Great write up on the S54 engine
- Thread starter B21
- Start date
Even though I had read about most of those issues I still bought one and I'm addicted to the sound-track! 
But it had pretty good service history and I had an Inspection 2 done and new rod bearing shells and engine mounts shortly afterwards.
A few of those issues afflict other BMW engines too!
But it had pretty good service history and I had an Inspection 2 done and new rod bearing shells and engine mounts shortly afterwards.
A few of those issues afflict other BMW engines too!
I think that the issues are overstated and generalised.
I’ve had two M’s with S54 engines - I sold the 2003 E46M with the “old” S54 and 100K kms and she never gave me any trouble. I still have an E86M with 80K kms and she’s fabulous.
Both well looked after and serviced at 5K km intervals and driven! Also, I live in the temperate climate of Australia which doesn’t have the temperature extremes that many places have and I think that’s a factor.
BMW made over 100,000 S54’s and I’m led to believe the failure rate was <1% when serviced and driven well.
The S54 failure mythology reminds me of the M96 Porsche engines and IMS issues. I have owned various 986S/996/997 which were said to have the issue and drove them a combined 500K kms without a single issue.
The key might be to actually service, drive and operate these high performance engines as intended.
Also, humans are weird - if they have issues they seem to find comfort when others too might have them…
Otherwise, I say most of the bad rap comes from people who have something to gain from the failures such as parts shops.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the norm.
I’ve had two M’s with S54 engines - I sold the 2003 E46M with the “old” S54 and 100K kms and she never gave me any trouble. I still have an E86M with 80K kms and she’s fabulous.
Both well looked after and serviced at 5K km intervals and driven! Also, I live in the temperate climate of Australia which doesn’t have the temperature extremes that many places have and I think that’s a factor.
BMW made over 100,000 S54’s and I’m led to believe the failure rate was <1% when serviced and driven well.
The S54 failure mythology reminds me of the M96 Porsche engines and IMS issues. I have owned various 986S/996/997 which were said to have the issue and drove them a combined 500K kms without a single issue.
The key might be to actually service, drive and operate these high performance engines as intended.
Also, humans are weird - if they have issues they seem to find comfort when others too might have them…
Otherwise, I say most of the bad rap comes from people who have something to gain from the failures such as parts shops.
Of course, there are always exceptions to the norm.
Well put!salfer said:
"The internet" does love a scare story when it comes to car engines. If you researched ANY modern engine via the 'net, 'inherent problems' can be found with every single one of them.
I don't think it helps that a lot of the info comes from the USA, where they expect everything to be 100% reliable for ever, or they want to sue someone and get a million bucks compo.
Simon 3.2M
Senior member
It was the same when I bought my Audi RS2 many years ago - people went on and on about conrods breaking, bad brakes etc etc. I had no issue with mine, the only mistake I made was selling it!!
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