From the looks of it, he should have pitched the whole motor in the scrap bin right from the start. These cars are plainly for rich people. They can afford to sell their problems to someone else. I'm sure that the expensive components reflect in the trade in.
ive had my 2011 n55 tuned since 70,000 miles, pushing roughly 15lb boost on a pull, 18, on a colder day. current;y around 150,000 miles and still running strong. oil changes roughly 7-8000 miles after blackstone labs oil testing and recommendations. had rod bearings done when I replaced the oil pan gasket leak. figured since they were there, do the bearings. bearings had very little wear. havent had issues with this except one day the eccentric shaft went out around 125,000 miles. theyre not all bad.
Another thing that people forget with these delicate european engines is NEVER REDLINE. Another tip is to avoid 100% throttle from low speeds. Usually 70-80% throttle is plenty. Keep those in mind and your bmw/audi/mercedes will hit 200k miles without any expenses outside regular maintenance.
I have was a mechanic for 40 yrs in motor and worked till became too poorly to carry on , I rebuilt a Aston DB8 and worked for jag in my early years and watching this , was amazing thank you, sat at home in the warmth, I will watch and subscribe ❤️
Hello. Bmw dealer mechanic here. Here in the northern state of minnesota, when temps become very cold, these engines lock up on first start in the morning. It comes from lack of oil services, and moisture in engine. Every winter, we have a line of X5’s with seized engines
@@kubapesik8383 Have a block block heater installed in one of the freeze plug ports. lt has an electrical cord that can plugged into an AC power outlet or HD extension cord and if used whenever the engine will sit for more than a few hours after shutting it down, should keep your engine above 9-10C.
10 years ago my son was looking for a used SUV. He was looking at small Hondas, but he also like the acura version (@10 yrs. used). Vehicle for vehicle the Hondas were much better maintained, whereas the Acuras were mostly on the verge of neglect. It perplexes me that people will buy an expensive vehicle, and then treat it like trash.
which is a shame honestly, cause my mom's bmw is still perfectly fine despite a few fender benders and being a 2015 model, she just keeps up with the oil changes and basic maintenance and nothing breaks. Honestly electric cars need to take over cause it's heartbreaking to see so many wonderful ice's die at the hands of the ignorant, they deserve better owners honestly.
I lived in Germany for several years, and the joke about BMWs even among the Germans was that when you drive up to the shop to have them repaired, the shop owner would immediately call home to tell his wife to book another vacation to the Med, because the cash was soon to be available to go on it!
$30.00 ABS sensor for my Envoy (Basic diagnostics I perform the job.). $300.00 for my Audi. (Advanced diagnostics, the shop does the job). Literally had this happen this summer. FML.
It's owner neglect, more often, that leads an engine to be on the channel, it seems. Nobody changed the oil, obviously. Simple maintenance can't be overstated. Nice video
I think owner neglect is the culprit in the vast majority of cases that kill engines, full stop, really. Secondly (might be first, really) is probably the car around it is scrapped and the engine isnt worth enough to sell on.
No not in the case of the n55. You can do all the maintenance in the world. But the design is too weak. It's a open decked engine with weak rod bearings.
@@muhammadyawar4612 not the n55b30O0 (m235i), and n55b30T0 (m2). They have forged crank, rods, bearings, and pistons. N55 is a solid engine if you don’t push it past its capabilities, And you maintain it at the proper service intervals.
@@XJaysznX The true test of an engine is running it without oil and see how it lasts. Corwow did this, all the European cars instantly seized in 1 or 2 seconds. The Toyota engine ran for a few minutes without oil! Once it seized, it started running again putting mustard into the engine. That's very impressive
my mom has a 2011 335i and she only done oil changes once every ~16 months lol. still works, only the ball bearing and coolant fan had to be replaced. she loves the thing and i don’t think oil changes have much to do with the unreliability of this engine. it’s mostly just a lottery.
@@immortal4942 Well I take it that your mom doesn't drive her 335 like most carguys & cargirls do. That's probably is the reason why she can get away with bare maintenance.
I did full synthetic oil changes on my N55 every 5-6k miles. Spun rod bearings at 79k, the good indie shop I use wanted five figures to swap the engine in a ten year old vehicle. Taking a break from this brand for now.
151k on my 2011 335i with N55 engine and going strong, I use LM engine flush every 3 oil changes, change oil every 5k miles and it works like a charm, only thing I've had to replace were spark plugs and ignition coils and valve gaskets after walnut blasting the valves, not even rough idle issues so far.
had my n55 for over a year and drove about 10k miles, nothing wrong so far I replaced a Chargepipe and everything else is just routine MT like oil changes brake pads and spark plugs
I'm not a mechanic, last engine i tore apart was 50 plus years ago, when they still looked like an engine and not an electrician's nightmare, But i love watching you tear these things down.
Engines use to be pure, their are some that still are, like the Corvette's 6.2L LT2. When you look at a new European Engine, they are plastic Frankensteins, a total mess. And after 10 years of heat cycles, all that plastic will disintegrate by the touch.
Coking is what I see with this engine, usually from petrol based, conventional oil. The fact that # 6 rod bearing seized to the crank, indicates it had no lubricant making its way to that bearing. I would call the piston skirt wear advanced, not minor and not normal. This engine definitely had piston slap at cold startup. I also observed scoring on the cam lobes, journals. So what is the conclusion? Seized bearings in the low end are usually the result of rapid acceleration without adequate lubrication. Petrol based oil is what I determine from the coking seen throughout the engine. Coking is usually caused from oil burning, associated with oil that has not been properly maintained, or a vehicle that never reaches operating temp (driven short trips only) In this case I am going to go with not properly maintained. So why did the bearing seize? The crank bearings look acceptable The other rod bearings were not showing wear into the base copper. So why only the # 6 rod bearing? It’s lubed from the crank just like all the other rod bearings. …. Think about what occurs when the explosion of spark igniting a compressed gas air mix, occurs inside a cylinder, which in turn forces the piston rod against the crankshaft, to turn it. Oil must be able to maintain a film barrier, capable of handling the force exerted against the crank, by the rod bearing. In this case there was not sufficient lubricant to withstand that force, allowing the rod bearing to physically contact the crankshaft. Turbo boosted engines exacerbate this issue. The fact that it happened to the #6 cylinder is the hint, as it’s the last rod bearing to receive lubricant in an inline 6 cyl. Piston scoring is a hint. Heavy oil deposits on the valves are a hint, and finally Coking is a hint. This engine was low on oil, most likely cheep petrol based oil that had a poor centistoke value at operating temp. Oil that evaporated at low temperatures leaving deposits (coking), oil that was additionally low because it was being fed into the valve train, hence the deposits on the valves. When that turbo charged mixture exploded in the #6 cylinder, the rod bearing impacted directly into the crankshaft, because there simply was not ample lubricant to withstand the force of the impact.
I too enjoy watching you tear down engines. I find it relaxing and informative. I almost said...what?..No water pump toss?? then you came through at the end....thanks.
@@CaptainSpadaro Some carb/EGR cleaner spray will clean it up no problem. It's not even a big deal I don't get why Americans are so obsessed with intake carbon building up. That's not actually going to affect performance.
Hi Eric due to the time difference here in the UK watching your show is part of my Sunday morning ritual as my wife calls it. Keep the vids coming mate!😀
Fucking youtube ai generated users posting comments. Yt literally fucking dying. If you see any weird ass names with 4 digits in the end. Its ai generated.
@@dans_Learning_Curve he wasn't on there. Ray did a tear down on a blown up Mopar. Commented that it's like an episode of I Do Cars. Except he did it with it still in the car.
Absolutely amazing tear downs, Eric. I love it all - even the dad jokes! 😅. As for the N55 - so many rumours flying around, one of them being first generation(s) of N55 had weak bearings. Both your N55 tear downs must be early generation (pneumatic wastegate). The N55 you've had through your shop are they mainly early generation? (perhaps confirming the rumour). Anyway - keep 'em coming. We want more N55 😀
I love videos like this. I could watch buildup or tear down videos anytime. I also like to know how things work. How something can be made better. Learning from mistakes you could say. I also agree with his statement; any brand can and has made some good engines and some have made bad ones as well. I like BMW's and Audi's as well but i think they over complicate things when it comes to some of their engine designs. I think sticking to simple naturally aspirated engines are the best bet.
@@lylewalker5681 When we were properly lubricating them, they were not (so much) seizing anymore, but, than sometimes their heads just broke off ... well , terrible "invention" anyways.
That's so you have failures down the line. Cheap plastics and rubber around a hot engine. Don't make sense. Remember when the thermostats were connected to the hose connecting the raditor. Also where you could install yourself?? When the raditors were made of metal ?? And could be repaired?? Now plastic. Now need a whole raditor. The whole industry are now ran by theives and crooks
After working on hundreds of N55s in my time, I've dealt with several complete failures. Nearly all of them were user error. It comes down to this only: Lack of maintenance kills N55s. Oil starvation kills N55s. Overheating kills N55s. Those are really the only "gotchas". You're responsible to keep an eye on your car. Let the car overheat and ignore the screaming dash warnings to shut it down and stop driving. Skip your oil changes, or let the level get too low. Find out what "break my wallet" really feels like. Yes, a few early cars had a known bulletin for this exact cam gear bolt issue. This one slipped through the cracks, and should have been addressed by the dealer. Otherwise, your N55 ownership experience will be above average in comparison to other turbocharged engines in this segment. general ownership aside, the N55 is an absolute marvel for it's time. It's a fabulous concept in comparison to some of the trash from the competitors. Yes, it is expensive. So are the cars it comes in.
We’ll said…..We have put 120,000 on our N55 (15’335i) always changed the oil and filter at 5,000 miles. During a 120K oil pan gasket the pan and internals were absolutely spotless. Zero tarnish and staining. It’s a keeper for us!
I don"t see the connection between the oil starvation at the crank level and the vanos losing oil pressure as he says at the end of the video. What do you think?
@@morm608 Oil starvation is a result of oil dipping below the level of the oil pump pickup, which is well below the bottom of the crankshaft. In an N55, there is one oil pump that supplies everything in the engine, including the crankshaft bearings and the vanos.
This teardown was really interesting. Until the last few minutes, I would have thought this engine died of neglect. It was obvious from the moment you removed the valve cover that this engine had the bare minimum number of oil changes. I've never owned one of these engines, so I wasn't aware of the VANOS issue. I hope you have taken care of the VANOS on your S54. It's a ticking time bomb if you haven't replaced the pump disk on the exhaust camshaft. S54 engines also have problems with camshaft sprocket bolts. It's good to replace them at the same time as you replace the pump disk and seals in the VANOS unit. It would be great if you could get an S55. I'd really like to see a teardown of one.
owned a bonco 351c. for 15 yrs, thrashed, bought 2nd hand. never stoped..still starts first second. on lpg.. 302c heads. fast.. 12.1 comp. std cam. ill miss it when i sell it.. i have bought a wrecked 3.0tdi. for a project. whole car drives,. $3k.. 173ks. 08..
I’ve owned 3 M3’s with S54’s - the VANOS “issues” are mostly due to a younger ownership audience beating these engines to within an inch of their lives. The rear subframe on the other hand is a real and lurking danger.
@@bostonaudi You have it backwards. The VANOS issue is caused by too much play between the tabs on the exhaust camshaft hub and the VANOS oil pump disk, which results in resonant vibration that leads to the tabs breaking off. If a tab breaks off and makes its way along the timing chain, it will completely destroy the engine. You don't have to thrash on the engine for this to happen. In fact, accelerating slowly causes the resonance to occur for a longer period. The rear axle carrier panel fails under load. The harder you drive the car, the more load is placed on the subframe attachment points. This is exacerbated when people thrash on the car.
Not the first time I've seen one of those oil pumps on this channel. It's an eccentric vane-type pump with a variable displacement feature. Each of the vane-enclosed chambers gets bigger and then smaller as it goes around the shaft, thanks to the inner and outer rotors not rotating on the same axis (they're eccentric). The carrier for the outer rotor pivots such that the two rotors' rotating axes (center points of their circles) can get closer together. As they get closer, that bigger-then-smaller pumping action gets reduced, making the pump move less oil per rotation. The pivoting on the carrier is controlled by oil pressure working against the big spring. More pressure compresses the spring and makes the carrier pivot, reducing flow. If pressure drops, the spring pushes the carrier back, increasing flow.
These cars are built to last through the warranty period only. The next sucker...er customer gets fleeced in repair costs. They are fun to drive but are not worth the price of admission
@@Kimsteigmajer Uh, well that might be because the maintenance schedule is halved from what normal more reliable cars have, AND the parts and labor costs are twice as expensive. Toyota doesn't put timing chain assemblies on the back of the engine where the transmission hooks up.
@@Kimsteigmajer BMW has a 10k oil change interval. I'm sorry but that is not OK on any engine. These cars are made to fail at 100k and will end up costing you
I own an import repair and performance shop. The amount of N55s that come in due to spontaneous engine failure is amazing to me. I still haven’t nailed down exactly why they fail, but a large number of them have suffered from a nasty rod knock. Some you can hear a faint knock from the bottom, and other it’s perfectly fine with no noises one day, and then next day the engine is completely seized up. It’s just strange because the N54 was pretty stout in comparison with fewer total reported engine failures.
Well, consider that the N55 was produced in at least 10x if not 20x the quantity. I believe the rod bearing issues are mostly from the oil filter housing gasket leaking internally and letting coolant into the oil. N54 has the same issues, it's just that the turbos, HPFPs, injectors, etc. are so troublesome they probably nag people into maintenance or getting rid of them sooner.
Coolant leaking into oil is a major problem with German cars. They all like to do it because of cheap parts in critical areas, like pump housings. Absolutely stupid, and people think these cars are so great. How can people think that when they are designed to fail? @@chrisbradley9607
Ah, yes. Valvetronic. Have that on my 2011 MINI Cooper S N18. You ever tear into one of those? I had to pull the head on mine due to an overheat and compression pressurizing the cooling system. I ended up replacing the head with a low-mile used 2013 N18 head, which had a different intake cam end to drive the HPFP. I ended up disassembling the Valvetronic springs with a pair of vice grips (LOL) since I had to swap my old intake cam to drive my HPFP. IIRC, there are 5 different followers used for adjustment, since the head and caps are machined to match the cam (I think) and are made to work together. I just swapped the cam, and luckily it's worked fine for like 50k miles now, no ticks or anything, and great power, so it must be fine, right? Anyway, good stuff, man. Love watching your teardown videos! Keep up the great work!
I change the oil and filter myself as often as possible. The problem with folks is that because these cars run so smoothly people think they don’t have to do anything until the car says so
I'm sure they saved a metric ton of weight by using all those aluminum bolts. I've always marvelled at the simplicity and effectiveness of eccentric rotor oil pumps; it's amazing how well they complicated that.
excluding the simple diesel engines, BMW do not intend to give lifespan over 200 000 miles and they include premature failure components to achieve that goal@@misterdeedeedee
As a Euro tech myself, you have no clue what you are talking about. Pretty confident you wouldn't even know where to start when touching these engines. @@saloserra5711
The N52/54/55/62 are a step forward and three steps back. Those aluminum fasteners and electric water pump make them a no go. Valve stem issues for N62
What are you talking about? The N52 and N55 have routinely crossed the 200,000 mark. The water pumps are wear items that are replaced every 100,000 miles. 80% of cars to date use electric water pumps and aluminum bolts. Seals were not an issue on N62. They were an issue on the N63. Embarrassing you said that with confidence.
@@Euro316 I'm not saying high miles can't be achieved with the N52 and N55. I'm saying the electric water pump is an added complication compared to a regular mechanical pump. It's a spendy replacment part at that too. Water pump on M54 is just $50 while it's $300 for the N52/54/55. What are you talking about now? The N62 absolutely suffers from faulty valve stem seals. It's a well documented flaw of those engines.
It was due to the high heat V8s naturally run at and the 15,000 oil change recommendation they used to suggest. The seals themselves were actually fine. @@burntnougat5341
@@burntnougat5341 Disa valves and water pumps are the only problem with the N52, just replace them every 60K miles. Other than that they are pretty bullet proof.
As a previous owner of N55B30, you can get this amount of varnish and buildup even with very frequent oil change. It is caused by that plastic valve cover and built-in PCV valve
Whoever you bought the car from lied to you and told you that to make you feel better. That varnish comes from fuel diluted, nasty old oil, and short runs without proper warmup. I've seen 150,000 mile N55s with no varnish. I've seen 50,000 N55s with as much as the engine in this video. You shouldn't see hardly any varnish when looking in the oil fill, otherwise something has been very wrong for a while, or someone was lying about oil changes. Maybe if you had a bad PCV system for 70000 miles somehow? still not likely.
@@XcoolcoolbeansbeansX you assume that i bought it with that varnish and you assumed wrong. I bought it with no varnish and 108000km (64000 miles). You also assume that i did not done my own oil changes, yet i did every 8-10000km (4970 - 6213 miles) with OEM parts and oil. PCV (and of course entire valve cover) was replaced after it burned through 1 quart of oil (almost liter) in less than 1000km (621 miles). I did 3 refills before i was able to get that cover and replace it in BMW service center so about 3000km (1864 miles) and it was already varnished. And no, it was not starved from oil since i checked oil level after each drive and when it reached last 1/4 on the screen i refiled bonus part: If you read my first comment i wrote that "you can get this amount of varnish" and not that you definitely get. I also seen abused N55s without varnish (but only 1). So ... stop assuming i guess
Eric, you and your TH-cam Channel were mentioned a couple of times during by the man behind the Rainman Ray's Repairs TH-cam channel. Rainman Ray was diagnosing a strange sound in a Chrysler Pacifica Penstar V-6 Engine. He found some post factory installed inspection ports, a broken and bent connecting rod (with bearings that still looked to be thick enough to rule out oiling issues), and a cracked piston that showed signs of all four valves having made piston to valve contact. Although the video was dropped 8 days ago, I just found it around 4:00AM on Saturday 9/30/23.
Rod bearing failure in the early N55 platform is quite the common failure unfortunately. Lack of maintenance and in some cases improper clean care when replacing oil cooler seem to be the culprit. Proper oil intervals, cooling system maintenance (waterpump/thermostat/pretty much all other cooling system components), engine warm up time, and rain tray replacement if broken are just a few things one can do to extend N55 service life.
oil change every 5k miles for the win on ANYTHING with a DPF....and even then any car petrol or diesel because really....why wouldnt you especially in this day and age in the difference between engine cost v oil change cost.....
If it’s cracked and leaking water will accumulate in the injector bores causing premature failure. This will result in a costly repair bill to replace the injectors due to the corrosion. Also don’t forget the injector harness and coil harness connections, over time the moisture will have a negative impact on these as well.
Little personal story about filter glitter... I rebuilt my Chevy 4.3 after coolant system failed and I drove it home with no coolant. I used the wrong parts and did not follow the torque specs, just kinda winged it. Heads, cam, and crank were resurfaced and bearings were only thing not reused. Sorta tried to port the oil system for better flow. Anyhow... first filter totally clogged with metal paste within 10 miles. 2nd clogged after a few hundred miles, filter brand definitely made a difference. 3 oil changes and probably a dozen filters all looked like a differential emptied into the pan. TONS of metal. Truck runs great, 50- 60 psi of oil pressure and probably about 5k miles since. No metal any more.
Had an n55 that the vanos failed and it caused a valve to break which then fell into the cylinder causing the engine to seize. All in about 45 seconds. Car had 90k miles.
I've had remarkably good luck with the N55. I've owned 2 of them and the only failure was a busted chargepipe. Mechanically, they were perfect, despite being tuned, overboosted and beat on.
@@DrmcclungTraded it in. I moved to Florida and needed an SUV, so I leased N55 number 2 (X3 35i). Regret it to this day. I custom ordered the GT and it was the first F34 in the US with the port installed M performance power kit. If I could find it, I’d buy that car back in a second. 😢
A very useful tear down of a modern basic engine, we can all learn the importance of regular servicing from this. I'm grateful for you taking the time. I've had a similar experience dealing with a busted Corsa engine. Symptoms indicated it only needed a timing chain and a head gasket. It ended up with me also finding a piece of chain guide in the sludge sump, the camshaft lube holes were blocked and a fair amount of black silicone found circulating the system. Obviously some moron had been let loose with the silicone tube around the water pump and the inner bead had broken away during the water cycle, ended up being a full clean and rebuild. The take away from this is if you don't know the history of your engine, remove and clean the sump and change the oil every 5 - 6 thousand miles.
Walnut blasting? Is that where you rev the motor full tilt and dump crushed walnut shells down the intake? Because that would clean more than just the intake valves Will you please make a video of the process one day soon Thanks!
Do you see as many problems from later years? Every time I see a video about a bad one it's from those first few years. I'm looking at an X3 2017 and hoping most of the issues were worked out by then.
One thing that very few people understand is why the oil pump is a vane type instead of a gear type oil pump. The reason in this case is that it's allowed them to make it a variable displacement pump as in the quantity of oil being pumped changes so that the pressure can be constant regardless of rpm. The rotating assembly of the pump is held by a pivot on 1 side and a piston and spring on the other side and this is where the magic happens. Why run this style of pump instead of a gear pump? Because gear pumps are a compromise in sizing as they generally don't flow enough at idle and flow too much at rpm so the relief valve dumps the excess. These horsepower used to drive a variable displacement pump is far less than that required to drive a non-variable displacement pump.
@@johnbloomfield5705 No, the only similarity between a Hydrovane air compressor and this style oil pump is that they both use vanes. Please correct me if I'm wrong but a Hydrovane air compressor does not have a variable flow system but is instead a fixed flow system. The variable flow system changes the flow to maintain the target oil pressure at any given rpm, something that is always changing on an ICE.
Yes you are absolutely right about variable flow -v- fixed flow, but then I don't know of a requirement for variable flow with an air compressor. That said, the variable flow is essentially an adaptation of the vane type pump used in the Hydrovane. The Hydrovane vane system has two big advantages over other types of pump, very little friction between the moving parts and therefore little wear hence the long life (given adequate lubrication) and less noise. @@phillipmcintosh6489
I’ve got four buddy’s with stage 2+ n55s 2 with the pwg and 2 with the ewg, and I have a ewg myself but mine is only stage 2 with only 30k miles on it. But all of my buddies have over 120k miles and still run like fighter jets. Only issue we’ve had was electrical in the 2011. The n55 is plenty reliable in my experience
Best way to remove gaskets that are too hardened to scrape from aluminum are roloc finger discs, tho you need to protect the surrounding area from dust so I usually scrape the bulk first. The fine grit especially gives amazing control with varying pressure
I remember back in the late 90s I think it was. Maybe a few years more. But there was a rash of M3 engines were blowing up. Bad thing was the BMW North America was started trying to deny warranties on it. I read later on that BMW had found that that they didn't clean the sand out of the engine block or head clean enough.
Seeing one of these teardowns makes me fear for my 2011 N55 that is just about to clock over 142k miles. She’s still sounds happy (usual noisy injectors, common N55 noises, etc.), just did an oil change a few hundred miles ago and with a drop to a 4K interval. From what I can hear with doing some pulls (warm to temp, of course), the rod bearings sound fine - don’t know how worn they might be but as far as I’m aware, my N55 is still going strong
baldisaerodynamic9692 8 minutes ago Want a bmw to last? ive owned a dozen bmws over the years, and have followed these steps for every single one. M60, M62 (TU/non TU), N62, N52, N54, N20 off the top of my head were all the ones I had. I had half of mine upwards of nearly 250-300k miles. 1. replace the entire cooling system under certain specific conditions and i mean entire system just do it all at once. A. at max 100k miles, B. max age 10 years regardless of miles (dry rotting) C. when the first component shows failure or leaks, if before the 10 year/100k mile marks....just overhaul it. bmws seem to have this habit of chain reactions with cooling system failures, once the age and miles hit you are on borrowed time, and once one part fails or begins to fail, within 6 months half of the other parts will go too. no need to pay for multiple towings or coolant 3 times when one overhaul will solve the reliability issue. 2. oil changes, use proper oil, do not deviate at all from brand and weight that is compatible with the motor, and absolutely no more than 4500 miles YES I SAID 4500 MILES....bmws smoothness and performance actually degrade around this mileage if you are really paying close attention to how your car feels, ALSO.....time it out so you can change it before each extreme season (right before summer, right before winter) EVERY SINGLE BMW I HAVE EVER OWNED that i did lower oil intervals had ZERO build up and varnishing. this also keeps the oil clean, and the filters newer, which means ZERO crap being passed thru sensitive timing components such as vanos system and other passages. 3. vanos solenoids. replace at 120k miles MAX no matter what. 4. chain tensioner, do with vanos solenoids 5. intake system/vacuum leaks....change everything that can cause a vacuum leak before 120k miles. all gaskets, orings, PCV/OSV system. DI cars, add walnut/intake cleaning to get rid of carbon buildup. 6. spark plugs, every 60k miles 7. under rear seat fuel pump housing/assembly and fuel filter assembly at max 13 years of age as plastic top housings will crack and you will get fuel leakage under the car when you fill past 3/4 tank. 8. transmission service every 60k miles (ZF recommends this on non bmw applications FYI) these basic, but costly steps of PM will make a bmw last 200k miles without massive overhauling, and prevent you from being stranded as much as possible. your wallet will HATE you, but you will LOVE your car, gotta pay to play.
@@JohnSmith-pl2bk This reads like a rant from my partner,, he will do these things even if its raining outside. Comes in soaking wet grinning saying if a jobs worth doing its worth doing right... Im happy he extends this to other things😁😇
I had a 2011 X5M. No problems what so ever. 10 years of faithful service. The air suspension failed at 45,000 miles and it was $800 to replace the air bags including labor
I love every single moment of this video. Watched every single moment even the waterpump toss.. Only disappointed a bit that lately was NO DISCONNECTING RODS... Greetings from Croatia!
Great video as usual. This is definitely a long shot as they're probably gonna be just about impossible to obtain one, but Nissan has a 1.5 3 cylinder with variable compression out in the new rogues. They have a bit of a problem with absolutely grenading themselves and coming in with a bunch of sludge in the oil pan. I'd be very interested to see you tear down one of those but they're going to be near impossible to find since they're almost all warranty jobs and Nissan wants them all back. Thanks.
Can't believe how close the cylinder walls are to each other. It's not that they are even touching, they are moulded together. The head gasket did one hell of a job.
Something I find a lot of people don't know about this engine when it comes to spinning bearings is the variable oil pressure design. There is a solenoid that looks like a vanos solenoid on the front near the crankshaft pulley. Their purpose is to reduce oil pressure at low RPM for more efficiency. These tend to wear out and react more slowly over time thus causing a rod bearing to spin. I just saw this happen on a guy i know with an f30 335i that had only 65k miles, also happened to be the #6 rod bearing. That in combination with BMW's insanely high oil change interval on these, sometimes 15000 miles, causes them to spin a bearing. N54s use the exact same rod bearings yet do not have this issue due to them not having this oil pressure control valve.
*FINNALLY, SOMEONE WHO NAILS IT; That's it, that is what happens; Thank you Sir* (of course, as usual with ALL engine failures ,the CLIMATOIDS at it again with their just STUPID regulations to save their Planet, one disaster at a time; NO manuf in their right mind would think of that pre-programmed failure!!! but that is just me,the FOOL,thinking, pay no mind to it; continue on...
@@burntnougat5341 Supposed to be fuel economy but It's not much of a difference. I own an n54 and have worked on lots of BMWs and I've noticed n55s seem to get slightly better gas mileage. A lot of companies seem to have done the same sort of thing by having 2 staged oil pumps or a valve that bleeds off excess pressure like these. B58s have this oil valve too but they aren't failing all the time and those are very fuel efficient. To be fair those are much newer though and have a lot of other things that help them be as efficient as they are.
@@russellstyles5381 Personally I'm not a fan of them. I'd rather deal with my n54 than this problem on n55s. N20s also have this exact same issue, as well as their timing chains and guides failing.
Next time for the valvetronic springs- fully retract them, then grab the thickest zip tie you can fit and secure them back. Stops the eccentric shaft from snapping on you.
I had an N55-powered 335i from 2016-2021, 22K to 40K miles. So definitely a low-mileage example. When new and under warranty, it's a glorious engine. Lots of power and torque. That said, I'm not sure I'd want to own high-mileage out-of-warranty example!
I still have my 2014 F30 N55, manual, bought new, that's got 37,000mi on in. No leaks, kind of a garage queen as I'm 90% work travel. Annual oil change. But I do check the OFHG and valve cover for leaks once a month or so. Love driving it hard!
BMW in-line 6 M-N-B engines are great designs. The V8s suck after 100k even with good maintenance. Seen quite a few Ns with 200k even saw an M54 with 350k. You can always tell if the owner cares or not about the car.
The no lead content bearings together with too long oil interval kills a lot of Bimmer engines. There are lots of 5000 mile oil change n55s with 150k+ miles not leaking or burning oil. Same thing I see with other makes.
I change the oil on all my BMW ( even those under warranty ) every 5000 miles . Nutz ? Keeps me happy and problem free . Highest milage is a 120k miles X5 30d
I've seen plenty of dudes now with N55 M2's that have just been beating the piss out of them now for over 100k miles and still run like tops. But these people are also enthusiasts who keep up with maintenance religiously. The N55 in the M2 is different than the run of the mill N55 too
Basic maintenance is not enough. Replacing bearings and chains must be included. I had an 2011 535i on 3k miles oil changes and yet it still managed to spin the bearing. It is said tho that LCI N55s (somewhere after 2014) have improved rod bearings and sudden engine "explosions" are less common.
Love it!!!! Nice I am glad you got another N55!!! Love your teardowns especially now that I own a N55! You make me laugh and think at the same time with your attitude and perspective! You are showing me a perfect example of how to take care of the Motor and what never to neglect even at it's most simple (Oil Changes on the regular) Very informative as always!
@@harrywalker968the diesel was a completely different beast. You probably are good. Unfortunately i know very little about the diesel engines but I've heard good things.
@@TonyShah-i4l no. You have the B58 which is the generation after the N55. It received many improvements from the previous generation including 20% higher boost tolerance. Basically this video is irrelevant to you because you have a newer engine.
Your videos are excellent! When I was 20 yrs old (in the UK 1970!) I had a short lived business buying insurance wrecked cars of the Mini and 1,100 and 1,300 variety to salvage parts that could "Soup Up" the standard 848cc mini. My partner was a total disappointment and I gave up on my dream. Your video brought back fond memories of days so long ago and I thankyou!
One thing I've noticed about owning a BMW (X5/n55) is the forums and community is passionate and well informed on tech issues, I'm a 63 yr old long time mechanic and I find that's what I want since I like to do my own work, because all manufacturers make mistakes and at some they are going to pop up. Plus it can help you find a vehicle to stay away from.
I would advise you wear goggles while hammering things. My cousin does turbo repair and while trying to loosen one, a part of the housing cracked and went straight to the eye. Luckily, it went to the iris but he still needed surgery and some weeks off the job. Been doing same work for 20y, never thought he needed googles to just loosen a part...
My favorite too next to this one. I had a 2000 Lexus LS400, one of the best engines ever made and about as powerful as this (N55) engine in my current car.
Im a N54 fanboy if you want to say it that way. And i really enjoyed this video. No matter if its a broken engine, i stilll love to see the beauty of the engineering thats gone into this. Especially making things seviceable, compared to other euro high performance engine manufacturers like ferarri and such. I mean this is a totally avoidable failure, if you were to do the vanos on time. I would normally inspect rod bearings on one of these engines around 150-200k kilometers, and probably change them to some with a bit more clearance. I wish someone could make a proper maintenance schedule for this engine that admits its shortcomings and included at what milage to check or possibly replace rod bearings and such.
I have a 2012 N55 (X3 3.5i) with 109K miles. So far I am happy with the N55. I change oil (Liquimoly) every 7,500 miles. I've changed the tranny fluid and pan, FR. and Rr diff fluid, the charge pipe cracked and replaced with metal one, RAD leaked on the drivers side plastic, replaced that, H2O pump replaced (what a crappy job), PCV diaphragm cracked and replaced the valve cover. I had the pleasure of paying for both Fr and Rr main seals as the PCV diaphragm failed in the manner where the seals were sucked in (mechanic did that job). Owned it for 9 years. Oil pan gasket still going...fingers crossed IMO, oil and fluid maintenance IS the difference to mitigate these major engine issues. Next month will send oil off to Blackstone for testing to get a glimpse into bearing wear
I have a 2011 Bmw f10 with n55 engine and I think is the best Bmw engine.my car has 228000 plus miles and all I have changed is the water pump one time and high pressure pump one time and i still drived and it runs and drives great
I have a 09 528i which we got with 30k miles. It has had a Valvetronic Eccentric Shaft Sensor failure at 45k miles which I replaced myself along with the water pump thermostat. starter and oil cooler gasket all done preventabely. Oil and filter are replaced at 3000 miles or less. Transmission oil (6L) every 30,000 miles. It now has 120000 with no other problems. The engine runs like new. When my wife bought the car I was convinced I would be a nightmare but it turned out not to be. I think 3K mile oil changes are critical.
Cool engine this week! Love your videos! Still hoping you can tear down a 1.8 out of a 2016 Chevy Sonic, and a 2.4 SRT4 engine out of a 2003 PT Cruiser GT that has the aluminum intake setup on it. As usual another great video!
Had an N55 in my FBO 2013 135i, i cared for it like it was my child and also drove the shit out of it. Unless you are unlucky all you need to do is take really good care of it.
Great video as always Eric. I'd love to see one of the 2AZ engines from the camry, specifically one diagnosed with oil consumption. Always been curious what those look like on the inside.
Plugged up Oil Control Ring...thats it, everytime. Pretty underwhelming engine to tear down honestly. I bet I did close to 25 ZE7 Builds on them, and only had 2 with bearing damage.
These fail a lot when the oil filter housing gasket leaks coolant into the oil OR when the oil filter housing gasket is replaced and the oil system is not primed. Not sure about this one though. You usually see more distributed rod bearing wear.
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
The worst tear down I ever saw in my life!!! Find another job, dude!
Are you hiring?
Pin of shame
I don't think he is doing the same thing with the good parts, only with the shit for scrap . Don't get dramatic.
From the looks of it, he should have pitched the whole motor in the scrap bin right from the start. These cars are plainly for rich people. They can afford to sell their problems to someone else. I'm sure that the expensive components reflect in the trade in.
Clearly a BMW owner.
Loved the water pump toss at the end. "I hope it went in." Pure gold.
ive had my 2011 n55 tuned since 70,000 miles, pushing roughly 15lb boost on a pull, 18, on a colder day. current;y around 150,000 miles and still running strong. oil changes roughly 7-8000 miles after blackstone labs oil testing and recommendations. had rod bearings done when I replaced the oil pan gasket leak. figured since they were there, do the bearings. bearings had very little wear. havent had issues with this except one day the eccentric shaft went out around 125,000 miles. theyre not all bad.
Another thing that people forget with these delicate european engines is NEVER REDLINE. Another tip is to avoid 100% throttle from low speeds. Usually 70-80% throttle is plenty. Keep those in mind and your bmw/audi/mercedes will hit 200k miles without any expenses outside regular maintenance.
I have was a mechanic for 40 yrs in motor and worked till became too poorly to carry on , I rebuilt a Aston DB8 and worked for jag in my early years and watching this , was amazing thank you, sat at home in the warmth, I will watch and subscribe ❤️
Hello. Bmw dealer mechanic here. Here in the northern state of minnesota, when temps become very cold, these engines lock up on first start in the morning. It comes from lack of oil services, and moisture in engine. Every winter, we have a line of X5’s with seized engines
How is this preventable ? I like in Winnipeg Canada and tryna make it reliable in the cold is hard
@@kubapesik8383 Have a block block heater installed in one of the freeze plug ports. lt has an electrical cord that can plugged into an AC power outlet or HD extension cord and if used whenever the engine will sit for more than a few hours after shutting it down, should keep your engine above 9-10C.
10 years ago my son was looking for a used SUV. He was looking at small Hondas, but he also like the acura version (@10 yrs. used). Vehicle for vehicle the Hondas were much better maintained, whereas the Acuras were mostly on the verge of neglect. It perplexes me that people will buy an expensive vehicle, and then treat it like trash.
Most new luxury vehicles are leased. I think that may be your answer.
Luxury vehicle owners are above peasant activities like "maintenance"
which is a shame honestly, cause my mom's bmw is still perfectly fine despite a few fender benders and being a 2015 model, she just keeps up with the oil changes and basic maintenance and nothing breaks.
Honestly electric cars need to take over cause it's heartbreaking to see so many wonderful ice's die at the hands of the ignorant, they deserve better owners honestly.
@@didjterminator808The question is, how many MILES are on your moms BMW??
If he was looking at Hondas and Accuras around the same price then this is what you'd expect.
Aluminium bolts? Neat! Next step should be plastic ones, they won't rust and are even lighter!
and after plastic - modelling clay !!!
I lived in Germany for several years, and the joke about BMWs even among the Germans was that when you drive up to the shop to have them repaired, the shop owner would immediately call home to tell his wife to book another vacation to the Med, because the cash was soon to be available to go on it!
$30.00 ABS sensor for my Envoy (Basic diagnostics I perform the job.). $300.00 for my Audi. (Advanced diagnostics, the shop does the job). Literally had this happen this summer. FML.
Old 70's BMW's were the best. Fast, compact, handled like race cars, no frills and reliable.
What happened?
@@TheBandit7613this is same way I feel about the early 2000’s bmws . Exactly what you said just early to mid 2000’s bmws . E46,e39 etc
@@chadriddle351790s and early 2000s are the BMW golden era before electric water pump and valvetronic nonsense
@@chadriddle3517yeah we run a little shop that only works exclusively on old Beamers , fantastic cars
It's owner neglect, more often, that leads an engine to be on the channel, it seems. Nobody changed the oil, obviously. Simple maintenance can't be overstated. Nice video
I think owner neglect is the culprit in the vast majority of cases that kill engines, full stop, really. Secondly (might be first, really) is probably the car around it is scrapped and the engine isnt worth enough to sell on.
No not in the case of the n55. You can do all the maintenance in the world. But the design is too weak. It's a open decked engine with weak rod bearings.
@@muhammadyawar4612 not the n55b30O0 (m235i), and n55b30T0 (m2). They have forged crank, rods, bearings, and pistons. N55 is a solid engine if you don’t push it past its capabilities, And you maintain it at the proper service intervals.
@@seanpoore500exactly people dont realize the differences
@@XJaysznX The true test of an engine is running it without oil and see how it lasts. Corwow did this, all the European cars instantly seized in 1 or 2 seconds. The Toyota engine ran for a few minutes without oil! Once it seized, it started running again putting mustard into the engine. That's very impressive
165k on my N55
CHANGE YOUR OIL OFTEN!
170k+ on mine.
CHANGE YOUR OIL OFTEN!!
And don't forget all the other liquids.
Especially if your n55 is tuned.
151k miles here.
my mom has a 2011 335i and she only done oil changes once every ~16 months lol. still works, only the ball bearing and coolant fan had to be replaced. she loves the thing and i don’t think oil changes have much to do with the unreliability of this engine. it’s mostly just a lottery.
@@immortal4942 Well I take it that your mom doesn't drive her 335 like most carguys & cargirls do. That's probably is the reason why she can get away with bare maintenance.
I got 211k.
Yea keep up on oil changes and change your gaskets
I did full synthetic oil changes on my N55 every 5-6k miles. Spun rod bearings at 79k, the good indie shop I use wanted five figures to swap the engine in a ten year old vehicle. Taking a break from this brand for now.
Same
Ditto
Same.
What year was your N55?
@@dyo228 It was an N55B30M0 from a 2014 model year X1 with a build date of 10/2013.
Favorite part of my Saturday evening is a good tear down
Better than a good movie thats for sure
Agreed 100%
Same!!! Best part of the week
Word!
151k on my 2011 335i with N55 engine and going strong, I use LM engine flush every 3 oil changes, change oil every 5k miles and it works like a charm, only thing I've had to replace were spark plugs and ignition coils and valve gaskets after walnut blasting the valves, not even rough idle issues so far.
get rid of it while it is still running. All N55s made before 2015 will fail.
That's too much work and or money for status.
Yup, '10 N54 w/170k same routine maintenance as you 👍. Lightly tuned too. Bought it in '04 with 28k. Will keep it til it dies on me.
had my n55 for over a year and drove about 10k miles, nothing wrong so far I replaced a Chargepipe and everything else is just routine MT like oil changes brake pads and spark plugs
@@hannialtousy6111 20 years with BMW. Master Elite Technician /ASE Master and BMW Shop Foreman. N55s are a ticking time bomb. Get rid of it.
Oil filter crushed like that is from poor flow created by immense suction from clogging. Usually dead give away to poor oil change intervals.
I have an N55 & my filters have never been deformed like this. The engine in the video also doesn't have an external oil cooler & looks very neglected
the n55 also has problems with oil starvation if you drive it like a racecar
@einar8019 Straight line race car is fine lol.
I'm not a mechanic, last engine i tore apart was 50 plus years ago, when they still looked like an engine and not an electrician's nightmare, But i love watching you tear these things down.
Engines use to be pure, their are some that still are, like the Corvette's 6.2L LT2. When you look at a new European Engine, they are plastic Frankensteins, a total mess. And after 10 years of heat cycles, all that plastic will disintegrate by the touch.
I have 2011 n55 with 140k miles. Its been a pretty good engine. I just did rod bearings as preventative. Original bearings looked pretty good.
@@Rider-hh9itI got quoted $4k (mind you that I have the Xdrive f10)
U mean n54 n55 2013 and up
@@jono3175nah it’s 2011 and up
@@jono3175for the 335is it stopped at 2013
@@eliasbutcher859 4k to change the bearings ?, damn i'm glad I dont live in USA.
ID REALLY LIKE TO SEE A VIDEO OF YOU PUTTING AN ENGINE BACK TOGETHER.THAT WOULD BE SOMETHING TO SEE
Your style with the injector puller seems very well practiced
Had the exact same thought
Hahaha
way too short
Indirect ejection
It's a well honed technique
Coking is what I see with this engine, usually from petrol based, conventional oil.
The fact that # 6 rod bearing seized to the crank, indicates it had no lubricant making its way to that bearing. I would call the piston skirt wear advanced, not minor and not normal. This engine definitely had piston slap at cold startup. I also observed scoring on the cam lobes, journals.
So what is the conclusion?
Seized bearings in the low end are usually the result of rapid acceleration without adequate lubrication. Petrol based oil is what I determine from the coking seen throughout the engine. Coking is usually caused from oil burning, associated with oil that has not been properly maintained, or a vehicle that never reaches operating temp (driven short trips only)
In this case I am going to go with not properly maintained.
So why did the bearing seize?
The crank bearings look acceptable
The other rod bearings were not showing wear into the base copper.
So why only the # 6 rod bearing? It’s lubed from the crank just like all the other rod bearings.
….
Think about what occurs when the explosion of spark igniting a compressed gas air mix, occurs inside a cylinder, which in turn forces the piston rod against the crankshaft, to turn it. Oil must be able to maintain a film barrier, capable of handling the force exerted against the crank, by the rod bearing. In this case there was not sufficient lubricant to withstand that force, allowing the rod bearing to physically contact the crankshaft. Turbo boosted engines exacerbate this issue.
The fact that it happened to the #6 cylinder is the hint, as it’s the last rod bearing to receive lubricant in an inline 6 cyl. Piston scoring is a hint. Heavy oil deposits on the valves are a hint, and finally Coking is a hint.
This engine was low on oil, most likely cheep petrol based oil that had a poor centistoke value at operating temp. Oil that evaporated at low temperatures leaving deposits (coking), oil that was additionally low because it was being fed into the valve train, hence the deposits on the valves.
When that turbo charged mixture exploded in the #6 cylinder, the rod bearing impacted directly into the crankshaft, because there simply was not ample lubricant to withstand the force of the impact.
Thanks for the analysis.
do you think it had anything to do with the vanos problem he talked about?
Best comment I’ve ever seen on TH-cam.
I was very Surprised when this guy said light discoloration about that rod.
@tjhessmo4327 Dude…Your channel must be coming soon!!
Smashing the timing chain guide was hilarious. Me and my 13 year old son watched that part several times.
Why did he smash it? I'm surprised he doesn't sell it on, unless it's not a suitable part for reuse.
18:20 ... your welcome
@@kayzrx8 🙏
You & your son are fkkn goofs…there was absolutely nothing wrong with that part & there is always someone looking for parts…🤬
Because you both are idiots
I too enjoy watching you tear down engines. I find it relaxing and informative. I almost said...what?..No water pump toss?? then you came through at the end....thanks.
The fuel injector area looks like a outboard motor that fell off the back of the boat and sat at the bottom of a lake for a while
Was gonna say, can we get some shots of these after they've been run through a cleaner, or are they too far gone to be worth it?
@@CaptainSpadaro Some carb/EGR cleaner spray will clean it up no problem.
It's not even a big deal I don't get why Americans are so obsessed with intake carbon building up. That's not actually going to affect performance.
Hi Eric due to the time difference here in the UK watching your show is part of my Sunday morning ritual as my wife calls it. Keep the vids coming mate!😀
I saw you on Rainmay Ray's channel. Nice that you get the nod from other channels. Keep up the carnage and the malice. We love your work!
Recent video on Ray's channel?
@@dans_Learning_Curve yep video done yesterday i believe it was.
Fucking youtube ai generated users posting comments. Yt literally fucking dying.
If you see any weird ass names with 4 digits in the end. Its ai generated.
@@Dratchev241 I'll have to look it up!! How did I miss it?!
@@dans_Learning_Curve he wasn't on there. Ray did a tear down on a blown up Mopar. Commented that it's like an episode of I Do Cars. Except he did it with it still in the car.
Absolutely amazing tear downs, Eric. I love it all - even the dad jokes! 😅. As for the N55 - so many rumours flying around, one of them being first generation(s) of N55 had weak bearings. Both your N55 tear downs must be early generation (pneumatic wastegate). The N55 you've had through your shop are they mainly early generation? (perhaps confirming the rumour). Anyway - keep 'em coming. We want more N55 😀
I love videos like this. I could watch buildup or tear down videos anytime. I also like to know how things work. How something can be made better. Learning from mistakes you could say. I also agree with his statement; any brand can and has made some good engines and some have made bad ones as well. I like BMW's and Audi's as well but i think they over complicate things when it comes to some of their engine designs. I think sticking to simple naturally aspirated engines are the best bet.
Thanks Eric. Its amazing how many important pieces on these motors are made of plastic (water pump, oil pick up etc).
Yeah, But that is not so much problem than those Idiotic aluminium bolts ...
they keep getting worse and worse
@@kopronko what is the logic behind aluminum bolts, from the devils advocate point of view? Lack of seizing?
@@lylewalker5681 When we were properly lubricating them, they were not (so much) seizing anymore, but, than sometimes their heads just broke off ... well , terrible "invention" anyways.
That's so you have failures down the line. Cheap plastics and rubber around a hot engine. Don't make sense. Remember when the thermostats were connected to the hose connecting the raditor. Also where you could install yourself?? When the raditors were made of metal ?? And could be repaired?? Now plastic. Now need a whole raditor. The whole industry are now ran by theives and crooks
All the N55s I have seen with spun rod bearings was from oil pressure loss and its usually cylinder 6 or 4.
After working on hundreds of N55s in my time, I've dealt with several complete failures. Nearly all of them were user error. It comes down to this only: Lack of maintenance kills N55s. Oil starvation kills N55s. Overheating kills N55s. Those are really the only "gotchas". You're responsible to keep an eye on your car. Let the car overheat and ignore the screaming dash warnings to shut it down and stop driving. Skip your oil changes, or let the level get too low. Find out what "break my wallet" really feels like.
Yes, a few early cars had a known bulletin for this exact cam gear bolt issue. This one slipped through the cracks, and should have been addressed by the dealer.
Otherwise, your N55 ownership experience will be above average in comparison to other turbocharged engines in this segment. general ownership aside, the N55 is an absolute marvel for it's time. It's a fabulous concept in comparison to some of the trash from the competitors.
Yes, it is expensive. So are the cars it comes in.
We’ll said…..We have put 120,000 on our N55 (15’335i) always changed the oil and filter at 5,000 miles. During a 120K oil pan gasket the pan and internals were absolutely spotless. Zero tarnish and staining. It’s a keeper for us!
I don"t see the connection between the oil starvation at the crank level and the vanos losing oil pressure as he says at the end of the video.
What do you think?
@@morm608 Oil starvation is a result of oil dipping below the level of the oil pump pickup, which is well below the bottom of the crankshaft. In an N55, there is one oil pump that supplies everything in the engine, including the crankshaft bearings and the vanos.
This teardown was really interesting. Until the last few minutes, I would have thought this engine died of neglect. It was obvious from the moment you removed the valve cover that this engine had the bare minimum number of oil changes. I've never owned one of these engines, so I wasn't aware of the VANOS issue. I hope you have taken care of the VANOS on your S54. It's a ticking time bomb if you haven't replaced the pump disk on the exhaust camshaft. S54 engines also have problems with camshaft sprocket bolts. It's good to replace them at the same time as you replace the pump disk and seals in the VANOS unit. It would be great if you could get an S55. I'd really like to see a teardown of one.
owned a bonco 351c. for 15 yrs, thrashed, bought 2nd hand. never stoped..still starts first second. on lpg.. 302c heads. fast.. 12.1 comp. std cam. ill miss it when i sell it.. i have bought a wrecked 3.0tdi. for a project. whole car drives,. $3k.. 173ks. 08..
I’ve owned 3 M3’s with S54’s - the VANOS “issues” are mostly due to a younger ownership audience beating these engines to within an inch of their lives. The rear subframe on the other hand is a real and lurking danger.
@@bostonaudi You have it backwards. The VANOS issue is caused by too much play between the tabs on the exhaust camshaft hub and the VANOS oil pump disk, which results in resonant vibration that leads to the tabs breaking off. If a tab breaks off and makes its way along the timing chain, it will completely destroy the engine. You don't have to thrash on the engine for this to happen. In fact, accelerating slowly causes the resonance to occur for a longer period. The rear axle carrier panel fails under load. The harder you drive the car, the more load is placed on the subframe attachment points. This is exacerbated when people thrash on the car.
True. Had one with 75k km that had one oil change.
@darylmorse many don't experience this failure. What would be the maintenance to help I sure this doesn't happen?
Not the first time I've seen one of those oil pumps on this channel. It's an eccentric vane-type pump with a variable displacement feature. Each of the vane-enclosed chambers gets bigger and then smaller as it goes around the shaft, thanks to the inner and outer rotors not rotating on the same axis (they're eccentric). The carrier for the outer rotor pivots such that the two rotors' rotating axes (center points of their circles) can get closer together. As they get closer, that bigger-then-smaller pumping action gets reduced, making the pump move less oil per rotation. The pivoting on the carrier is controlled by oil pressure working against the big spring. More pressure compresses the spring and makes the carrier pivot, reducing flow. If pressure drops, the spring pushes the carrier back, increasing flow.
@bobski33333 Did you perhaps wrench on Porsches in KC in a former life?
It’s that time again! Thanks for all the content you put out weekly. Sit back with my phone and some smoke to finish off this rainy wet Saturday.
It's unbelievable these owners of such expensive cars can't have basic maintenance done! Great channel Eric!
These cars are built to last through the warranty period only. The next sucker...er customer gets fleeced in repair costs. They are fun to drive but are not worth the price of admission
Have a look at the end of the video. It probably was a Vanos failure.
Still not well maintained and that’s mind boggling to me too.
@npolite22 ridiculous comment they only fail because people don't/ cant afford the maintenance schedule
@@Kimsteigmajer Uh, well that might be because the maintenance schedule is halved from what normal more reliable cars have, AND the parts and labor costs are twice as expensive. Toyota doesn't put timing chain assemblies on the back of the engine where the transmission hooks up.
@@Kimsteigmajer BMW has a 10k oil change interval. I'm sorry but that is not OK on any engine. These cars are made to fail at 100k and will end up costing you
I own an import repair and performance shop. The amount of N55s that come in due to spontaneous engine failure is amazing to me. I still haven’t nailed down exactly why they fail, but a large number of them have suffered from a nasty rod knock. Some you can hear a faint knock from the bottom, and other it’s perfectly fine with no noises one day, and then next day the engine is completely seized up.
It’s just strange because the N54 was pretty stout in comparison with fewer total reported engine failures.
Bet you it’s from these long ass oil intervals. You should be doing full synthetic 5k/ 6mo or less on these ideally
@@MikeyG003 It's definitely the intervals because the n54 and n55 blocks are pretty much identical.
Well, consider that the N55 was produced in at least 10x if not 20x the quantity. I believe the rod bearing issues are mostly from the oil filter housing gasket leaking internally and letting coolant into the oil. N54 has the same issues, it's just that the turbos, HPFPs, injectors, etc. are so troublesome they probably nag people into maintenance or getting rid of them sooner.
@@MikeyG003this is probably true my friends n55 blew up at 56k and mines running strong (knock on wood) at 116k and I do it every 3k
Coolant leaking into oil is a major problem with German cars. They all like to do it because of cheap parts in critical areas, like pump housings. Absolutely stupid, and people think these cars are so great. How can people think that when they are designed to fail? @@chrisbradley9607
Ah, yes. Valvetronic. Have that on my 2011 MINI Cooper S N18. You ever tear into one of those? I had to pull the head on mine due to an overheat and compression pressurizing the cooling system. I ended up replacing the head with a low-mile used 2013 N18 head, which had a different intake cam end to drive the HPFP. I ended up disassembling the Valvetronic springs with a pair of vice grips (LOL) since I had to swap my old intake cam to drive my HPFP. IIRC, there are 5 different followers used for adjustment, since the head and caps are machined to match the cam (I think) and are made to work together. I just swapped the cam, and luckily it's worked fine for like 50k miles now, no ticks or anything, and great power, so it must be fine, right? Anyway, good stuff, man. Love watching your teardown videos! Keep up the great work!
This channel has matured into complete anarchy!! Eric - you kick ass and may one million subs come your way!
there's some unhappy sounds in there means this is going to be a great video
I change the oil and filter myself as often as possible. The problem with folks is that because these cars run so smoothly people think they don’t have to do anything until the car says so
Thanks for being so punctual Eric! This is one of the things I look forward to after a long week at work. Keep it up man!
"The crank is the highest value item"
It was at this moment that I knew the crank would be fried...
Awesome video Eric. Thanks for my Saturday night entertainment. I thought you were going to need a jackhammer to get that bearing off the crank. :)
I love my 135is don’t let this guy turn you away just do maintenance they are great cars!
I'm sure they saved a metric ton of weight by using all those aluminum bolts. I've always marvelled at the simplicity and effectiveness of eccentric rotor oil pumps; it's amazing how well they complicated that.
could have saved even more weight not using 250 bolts for the pan and bedplate i would think
excluding the simple diesel engines, BMW do not intend to give lifespan over 200 000 miles and they include premature failure components to achieve that goal@@misterdeedeedee
Completely false. There's high mileage n55 and n52 all over. @@saloserra5711
As a Euro tech myself, you have no clue what you are talking about. Pretty confident you wouldn't even know where to start when touching these engines. @@saloserra5711
When I read that BMW is using aluminum bolts, well it is business of course.
The N52/54/55/62 are a step forward and three steps back. Those aluminum fasteners and electric water pump make them a no go. Valve stem issues for N62
What are you talking about? The N52 and N55 have routinely crossed the 200,000 mark. The water pumps are wear items that are replaced every 100,000 miles. 80% of cars to date use electric water pumps and aluminum bolts. Seals were not an issue on N62. They were an issue on the N63. Embarrassing you said that with confidence.
@@Euro316 I'm not saying high miles can't be achieved with the N52 and N55. I'm saying the electric water pump is an added complication compared to a regular mechanical pump. It's a spendy replacment part at that too. Water pump on M54 is just $50 while it's $300 for the N52/54/55. What are you talking about now? The N62 absolutely suffers from faulty valve stem seals. It's a well documented flaw of those engines.
It was due to the high heat V8s naturally run at and the 15,000 oil change recommendation they used to suggest. The seals themselves were actually fine. @@burntnougat5341
@@burntnougat5341 Disa valves and water pumps are the only problem with the N52, just replace them every 60K miles. Other than that they are pretty bullet proof.
@@Dooferz32 yea n52 is a stout engine
Removing #1 and #6 at the same time....is that considered a reach around?
my cousin has had his x5 from 42k miles to 195k 2015 n55 has done nothing but oil changes and the motor is still so healthy and pulls hard
As a previous owner of N55B30, you can get this amount of varnish and buildup even with very frequent oil change. It is caused by that plastic valve cover and built-in PCV valve
Whoever you bought the car from lied to you and told you that to make you feel better. That varnish comes from fuel diluted, nasty old oil, and short runs without proper warmup. I've seen 150,000 mile N55s with no varnish. I've seen 50,000 N55s with as much as the engine in this video. You shouldn't see hardly any varnish when looking in the oil fill, otherwise something has been very wrong for a while, or someone was lying about oil changes. Maybe if you had a bad PCV system for 70000 miles somehow? still not likely.
@@XcoolcoolbeansbeansX you assume that i bought it with that varnish and you assumed wrong. I bought it with no varnish and 108000km (64000 miles).
You also assume that i did not done my own oil changes, yet i did every 8-10000km (4970 - 6213 miles) with OEM parts and oil.
PCV (and of course entire valve cover) was replaced after it burned through 1 quart of oil (almost liter) in less than 1000km (621 miles). I did 3 refills before i was able to get that cover and replace it in BMW service center so about 3000km (1864 miles) and it was already varnished. And no, it was not starved from oil since i checked oil level after each drive and when it reached last 1/4 on the screen i refiled
bonus part: If you read my first comment i wrote that "you can get this amount of varnish" and not that you definitely get. I also seen abused N55s without varnish (but only 1). So ... stop assuming i guess
@@beastlysunI did the walnutblasting with 160k KMs on it. It was almost clean when I started lol.
Eric, you and your TH-cam Channel were mentioned a couple of times during by the man behind the Rainman Ray's Repairs TH-cam channel. Rainman Ray was diagnosing a strange sound in a Chrysler Pacifica Penstar V-6 Engine. He found some post factory installed inspection ports, a broken and bent connecting rod (with bearings that still looked to be thick enough to rule out oiling issues), and a cracked piston that showed signs of all four valves having made piston to valve contact. Although the video was dropped 8 days ago, I just found it around 4:00AM on Saturday 9/30/23.
Rod bearing failure in the early N55 platform is quite the common failure unfortunately. Lack of maintenance and in some cases improper clean care when replacing oil cooler seem to be the culprit. Proper oil intervals, cooling system maintenance (waterpump/thermostat/pretty much all other cooling system components), engine warm up time, and rain tray replacement if broken are just a few things one can do to extend N55 service life.
n55 is a good engine .. if the maintenance is done. also not built for high g-forces.
oil change every 5k miles for the win on ANYTHING with a DPF....and even then any car petrol or diesel because really....why wouldnt you especially in this day and age in the difference between engine cost v oil change cost.....
What does replacing the rain tray prevent?
If it’s cracked and leaking water will accumulate in the injector bores causing premature failure. This will result in a costly repair bill to replace the injectors due to the corrosion. Also don’t forget the injector harness and coil harness connections, over time the moisture will have a negative impact on these as well.
Little personal story about filter glitter...
I rebuilt my Chevy 4.3 after coolant system failed and I drove it home with no coolant. I used the wrong parts and did not follow the torque specs, just kinda winged it. Heads, cam, and crank were resurfaced and bearings were only thing not reused. Sorta tried to port the oil system for better flow.
Anyhow... first filter totally clogged with metal paste within 10 miles. 2nd clogged after a few hundred miles, filter brand definitely made a difference. 3 oil changes and probably a dozen filters all looked like a differential emptied into the pan. TONS of metal. Truck runs great, 50- 60 psi of oil pressure and probably about 5k miles since. No metal any more.
Had an n55 that the vanos failed and it caused a valve to break which then fell into the cylinder causing the engine to seize. All in about 45 seconds. Car had 90k miles.
Sounds like an n55 🤣🤣🤣
I got rid of mine before that happened. Saw it coming when “not adjustable” VANOS errors started popping up.
It is the first so optimistic disassembling of BMW engine I have watched🙂
I've had remarkably good luck with the N55. I've owned 2 of them and the only failure was a busted chargepipe. Mechanically, they were perfect, despite being tuned, overboosted and beat on.
Of the two, were you turning them back in at the end of their leases?
@@DrmcclungOne was a lease, the other wasn’t. My 15 335GT I owned. Made 400whp, 428wft/lbs with no issues.
@@MikeL-FL so what happened to it
@@DrmcclungTraded it in. I moved to Florida and needed an SUV, so I leased N55 number 2 (X3 35i). Regret it to this day. I custom ordered the GT and it was the first F34 in the US with the port installed M performance power kit. If I could find it, I’d buy that car back in a second. 😢
@@MikeL-FL I'd kill to have my mint '88 silver manual 325i back
A very useful tear down of a modern basic engine, we can all learn the importance of regular servicing from this. I'm grateful for you taking the time. I've had a similar experience dealing with a busted Corsa engine. Symptoms indicated it only needed a timing chain and a head gasket. It ended up with me also finding a piece of chain guide in the sludge sump, the camshaft lube holes were blocked and a fair amount of black silicone found circulating the system. Obviously some moron had been let loose with the silicone tube around the water pump and the inner bead had broken away during the water cycle, ended up being a full clean and rebuild. The take away from this is if you don't know the history of your engine, remove and clean the sump and change the oil every 5 - 6 thousand miles.
Walnut blasting?
Is that where you rev the motor full tilt and dump crushed walnut shells down the intake?
Because that would clean more than just the intake valves
Will you please make a video of the process one day soon
Thanks!
Nope, the walnut blasting is done with the engine off. What you mean is cleaning the intake with a special cleaning spray.
No, take walnuts to chew on while you wait for recovery truck to tow your BMW away. No amount of walnuts will do!😁
Engines on stands reminds me of my dad’s race car (NHRA ProStock) back in the ‘70”s.
Wish he was here so I could send him you videos
If you ever think your job is meaningless, remember this.
There's a guy working a BMW assembly line that installs the blinker.
What's a blinker??
@@_BAD_MERC_ A turn signal for old people
@@_BAD_MERC_ Inicator or turn signal depending on which country ur in
So funny 😁
You're sick Jack..... And that's why you're the best.
Do you see as many problems from later years? Every time I see a video about a bad one it's from those first few years. I'm looking at an X3 2017 and hoping most of the issues were worked out by then.
One thing that very few people understand is why the oil pump is a vane type instead of a gear type oil pump. The reason in this case is that it's allowed them to make it a variable displacement pump as in the quantity of oil being pumped changes so that the pressure can be constant regardless of rpm. The rotating assembly of the pump is held by a pivot on 1 side and a piston and spring on the other side and this is where the magic happens. Why run this style of pump instead of a gear pump? Because gear pumps are a compromise in sizing as they generally don't flow enough at idle and flow too much at rpm so the relief valve dumps the excess. These horsepower used to drive a variable displacement pump is far less than that required to drive a non-variable displacement pump.
It's basically the same design as a Hydrovane air compressor - very simple, very effective and they last 100,000 hrs if you change the oil regularly
@@johnbloomfield5705 No, the only similarity between a Hydrovane air compressor and this style oil pump is that they both use vanes. Please correct me if I'm wrong but a Hydrovane air compressor does not have a variable flow system but is instead a fixed flow system. The variable flow system changes the flow to maintain the target oil pressure at any given rpm, something that is always changing on an ICE.
Yes you are absolutely right about variable flow -v- fixed flow, but then I don't know of a requirement for variable flow with an air compressor. That said, the variable flow is essentially an adaptation of the vane type pump used in the Hydrovane. The Hydrovane vane system has two big advantages over other types of pump, very little friction between the moving parts and therefore little wear hence the long life (given adequate lubrication) and less noise. @@phillipmcintosh6489
I’ve got four buddy’s with stage 2+ n55s 2 with the pwg and 2 with the ewg, and I have a ewg myself but mine is only stage 2 with only 30k miles on it. But all of my buddies have over 120k miles and still run like fighter jets. Only issue we’ve had was electrical in the 2011. The n55 is plenty reliable in my experience
Best way to remove gaskets that are too hardened to scrape from aluminum are roloc finger discs, tho you need to protect the surrounding area from dust so I usually scrape the bulk first.
The fine grit especially gives amazing control with varying pressure
He said dont use a "wizz wheel". I think of an angle grinder, but the marks looked like a wire wheel. Any idea what a wizz wheel is? Thanks.
I remember back in the late 90s I think it was. Maybe a few years more. But there was a rash of M3 engines were blowing up. Bad thing was the BMW North America was started trying to deny warranties on it. I read later on that BMW had found that that they didn't clean the sand out of the engine block or head clean enough.
Seeing one of these teardowns makes me fear for my 2011 N55 that is just about to clock over 142k miles. She’s still sounds happy (usual noisy injectors, common N55 noises, etc.), just did an oil change a few hundred miles ago and with a drop to a 4K interval. From what I can hear with doing some pulls (warm to temp, of course), the rod bearings sound fine - don’t know how worn they might be but as far as I’m aware, my N55 is still going strong
baldisaerodynamic9692
8 minutes ago
Want a bmw to last?
ive owned a dozen bmws over the years, and have followed these steps for every single one.
M60, M62 (TU/non TU), N62, N52, N54, N20 off the top of my head were all the ones I had.
I had half of mine upwards of nearly 250-300k miles.
1. replace the entire cooling system under certain specific conditions and i mean entire system just do it all at once.
A. at max 100k miles,
B. max age 10 years regardless of miles (dry rotting)
C. when the first component shows failure or leaks, if before the 10 year/100k mile marks....just overhaul it.
bmws seem to have this habit of chain reactions with cooling system failures, once the age and miles hit you are on borrowed time, and once one part fails or begins to fail, within 6 months half of the other parts will go too. no need to pay for multiple towings or coolant 3 times when one overhaul will solve the reliability issue.
2. oil changes, use proper oil, do not deviate at all from brand and weight that is compatible with the motor, and absolutely no more than 4500 miles YES I SAID 4500 MILES....bmws smoothness and performance actually degrade around this mileage if you are really paying close attention to how your car feels, ALSO.....time it out so you can change it before each extreme season (right before summer, right before winter) EVERY SINGLE BMW I HAVE EVER OWNED that i did lower oil intervals had ZERO build up and varnishing. this also keeps the oil clean, and the filters newer, which means ZERO crap being passed thru sensitive timing components such as vanos system and other passages.
3. vanos solenoids. replace at 120k miles MAX no matter what.
4. chain tensioner, do with vanos solenoids
5. intake system/vacuum leaks....change everything that can cause a vacuum leak before 120k miles. all gaskets, orings, PCV/OSV system. DI cars, add walnut/intake cleaning to get rid of carbon buildup.
6. spark plugs, every 60k miles
7. under rear seat fuel pump housing/assembly and fuel filter assembly at max 13 years of age as plastic top housings will crack and you will get fuel leakage under the car when you fill past 3/4 tank.
8. transmission service every 60k miles (ZF recommends this on non bmw applications FYI)
these basic, but costly steps of PM will make a bmw last 200k miles without massive overhauling, and prevent you from being stranded as much as possible. your wallet will HATE you, but you will LOVE your car, gotta pay to play.
@@JohnSmith-pl2bk This reads like a rant from my partner,, he will do these things even if its raining outside. Comes in soaking wet grinning saying if a jobs worth doing its worth doing right... Im happy he extends this to other things😁😇
I just did the rod bearings as preventative on my 2011 n55 with 140k miles. Bearings looked pretty decent
I had a 2011 X5M. No problems what so ever. 10 years of faithful service. The air suspension failed at 45,000 miles and it was $800 to replace the air bags including labor
I wanna see another Ford 4.0L V6 but the OHV version (1991-2000). Love the Content Eric!
I love every single moment of this video. Watched every single moment even the waterpump toss.. Only disappointed a bit that lately was NO DISCONNECTING RODS...
Greetings from Croatia!
Great video as usual. This is definitely a long shot as they're probably gonna be just about impossible to obtain one, but Nissan has a 1.5 3 cylinder with variable compression out in the new rogues. They have a bit of a problem with absolutely grenading themselves and coming in with a bunch of sludge in the oil pan. I'd be very interested to see you tear down one of those but they're going to be near impossible to find since they're almost all warranty jobs and Nissan wants them all back. Thanks.
Can't believe how close the cylinder walls are to each other. It's not that they are even touching, they are moulded together. The head gasket did one hell of a job.
Something I find a lot of people don't know about this engine when it comes to spinning bearings is the variable oil pressure design. There is a solenoid that looks like a vanos solenoid on the front near the crankshaft pulley. Their purpose is to reduce oil pressure at low RPM for more efficiency. These tend to wear out and react more slowly over time thus causing a rod bearing to spin. I just saw this happen on a guy i know with an f30 335i that had only 65k miles, also happened to be the #6 rod bearing. That in combination with BMW's insanely high oil change interval on these, sometimes 15000 miles, causes them to spin a bearing. N54s use the exact same rod bearings yet do not have this issue due to them not having this oil pressure control valve.
Insane! Why would anyone buy one of these things?
*FINNALLY, SOMEONE WHO NAILS IT; That's it, that is what happens; Thank you Sir*
(of course, as usual with ALL engine failures ,the CLIMATOIDS at it again with their just STUPID regulations to save their Planet, one disaster at a time; NO manuf in their right mind would think of that pre-programmed failure!!! but that is just me,the FOOL,thinking, pay no mind to it; continue on...
Chasing efficiency for what? The N54 gets the same fuel economy as the N55
@@burntnougat5341 Supposed to be fuel economy but It's not much of a difference. I own an n54 and have worked on lots of BMWs and I've noticed n55s seem to get slightly better gas mileage. A lot of companies seem to have done the same sort of thing by having 2 staged oil pumps or a valve that bleeds off excess pressure like these. B58s have this oil valve too but they aren't failing all the time and those are very fuel efficient. To be fair those are much newer though and have a lot of other things that help them be as efficient as they are.
@@russellstyles5381 Personally I'm not a fan of them. I'd rather deal with my n54 than this problem on n55s. N20s also have this exact same issue, as well as their timing chains and guides failing.
Next time for the valvetronic springs- fully retract them, then grab the thickest zip tie you can fit and secure them back. Stops the eccentric shaft from snapping on you.
Or just use the $200 special tool bmw makes
I had an N55-powered 335i from 2016-2021, 22K to 40K miles. So definitely a low-mileage example. When new and under warranty, it's a glorious engine. Lots of power and torque. That said, I'm not sure I'd want to own high-mileage out-of-warranty example!
I still have my 2014 F30 N55, manual, bought new, that's got 37,000mi on in. No leaks, kind of a garage queen as I'm 90% work travel. Annual oil change. But I do check the OFHG and valve cover for leaks once a month or so. Love driving it hard!
BMW in-line 6 M-N-B engines are great designs. The V8s suck after 100k even with good maintenance. Seen quite a few Ns with 200k even saw an M54 with 350k. You can always tell if the owner cares or not about the car.
I have the S65 oil change at 4000 kms. Changed the rod bearings at 160,000kms..
Great engine maintenance
The no lead content bearings together with too long oil interval kills a lot of Bimmer engines. There are lots of 5000 mile oil change n55s with 150k+ miles not leaking or burning oil. Same thing I see with other makes.
I change the oil on all my BMW ( even those under warranty ) every 5000 miles . Nutz ? Keeps me happy and problem free . Highest milage is a 120k miles X5 30d
@@npet6842oil is cheap, engines are expensive 😂
I've seen plenty of dudes now with N55 M2's that have just been beating the piss out of them now for over 100k miles and still run like tops. But these people are also enthusiasts who keep up with maintenance religiously. The N55 in the M2 is different than the run of the mill N55 too
Basic maintenance is not enough. Replacing bearings and chains must be included. I had an 2011 535i on 3k miles oil changes and yet it still managed to spin the bearing. It is said tho that LCI N55s (somewhere after 2014) have improved rod bearings and sudden engine "explosions" are less common.
@@Blanderr😊😊😊
Love it!!!! Nice I am glad you got another N55!!! Love your teardowns especially now that I own a N55! You make me laugh and think at the same time with your attitude and perspective! You are showing me a perfect example of how to take care of the Motor and what never to neglect even at it's most simple (Oil Changes on the regular) Very informative as always!
Little do people know, they changed the rod bearing formula in early 2013 due to bad wear conditions and the result of "bearing foil".
sht.. i have an 08 diesel..
@@harrywalker968the diesel was a completely different beast. You probably are good. Unfortunately i know very little about the diesel engines but I've heard good things.
I have 2013 740i 41k miles with N55.Do u think it might have rod bearing problems in near future ?
@@TonyShah-i4l no. You have the B58 which is the generation after the N55. It received many improvements from the previous generation including 20% higher boost tolerance. Basically this video is irrelevant to you because you have a newer engine.
@@AB-sg3wi Thank u answering
Your videos are excellent! When I was 20 yrs old (in the UK 1970!) I had a short lived business buying insurance wrecked cars of the Mini and 1,100 and 1,300 variety to salvage parts that could "Soup Up" the standard 848cc mini. My partner was a total disappointment and I gave up on my dream. Your video brought back fond memories of days so long ago and I thankyou!
Access to all the rod cap bolts is your MAIN concern. I see what you did there.
As someone quite new to understanding/working on the ins and outs of an engine, the top of mind knowledge is admirable my dude.
Thank you Eric, for all the videos, and thank you Mike, for all the work editing!!
One thing I've noticed about owning a BMW (X5/n55) is the forums and community is passionate and well informed on tech issues, I'm a 63 yr old long time mechanic and I find that's what I want since I like to do my own work, because all manufacturers make mistakes and at some they are going to pop up. Plus it can help you find a vehicle to stay away from.
Honestly these engines are fine. I’ve worked on several & they’re easy to work on & seem to be pretty reliable.
Love the way you went all Whistlin' Diesel on the cam chain tensioner.
That is a pretty long motor, the loss of oil pressure probably effected #6 the most since the oil pump is up front.
Totally agree.
I would advise you wear goggles while hammering things. My cousin does turbo repair and while trying to loosen one, a part of the housing cracked and went straight to the eye.
Luckily, it went to the iris but he still needed surgery and some weeks off the job.
Been doing same work for 20y, never thought he needed googles to just loosen a part...
Loved the video! Would love to see you tear down a 1UZ-FE, one of my fav Toyota engines!
My favorite too next to this one. I had a 2000 Lexus LS400, one of the best engines ever made and about as powerful as this (N55) engine in my current car.
As an Avid BMW owner the service interval isn't to be trusted. My interval is 5K miles.
Funny, extremely entertaining guy.....never miss an episode
Im a N54 fanboy if you want to say it that way. And i really enjoyed this video. No matter if its a broken engine, i stilll love to see the beauty of the engineering thats gone into this. Especially making things seviceable, compared to other euro high performance engine manufacturers like ferarri and such. I mean this is a totally avoidable failure, if you were to do the vanos on time. I would normally inspect rod bearings on one of these engines around 150-200k kilometers, and probably change them to some with a bit more clearance. I wish someone could make a proper maintenance schedule for this engine that admits its shortcomings and included at what milage to check or possibly replace rod bearings and such.
I have a 2012 N55 (X3 3.5i) with 109K miles. So far I am happy with the N55. I change oil (Liquimoly) every 7,500 miles. I've changed the tranny fluid and pan, FR. and Rr diff fluid, the charge pipe cracked and replaced with metal one, RAD leaked on the drivers side plastic, replaced that, H2O pump replaced (what a crappy job), PCV diaphragm cracked and replaced the valve cover. I had the pleasure of paying for both Fr and Rr main seals as the PCV diaphragm failed in the manner where the seals were sucked in (mechanic did that job). Owned it for 9 years.
Oil pan gasket still going...fingers crossed
IMO, oil and fluid maintenance IS the difference to mitigate these major engine issues.
Next month will send oil off to Blackstone for testing to get a glimpse into bearing wear
Why are multiple companies integrating the pcv into the valve cover. Its annoying as heck
I have a 2011 Bmw f10 with n55 engine and I think is the best Bmw engine.my car has 228000 plus miles and all I have changed is the water pump one time and high pressure pump one time and i still drived and it runs and drives great
This engine is not in poor condition. It's in core condition
I have a 09 528i which we got with 30k miles. It has had a Valvetronic Eccentric Shaft Sensor failure at 45k miles which I replaced myself along with the water pump thermostat. starter and oil cooler gasket all done preventabely. Oil and filter are replaced at 3000 miles or less. Transmission oil (6L) every 30,000 miles. It now has 120000 with no other problems. The engine runs like new. When my wife bought the car I was convinced I would be a nightmare but it turned out not to be. I think 3K mile oil changes are critical.
What will kill an N55 is not prefilling the oil filter after changing the oil filter housing gasket.
Can you explain why that is?
@@colinm990 Design flaw with the engine it takes too long for the filter housing to fill up and it leads to spun bearings
Spun bearing and the dip stick have your number . But don't give up we love to see you work out.
Cool engine this week! Love your videos! Still hoping you can tear down a 1.8 out of a 2016 Chevy Sonic, and a 2.4 SRT4 engine out of a 2003 PT Cruiser GT that has the aluminum intake setup on it. As usual another great video!
That carbon build up is nothing compared to an average mileage N54 carbon build up! It’s crazy:(
Almost a million miles driving BMWs... I can't remember the number of times I've pulled the valve cover to replace the gasket!! 🤣
How long does it take you to do so? On average
Is it the gasket or the cheap plastic cover 😂 trust me im scared to even touch evap lines or anything plastic on bmws
@@sirgeel5094I'm afraid of even being around a BMW and I don't even own one.
@@danielorozco1728for me it took 12 hours on N55 e82 chassis
@@55_Ski i have an n55 also and at some point ill need to replace the timing chain plastic guide, hopefully the whole engine wont need to come out
Had an N55 in my FBO 2013 135i, i cared for it like it was my child and also drove the shit out of it. Unless you are unlucky all you need to do is take really good care of it.
Great video as always Eric.
I'd love to see one of the 2AZ engines from the camry, specifically one diagnosed with oil consumption. Always been curious what those look like on the inside.
Plugged up Oil Control Ring...thats it, everytime. Pretty underwhelming engine to tear down honestly. I bet I did close to 25 ZE7 Builds on them, and only had 2 with bearing damage.
th-cam.com/video/F994QmOD6W8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=E38lzRbuM07RNywD
This is what it looks like to do the pistons because of oil consumption. Hope this is what you're looking for
I believe the car care nut has shown one
that means carbon from the damm EGR; the Climatoids at it... controlling the weather... @@ryanbrown918
The rail set slam was the best part thanks Eric
These fail a lot when the oil filter housing gasket leaks coolant into the oil OR when the oil filter housing gasket is replaced and the oil system is not primed. Not sure about this one though. You usually see more distributed rod bearing wear.
is the coolant noticeable when i change my oil ? thank you
Even if you prime it, you still run the risk. Happened to my friend. N55s are like rolling dice.