Replacement N52 3.0si engine

Deepseaskateboard

Deepseaskateboard

Senior member
My Z4 has been in the garage for about a month.
It went in because it failed to start, car was dead.

Garage had it for the first day and it started fine!
Eventually they replicated the problem.

They sent of the ECU for diagnosis, that turned out to be fine, then they started to strip the engine.

They found a piece of metal had been sheared off the cylinder head that stops the cam at a particular point, thus knocking the timing out and causing the engine to flood.

They tried to find a new cylinder head, but could not get hold of one from their supplier network, they did however source a lower mileage n52 and fit that into the car.

Has anyone here had an engine replacement?

Is there any issues that can arise from having a newer engine put in the car?

It is a like for like replacement, no mods etc.
It is all being done by a BMW specialist too, so there isn't an issue about the reputation of the skill of the mechanics.

Is it worth keeping the car or getting rid of it?
Was just wondering what various opinions may be!

Thanks!
 
Sorry, I can't help with the above but remember your original post - is the dealer paying for all of this?

If not - I'd hand the car back and get another - the market is ripe for a bargain this time of year.
 
Also be ware of the n52 cilinderhead tick.
If your car didn't have the ticking valve adjusters, you were lucky. Swapping the engine/head risks getting this problem.


Strange problem you had though. Pretty uncommon I think?
 
you shouldn't have an issue with replacement engines

It really depends on that engines history, but if it's been serviced well then should be fine.

I'd be more concerned about why your engine did what it did as that's not a common thing to happen
 
Darkangelv2 said:
Sorry, I can't help with the above but remember your original post - is the dealer paying for all of this?

If not - I'd hand the car back and get another - the market is ripe for a bargain this time of year.
Click to expand...

Yeah he is.

They have been very good about the whole process.

They are even starting the warranty again after I pick it up.

They still are offering a refund if I am not happy with the work, I'm going to see the car next weekend.
 
So is this a car you purchased recently that has gone in for a warranty repair, which has then resulted in the engine being replaced? If so then i would have a full refund as the resale value is going to be massively lower and you will end up well out of pocket.
 
simonlpearce said:
So is this a car you purchased recently that has gone in for a warranty repair, which has then resulted in the engine being replaced? If so then i would have a full refund as the resale value is going to be massively lower and you will end up well out of pocket.
Click to expand...

+1
 
Why would the resale value be lower?

It has a lower mileage engine in it.

Also, my thinking was that it is still under warranty and the part (engine) is guaranteed.

A lot of people taking the money, I know it's probs the most sensible option...
 
It should be absolutely fine, just remember to update the paperwork with the new engine number and keep all invoices as proof.
 
I don't think the car has been abused previously.

It has Pirelli tyres on it, and a full BMW service history with two owners.

It is in fantastic condition... Apart from the engine!
I think the cause of the fault was a defect in the cylinderhead casting. Thats really the only thing to explain a part of it breaking off.
 
I'm sure the car once repaired & running will be fine but ask yourself would you knowingly buy (or even travel to view) a car that has had a engine swap at some point in its life making any service history that comes withb the car pretty much worthless , any future buyer will be taking a punt & for that they will most likely want a decent reduction in the price paid meaning you are going to lose out :cry:
Then again if you said nothing 9/10 prospective buyers would be clueless to the swapped engine i suspect as virtually nobody ever checks the engine number against logbook :?
 
As above there a any number of reasons why a replaced engine would be off putting. Whilst you have the option to pull out i honestly don't see why you wouldn't get your money back. You have zero knowledge of the replacement engine other than the word of the garage doing the work, it could be a ticking time bomb. There are plenty of cars for sale with perfectly good engines so it makes no sense to even take that risk.

Regardless its your choice, but i guarantee come resale time, assuming you are honest about the engine swap, you will not get the going market rate.
 
Yeah, I guess if was going to buy a car and the engine had been swapped I would go for one with less hassle, if I didn't know the full story.

Reasons for possibly getting this one is that I need a car! I have been without one for around a month now and it's not ideal!
These coupes are quite rare for the right spec / price etc and it had taken months to find the one I have bought.

I know it's not the best situation and ideally there would be plenty of other decent ones on auto trader. This isn't the case right now though.

I would want to see some sort of service history of the donor engine, or as you say the service history of the car doesn't mean much.

I will go and see the car again and see what they have done to it.
Not made up my mind 100% if I'll be keeping it or not!

I'll keep checking auto trader in the mean time!
Unless anyone on here knows any other avenues for finding them?
 
I called the dealer today to ask how the car was.

He said it had been test driven 60 miles and an emissions light had come on... Car is back in the garage!

I think I would be a bit of a mug now to go through with it. Seems like this car will be one thing after another with repairs!

So I was the owner of a Z4 for 6 weeks and drove it for ten whole minutes! They were a great 10mins.

I'll keep looking for a montego blue one with FSH from a decent trade dealership.

If you guys come across one then flag it up!
 
Not yet! I'll call tomorrow to sort it out. :(

There is a decent one on eBay for 10k, 65k miles.
Just it's a private sale. If the same thing happened in a private sale I would be 4K out of pocket!
 
You would be very unlucky for it to happen again.

These engines don't usually go wrong to be fair
 
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