Which would you pick? N52 (silver engine cover) or N52k (black engine cover)
- Thread starter shuey
- Start date
kis said:
Assuming the above and treating it as a hypothetical question then id go M54 simply for the better reliability. It's also much cheaper for parts when things do go wrong. Just compare water pump prices for example. Don't get me wrong I quite like the N52 and it's got more power and a better torque curve than the equivalent M54. It's just that when things go wrong it's much pricier to put right and they tend to go wrong more frequently. That said I would definitely still buy a 2.5/3.0 N52 engined car, as the issues it has are no where near as prevalent/plentiful as they are on it's smaller 2.0 N42/6 sibling
M54...because superchargers fit on them so nicely.
Don't just worry about the engine though. Can't speak for the facelifts but these early ones are made of cheese. Literally everything bar the engine is unbelievably weak and fragile.
Don't just worry about the engine though. Can't speak for the facelifts but these early ones are made of cheese. Literally everything bar the engine is unbelievably weak and fragile.
This is purely hypothetical but if I were ever to swap, these are the (BMW) engines I would install:
S50B32 (BMW’s benchmark M engine and has the best exhaust note with a proper exhaust imo)
S65 (a bit heavy and would probably upset the car’s weight distribution but is N/A and sounds epic)
S70B56 or S70/2 (V12 engine uprated and used by McLaren for their F1 cars during the 90s)
N54 (cheap and can be mapped to solid power)
N55B0T0 (Z4 with an M2 engine - dream)
S50B32 (BMW’s benchmark M engine and has the best exhaust note with a proper exhaust imo)
S65 (a bit heavy and would probably upset the car’s weight distribution but is N/A and sounds epic)
S70B56 or S70/2 (V12 engine uprated and used by McLaren for their F1 cars during the 90s)
N54 (cheap and can be mapped to solid power)
N55B0T0 (Z4 with an M2 engine - dream)
Well lets look at the most common engine failure points (excluding things that are common to both like coil packs, o2 sensors, AFM etc)...
M54:
DISA valves - can break up and get sucked into intake = bad day at the office.
VANOS gets gunked up / leaks with resultant loss of midrange torque. Fairly easy to service to put right though.
Air leaks from splits on rubber elbow on inlet.
CCV system gets gunked up.
N52:
Electric Water pump (£200 to replace, easy enough to change DIY)
CCV on silver top engine can get gunked up (later revised black top engines have integrated CCV which is more difficult to change but doesn't seem to got wrong as often)
Valvetronic can be a bit ticky due to airlocks / sludge build up with lots of small stop - start journeys but not detrimental to engine.
N54:
High pressure fuel pump
Piezo injectors
Electric Water pump
Rattling wastegate actuators
Coked-up inlet valves (what a party they must be having).
The N54 is the most expensive to sort by a big margin. The M54 / N52 is more finely balanced but given the N52 runs a much more modern ECU and has the better engine characteristic and economy it probably wins. Unless you are a big engine modder perhaps.
M54:
DISA valves - can break up and get sucked into intake = bad day at the office.
VANOS gets gunked up / leaks with resultant loss of midrange torque. Fairly easy to service to put right though.
Air leaks from splits on rubber elbow on inlet.
CCV system gets gunked up.
N52:
Electric Water pump (£200 to replace, easy enough to change DIY)
CCV on silver top engine can get gunked up (later revised black top engines have integrated CCV which is more difficult to change but doesn't seem to got wrong as often)
Valvetronic can be a bit ticky due to airlocks / sludge build up with lots of small stop - start journeys but not detrimental to engine.
N54:
High pressure fuel pump
Piezo injectors
Electric Water pump
Rattling wastegate actuators
Coked-up inlet valves (what a party they must be having).
The N54 is the most expensive to sort by a big margin. The M54 / N52 is more finely balanced but given the N52 runs a much more modern ECU and has the better engine characteristic and economy it probably wins. Unless you are a big engine modder perhaps.
ph001 said:
HVA issue isn't just down to short journeys and sludge. My old 2.5si did it from almost new and resulted in a revised head being installed. Car also did not do short distances Covered a 50 mile round trip every working day. I would also argue it is detrimental to engine as it's metal on metal contact with impact.
I'd probably go with M54 given the choice, easier/cheaper to fix and more options for tinkering.
From a guy who had both engines on the scales in front of him
"The S65 is not any lighter than the S54. I was under this assumption for a long time myself. It's heavier by a few pounds. You must be thinking about block to block, then that is true. But long block to long block, it is not correct."
"The S65 is not any lighter than the S54. I was under this assumption for a long time myself. It's heavier by a few pounds. You must be thinking about block to block, then that is true. But long block to long block, it is not correct."
Steve84N said:
