Oil leak on the 2006 BMW 325I
2 fires 2 injuries 4 of the 20 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When oil leak gets reported
Owners of the 2006 BMW 325I report oil leak at a median of 80,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles, from 18 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 45,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 62,088 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
11% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45,791 miles | 73,938 miles | 81,197 miles | 87,000 miles | 107,879 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 2 a fire and 2 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $250–$2,200 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure, every year of the BMW 325I
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Events leading to failure - none. Failure occurred once, expected to happen again, extremely likely to result in fire. Two aluminum bolts securing the valve cover broke unexpectedly resulting in engine oil dripping onto the catalytic converter filling car with smoke, engine compartment was also filled with smoke. The car is receiving a new valve cover gasket and new aluminum bolts. Had this event happened when the car was running at highway speeds, this would have definitely resulted in a fire. *tr
There is a clear manufacturer defect concerning the aluminum bolts associated with the valve cover gasket on the bmw 2006 325i's. The national highway traffic safety administration has received several complaints regarding this manufacturer defect. The aluminum bolts have been redesigned since discovering the manufacturer defect. Bmwna have had numerous service issues related to these defective aluminum bolts. They have all openly admitted that the bolts in question were defective in nature and production, and that the bolts have been redesigned to avoid future failures. Some of these complaints included, and resulted in, vehicles leaking oil in the engine area causing fires in the vehicle. The defective bolts pose a serious potential risk to the safety of the owners of these vehicles, as well as to other drivers who share the roadway with them. It is my strong belief that this type of public safety risk cannot go on any further without proper intervention from the governmental agencies we employ as taxpayers. I respectfully request that bmw north america issue a voluntary recall of the bmw 2006 325i's affected by this…
There is a clear manufacturer defect concerning the aluminum bolts associated with the valve cover gasket on the bmw 2006 325i's. The national highway traffic safety administration has received several complaints regarding this manufacturer defect. The aluminum bolts have been redesigned since discovering the manufacturer defect. Bmwna have had numerous service issues related to these defective aluminum bolts. They have all openly admitted that the bolts in question were defective in nature and production, and that the bolts have been redesigned to avoid future failures. Some of these complaints included, and resulted in, vehicles leaking oil in the engine area causing fires in the vehicle. The defective bolts pose a serious potential risk to the safety of the owners of these vehicles, as well as to other drivers who share the roadway with them. It is my strong belief that this type of public safety risk cannot go on any further without proper intervention from the governmental agencies we employ as taxpayers. I respectfully request that bmw north america issue a voluntary recall of the bmw 2006 325i's affected by this…
Also reported on the 2006 BMW 325I
Seat belt or retractor failure
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Other steering problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 20 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does oil leak happen on the 2006 BMW 325I?
Across 18 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 85,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is oil leak on the 2006 BMW 325I?
20 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.0 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed