MOT History from tests of diesel BMW 5-SERIESs year 2001

Review the list of common BMW 5-SERIES failures below or to perform a specific mot history check on your BMW then use our popular KnowYourCar service

mot history

Pass percent:61.63%

(The average a diesel BMW 5-SERIES year 2001 passes without issue)

Based on:37,199 MOT Tests

Most common failures	No# failures
Headlamp aim out of alignment	3096
Parking brake: efficiency below requirements \|3.7.B.7\|	2601
Registration plate lamp issues	2140
Brake pipe excessively corroded	2049
Rear parking brake recording little or no effort	1380
Windscreen wiper does not clear the windscreen effectively	874
Registration plate issues	521
Nearside Rear Anti-roll bar linkage has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	479
Brake hose excessively deteriorated	418
Offside Rear Anti-roll bar linkage has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	404
Front Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases \|7.1.2\|	387
Nearside Front Anti-roll bar linkage has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	305
Front brake disc in such a condition that it is seriously weakened	284
Offside Stop lamp not working \|1.2.1b\|	278
Brakes imbalanced across an axle	257
Supplementary Restraint System warning lamp indicates a fault \|5.4.2\|	254
Offside Rear Direction indicator incorrect colour \|1.4.A.2f\|	236
Offside Front position lamp\|s\| not working \|1.1.A.3b\|	236
Offside Front Anti-roll bar linkage has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	219
Nearside Front position lamp\|s\| not working \|1.1.A.3b\|	216
Nearside Rear Direction indicator incorrect colour \|1.4.A.2f\|	216
Nearside Stop lamp not working \|1.2.1b\|	200
Horn not loud enough to be heard by another road user \|1.6.2b\|	192
Anti-lock braking system warning lamp indicates an ABS fault	182
Parking brake efficiency below requirements (1.4.2 (a) (i))	181
Offside Rear fog lamp not working \|1.3.2b\|	169
Nearside Rear Lower Suspension arm has excessive play in a pin/bush \|2.4.G.2\|	160
Offside Rear coil spring broken \|2.4.C.1a\|	159
Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases \|7.1.2\|	155
Exhaust emits an excessive level of metered smoke for a turbo charged engine \|7.4.B.3b\|	154
Offside Front Lower Suspension arm has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	152
Offside Rear Lower Suspension arm has excessive play in a pin/bush \|2.4.G.2\|	152
Centre Stop lamp not working \|1.2.1b\|	149
Nearside Rear Upper Suspension arm has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	146
Offside Front Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover excessively damaged so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt \|2.4.G.2\|	145
Nearside Front Lower Suspension arm has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	144
Offside Front Shock absorber has a serious fluid leak \|2.7.3\|	143
Offside Headlamp not working on dipped beam \|1.7.5a\|	141
Offside Front Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover excessively deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt \|2.4.G.2\|	135
Offside Rear Upper Suspension arm has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	134
Windscreen has damage	134
Nearside Front Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover excessively deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt \|2.4.G.2\|	132
Nearside Headlamp not working on dipped beam \|1.7.5a\|	127
Nearside Rear coil spring broken \|2.4.C.1a\|	123
Offside Front Track rod end ball joint has excessive play \|2.2.B.1f\|	122
Nearside Front Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover excessively damaged so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt \|2.4.G.2\|	120
Offside Front Suspension arm has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	120
Nearside Front Shock absorber has a serious fluid leak \|2.7.3\|	117
Parking brake lever has no reserve travel \|3.1.6b\|	115
Windscreen washer not working	108
Offside Rear Stop lamp not working \|1.2.1b\|	108
Parking brake efficiency below requirements \|1.4.2 \|a\| \|i\|\|	106
Nearside Rear Anti-roll bar linkage has excessive play in a pin/bush \|2.4.G.2\|	104
Fuel system component leaking \|7.2.3\|	104
Nearside Front Track rod end ball joint has excessive play \|2.2.B.1f\|	101
Nearside Front Suspension arm has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	100
Rear brake binding	99
Offside Side repeater incorrect colour \|1.4.A.2f\|	99
Nearside Rear Suspension arm has excessive play in a pin/bush \|2.4.G.2\|	96
Front Exhaust system not adequately supported \|7.1.1\|	96
Nearside Rear Stop lamp not working \|1.2.1b\|	96
Rear brake disc in such a condition that it is seriously weakened	95
Offside Track rod end ball joint has excessive play \|2.2.B.1f\|	95
Anti-lock braking system warning lamp does not illuminate \|3.4.1b\|	89
Offside Rear Anti-roll bar has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	89
Nearside Front Anti-roll bar has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	86
Offside Rear Suspension arm has excessive play in a pin/bush \|2.4.G.2\|	84
Nearside Rear Anti-roll bar has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	82
Fuel pipe leaking \|7.2.3\|	81
Offside Rear Anti-roll bar linkage has excessive play in a pin/bush \|2.4.G.2\|	81
Nearside Headlamp aim beam image obviously incorrect \|1.8.A.1b\|	79
Nearside Track rod end ball joint has excessive play \|2.2.B.1f\|	77
Nearside Front Wheel bolt\|s\| missing \|4.2.A.1e\|	76
Nearside Headlamp insecure \|1.7.3\|	73
Nearside Front Front position lamp\|s\| not working \|1.1.A.3b\|	73
Nearside Front suspension has excessive play in a lower suspension ball joint \|2.5.B.1a\|	73
Offside Rear Suspension arm has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	71
Nearside Side repeater incorrect colour \|1.4.A.2f\|	68
Offside Headlamp aim beam image obviously incorrect \|1.8.A.1b\|	68
Offside Front Front position lamp\|s\| not working \|1.1.A.3b\|	66
Nearside Rear Suspension arm has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	64
Offside Rear Direction indicators incorrect colour \|1.4.A.2f\|	64
Windscreen has a sticker or other obstruction encroaching into the swept area by more than 40mm outside zone `A` \|8.3.1e\|	64
Offside Rear Seat belt locking mechanism does not secure or release \|5.2.5a\|	62
Nearside Rear Wheel bolt\|s\| missing \|4.2.A.1e\|	60
Supplementary restraint system warning lamp indicates a fault (7.1.6 (a))	59
Nearside Front Anti-roll bar ball joint dust cover excessively damaged so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt \|2.4.G.2\|	59
Nearside Rear Direction indicators incorrect colour \|1.4.A.2f\|	59
Parking brake efficiency less than 50% of the required value (1.4.2 (a) (ii))	59
Offside Rear brake disc excessively pitted \|3.5.1h\|	58
Offside Front Anti-roll bar has excessive play in a ball joint \|2.4.G.2\|	58
Offside Front Suspension arm has excessive play in a pin/bush \|2.4.G.2\|	58
Horn not working \|1.6.2a\|	56
Emissions not tested \|7.0\|	56
Nearside Rear Seat belt locking mechanism does not secure or release \|5.2.5a\|	56
Offside Front suspension has excessive play in a lower suspension ball joint \|2.5.B.1a\|	55
Offside Front Anti-roll bar ball joint dust cover excessively damaged so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt \|2.4.G.2\|	54
Front brake application uneven	53
Nearside Front Anti-roll bar linkage has excessive play in a pin/bush \|2.4.G.2\|	52
Offside Rear coil spring fractured \|2.4.C.1a\|	50
Service brake: efficiency below requirements \|3.7.B.7\|	50
Nearside Rear brake disc excessively pitted \|3.5.1h\|	50
Nearside Front Headlamp not working on dipped beam \|1.7.5a\|	48
Centre Rear Statutory seat belt missing \|5.1.1\|	48
Offside Front Headlamp not working on dipped beam \|1.7.5a\|	47
Offside Rear coil spring incomplete \|2.4.C.1a\|	47
Nearside Front Upper Anti-roll bar linkage ball joint dust cover excessively damaged so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt \|2.4.G.2\|	46
Nearside Front Suspension arm has excessive play in a pin/bush \|2.4.G.2\|	46
Exhaust emits excessive smoke or vapour of any colour \|7.4.B.4\|	45
Offside Rear Coil spring fractured or broken (5.3.1 (b) (i))	44
Offside Front Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases \|7.1.2\|	44
Offside Rear Wheel bolt\|s\| missing \|4.2.A.1e\|	44
Offside Rear Rear fog lamp not working \|1.3.2b\|	43
Nearside Front Anti-roll bar has excessive play in a pin/bush \|2.4.G.2\|	43
Offside Front Suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated resulting in excessive movement \|2.4.G.2\|	43

We get to these numbers by trawling through over 1 billion MOT test results since 2004 and crunched the numbers. We remove anything to do with Tyres, as they are model independent and group together common non-model specific issues. We are trying to get to a picture of what models have what issues.

Please note: We take the data from the DVSA. This data is raw and can contain typos and spelling mistakes that garages may have entered while recording a MOT result. Specifically miss-match on names of models and makes. We are constantly cleaning the data so bear with the odd issue.

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MOT History from tests of diesel BMW 5-SERIESs year 2001

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