE LOST POWER. THECONSUMER MANAGED TO PULL OVER AND HAD THE VEHICLE TOWED TO THE DEALER, BUT THE PROBLEM WAS NOT RESOLVED. *AK *JB *NM
CONSUMER STATES WHILE DRIVING THE VEHICLE 50MPH WITHOUT WARNING THE VEHICLE WOULD INCREASED SPEED 10MPH THE VEHICLE WOULD SHUT OFF. TS
WHILE IN TRAFFIC ON THE HIGHWAY, THE ENGINE DIED WITHOUT ANY WARNING. DEALER SERVICED THE VEHICLE ON 04/15/2002 BECAUSE OF DIFFICULTIES IN STARTING THE ENGINE. FAILURE OF THE ENGINE WHILE IN TRAFFIC OF 60+ MPH PLACED MYSELF AND A PASSENGER IN GREAT PERIL BECAUSE I WAS UNABLE TO PUT THE CAR ON THE SHOULDER WHEN THE ENGINE DIED WITH THE CAR IN A TRAFFIC LANE. I WANT TO KNOW IF BMW HAS EXPERIENCED SIMILAR PROBLEMS WITH OTHER NEW MODELS AND WHAT IS GOING TO BE DONE TO PREVENT ANOTHER OCCURRENCE. THE CAR IS ONLY A FEW MONTHS OLD.*AK
Trend Over Time
Complaints by year
Other Issues
Common problems reported
Quick Summary
The 2002 BMW 3 Series has 32 Engine complaints on file. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.