2018 BMW 330I Engine Problems

The engine overheated and suddenly lost power/ acceleration while driving in rush hour traffic at highway speed. I had to move across 3 lanes of traffic to get on to shoulder of highway safely while car and engine sputtered and slowed to a stop with no power or acceleration. After having vehicle towed I was told by certified technicians that the oil filter housing was made of plastic with coolant lines inside and failed causing rapid coolant loss with no low coolant warning and ultimately loss of engine and power.

NHTSA ID

11728378

Incident

Mar 20, 2026

The contact owns a 2018 BMW 330I. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, unknown warning lights were suddenly illuminated, indicating that the engine was overheating. The message instructed the driver to shut off the vehicle immediately. The contact pulled over and turned off the vehicle, and it was discovered that the coolant reservoir was empty. The vehicle was towed to a local dealer, where it was determined that there was a plastic part from the oil cooler housing that needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 40,000.

NHTSA ID

11728250

Incident

Mar 24, 2026

Mileage

40,000 mi

The coolant system and oil housing filters. The entire coolant system components fails in this vehicle after 60,000 mile due to the parts not being all aluminum. This fix alone is about 8k from the BMW Dealership. This isn’t fair to the customer! This needs to be a recall! The parts needs to be more stronger and never replaced with the same manufacturer part! This fails the entire engine system! The car will have multiple issues just because of this constant failing area of the vehicle!

NHTSA ID

11715764

Incident

Jan 23, 2026

The contact owns a 2018 BMW 330I. The contact stated that while driving 35-40 MPH, the vehicle shut off unintendedly. The contact stated that there was an oil intake leak and a coolant leak. There were several warning lights illuminated after the failure. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who determined that there was an engine malfunction with the vehicle. The local dealer was contacted and confirmed there was no recall or warranty coverage on the VIN for the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.

NHTSA ID

11688157

Incident

Aug 28, 2025

Mileage

80,000 mi

Car keeps overheating. Water pump, water hose and expansion tank have been replaced several times and the car still overheats.

NHTSA ID

11680483

Incident

Aug 13, 2025

My 330i 2018 bmw has a cracked in the oil housing unit. This is due to bmw putting plastic parts instead of aluminum. After researching this I found thousand of people complaining about the sane thing. The car overheats and sometimes the oil gets mixed into the coolsnt system b causes more damage. This seems to happen on cars with mileage between 60-70 on engines B46, B48 n B58z

NHTSA ID

11655822

Incident

Apr 21, 2025

Oil Filter Housing failed and coolant gushes all out which makes the car undrivable and risk of engine overheating and failure.

NHTSA ID

11646108

Incident

Feb 28, 2025

The vehicle gave a warning that the engine coolant was low and to power down before it overheated. Upon taking it to the dealer, it was discovered that the oil housing unit was defective. After doing online research, this is a very common issue with this part. I had a previous vehicle with a similar issue that caused the vehicle to shut down in traffic from overheating.

NHTSA ID

11636332

Incident

Jan 9, 2025

On 12/03/2024, while traveling at approximately 35mph, the "top off coolant" light came on. After traveling for approximately 10 more minutes, in route to get coolant, a warning message came on the screen advising to drive cautiously to prevent engine scorching. The vehicle then began to slightly lose power while traveling on a busy road. The vehicle was then shut down and towed to BMW dealership. During the tow, it was discovered that coolant was leaking from the center area of the engine block. The manufacturers dealership service rep advised that the technicians discovered that the oil filter housing needed to be replaced. They also found that the coolant pump also needed to be replaced. The rep advised that the coolant seal on the oil filter housing had worn down and caused the coolant leak. He also advised that the coolant pump needed to be replaced, as it was also leaking. It was later discovered because the valve that the pressure propelled, hot coolant flows through in the oil filter housing is made of plastic, it often wears down and coolant leaks out heavily. The water pump is also effected by the part manufacturing issue. In addition to receiving a $4,270.42 invoice for repairs today, we just recently purchased the $199.00 BMW Vehicle Check Service from the dealership on 9/23/2024. At that time, we were advised there were no issues with the vehicle. We have sense learned that there have been multiple recalls on various BMW models for this exact same issue. However, the VIN on my vehicle has not yet been identified for recall. Had this issue gone on for mere moments more, the engine could have caught fire, and or, a catastrophic crash could have ensued, effecting any driver on the road.

NHTSA ID

11628725

Incident

Dec 3, 2024

Multiple codes came on right after I had gotten my thermostat and my water pump fixed. However it ended up being that there was more leaks throughout the rest of the car. The car has currently cost me $3400 to fix and it’s still not fixed because nobody can figure out where the actual leak is coming from. The coolant is leaking and nobody can figure out where, it’s been having jerking issues since it started leaking and I read on other Bmw’s that the coolant leaks into the head gasket, causing the engine to blow

NHTSA ID

11569599

Incident

Jan 2, 2024

At around 65k miles multiple plastic engine coolant connectors and hoses crack and fail. 5 locations at the same time! Coolant pump leaks. I went to an independent repair shop for a second opinion and repairs for $2,400 so far. Cheaper than the BMW service department. There was a recall done 2 years ago for 1 hose I believe. The entire cooling system should be recalled. We could be stranded somewhere in a bad situation and the engine could be destroyed if overheated. Awful and bad design.

NHTSA ID

11565602

Incident

Jan 2, 2024

My oil filter housing failed at about 53,000 miles. While driving to work I got a low coolant warning and pulled over to see coolant dumping out of my car. The low coolant warning only comes on when the expansion tank is almost completely empty which can lead to oil and coolant mixing and overheating which will lead to premature engine damage without any early warning signs. I’ve read through forums and everyone on there has their oil filter housing fail at the same time, (around 50-60k miles). This is a huge issue in the community and BMW wants to charge almost 3,500 to replace it with their “revised part”. The housing has been revised 3 times now and so the manufacturer should replace these failed designs with the new revised ones. There’s already been a recall on the B48 engine for the plastic cooling line that leads into the head of the engine and it looks like the oil filter housing is the next biggest common failure. I tried to upload a screenshot from the service center at BMW with the quote and failure but it’s not working on my mobile.

NHTSA ID

11562328

Incident

Dec 18, 2023

On January 19, 2022 I was driving and then smoked filled inside my car and the outside engine was smoking and a light came on that said check coolant. BMW service took me in that day and they said my coolant broke. They removed it and replaced it. They did not understand how the coolant broke but I paid for the service and parts and moved forward. On November 25, 2022 I went into the same BMW service center to get a routine car service and they stated there was a recall and they would replace my coolant for free. (After I told them I paid for it ($699.63) . They insisted I replace it for free again and reach out to BMW corporate for a reimbursement of previous service. I received a call yesterday stating they would not replace it and reach out and file a report with NHTA.

NHTSA ID

11497221

Incident

Jan 20, 2022

ON THE WAY HOME FROM PURCHASING THIS VEHICLE AS A CPO AT THE BMW DEALER, A LOUD ENGINE KNOCK DEVELOPED. MADE AN APPOINTMENT AT THE BMW DEALER TO CHECK IT, AND ON THE WAY THERE, IT LOST POWER & ENGINE MALFUNCTION WARNING LIGHTS ILLUMINATED. HAD TO PULL OFF HIGHWAY, FEARING CAR WOULD STOP RUNNING ALTOGETHER. DIAGNOSIS WAS FAILED ROD BEARINGS, WITH LOTS OF METAL SHAVINGS IN THE OIL FILTER. MILEAGE WAS 36,500 MILES.

NHTSA ID

11408387

Incident

Apr 10, 2021

Mileage

36,500 mi