I own e46 330i and still kicking ass like crazy. My car is 18 years old but still locking ass on the road. May God bless that German who made this machinery!
I got a 2002 330i Sports Package Manuel. OMG! expansion tank, Drive Shaft, flex disc , brakes front and back, oil pan gasket, headers, coils , Radiator, CCV kit ,and thermostat , oil pan gasket, and slave cylinder and master cylinder for the clutch. My point? It took 17 years for all this stuff to fall apart. I was told by Bmw mechanics and technicians the E 46 was there bread and butter
@@adonisbrooks2794 So, BMW has ONE car that supposedly held up well. Meanwhile, makes from Japan, Korea, and a few others have HUNDREDS of models that will last forever. Good job, BMW. /s
@@iu2 But don't compare sportive luxurious cars like BMWs in general with relatively cheap middle to low class economic cars, like the Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla or the Toyota Celica (well that one is more on the sportive side). Those are 2 totally different worlds, like Ford Pickups and Mercdes S classes ;D.
The most reliable 4 cylinder engine was M10 (produced from 1961-1986).The most reliable 6 cylinder engines are:M30,M20,M50,M52,M54.N generation engines are more mechanically complicated than the M generation but N52 and N55 are solid engines.V8 BMW engines are not so popular among people who look for reliability but M62 is a good one.It has forged crankshaft and fracture-split conrods.The S62 from M5 E39 is based on M62.
I can confirm on all but N52 N55 due to not enough experience but I see N52 doing 200k miles now. Also M62TU is very good. Basically do guides rebuild vanos. And reseal intake with new pcv. From there replace things as they break or do the upper lower radiator cooling hose replacement and radiator and fan clutch assembly. M30 and M62TU my favorite bmw engines. Source : mechanic and bmw specialist, appreciator of BMW. E28 probably best BMW made for all purposes.
N52 6 cyl 3.0l 195 kw is normally aspirated. Best engine ever. I have 2 x 130i manuals with 180k and 305k and they both rev to 7k rpm happily and sound and feel like new. No turbos no high pressure pumps, just pure enjoyment in a small package. Have seen and driven lost of them and all felt tight and powerful.
One of the best BMW engines is the 3 litre 6 cyl turbo diesel. Good power, incredible torque, economical. Hell, it even sounds good (at anything above tick over). Same max torque as a Lambo Huracan!
I'm surprised you have mentioned a diesel. Here in the UK, diesel Bimmers overall, have proven to be the least reliable compared to their petrol counterparts.
@@sanjsharma195 I am in the UK. As I understand it, one of the biggest problems is the "maintenence free" timing chain which has caused problems on some of the 4 cylinder engines. Having said that, I had a 320d which got hammered for 60000 miles with no problems. My current 330d is approaching 58000, again with no problems. It also seems that the 6 cylinder engines are generally more reliable than the 4 cylinder engines.
Years of ownership and we can say it's true. He was right naturally aspirated is on the BMW one of the best motors BMW ever made. Most reliable for sure. And for those of us who know how to save money doing everything ourselves. Just perfect..
I have to be honest with you, so here is what hopefully to you is constructive critism. I hope this will help you: I, as the viewer, clicked this video in the hope of getting more knowledge on the realiability issues (pros and cons) of single engines, so when you title is "BMW engines" and not "BMW modeles" i was expecting specific engines to be mentioned. Personally i was looking for info and differences in N54, N55 and B58. (i currently have the N54 and knows its pros and cons) I think that is where your dislikes comes from. I dont believe people think that your knowledge is wrong, or you have your head on the wrong way. I simply think your title was a bit too misleading, or atleast the information in the video did not match up to the expectations the title gave. Thank you anyway for the video, you do have some great knowledge about the BMW's. I hope this will help you somewhat from a viewers perspective!
i agree. m50 is best from old engines as long as it is iron block, especially to turbo them, but other than that. N54 or b58 are the best new engines again especially if you want to tune them.
Exactly, he clickbaited me and i dissliked just because most of the time he was talking about the models, not the engines and their weak or strong spots. In my opinion hes stupid.
Huh? He’s totally talking about the different engines. He talked about N20, E36, E46, N52, etc. all being the most reliable. He talked about cooling issues with the E46, which yea, that’s different from the engine, but he kind of expanded the definition of reliability there.
N55 has been very reliable for me personally. My local shop also says they see very few issues with N55’s but N54’s still have leaky valve cover gaskets but otherwise the straight 6 is damn reliable. Do your maintenance and properly warm up your engine before hard driving and you’ll be good to go.
BULLSHIT! If you think an m54 is great you never owned one. The piece of shit is catastrphic failure prone to the plastic cooling lines alone not to mention the vanos problems etc. Making trips to the dealership to replace the cooling system every 60 000 miles to prevent that changes nothing. Its a pile of shit. American made and import throw away cars have many engines that with oil changes will keep running fine after that m54 overheats and pulls the head bolts right out of the block. Look how many videos there are on youtube about "parts you need to replace on your bmw". Type "BMW reliability" in search bar and the number of videos go on and on. And they are mostly made by some damn used car salesman or a fanboy in reality denial saying the same dumb shit as every other idiot- " if you change these parts and do these services on time its a great motor". Stupid.
@@TheHa11jesse have you ever owned one ? We have 2 in the Family, first cooling systems except one radiator because of an accident. No overheating problems fist head gaskets fist coils... From your comment it seems you watch videos all day but you never owned one yourself. Ah and we also have an n42 with 230000km still driving every day. The m54s ar on 270000 and 150000 km
@@michihoffi69 I own one. A 2003 Z4. Quote frankly there are several very poor engineering factors on these automobiles. Regarding the cooling system: I have to disconnect the drivers side motor mount and rotate the engine to change a water pump. The plastic thermostat housings are weak. The radiator pressure reservoirs are prone to cracking, and are a pita to change. The crankcase ventilation components are plastic and tend to break causing massive vacuum leaks. For a supposed high end, German engineered automobile , my Z4 leaves much to be desired. This comes from a person that also owns a Discovery 2 Land Rover which in comparison has been the paragon of reliability.
Just coming in on the 5s. The e39 m62tub is actually very reliable if well serviced, timing chain tensioner changed between 80K-100K miles. The V8 gives huge motorway miles reliability and the kind of power, torque and 130mph driving for 100s of miles that I have never found in a straight 6.
Wow...you learn something every day! I never knew a double vanos M52 engine would fit in a Land rover Defender! Ive had six Beemers and my E46 M52 was THE best one...by a long chaulk. Not a fan of them dropping cylinders in favour of doubling up on turbo's...end of an era!
Had the rod bearings replaced and upgraded, water pump, alternator, and thermostat, but the s54 in my M3 is about to hit 170k and it's crossed america numerous times and gets me to work everyday. Still performs greet
anarchy cat I thought about supercharging my N52, but just to save myself the hassle and $5k in parts I’d rather just tune it and get it up to 290hp to the crank with a BPC tune, catless headers, and 3 stage intake manifold. With that set up people say the sound is comparable to an E46 M3 S54 engine and the power and torque delivery is even more noticeable while still keeping the reliability of the N52.
@@danny_r27 Hello there. Any chances you have some video of your car after the tune ? Would love to see and listen to how it sounds. I bet it's amazing.
The N52 is a reliable and strong unit, but its not a performance engine. It can only handle 300hp reliably. Even an engine like a B48 4 cylinder could exceed that limit. The N54 despite being fitted with parts that hinder the reliability, it is incredibly strong and reliable without these parts and can handle up to 700hp reliably N55 could handle up to 500hp, S55 being around 600hp S54 could handle 600hp B48 (250-300hp model) could handle 400hp reliably B58 can handle up to 650-700hp, possibly one of BMWs most reliable modern engines S58 is estimated to handle up to 900-1000+hp, potentially beating a 2JZ GTE BMW has made some pretty good engines!
I'm glad you mentioned the M52 inline-6 as one of the most reliable BMW engines, as I've been thinking about buying an E46 with this 2.0 liter engine (1998-00). Thanks man!
N52, leaking valve covers, vanos solenoid issues, coil pack issues, ccv, pcv, oil sensitivity (oil sludge if specific oil is used and at more less often intervals), and starter/battery issues. None of these are too bad if the owner did maintenance and didn’t ignore bad symptoms, but if you get a used one with bad oil sludge or ignored issues, you could have to replace the engine. It might be more reliable than other BMW engines, but the N52 isn’t super trustworthy either, it’s no Honda 4 cylinder. But you gotta know that coming in if your shopping for a BMW.
im gonna be honest, alot of my family members like 6 of them,including cousins and uncles have bmw cars.....and its like some had it for 8 years with no major issues others just suffered and refused to give up on them prolonging the suffering with the dealership...you either get lucky with those or you dont do they drive better than other eco boxes ? hell yeah that i give you if you want a reliable car just dont gamble with BMWs...the price of owning and keeping those running well isnt cheap unless...you a Bmw mechanic/bmw know how guy and you know what doing when fixing it your self then you can save alot on the labor
I swear by my 1988 528e as it has the 2.7 I-6 Super ETA. It's fast, reliable, and gets decent gas mileage. I bought it used 13 years ago as a project car and would put it up against almost anything with an inline six. IMO, This car was built to be at the top of its game. It doesn't burn oil and the original A/C unit stills works ice cold. Of course, it is well maintained and cared for. That helps.
Hey Mark, great channel! I’m a HUGE enthusiast and have been for over 20 years!! I’ve been shopping for a BMW for some time and used your videos and reviews as a guide. So....today I picked up my 2012 328i e92. It had all the things I was looking for like low mileage (75,000 kms), dealer services (all service records) the straight 6, M package, all wheel drive for local weather and of course Standard! Thanks for all the info Mark!!!
Have 2 F10's with the N55; one has 84K miles and the other 46K miles. Both have been great so far with the 2012 (84K miles) needing an oil filter housing and valve cover gasket only; pretty common from what I've read. I was going to get the N63(TU) but after reading about the V8's problems I went to BMW's bread & butter engine; the straight-6. The N55 also doesn't suffer the carbon build-up the N54 does.
I have a 2015 535i with Xdrive and the M sport package. Wonderful car to drive, and trouble free, except for the oil filter housing gasket leak problem. I called my dealer and they told me the warranty time (years) was expired, however the low millage (43,000) qualified me for a courtesy repair in which BMW would pay half.
Been living with a N52 E90 330i LCI for exactly 10 years now. In all these years we’ve had just ONE issue with the engine and that too only in 2018 Aug with a faulty O ring in Cylinder 1. It has, touchwood, stayed as an unstoppable beast until now, bearing in mind that it has done 125,000kms of Indian roads (meaning almost 95% distance covered on potholed roads and start-stop traffic). If you didn’t get my perspective then just know that average speed of car in the Idrive shows as 22 kmph. Yes, 22! Imagine an N52 being driven at gears 1-3 for most of its 10 year life. Amen!
Vollsuessaba _ Yea I believe that’s the reason why they never brought the N53 over here. Considering the more polluted, hotter and more humid climate of India the N53s would have been a worse nightmare.
this is good to hear because i got the z3 with m44 and a manual gear box. so you are sure these engines are good, not money pitt?? even 21 year old engine with 68 000km.
@@HealthSupercharger mine is at 170k already and going strong. Just make sure to keep up with the cooling system maintenance. There’s plenty of m44 engines going above 310k miles
Yes, the old 6 or the "big" six M30B28 I have in the 1981 528i is a daily driver as of today has had NO problems with well over 250K on it, all original except some accessories replaced over the years. Transmission is an automatic and trouble free too! I also run AMSOIL ZRod type of oil, synthetic, that is high in Phosphorous and Zinc which helps with wear and flat tappet camshafts. I also own an E46 M3 and it needs to be maintained for long life, whereas the M30 is just rock solid reliable!
2009 e92 328i owner here. I’m so in love with my naturally aspirated i6. I have about 140k on the dash and she still runs soo smooth. By far the best car I’ve ever owned 💯💯
My N-52 E83.... easy to work on for a weekend warrior mechanic contrary to popular belief and lots of aftermarket replacement part choices. Reliable and safe.....and fun to drive for sure. Also, you don't need an extravagant tool box with tons of unitasker tools for basic upkeep.
You have miss out unless you owned an M3 ! I do daily drive a M3 o6 this 3.2 S54 engine Revs 8K All Day and never had a Engine so Strong ! 0-60 in 4 Sec Flat and Stock ! I take good Care of this Non Burning OIL Engine SMG !!! All the Kinks worked out ! LOL
Obviously has a 3 series bias, i think the f10 n55 535 bmws, specifically 2011 has one of the best bmw engines ever made and a lot of bmw master techs would agree with me. Yes, my beauty beemer was built overseas in germany and shipped to the u.s.a. amazing and beautiful car.
Issue with BMW engines isn't the engines - it's usually everything that link to it, e.g. the cooling systems with plastic parts etc. Combine that with aluminium engine heads, as soon as it overheats - warp... game over. PS> I noticed a glaring lack of info on their superb diesel engines?
With bmw it seems like its always super overpriced when they’re using all these low cost plastic pieces for ‘weight reduction’ purposes. It really ticks me off
Reliability is really a relative measure. The M54 engine was really nice during its day, but to call it 'reliable' is downright wrong. It has a poorly designed cooling system which can lead to over heating and cause head gasket issues, water pumps are expected to fail, burning oil due to poorly designed piston rings, a crank case ventilation system for emissions that is so poorly designed that you must expect it's failure (especially in cold climates), vacuum leaks, coolant leaks.. these aren't just a few bad apples - they're common across all M54 engines. If your idea of reliability is to continuously replace parts to keep an engine going as intended, then we can say that about any and all engines.
The M54 is a great engine. The plastic cooling system, is not the engine itself. Do your routine maintenance it won't give you any problems. Changing hoses and water pumps are routine maintenance.
@@nattadam8429 agree it's a great engine. I've had one on my E46 for years, approaching 350,000 km. It's easy to work on and accessible. My point isn't about it being great when it's 'maintained', rather that the amount of 'routine maintenance' people like to call it, makes it far from reliable. A good cooling system is very much required to keep the engines head gasket from blowing up, so I wouldn't try to make it out to be independent from the engine when considering reliability. My point is it's not reliable to the standards of, say, many Honda and Toyotas. That's just being honest and realistic. I've swapped out the entire cooling system, ignition coils, suspension, valve cover gasket, 2 oem expansion tanks, AC compressor, the infamous DISA valve, a leaky VANOS unit, a faulty voltage regulator on the alternator, a warped plastic valve cover, and the CCV system which is just awful. just to name a few. During the span of those repairs, my dad's corolla needed a headlight bulb and an oil change. Lol. Look em all up and you'll see it's not just an isolated case. Not gonna sugar coat something just cuz I love the car.
@@studybuddy2574 yes but it's not a Corolla. Way more fun. Been driving mine daily for around 4 years. Bought it with 98 thousand miles, now approaching 180 thousand. Changed of course the valve cover gasket, water pump twice (one with metal impeller) hoses, radiator and expansion tank. Burns very little oil. It's been better than the Mazda 3 I had.
My e90 M3 s65 v8 has 104k miles...original clutch, no bearing issues...greatest engine ever. Considering it runs 8600rpm and is basically full blown race engine...that’s reliable!
We have two customers who have 250k on them. If you replace wear items and use the right oil bmw will give you great value for the money and they're so much fun to drive.
Just got my first BMW which is a 2008 E90 328xi 6spd manual with 80k miles and with all service history done at the dealer. It was also only owned by 1 previous person, which was a woman in her 50's, and I got it for $9k USD. Hope it lasts awhile without too many headaches. It's such a solid and fun car to drive!
I own both an N52 and M54 and I must say from my personal experiences, BOTH of these have been pretty damn reliable. I have my 2004 E60 525i with the SMG. Now about to hit 128k miles. The car has been very solid. Only things I did have to change was the water pump and the SMG pump (both at around 80k) other than those things, car hasn’t had any other issues. This is the M54 engine. I also have a 09 E89 Z4 with the N52. That is my daily. I beat on this car EVERYDAY. Luckily and thankfully at this point, 93k miles, I haven’t changed a thing mechanically. Just the usual oil changes and I have to say, my N52 has been extremely reliable. Just wanted to share my experience with these engines that I’ve owned for over 4 years now. I love BMW. My biggest advice, just don’t go to the dealership for everything. That’s where everyone gets scared of owning one due to the overly priced parts and labor cost. Buy the items you need online, eBay, etc. and take it to a local, mechanic shop. Problem solved and saved you tons of money. Any foreign car will come with a cost for parts, but if you take care of your vehicle, you’ll be fine. 👍🏻
@@dannymartinez8522 right maintenance should only include oil changes... 150k is not a lot for a car if you think about it... unless its a range rover, bmw, or maseratti, then 150k is like a lifetime to those cars
I own e36 316i 1998 model with over 450k kilometers and it's still going well. when I bought this car 5 years ago kilometers were around 320k. I once had one problem with the car when it mixed water and oil other than that I have never ever had any problems with the car
First M50 without VANOS M52, Diesel M47 and M57 are the most reliable. Maintenance is a big factor, too and not only working on the car if something is broken. By the way, I've never seen a E90 323i...
I don't know a lot about BMW engines, but any idea if anyone would recommend the B58 engine? I believe it's one of the most reliable, if not the most reliable new BMW engine. There are several people who said that Toyota tested this engine thoroughly before fitting it in the Supra, and found no issues.
While there is no dispute on the engine performance, the BMW cooling system has a number of design flaws leading to overheat, oil leak, radiator crack, and ultimately engine failure. One such a flaw is the use of an unreliable coolant temperature sensor/fan switch and put at the top (hottest spot) of the engine. This is against the tradition of inserting such a sensor at the bottom of the radiator to detect coolant temperature after cooling off by the radiator, and worse yet the sensor may only detect the temperature of engine chamber air when coolant level simply reduced below the sensor. So, many BMW cars failed at "young age" (my 2012 528i got engine oil mixed in the coolant reservoir within warranty period).
Think it honestly depends on how the car has been maintained more than anything, my old M54 E39 needed repairs about 3 or 4 times as often as my extremely notorious N62 powered E60 which happened to be an exceptionally reliable and well maintained car.
Great video. I would have to agree with all you stated, such as cooling being a weakness. Why stay away from M cars? Own a 1998 M3 264k miles. Clutch went 190k starter 225k. No major issues other than the cooling system which is remedied with the correct components.
Thank you, I just bought a 1999 323i with the automatic transmission with 140,000 original miles and was wondering about engine reliability and it seems according to you it's one of the most reliable engine from BMW and that makes my day
I have a f30 n20 engine with over 120k on the dash and it runs like a champ. 5k mile oil changer intervals, transmission fluid service every 50k and regular maintenance has kept it and me happy
So true. I would never buy a "BM trouble you" thats out of its warranty. They get cost cut to fuck before preduction, so everything is ready to die after warranty peroid. The diff bearings in most models are a joke & then design the diff without a drain & state fluid is to last the life of the car lol. Only got to look at the amount of people making money on ebay replacing the bearings & selling recon with a massive price mark up. Or just the price of one with fucked bearings. Timing chain is another good example, meant to last life of car & also designed to be at the back of the engine. Lets just say they dont last life of the car & a total bitch to replace. Plastic electric waterpump thermostat housing anyone? Something you would expect on a French car maybe ;) Badly designed reluctor ring traction control setup. Where the drivesharft rust & deform the reluctor ring. Seen this on 7 year old cars. Potentially damaging sensors & needing to replace the actual driveshafts. Not to nice having traction control coming on at 60mph going in a straight line Sensors are a big problem in general & they a lots of them. A nitrogen oxide sensor from experence cost £400 on its own. But usually you would need to do lamda & o2 in conjunction with the nox sensor. High pressure fuel pump! Prone to problems & placed above exhaust manifold on some engines. Have seen one leaking onto the exhaust manifold! Was 2008, e90, 320i I could go on but i cba.
The problem with the straight 6 e46 engines is the oil leak, vanos, cooling system and the tensioner pully which affects the alternator and the power steering pump and the belt it's self
Not big problems, I haven't encountered any of these issues across 6 e46 cars and roughly 200,000 miles of driving. PCV valves, oil level sensors, door handle mechanisms...that's about it.
My e46 has been roasting in Texas for 170k miles. Still runs like new. M52 is a rock. One vanos hose and one valve cover gasket. A gasket or two. Two pulleys. The water pump, thermostat and radiator. Dirt cheap. Finally needs a lower control arms. Big whoop! Jesus...what do you expect? Perfection and zero repairs?
I have 07 335i n54. Over 100K miles has been very reliable IMO. Replaced water pump and valve cover at 95K miles. Intake decarbonization is required as part of maintenance. Car runs very strong and smooth. BMW does use a lot of plastics which is their weak point in the engine.
I also have the same N54. 107k miles. Nothing broke the first 100k. Then valve cover, oil filter housing, pan gaskets, and rear diff started leaking at once.
Great video! The M52 is and was the most reliable and you are right on with the cooling system. Now I own 2018 340i b58. We will have to see. Only time will tell. I only have 2,000 miles on her.
The M54 engine mught be reliable, but they do have problems. 1. Oil control piston ring don work well--> hugh oil consumption. 2. They leak oil on every single gasket that is on there.
Thats so funny, my friends VW golf tfsi or what it is called 2018 already drinking oil, now thats a shit car. For an engine like the m54 thats been around for 20 years of course the oilring is gonna get clogged, like MANY brands do. Im battling this problem right now on my m54, thinking if im gonna pour some chemicals in there for a night to loosen some stuff up
And that they are leaking everywhere, i cant say ur right in that, they leak from valve cover (like all old cars) they leak from oil housing gasket and main seal, oil pan when they have gone far. No boring ass Toyota in the world will drive 17 years+ with hard revving driving without leaking from somewhere;D
@@jyrgenfist6021 Well, the M54 is know for wearing out the oil scraping piston rings. Nothing you can do about it but repalce them with M52tu pistong rings. It is just a know issue almost all of these engines have. When it comes to oil leakage. When buying mine I have seen a couple of them and all of them are leaking. All those rubber gaskets are brittle. It is not a huge problem, but if you buy one and it has not been replaced ---> Be prepared to put in the work to fix it. It van be forgiven for an 18 year old car. But there are also engines the do not have these issues.
As you mentioned my 528i inline 6 is rock solid as is the chassis, smooth idle, smooth acceleration sure HP #'s at 190 but with 200,000 miles clocked and engine has zero issues, I'm about to rebuild front suspension after all it is 22 years old, the 528i can cruise the highway at 85 mph for 100 miles straight and do it at a quarter tank or gas, oh did I mention my E39 528i was made in a German factory by a BMW factory trained German autoworker, yes folks my BMW was shipped overseas to the good ole USA.
No list of reliable BMW engines is complete without the M30 "big 6". Like all engines of its era it needed to be cared for, but would easily be good for 100's of thousands of miles, and was well powered, particularly with a chip. Sold my '92 535i with 192k on it and the car drove almost like new after 16 years of use. Never had a compression test done but the car used what seemed like a quart of oil maybe every 7-8k, which I never saw because I'd always change the oil at
@Berceque!? e30's with the god old m50 is a rare find and is going up in value. The engines are solid as long as you do your expected services. Like any old car find one that is taken good care off and little rust. Alof of info on the web
@@ledaniezle537 yes it has the same motor and transmission. The only thing i noticed on this bmw cars alot of parts can be plastic..so if you can get alluminium parts for them its better. I remember changing a plastic coolant tube connector that was plastic and i changed it into alluminum instead..so i guess you just have to know your car alittle and see what plastic parts you can change to alluminum that will last longer.
I own a 2011 328i xdrive. I have never experienced such a smooth and consistent powerband as I have with the N 52 motor. It is as smooth as butter and no issues so far
M54 engines in the E46 chassis not only had VANOS problems but they always, ALWAYS HAVE VALVE COVER GASKET LEAKS abd OIL FILTER HOUSING GASKET LEAKS. The control arm bushings would tend to go around 50k miles. Still a great engine but you need to do preventative maintenance if you buy used. Better to get it over with BEFORE they become a problem. DTML pump replacement too.
Agree with the poster below - reliability is relative, but I've had really good luck with the N52 in my 328 coupe. Basic rule of thumb that I've always followed (and know other owners in the CCA group who will vouch the same): avoid the 335i unless you want to replace the HPFP. There is a reason why you see so many of them for sale at relatively low prices...
Ive learned a lot from this video man.... I've had experience with Hondas, Nissan, Toyota, Ford but started falling madly in love with BMW lately especially with the 335i. But I'm more of a durability person so the inline6, 320 series will be my choice.
I have had 5 bmws and my most reliable were actually my e36 m3 with the s52 and my e46 m3 with the s54. On top of that i drifted my e46 and regularly went over 140. Meanwhile i had a 328ci that fell apart.
About 12 years ago I owned a BMW E36 323ti with the M52b25 170hp engine. It was a very reliable engine. No issues over 100k km in 4 years. Only the service intervals every 15k km. Very smooth running engine that never burned oil. A lot of things on the car broke, but not the engine. Years later I bought a BMW e87 120i with the N43b20 engine. It was a disaster, every 3000 km I had to go to the workshop with engine problems. Faulty sensors and coils. With only 100k km it burned oil and was never running smooth.
In Europe we have diesels and they showed way more reliable, specially the inline six m57, n57 and the latest b57, also very indestructable (I've owned one) m47 2.0 litre 4-zyl diesel in e46, very good are the new b47 as well
2010 335I N54 with 157k miles havent had issues just maintenance. Did i mention its been tuned since 70k miles. Its all about how you care for your car.
bought a 630I E64 with the N53b30a engine about a month ago broken. The problem with the engine is that cylinder number 6 has filled up with coolant. Are about ready to take the head of and see if it is the headgasket or in worst case the whole cylinder head is broken. Anyone had the same problem?
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Many strong engines made by BMW. The amount of m52, m54, m62, m57 powered cars i see for sale with 250k+ miles is really quite impressive!
Best BMW I've ever owned was a 2004 BMW 330i, its only issue was the cooling system, but it drove like a charm
I own e46 330i and still kicking ass like crazy. My car is 18 years old but still locking ass on the road. May God bless that German who made this machinery!
You've got one of the better cars in terms of reliability. Thanks.
You got lucky...like winning the lottery.
I got a 2002 330i Sports Package Manuel. OMG! expansion tank, Drive Shaft, flex disc , brakes front and back, oil pan gasket, headers, coils , Radiator, CCV kit ,and thermostat , oil pan gasket, and slave cylinder and master cylinder for the clutch. My point? It took 17 years for all this stuff to fall apart. I was told by Bmw mechanics and technicians the E 46 was there bread and butter
@@adonisbrooks2794
So, BMW has ONE car that supposedly held up well. Meanwhile, makes from Japan, Korea, and a few others have HUNDREDS of models that will last forever. Good job, BMW. /s
@@iu2
But don't compare sportive luxurious cars like BMWs in general with relatively cheap middle to low class economic cars, like the Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla or the Toyota Celica (well that one is more on the sportive side). Those are 2 totally different worlds, like Ford Pickups and Mercdes S classes ;D.
The most reliable 4 cylinder engine was M10 (produced from 1961-1986).The most reliable 6 cylinder engines are:M30,M20,M50,M52,M54.N generation engines are more mechanically complicated than the M generation but N52 and N55 are solid engines.V8 BMW engines are not so popular among people who look for reliability but M62 is a good one.It has forged crankshaft and fracture-split conrods.The S62 from M5 E39 is based on M62.
M43 4-pots are reliable.
M62 are damn good engines , i've never had a bad one :)
@@Froggywentawandering Yes.Thats a great engine.It's naturally aspirated and has strong internal parts.
I can confirm on all but N52 N55 due to not enough experience but I see N52 doing 200k miles now. Also M62TU is very good. Basically do guides rebuild vanos. And reseal intake with new pcv. From there replace things as they break or do the upper lower radiator cooling hose replacement and radiator and fan clutch assembly. M30 and M62TU my favorite bmw engines. Source : mechanic and bmw specialist, appreciator of BMW. E28 probably best BMW made for all purposes.
M47 is the most reliable
I would take a BMW E 46 any day over any General Motors vehicle
Totally
Kinda' agree, but... My E46 has a GM transmission! 123k miles, fresh new ATF and the BMW/GM partnership is going strong. I love the M54B30 engine.
we have a loaner car e46 325, thing has 378,000 miles and still going strong lol
I suppose it’s manual
@@mannabatth4092 gm automatic of all things, defying all logic
N52 6 cyl 3.0l 195 kw is normally aspirated. Best engine ever. I have 2 x 130i manuals with 180k and 305k and they both rev to 7k rpm happily and sound and feel like new. No turbos no high pressure pumps, just pure enjoyment in a small package. Have seen and driven lost of them and all felt tight and powerful.
E36 328i touring best car I ever had. Want it back
Got mine this week, it's close between this and my old 330ci E46
One of the best BMW engines is the 3 litre 6 cyl turbo diesel. Good power, incredible torque, economical. Hell, it even sounds good (at anything above tick over). Same max torque as a Lambo Huracan!
Agreed, thats why I roll in one. Have a great one.
I use this as a daily car and it does everything well. 153k on the engine and it sounds like new.
I'm surprised you have mentioned a diesel. Here in the UK, diesel Bimmers overall, have proven to be the least reliable compared to their petrol counterparts.
@@sanjsharma195 I am in the UK. As I understand it, one of the biggest problems is the "maintenence free" timing chain which has caused problems on some of the 4 cylinder engines. Having said that, I had a 320d which got hammered for 60000 miles with no problems. My current 330d is approaching 58000, again with no problems. It also seems that the 6 cylinder engines are generally more reliable than the 4 cylinder engines.
Personal experience tells me you are correct. 2008 530d just hit 100000 miles without a problem. Great engine.
Years of ownership and we can say it's true. He was right naturally aspirated is on the BMW one of the best motors BMW ever made. Most reliable for sure. And for those of us who know how to save money doing everything ourselves. Just perfect..
Cheers
I have to be honest with you, so here is what hopefully to you is constructive critism. I hope this will help you:
I, as the viewer, clicked this video in the hope of getting more knowledge on the realiability issues (pros and cons) of single engines, so when you title is "BMW engines" and not "BMW modeles" i was expecting specific engines to be mentioned.
Personally i was looking for info and differences in N54, N55 and B58. (i currently have the N54 and knows its pros and cons)
I think that is where your dislikes comes from. I dont believe people think that your knowledge is wrong, or you have your head on the wrong way. I simply think your title was a bit too misleading, or atleast the information in the video did not match up to the expectations the title gave.
Thank you anyway for the video, you do have some great knowledge about the BMW's. I hope this will help you somewhat from a viewers perspective!
i agree. m50 is best from old engines as long as it is iron block, especially to turbo them, but other than that. N54 or b58 are the best new engines again especially if you want to tune them.
Exactly, he clickbaited me and i dissliked just because most of the time he was talking about the models, not the engines and their weak or strong spots. In my opinion hes stupid.
agree, he is not even talking about many other series and engines, just showing a few cars as example... defiantly don't matches up with the title
Huh? He’s totally talking about the different engines. He talked about N20, E36, E46, N52, etc. all being the most reliable. He talked about cooling issues with the E46, which yea, that’s different from the engine, but he kind of expanded the definition of reliability there.
N55 has been very reliable for me personally. My local shop also says they see very few issues with N55’s but N54’s still have leaky valve cover gaskets but otherwise the straight 6 is damn reliable. Do your maintenance and properly warm up your engine before hard driving and you’ll be good to go.
BMW mechanic for over 20 years, M54 hands down. Nothing made today will last as long.
Are the 7 series and x5 4.4 motors not reliable
Is that the engine in the 325i E90 2008 and up
BULLSHIT! If you think an m54 is great you never owned one. The piece of shit is catastrphic failure prone to the plastic cooling lines alone not to mention the vanos problems etc. Making trips to the dealership to replace the cooling system every 60 000 miles to prevent that changes nothing. Its a pile of shit. American made and import throw away cars have many engines that with oil changes will keep running fine after that m54 overheats and pulls the head bolts right out of the block. Look how many videos there are on youtube about "parts you need to replace on your bmw". Type "BMW reliability" in search bar and the number of videos go on and on. And they are mostly made by some damn used car salesman or a fanboy in reality denial saying the same dumb shit as every other idiot- " if you change these parts and do these services on time its a great motor". Stupid.
@@TheHa11jesse have you ever owned one ?
We have 2 in the Family, first cooling systems except one radiator because of an accident.
No overheating problems fist head gaskets fist coils...
From your comment it seems you watch videos all day but you never owned one yourself.
Ah and we also have an n42 with 230000km still driving every day.
The m54s ar on 270000 and 150000 km
@@michihoffi69 I own one. A 2003 Z4. Quote frankly there are several very poor engineering factors on these automobiles. Regarding the cooling system: I have to disconnect the drivers side motor mount and rotate the engine to change a water pump. The plastic thermostat housings are weak. The radiator pressure reservoirs are prone to cracking, and are a pita to change. The crankcase ventilation components are plastic and tend to break causing massive vacuum leaks. For a supposed high end, German engineered automobile , my Z4 leaves much to be desired. This comes from a person that also owns a Discovery 2 Land Rover which in comparison has been the paragon of reliability.
Just coming in on the 5s. The e39 m62tub is actually very reliable if well serviced, timing chain tensioner changed between 80K-100K miles. The V8 gives huge motorway miles reliability and the kind of power, torque and 130mph driving for 100s of miles that I have never found in a straight 6.
128i coupe, N52, 6 speed, sport suspension. Last modern "old school" BMW made. Absolute gems.
I love my N52 128i coupe!
The 128i is perfect.
My 128i vert makes me so happy!
In the process of looking at one for me , I’m hyped !!
@@landorslam i decided to take mine to work today. Super fun car!
Had E46 328i with M52 straight six...215,000 miles when sold. THE best car ever had in thirty years. Now have N52 to avoid the turbo issues with N54
Have a Defender with a factory fitted m52, awesome little beast
Wow...you learn something every day! I never knew a double vanos M52 engine would fit in a Land rover Defender! Ive had six Beemers and my E46 M52 was THE best one...by a long chaulk. Not a fan of them dropping cylinders in favour of doubling up on turbo's...end of an era!
Had the rod bearings replaced and upgraded, water pump, alternator, and thermostat, but the s54 in my M3 is about to hit 170k and it's crossed america numerous times and gets me to work everyday. Still performs greet
I have the 330i (2002)... inline 6 and fast as hell with 300hp driving the German Autobahn is pure heaven!
Wonderful cars to drive
2011 328i. 308,640 miles. Runs perfect. Shifts perfect. Haters Hate, Drivers Drive.
Automatic or manual?
@@brikzyyyt6153 auto
I have a N52, most reliable car I've ever owned...then i slapped a procharger on it and now its fairly unreliable lol
anarchy cat I thought about supercharging my N52, but just to save myself the hassle and $5k in parts I’d rather just tune it and get it up to 290hp to the crank with a BPC tune, catless headers, and 3 stage intake manifold. With that set up people say the sound is comparable to an E46 M3 S54 engine and the power and torque delivery is even more noticeable while still keeping the reliability of the N52.
@@danny_r27 Hello there. Any chances you have some video of your car after the tune ? Would love to see and listen to how it sounds. I bet it's amazing.
@@danny_r27 honestly, I'd rather turbo my n52 than supercharge it. But they are a ton of fun n/a, especially with all the mods available for them
The N52 is a reliable and strong unit, but its not a performance engine. It can only handle 300hp reliably. Even an engine like a B48 4 cylinder could exceed that limit.
The N54 despite being fitted with parts that hinder the reliability, it is incredibly strong and reliable without these parts and can handle up to 700hp reliably
N55 could handle up to 500hp, S55 being around 600hp
S54 could handle 600hp
B48 (250-300hp model) could handle 400hp reliably
B58 can handle up to 650-700hp, possibly one of BMWs most reliable modern engines
S58 is estimated to handle up to 900-1000+hp, potentially beating a 2JZ GTE
BMW has made some pretty good engines!
Best BMW engines: GAS: M54, DIESEL: M47TU
Nope M57
M54 shit... All problems start with piston oil rings. Change them from m52.
From 98 to 06 I liked where thier heads were at.
I agree
@Billy File 🧢
I've had 3 e36s and 2 e46s... Still have 1 of each 😂😂
@Billy File most unreliable due to the turbos tho
My m52 Defender agrees
M54 are good reliable engines and they're light with an aluminum block even great for supercharging and 350HP.
@Gordon Bird just use steel bolts or harden bolts
I'm glad you mentioned the M52 inline-6 as one of the most reliable BMW engines, as I've been thinking about buying an E46 with this 2.0 liter engine (1998-00). Thanks man!
My E46 m52 has 320 000km going strong.
But my 91 E34 535i had over 500k before I sold it.
Wouldn’t be surprised is it’s still running somewhere
N52, leaking valve covers, vanos solenoid issues, coil pack issues, ccv, pcv, oil sensitivity (oil sludge if specific oil is used and at more less often intervals), and starter/battery issues. None of these are too bad if the owner did maintenance and didn’t ignore bad symptoms, but if you get a used one with bad oil sludge or ignored issues, you could have to replace the engine. It might be more reliable than other BMW engines, but the N52 isn’t super trustworthy either, it’s no Honda 4 cylinder. But you gotta know that coming in if your shopping for a BMW.
Thats about it for sure
I’d take an E92 328i any day. NOTHING beats the sound, feel, and addictive quality of an NA 3.0 straight 6 pounding away. GOD I love it 😍
im gonna be honest, alot of my family members like 6 of them,including cousins and uncles have bmw cars.....and its like some had it for 8 years with no major issues others just suffered and refused to give up on them prolonging the suffering with the dealership...you either get lucky with those or you dont
do they drive better than other eco boxes ? hell yeah that i give you
if you want a reliable car just dont gamble with BMWs...the price of owning and keeping those running well isnt cheap
unless...you a Bmw mechanic/bmw know how guy and you know what doing when fixing it your self then you can save alot on the labor
The 325 and the 330 had the m54 while the m52 was for the 323 and 328
320 also m54 after 2001
No your wrong, 330i has N52
@@gordonramsey5739 The 330i was in the e46 and e90.
e46 330i had the M54 and the E90 330i had the N52. They only made the e90 330i for 1 year 2006.
I swear by my 1988 528e as it has the 2.7 I-6 Super ETA. It's fast, reliable, and gets decent gas mileage. I bought it used 13 years ago as a project car and would put it up against almost anything with an inline six. IMO, This car was built to be at the top of its game. It doesn't burn oil and the original A/C unit stills works ice cold. Of course, it is well maintained and cared for. That helps.
Hey Mark, great channel! I’m a HUGE enthusiast and have been for over 20 years!! I’ve been shopping for a BMW for some time and used your videos and reviews as a guide. So....today I picked up my 2012 328i e92. It had all the things I was looking for like low mileage (75,000 kms), dealer services (all service records) the straight 6, M package, all wheel drive for local weather and of course Standard! Thanks for all the info Mark!!!
Awesome, great to hear you found a solid car. Good luck and thanks a lot for watching my channel. Have a great one. Cheers.
The M50 in my E36 was the smoothest, fastest revving engine I have ever had. Had 277k miles on it when I got rid of it.
Great engines
Have 2 F10's with the N55; one has 84K miles and the other 46K miles. Both have been great so far with the 2012 (84K miles) needing an oil filter housing and valve cover gasket only; pretty common from what I've read. I was going to get the N63(TU) but after reading about the V8's problems I went to BMW's bread & butter engine; the straight-6. The N55 also doesn't suffer the carbon build-up the N54 does.
Thanks Michael for watching and commenting. Cheers.
I have a N55 as well in my 335i. Its been dead reliable for 40k miles even after full bolt ons
I have a 2015 535i with Xdrive and the M sport package. Wonderful car to drive, and trouble free, except for the oil filter housing gasket leak problem. I called my dealer and they told me the warranty time (years) was expired, however the low millage (43,000) qualified me for a courtesy repair in which BMW would pay half.
Been living with a N52 E90 330i LCI for exactly 10 years now.
In all these years we’ve had just ONE issue with the engine and that too only in 2018 Aug with a faulty O ring in Cylinder 1.
It has, touchwood, stayed as an unstoppable beast until now, bearing in mind that it has done 125,000kms of Indian roads (meaning almost 95% distance covered on potholed roads and start-stop traffic).
If you didn’t get my perspective then just know that average speed of car in the Idrive shows as 22 kmph. Yes, 22! Imagine an N52 being driven at gears 1-3 for most of its 10 year life.
Amen!
Niladri Haldar N52 Engine is before LCI
Vollsuessaba _ not entirely true. My LCI E90 has N52N engine. In India the E90 LCI models got the N52 engines until the F30 was launched.
Oh Really?! Thats Epic. Here in Germany its the N53 Engine its so unreliable.
Vollsuessaba _ Yea I believe that’s the reason why they never brought the N53 over here.
Considering the more polluted, hotter and more humid climate of India the N53s would have been a worse nightmare.
The M42 and M44 engines are so reliable, more so with the fact that they’re the smaller ones.
this is good to hear because i got the z3 with m44 and a manual gear box. so you are sure these engines are good, not money pitt?? even 21 year old engine with 68 000km.
@@HealthSupercharger mine is at 170k already and going strong. Just make sure to keep up with the cooling system maintenance.
There’s plenty of m44 engines going above 310k miles
I have an 07 bmw 328i 250k miles on it still going strong 💪
Carpet Cleaning nice!! My 07’ 325i only has 113,000
Nice! That makes me feel better about mine which is the same mode/ year. Mine has 65,550
Nice‼️
OJ Pilpa man you got a looooot of driving left in that car haha. Should last up until 250k
Does it include the 528i
From 2007 too ?
🤔
I got a 2006 BMW E90 320i and it’s been the most reliable car I have ever had
What maintenance did you do? Did you have any issues?
Yes, the old 6 or the "big" six M30B28 I have in the 1981 528i is a daily driver as of today has had NO problems with well over 250K on it, all original except some accessories replaced over the years. Transmission is an automatic and trouble free too!
I also run AMSOIL ZRod type of oil, synthetic, that is high in Phosphorous and Zinc which helps with wear and flat tappet camshafts.
I also own an E46 M3 and it needs to be maintained for long life, whereas the M30 is just rock solid reliable!
Original owner of a 2001 E46, 19 yo and still going strong with 82 K miles...
2009 e92 328i owner here. I’m so in love with my naturally aspirated i6. I have about 140k on the dash and she still runs soo smooth. By far the best car I’ve ever owned 💯💯
Glad the n52 got a mention! Got one in my z4 and love it!
My N-52 E83.... easy to work on for a weekend warrior mechanic contrary to popular belief and lots of aftermarket replacement part choices. Reliable and safe.....and fun to drive for sure. Also, you don't need an extravagant tool box with tons of unitasker tools for basic upkeep.
You have miss out unless you owned an M3 ! I do daily drive a M3 o6 this 3.2 S54 engine Revs 8K All Day and never had a Engine so Strong ! 0-60 in 4 Sec Flat and Stock ! I take good Care of this Non Burning OIL Engine SMG !!! All the Kinks worked out ! LOL
Obviously has a 3 series bias, i think the f10 n55 535 bmws, specifically 2011 has one of the best bmw engines ever made and a lot of bmw master techs would agree with me. Yes, my beauty beemer was built overseas in germany and shipped to the u.s.a. amazing and beautiful car.
N55 is better than the n54 before it especially with reliability.
Issue with BMW engines isn't the engines - it's usually everything that link to it, e.g. the cooling systems with plastic parts etc. Combine that with aluminium engine heads, as soon as it overheats - warp... game over. PS> I noticed a glaring lack of info on their superb diesel engines?
Exactly.. who cares if the engine is good if the rest of the car is plastic junk.
With bmw it seems like its always super overpriced when they’re using all these low cost plastic pieces for ‘weight reduction’ purposes. It really ticks me off
Honorable mention: The BMW M51 2.5L Straight-6 TDS engine.
(With the regular maintainance) Unstoppable.
Reliability is really a relative measure. The M54 engine was really nice during its day, but to call it 'reliable' is downright wrong. It has a poorly designed cooling system which can lead to over heating and cause head gasket issues, water pumps are expected to fail, burning oil due to poorly designed piston rings, a crank case ventilation system for emissions that is so poorly designed that you must expect it's failure (especially in cold climates), vacuum leaks, coolant leaks.. these aren't just a few bad apples - they're common across all M54 engines. If your idea of reliability is to continuously replace parts to keep an engine going as intended, then we can say that about any and all engines.
Thanks for watching.
The M54 is a great engine. The plastic cooling system, is not the engine itself.
Do your routine maintenance it won't give you any problems. Changing hoses and water pumps are routine maintenance.
@@nattadam8429 agree it's a great engine. I've had one on my E46 for years, approaching 350,000 km. It's easy to work on and accessible. My point isn't about it being great when it's 'maintained', rather that the amount of 'routine maintenance' people like to call it, makes it far from reliable. A good cooling system is very much required to keep the engines head gasket from blowing up, so I wouldn't try to make it out to be independent from the engine when considering reliability. My point is it's not reliable to the standards of, say, many Honda and Toyotas. That's just being honest and realistic. I've swapped out the entire cooling system, ignition coils, suspension, valve cover gasket, 2 oem expansion tanks, AC compressor, the infamous DISA valve, a leaky VANOS unit, a faulty voltage regulator on the alternator, a warped plastic valve cover, and the CCV system which is just awful. just to name a few. During the span of those repairs, my dad's corolla needed a headlight bulb and an oil change. Lol. Look em all up and you'll see it's not just an isolated case. Not gonna sugar coat something just cuz I love the car.
@@studybuddy2574 yes but it's not a Corolla. Way more fun. Been driving mine daily for around 4 years. Bought it with 98 thousand miles, now approaching 180 thousand. Changed of course the valve cover gasket, water pump twice (one with metal impeller) hoses, radiator and expansion tank. Burns very little oil. It's been better than the Mazda 3 I had.
Also changed the control arms tie rod and steering guibo
My e90 M3 s65 v8 has 104k miles...original clutch, no bearing issues...greatest engine ever. Considering it runs 8600rpm and is basically full blown race engine...that’s reliable!
N52 here.
Solid!
Andres Diaz same. Great engine 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
Me2 @203627 miles
We have two customers who have 250k on them. If you replace wear items and use the right oil bmw will give you great value for the money and they're so much fun to drive.
@@dracosirccpent have you replaced the water pump?
Just got my first BMW which is a 2008 E90 328xi 6spd manual with 80k miles and with all service history done at the dealer. It was also only owned by 1 previous person, which was a woman in her 50's, and I got it for $9k USD. Hope it lasts awhile without too many headaches. It's such a solid and fun car to drive!
Those are nice cars to drive
@@ECPP Thanks! Hope it is reliable!
I own both an N52 and M54 and I must say from my personal experiences, BOTH of these have been pretty damn reliable.
I have my 2004 E60 525i with the SMG. Now about to hit 128k miles. The car has been very solid. Only things I did have to change was the water pump and the SMG pump (both at around 80k) other than those things, car hasn’t had any other issues. This is the M54 engine.
I also have a 09 E89 Z4 with the N52. That is my daily. I beat on this car EVERYDAY. Luckily and thankfully at this point, 93k miles, I haven’t changed a thing mechanically. Just the usual oil changes and I have to say, my N52 has been extremely reliable.
Just wanted to share my experience with these engines that I’ve owned for over 4 years now. I love BMW. My biggest advice, just don’t go to the dealership for everything. That’s where everyone gets scared of owning one due to the overly priced parts and labor cost. Buy the items you need online, eBay, etc. and take it to a local, mechanic shop. Problem solved and saved you tons of money. Any foreign car will come with a cost for parts, but if you take care of your vehicle, you’ll be fine. 👍🏻
94k is not a lot of miles, my g35 has 270k and i beat the shit out of that car, still running on original spark plugs
@@floggyWM1 that's what I was about to say. Any car get up to 150k miles easy with maintenance. 270k miles not too shabby👍
@@dannymartinez8522 right maintenance should only include oil changes... 150k is not a lot for a car if you think about it... unless its a range rover, bmw, or maseratti, then 150k is like a lifetime to those cars
I own e36 316i 1998 model with over 450k kilometers and it's still going well. when I bought this car 5 years ago kilometers were around 320k. I once had one problem with the car when it mixed water and oil other than that I have never ever had any problems with the car
First M50 without VANOS
M52, Diesel M47 and M57
are the most reliable. Maintenance is a big factor, too and not only working on the car if something is broken. By the way, I've never seen a E90 323i...
My e46 is 2005. I've done a lot of work on.
Still drives great after 15 years.
I don't know a lot about BMW engines, but any idea if anyone would recommend the B58 engine? I believe it's one of the most reliable, if not the most reliable new BMW engine. There are several people who said that Toyota tested this engine thoroughly before fitting it in the Supra, and found no issues.
B58 is nearly as reliable as an M54, may not be like a 2JZ power wise, but it comes up close
While there is no dispute on the engine performance, the BMW cooling system has a number of design flaws leading to overheat, oil leak, radiator crack, and ultimately engine failure. One such a flaw is the use of an unreliable coolant temperature sensor/fan switch and put at the top (hottest spot) of the engine. This is against the tradition of inserting such a sensor at the bottom of the radiator to detect coolant temperature after cooling off by the radiator, and worse yet the sensor may only detect the temperature of engine chamber air when coolant level simply reduced below the sensor. So, many BMW cars failed at "young age" (my 2012 528i got engine oil mixed in the coolant reservoir within warranty period).
Thanks for sharing and yes, the electric water pumps and T stats as well as oil filter housing leaks.
Think it honestly depends on how the car has been maintained more than anything, my old M54 E39 needed repairs about 3 or 4 times as often as my extremely notorious N62 powered E60 which happened to be an exceptionally reliable and well maintained car.
That’s a big part of it for sure
E36 323i touring 1997, M52B25. Still a thing of beauty. Everday. Love it.
Great video. I would have to agree with all you stated, such as cooling being a weakness. Why stay away from M cars? Own a 1998 M3 264k miles. Clutch went 190k starter 225k. No major issues other than the cooling system which is remedied with the correct components.
Thanks for watching and commenting. M cars are too much fun to stay away from.
Thank you, I just bought a 1999 323i with the automatic transmission with 140,000 original miles and was wondering about engine reliability and it seems according to you it's one of the most reliable engine from BMW and that makes my day
Great cars relatively speaking
You should be more worried about the subframe cracking. Especially bad on the 1999 model E46.
e36 and e39 with the m52 engine. Oh how i wish you could get one of those from
The factory nowadays.
Drove an old 328xi auto with an i6. Dont remember the year but it performed awesome. My old boss has an old 2004 M3. He loves it
How come u didn't include the all mighty M50 engines from the bmw e34 ,? By far the most reliable engine ever made amongst the rest ,thank you
Cause he only knows the newer shit
1:50
Love the N52 in my 1 series coupe, such a lovely classic feel
The 325 ci and most 5 series, including some of the X5s, were powered by the M54 engines.
I have a f30 n20 engine with over 120k on the dash and it runs like a champ. 5k mile oil changer intervals, transmission fluid service every 50k and regular maintenance has kept it and me happy
Extremely reliable after you replace almost everything
Ouch
No, that’s untrue.
dont forget to replace the turn signals, they seem to fail when someone drives off the lot
So true. I would never buy a "BM trouble you" thats out of its warranty. They get cost cut to fuck before preduction, so everything is ready to die after warranty peroid.
The diff bearings in most models are a joke & then design the diff without a drain & state fluid is to last the life of the car lol. Only got to look at the amount of people making money on ebay replacing the bearings & selling recon with a massive price mark up. Or just the price of one with fucked bearings.
Timing chain is another good example, meant to last life of car & also designed to be at the back of the engine. Lets just say they dont last life of the car & a total bitch to replace.
Plastic electric waterpump thermostat housing anyone? Something you would expect on a French car maybe ;)
Badly designed reluctor ring traction control setup. Where the drivesharft rust & deform the reluctor ring. Seen this on 7 year old cars. Potentially damaging sensors & needing to replace the actual driveshafts. Not to nice having traction control coming on at 60mph going in a straight line
Sensors are a big problem in general & they a lots of them. A nitrogen oxide sensor from experence cost £400 on its own. But usually you would need to do lamda & o2 in conjunction with the nox sensor.
High pressure fuel pump! Prone to problems & placed above exhaust manifold on some engines. Have seen one leaking onto the exhaust manifold! Was 2008, e90, 320i
I could go on but i cba.
😂There is no love. But hey, who can argue against this statement.
I had an M10B18 in my E30 and it was a legendarily reliable engine. I think that deserves to be the E30 reliable engine over the M20
Thanks
I agree. I am a car mechanic, learned the profession from the early to mid 90s, when M10 were still quite common. The M30 is also very reliable.
Too much complain.I have 328i xdrive 2014 and I love it. No problem at all.
The problem with the straight 6 e46 engines is the oil leak, vanos, cooling system and the tensioner pully which affects the alternator and the power steering pump and the belt it's self
True, and thanks for sharing.
Not big problems, I haven't encountered any of these issues across 6 e46 cars and roughly 200,000 miles of driving. PCV valves, oil level sensors, door handle mechanisms...that's about it.
My e46 has been roasting in Texas for 170k miles. Still runs like new. M52 is a rock. One vanos hose and one valve cover gasket. A gasket or two. Two pulleys. The water pump, thermostat and radiator. Dirt cheap. Finally needs a lower control arms. Big whoop! Jesus...what do you expect? Perfection and zero repairs?
The 4 cylinder 2.0 e90 is a very reliable engine. Not sure why you skipped it. My 320D is still going strong to this day
The petrol isn't.
Petrol bmws under 3.0 tend to be quite garbage tbh
@aqibfreed4672 Yeah they're underpowered for the weight of the cars
I have 07 335i n54. Over 100K miles has been very reliable IMO. Replaced water pump and valve cover at 95K miles. Intake decarbonization is required as part of maintenance. Car runs very strong and smooth. BMW does use a lot of plastics which is their weak point in the engine.
Sounds like the typical but tolerable for the most part.
I also have the same N54. 107k miles. Nothing broke the first 100k. Then valve cover, oil filter housing, pan gaskets, and rear diff started leaking at once.
N54 535 . Amazing ride
i've never seen a E90 323 in my life. that one must be imported because there are none for sale anywhere on the internet in America.
We do have it in South Africa
Got an 07 323i 160km, ontario (volvo dealership resale) for $5000 cad last year. Ive only seen a few others on the road
Great video! The M52 is and was the most reliable and you are right on with the cooling system. Now I own 2018 340i b58. We will have to see. Only time will tell. I only have 2,000 miles on her.
'10 E60 550i, most underrated in the whole BMW lineup. Well engineered easy to work on and quick.
Totally and offered in a manual as well.
Good cars but they have valve stem issues that are expensive to fix
230 hp has never felt so smooth and care free! It is indescribable
The M54 engine mught be reliable, but they do have problems.
1. Oil control piston ring don work well--> hugh oil consumption.
2. They leak oil on every single gasket that is on there.
Don’t forget cooling system problems
Thats so funny, my friends VW golf tfsi or what it is called 2018 already drinking oil, now thats a shit car. For an engine like the m54 thats been around for 20 years of course the oilring is gonna get clogged, like MANY brands do. Im battling this problem right now on my m54, thinking if im gonna pour some chemicals in there for a night to loosen some stuff up
And that they are leaking everywhere, i cant say ur right in that, they leak from valve cover (like all old cars) they leak from oil housing gasket and main seal, oil pan when they have gone far. No boring ass Toyota in the world will drive 17 years+ with hard revving driving without leaking from somewhere;D
@@jyrgenfist6021 Well, the M54 is know for wearing out the oil scraping piston rings. Nothing you can do about it but repalce them with M52tu pistong rings. It is just a know issue almost all of these engines have. When it comes to oil leakage. When buying mine I have seen a couple of them and all of them are leaking. All those rubber gaskets are brittle. It is not a huge problem, but if you buy one and it has not been replaced ---> Be prepared to put in the work to fix it. It van be forgiven for an 18 year old car. But there are also engines the do not have these issues.
As you mentioned my 528i inline 6 is rock solid as is the chassis, smooth idle, smooth acceleration sure HP #'s at 190 but with 200,000 miles clocked and engine has zero issues, I'm about to rebuild front suspension after all it is 22 years old, the 528i can cruise the highway at 85 mph for 100 miles straight and do it at a quarter tank or gas, oh did I mention my E39 528i was made in a German factory by a BMW factory trained German autoworker, yes folks my BMW was shipped overseas to the good ole USA.
Great cars that are great honest performance cars
Agreed. Give me an e 39 iron block 97/98 528i with a 5 speed and lower miles over ANY BMW.
How are the B58 engines ?
No list of reliable BMW engines is complete without the M30 "big 6". Like all engines of its era it needed to be cared for, but would easily be good for 100's of thousands of miles, and was well powered, particularly with a chip. Sold my '92 535i with 192k on it and the car drove almost like new after 16 years of use. Never had a compression test done but the car used what seemed like a quart of oil maybe every 7-8k, which I never saw because I'd always change the oil at
M50 and m52 is pretty solid. M54b30 is good too, but those worn piston rings ruin it for me
@Berceque!? e30's with the god old m50 is a rare find and is going up in value. The engines are solid as long as you do your expected services. Like any old car find one that is taken good care off and little rust. Alof of info on the web
Hi you didn’t talk about the Pros and cons of the BMW TDS m41/m51/330d motors
Make a video on that please!!!
They come in e36/e34 & e39 models
I have a bmw 2006 325iA really reliable car. I like how it runs and drives!
Me2
Mines at 203627 miles
Does it include the 525iA
From 2006 too ?
🤔
@@ledaniezle537 yes it has the same motor and transmission. The only thing i noticed on this bmw cars alot of parts can be plastic..so if you can get alluminium parts for them its better. I remember changing a plastic coolant tube connector that was plastic and i changed it into alluminum instead..so i guess you just have to know your car alittle and see what plastic parts you can change to alluminum that will last longer.
The end of reliability for Bmw everything past 2011 is shit 90s and mid 2000s was the golden years for BMW
I bought a e46 m54.. I can say the engine is absolutely good. It you do a little upkeep and things it can run for hundreds of thousands of miles.
True, just stay on top of things because they can run away. Overall a solid series of engines
I own a 2011 328i xdrive. I have never experienced such a smooth and consistent powerband as I have with the N 52 motor. It is as smooth as butter and no issues so far
M54 engines in the E46 chassis not only had VANOS problems but they always, ALWAYS HAVE VALVE COVER GASKET LEAKS abd OIL FILTER HOUSING GASKET LEAKS. The control arm bushings would tend to go around 50k miles. Still a great engine but you need to do preventative maintenance if you buy used. Better to get it over with BEFORE they become a problem. DTML pump replacement too.
Agreed.
Agree with the poster below - reliability is relative, but I've had really good luck with the N52 in my 328 coupe.
Basic rule of thumb that I've always followed (and know other owners in the CCA group who will vouch the same): avoid the 335i unless you want to replace the HPFP. There is a reason why you see so many of them for sale at relatively low prices...
Got a 07 525i I love the thing even for the base model hope to upgrade some time soon!
I love my 2004 330ci convertible. One of the most reliable cars I've owned. Great video.
Thanks
You neglected to mention a key weakness of the M20 sixes - you >> MUST
Some great comments it is greatly appreciated. Thanks for sharing with the channel. Cheers.
3:40 320i, 325i, 330i were the M54 engines, 323i, 328i were the M52TU engines
So was the 325i
@@missaelrivera2346 The 325 didn't have a m52 engine variant. The 320 actually had a m52, before the m54.
Ive learned a lot from this video man.... I've had experience with Hondas, Nissan, Toyota, Ford but started falling madly in love with BMW lately especially with the 335i. But I'm more of a durability person so the inline6, 320 series will be my choice.
Glad it helped. Have a good one Victor.
The 323 was not powered by a m54. The m54 powered both the 325 and 330.
Thats right. 323 was M52.
*Who else came here bcuz Toyota Supra MK5 ???*
M52tu...
True every number meant a different size all inline 6s
323-330: 2.5-3.0Liter v6 engines.
you're wrong. I used to drive a BMW E46 323i with original engine M54B25TU which was 2.5 litre straight 6 with twin vanos
I have had 5 bmws and my most reliable were actually my e36 m3 with the s52 and my e46 m3 with the s54. On top of that i drifted my e46 and regularly went over 140. Meanwhile i had a 328ci that fell apart.
Let's not forget the e39 530d,the real daddy . Bulletproof
Unstoppable
Diesels are really rare in america tho
About 12 years ago I owned a BMW E36 323ti with the M52b25 170hp engine. It was a very reliable engine. No issues over 100k km in 4 years. Only the service intervals every 15k km. Very smooth running engine that never burned oil. A lot of things on the car broke, but not the engine. Years later I bought a BMW e87 120i with the N43b20 engine. It was a disaster, every 3000 km I had to go to the workshop with engine problems. Faulty sensors and coils. With only 100k km it burned oil and was never running smooth.
In Europe we have diesels and they showed way more reliable, specially the inline six m57, n57 and the latest b57, also very indestructable (I've owned one) m47 2.0 litre 4-zyl diesel in e46, very good are the new b47 as well
@Gordon Bird you talk about N47, which was bad because of chain issue, but others, here mentioned have no chain problems
E60 M57n 535d best bmw I have ever owned
2010 335I N54 with 157k miles havent had issues just maintenance. Did i mention its been tuned since 70k miles. Its all about how you care for your car.
I have a 1999 328I, and it is the most extremely reliable car I have ever owned it beats even the Honda and Acura that I have owned before. E46
I agree👍 I have 2011 328i xdrive and its very reliable.
bought a 630I E64 with the N53b30a engine about a month ago broken. The problem with the engine is that cylinder number 6 has filled up with coolant. Are about ready to take the head of and see if it is the headgasket or in worst case the whole cylinder head is broken. Anyone had the same problem?
m57 diesel, early versions especially if you want reliability. They don't break, I've tried.
Sorry for my question 😅 but can you please tell us more about the year and name of your bmw .. because i am planning to buy diesel bmw 😅
@@MECH.ENG12 e39 530d. 1999-2003
Thanks bro :)
I buy a 2008 328i 4door automatic, 6 cyl, its a n51 wich its mine?