If so, I am curious what it's like to own/drive one. They are available pretty cheap now (there is one for just over $5k for sale near me, and several others for not much more), but I am not sure about the reliability and maintenance cost from what I have read. 5.3 second 0-60 and 35+ mpg on the freeway sounds like a perfect daily driver but not if it needs a ride on a tow truck once a month, or needs off-road only modifications to stay running.
DEF tank sensors are failure-prone and carbon buildup issues are common. The 335d is reasonably reliable for a BMW which is a fairly big qualifier. That being said, it's a wicked car once you're prepared to deal with those issues.
With no mods other than a tune, 325whp and 500 ft*lbs. I want that in my BMW.
In reply to G_Body_Man (Forum Supporter) :
It looks like the DEF tank is about $1k new plus 8 hours book time to replace (and sensors can't be changed separately), so that's definitely a consideration since they seem to last abut 50k miles. It also appears that the cars occasionally catch on fire for unknown reasons, so that's mildly concerning too. I am fine with working on 1980s Mercedes diesels but the two newer German cars I have owned were horrible and I quickly sold them so I am hesitant to buy another. I have also thought about getting a W211 Mercedes E320 CDI but they cost as much or more than a 335D and I don't like the SBC brakes, the later (V6) are for sure more than I want to deal with as far as maintenance. If I could find a good one I might just get a 92-94 W140 S Class diesel and swap an OM606 in when the 3.5 starts burning too much oil. They are so slow though that I have been looking at other more modern cars but I don't care for most of them.
Chiming in... can the DEF be removed and programmed out? Of course, not legally, but I know that diesel truck owners sometimes do that. On some cars, the DEF/DPF are used to get the last 5-10% to pass EPA regs, so it's not like it will suddenly become a seal clubbing monster. No different really than a tune on a gas engine for some diesels.
Of course, if BMW relied heavily on DEF/DPF to meet standards, it would be a seal clubbing monster. I'm mostly asking to see if that is an option for the OP to get a more reliable ride.
Malone offers a DPF/DEF/EGR/IntakeFlap delete for the 335D... for offroad use only fo course.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
A whole cottage industry has grown up supporting DEF removal, or "DEF Delete." Of course, deletion is illegal for the road. However, BMW has extended its emissions warranty to 10 years or 120,000 miles (which ever comes first) that covers a lot of the emissions problem areas. I recently had a dealership replace my active def tank in my 2011 X5 35d (very similar engine to the 335d) when it threw a code for a defective level sensor. The active tank included other troublesome parts such as the DEF heater. I also had one NOX sensor replaced under this extended factory warranty that would have been a ~$600 part if I had to change it myself.
There is support out there for just about any level of emissions delete you care to hazard. A full delete can unlock a ton of efficiency and torque. There is also a lot of knowledge supporting the care and feeding of a stock system so if you find a vehicle that is still inside the extended warranty period it may not be a bad choice. It seems prices are somewhat depressed for these diesel machines due to the bad reputation they have acquired.
Important to note, I'm not advocating for destroying emissions equipment. Quite the contrary. I just know that in some cases (08-10 duramax for instance), deleting the DPF would cause you to fail the particulate emissions by about 1-2%. Isuzu was already so close, but adding a DPF was an eazy and not overly expensive fix.
Contrast that with something like a Coyote mustang with a tune that is likely dumping 10-15x the NOx it's allowed, but that's ok because it's a gas engine and it's totally fine to club seals if it's a gasoline engine. 
I'm just saying I make a distinction between illegal and immoral. I don't fault someone for removing their Duramax DPF.
Just offering a possible avenue.
I live in California, and I wouldn't want to buy a car that needs off road only modifications to pass the emissions testing. I wonder if the reason so many 335Ds are coming up for sale cheap is that the 10 year emissions warranty is about to expire. If changing the DEF tank was something I could do myself without a lift it might be reasonable, it's for sure beyond what would be worth it to me to pay someone to do though. I would just buy a different car if a DEF delete is the only way to make one reliable. I have two usable cars so it's no hurry to buy something, but they are both pretty slow and get low 20s mpg so something that is the opposite certainly seems interesting.
What are Cali diesel emissions tests like? A W140 with a built pump, turbo and intercooler could be fun. Still only like 200whp though.
buzzboy said:What are Cali diesel emissions tests like? A W140 with a built pump, turbo and intercooler could be fun. Still only like 200whp though.
To the best of my knowledge, CA doesn't do any diesel testing. Not even visual. At least all of the diesels I owned out there were 100% exempt from any emissions testing. Unless they implemented new testing rules for diesel after I left in 2008.
Well I'll be snookered.... From CADMV: exempt if,
The diesel W140s are 1992-94 so unless it makes excessive black smoke nobody is going to really care. 200hp would be plenty for me, other than that people drive so fast here that it's hard to merge onto the freeway in a car that can't do 0-60 in 8 seconds or better. I have a diesel w126 now, but I'd rather have a W140, it's just a matter of finding one that is cheap enough that also isn't too far away to be reasonable to drive home. The transmissions in them are marginal even with the stock engine so idk what I'd do about that either. I used to have a W210 E300D, but wasn't that exciting and needed a ton of work, and now that a key that sometimes works is $375, and one that works all the time is $8k worth of new computer modules I probably wouldn't get another.
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