[afadeev]

Originally Posted by jasonsl

Just had my recently bought 2015 M235i inspected by a local mechanic during the return period. They said the N55 is a great motor and better than the B58 before 2022.

N55 is a half-decent motor (inferior to its predecessor, N54, IMHO), and is in no way better than B58.

Also, if you were "returning" the car (for trade-in, I suppose), it wasn't inspected by a mechanic. You were talking to a sales person.

Originally Posted by jasonsl

In fact they said they don’t recommend buying a B58 equipped BMW before 2022 model year. This seems to contradict the online consensus that B58 is more reliable than the N55. Any reason or insight as to why this mechanic was so adamant about trashing the early B58 motor?

Because he wasn't a mechanic, or was just shooting sh*t with you?

Originally Posted by SteVTEC

This is practically a crime, and designed to grenade the engines earlier so that everyone is forced into EV's.

Total nonsense ^ 999.

All engines are susceptible to demise from poor or erratic maintenance and extended oil change intervals. Turbo engines are particularly sensitive to damage from running on cooked oil.

Here is an example of dead N55 tear down:

Here is an example of dead B58 tear down:

a

[G30M]

Originally Posted by afadeev

Here is an example of dead B58 tear down:

a

i'm not dissing you, and I fully agree what you say, but I just want to point out that the B58 teardown found bent piston from hydrolocking the engine

[G30M]

Originally Posted by jasonsl

Just had my recently bought 2015 M235i inspected by a local mechanic during the return period. They said the N55 is a great motor and better than the B58 before 2022. In fact they said they don’t recommend buying a B58 equipped BMW before 2022 model year. This seems to contradict the online consensus that B58 is more reliable than the N55. Any reason or insight as to why this mechanic was so adamant about trashing the early B58 motor?

the only common denominator of N55 & B58 vs 2022+ B58 is that the earlier ones are direct injected engines and the new one is dual direct and port injected. could be why he said that. still i maintain it's too early to know.

newer ones are also almost exclusively mild hybrids but to me that adds complexity and impacts reliability.

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by G30M

i'm not dissing you, and I fully agree what you say, but I just want to point out that the B58 teardown found bent piston from hydrolocking the engine

Totally agree, but then again, no engine is immune from idiotic owners trying to join the Navy in a bimmer.

Can't really hold that against an engine!

a

[bmwstephen]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

What are you talking about??? Timing chains are lifetime parts and do not require changing. That’s why manufacturers use chains rather than belts. Timing belts require replacement at regular intervals. Not timing chains. If the timing chain on an N55 or B58 requires maintenance there has been a significant failure somewhere. I haven’t seen a single post on any BMW forum complaining of a timing chain issue with either the N55 or the B58 since the introduction of either of them. Or the four cylinder B46/48 either for that matter.

Guess you never owned bmw’s as long as I have. Every BMW engine I tore down at over 100k, timing chain guides are worn and there is slack in the chain. Do they snap like timing belts? No but they are an eventual service item and you’d be dumb to not do it while you are in there. But oh wait you can’t now because its in the back of the engine because BMW hired audi engineers

[G30M]

Originally Posted by bmwstephen

Guess you never owned bmw’s as long as I have. Every BMW engine I tore down at over 100k, timing chain guides are worn and there is slack in the chain. Do they snap like timing belts? No but they are an eventual service item and you’d be dumb to not do it while you are in there. But oh wait you can’t now because its in the back of the engine because BMW hired audi engineers

yup. i guess there is no material more suitable than plastic guides?

just wondering, is it also at the back in the N55 and N63? thanks

[paquet]

Originally Posted by afadeev

Totally agree, but then again, no engine is immune from idiotic owners trying to join the Navy in a bimmer.


a

"it's not gay if it's underway"

[KevinC]

Originally Posted by paquet

"it's not gay if it's underway"

[afadeev]

Originally Posted by paquet

"it's not gay if it's underway"

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by bmwstephen

Guess you never owned bmw’s as long as I have. Every BMW engine I tore down at over 100k, timing chain guides are worn and there is slack in the chain. Do they snap like timing belts? No but they are an eventual service item and you’d be dumb to not do it while you are in there. But oh wait you can’t now because its in the back of the engine because BMW hired audi engineers

You’re right, of course. That’s why we see someone on the BMW forums every single day complaining about how much trouble the timing chain on their BMW inline six motor has caused them.

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by bmwstephen

Guess you never owned bmw’s as long as I have. Every BMW engine I tore down at over 100k, timing chain guides are worn and there is slack in the chain. Do they snap like timing belts? No but they are an eventual service item and you’d be dumb to not do it while you are in there. But oh wait you can’t now because its in the back of the engine because BMW hired audi engineers

At what mileage are you tearing down BMW engines for the purpose of replacing the primary timing chain, as opposed to another reason like V8 coolant lines? I also “do whatever else makes sense while in there” for jobs that require a fair amount of labor to simply open up the work area. I have had 4 six cylinder BMWs with 145k to 165k miles and 1 V8 with 130k and none appeared to need timing chains.

[bmwstephen]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

At what mileage are you tearing down BMW engines for the purpose of replacing the primary timing chain, as opposed to another reason like V8 coolant lines? I also “do whatever else makes sense while in there” for jobs that require a fair amount of labor to simply open up the work area. I have had 4 six cylinder BMWs with 145k to 165k miles and 1 V8 with 130k and none appeared to need timing chains.

m10, m20, m54, S50, s52, s54, s62, s65 rebuilds at 120k ish. Especially, when you have to tackle the headgasket, or vanos, you remove the timing cover at which point you tackle the guides and the chain. Every one of them even if you replace the guides, the chain has some slack cause the metal does stretch over time. I expect no different with current engines either.

Edit my experience: BMW owner for over 20 years. I never get into them when new either so by the time I get into them, I already know their issues and fixing them.

[bmwstephen]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

You’re right, of course. That’s why we see someone on the BMW forums every single day complaining about how much trouble the timing chain on their BMW inline six motor has caused them.

That's because the majority of people on this forum don't know anything about their cars (or keep it long enough to have to deal with it). Then again, I am also not the type of BMW owner the buys the latest and greatest 1st gen of any vehicle. I always see how each generation plays out before considering them.

Originally Posted by G30M

yup. i guess there is no material more suitable than plastic guides?

just wondering, is it also at the back in the N55 and N63? thanks

I rest my case (but if that is a serious question-they are in the front thank god)

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by bmwstephen

m10, m20, m54, S50, s52, s54, s62, s65 rebuilds at 120k ish. Especially, when you have to tackle the headgasket, or vanos, you remove the timing cover at which point you tackle the guides and the chain. Every one of them even if you replace the guides, the chain has some slack cause the metal does stretch over time. I expect no different with current engines either.

Edit my experience: BMW owner for over 20 years. I never get into them when new either so by the time I get into them, I already know their issues and fixing them.

So you are not disassembling engines because there are timing chain issues. You are disassembling them for other reasons and replacing the timing chains while in there because you don’t want to duplicate the effort to go back in when the chain might really need replacement in another 100k miles. I would do the same thing. I replaced the chain on one of my S52 when I had the head and front cover off and the motor had 100k even though the M50/52/S50/52 are known to go 250k on original chains.

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by bmwstephen

m10, m20, m54, S50, s52, s54, s62, s65 rebuilds at 120k ish. Especially, when you have to tackle the headgasket, or vanos, you remove the timing cover at which point you tackle the guides and the chain. Every one of them even if you replace the guides, the chain has some slack cause the metal does stretch over time. I expect no different with current engines either.

Edit my experience: BMW owner for over 20 years. I never get into them when new either so by the time I get into them, I already know their issues and fixing them.

BMW owner for 20 years here, too. Haven’t had a single major mechanical problem with any of the six inline six 3ers I’ve owned spanning the early E46 to the G20.

Sounds like you are really good at buying old BMWs that haven’t been well maintained.

[StradaRedlands]

I know this is about N55/B58 motors, but seeing as it came up in coversation, does the N52 even have any catastrophic problems? Other than one-off anecdotes, it is one of the most bulletproof motors out there. All the known problems aren't really problems with the motor itself, just seals like OPG, VCG, OFHG and related components like VANOS Solenoids and water pumps. I guess valve seals can go bad, but not really catastrophic. All those things failing give the car a bad reputation, but the motor itself is pretty much perfection. Timing chain guides in the N20, rod bearings in the N55 are potential problems in other engines but not statistically relevant N52 problems.

[bmwstephen]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

BMW owner for 20 years here, too. Haven’t had a single major mechanical problem with any of the six inline six 3ers I’ve owned spanning the early E46 to the G20.

Sounds like you are really good at buying old BMWs that haven’t been well maintained.

sound like you're okay driving BMWs that are worn down. but hey that's okay too. I just don't like to wait until a major mechanical issue happening and driving them in tip top shape.

[bmwstephen]

Originally Posted by StradaRedlands

I know this is about N55/B58 motors, but seeing as it came up in coversation, does the N52 even have any catastrophic problems? Other than one-off anecdotes, it is one of the most bulletproof motors out there. All the known problems aren't really problems with the motor itself, just seals like OPG, VCG, OFHG and related components like VANOS Solenoids and water pumps. I guess valve seals can go bad, but not really catastrophic. All those things failing give the car a bad reputation, but the motor itself is pretty much perfection. Timing chain guides in the N20, rod bearings in the N55 are potential problems in other engines but not statistically relevant N52 problems.

N52; especially the earlier ones with the magnesium block construction. 2006 330i is the best because that motor put out 255hp and reliability was way better than m54 (and the n54 after it). If you have to get a robust N/A motor from BMW, that is the one to get.

[pbonsalb]

I have done a lot of preventative maintenance on my BMWs over the past 20 years, but the only timing chain I replaced was on an S52 that I was building to turbocharge. I did do rod bearings as preventative maintenance on the S65 in the E90 M3 that I had for 10 years and 110k miles. Did a lot of work on the N54 in the 2008 E61 535xi that I had for 10 years and am still maintaining for the person I gave it to, including rod bearings — which looked as good at 150k as the ones I changed on the S65 at 60k. Bought an F25 X3 with N52 a couple of years ago to give to a niece and recently changed the valve cover and just did a bunch of maintenance at 145k. Hoping it will go to 200k.

[tturedraider]

Originally Posted by bmwstephen

sound like you're okay driving BMWs that are worn down. but hey that's okay too. I just don't like to wait until a major mechanical issue happening and driving them in tip top shape.

You are truly utterly stupid!! But that’s okay I won’t be seeing anymore of your ignorant posts!!

[mjohn]

Yeah, that’s a bit of a surprising take. The B58 is generally seen as more reliable than the N55, especially online. But early B58s (pre-2020) did have some teething issues — coolant leaks, oil filter housing problems, that sort of thing. Maybe your mechanic’s just seen a few rough ones and formed an opinion. Still, overall, the B58’s a solid engine, just like the N55, overall they had to improve some things overall. But that is just my opinion.

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by tturedraider

You are truly utterly stupid!! But that’s okay I won’t be seeing anymore of your ignorant posts!!

He can’t be stupid if he is tearing down and rebuilding S65s. Those are complex engines.