[nissubaru]

Seems like we have nothing but shitty options if our motors ever go. Currently looking for a good replacement motor to put in my car but I'm not too excited about what is available and I feel I've searched pretty extensively around the country at this point

Unless you got money to blow or don't feel like you're putting too much money into a "disposable" car then I guess the $8000+ options are acceptable. But for me I kinda think it's insane to dump that sort of money into a car with 87k miles. I'll buy a entire running 335i before I do that.

With that said, buying a used low mileage motor and swapping that in seems to be the best option. That or a rebuilt motor from Ghassan Automotive for $3000+ shipping costs etc...Basically I'm just looking for feedback on whether or not people have had success with a used engine or if you went through multiple motors before finding an acceptable core replacement. Any experiences with Ghassan's motors?

I'm most likely going to have a shop perform the work but it's 50/50 on whether or not they can source me a core for a decent price. If they find the core I still gotta ask if the labor is warrantied. If I find the core myself then all bets are off for the labor being warrantied.

The cheapest option is to do the work myself, most salvage yards warranty the engines for a certain amount of time so I wouldn't have to worry about labor then...but I'd have to do this out of my parents garage ~30 minutes away. I've done some pretty wild jobs, never pulled an engine but it doesn't scare me too much. Only concern I have doing it myself would be getting all the necessary BMW specific tools to do the swap, if there are any.

Thanks

Why didn't you just ask in the initial thread you created?

MMP, APR, Motiv, VVT has a shop they use (can't recall the name off the top of my head), etc.

[nissubaru]

Originally Posted by FCobra94

Why didn't you just ask in the initial thread you created?

MMP, APR, Motiv, VVT has a shop they use (can't recall the name off the top of my head), etc.

I figured my question was different enough that I wanted to open a new thread so that more people could reply. I couldn't just change the Subject of my other thread, otherwise I would have done that and edited the original post with my question.

Also, maybe I should have been more specific. I just want to get my car back on the road, I'll probably cool it on the modifications. I'm not looking to go single turbo or anything. The shops you listed all probably do excellent work but I'm not looking for a rebuild. Just looking for people to post feedback who have swapped used motors in place of their blown N54.

One salvage swap to another is obviously going to produce extremely inconsistent results. At least when you go with a rebuild, you know exactly what you're getting when you unwrap the pallet.

[Riceball777]

You question is quite silly. I have done lots of engine swaps in my time. And people with all types of cars do engine swaps all the time. And 90% of all engine swaps are people sourcing a used engine for eith an engine imported or from a crashed car from a salvaged yard. And yes there’s is always a risk of a bad engine because you have no idea if the used engine is any good. Most salve yards can perform a compression test and this will significantly lower your chances of swapping in a bad engine.

Also there is no special bmw tools needed to swap an n54. Just a normally engine hoist /cherry picker. It’s no different from swapping any other engine from out of the hood. Certain cars like 911 and gtr’s you must used a life because the engine must be taken out from the bottom. But this is not the case with an n54. Anyone with basic knowledge that has done a swap before can do this in there home garage.

Also n54 bmws are extremely common and is gett8ng quite old. N54 motors are quite easy to source. They go for around 2-3 thousand all day long.

[nissubaru]

Originally Posted by Riceball777

You question is quite silly. I have done lots of engine swaps in my time. And people with all types of cars do engine swaps all the time. And 90% of all engine swaps are people sourcing a used engine for eith an engine imported or from a crashed car from a salvaged yard. And yes there’s is always a risk of a bad engine because you have no idea if the used engine is any good. Most salve yards can perform a compression test and this will significantly lower your chances of swapping in a bad engine.

Also there is no special bmw tools needed to swap an n54. Just a normally engine hoist /cherry picker. It’s no different from swapping any other engine from out of the hood. Certain cars like 911 and gtr’s you must used a life because the engine must be taken out from the bottom. But this is not the case with an n54. Anyone with basic knowledge that has done a swap before can do this in there home garage.

Also n54 bmws are extremely common and is gett8ng quite old. N54 motors are quite easy to source. They go for around 2-3 thousand all day long.

I'm sure it's a bit of a silly question but it's coming from someone who has never had to replace or rebuild an engine before. Part of my concern comes from hearing horror stories about people who went through 2 to 3 motors before they got a good motor. Most of the salvage yards I spoke with can/will do, or have already done a compression test on their motors before they decide to keep them as cores. One of them supposedly did a leakdown and said it was within 5%. The other places I called didn't seem to have it as an option, although maybe I can push for it.

I've heard leakdown tests are more reliable on these motors? Either way, my concern of buying a used motor is merely the concern of shelling out $2500 for labor and having to do it all over again because the engine was junk.

What about the Ghassan Automotive motors? Are they any good or worth my consideration? If I went with the Ghassan motor it would probably cost me $4000 or so to get it delivered and have my core shipped back to him. I'm leaning towards ~$2500 for an engine with 77k miles including the turbos and then doing the work myself.

As stated, I've never done an engine swap but I've done some pretty extensive work on my twin turbo 300zx such as completely replacing the suspension, pressed out/in a bunch of ball joints, dropped the subframe to install new bushings for both the differential and the subframe. This wasn't even nuts and bolts but rather using drill bits, hole saws, sawzalls and and chisels to remove the old bushings from the subframe. I've also swapped the downpipes in/out on my 335i probably 4 times now just for inspection purposes as well as replaced the water pump, alternator, OFHG, Clutch Master Cylinder, JB4 a couple times. I left out a bunch of other crap I've done over the years, but the point is I like to wrench and feel I can get this one done.

One concern I have is evacuating the AC and refilling it but it looks like Harbor Freight sells something there. Nuts, bolts, screws, sensors/clips, hoses, etc I can do...it's random stuff like that which I'll have to learn as I go.

[tisdrew]

Originally Posted by Riceball777

Also n54 bmws are extremely common and is gett8ng quite old. N54 motors are quite easy to source. They go for around 2-3 thousand all day long.

I did this, picked up a junkyard motor from LKQ for $2300 I think. It had a 18 month warranty. It's still running strong after 50k more miles.

[nissubaru]

Originally Posted by tisdrew

I did this, picked up a junkyard motor from LKQ for $2300 I think. It had a 18 month warranty. It's still running strong after 50k more miles.

Do you know how many miles were on the motor you bought? LKQ seems expensive, there aren't very many options on there right now. I've sourced parts before using car-part.com and have found a handful of options through them for this motor. Currently thinking of grabbing a 77k mile motor for $2500ish shipped.

[MiniXP]

I bought my motor out of a car from a local salvage yard. I was able to get pics of the damage from before the motor was pulled, inspect the engine prior to purchase and I also got the VIN of the car so I was able to get the full maintenance records from he local BMW dealer. Worked out well for me and probably would for most people if you do all that.

There's always a chance of getting a bad motor though. Most places will warranty the actual motor, but your out the labor of the install.

[nissubaru]

Originally Posted by MiniXP

I bought my motor out of a car from a local salvage yard. I was able to get pics of the damage from before the motor was pulled, inspect the engine prior to purchase and I also got the VIN of the car so I was able to get the full maintenance records from he local BMW dealer. Worked out well for me and probably would for most people if you do all that.

There's always a chance of getting a bad motor though. Most places will warranty the actual motor, but your out the labor of the install.

How did you get the maintenance history? I was gonna do the same but for recalls, I figure they at least have that info but unless I went to the same dealer the car went to I dont think they would have maintenance history. Do they?

[MysticRob]

Originally Posted by nissubaru

How did you get the maintenance history? I was gonna do the same but for recalls, I figure they at least have that info but unless I went to the same dealer the car went to I dont think they would have maintenance history. Do they?

Ask nicely and they'll likely hook you up. They wouldn't print mine up (previous owner info was on it) but I took pics of the screen with the names blocked out. This was on a car I bought elsewhere.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by FCobra94

One salvage swap to another is obviously going to produce extremely inconsistent results. At least when you go with a rebuild, you know exactly what you're getting when you unwrap the pallet.

It depends. Results could be just the opposite. Especially is "rebuild" engine comes from Ghassan mention in post #1

[nissubaru]

Does anyone have a link to a good DIY or article on removing the engine for those of us with a manual transmission and RWD. I thought I read somewhere if you have a manual transmission you can keep the front clip in place but you gotta drop the transmission first? Then there's dropping the whole thing out from the bottom which wont be happening here.

Thanks

[nOshi]

I was in the same predicament as you last year. I ended up sourcing a motor locally and was able to hear it run. I removed the front clip and pulled the motor and transmission out together. I did this on an automatic and should apply the same to a manual. This was my first motor swap and it's quite straightforward. I made a video documenting what I did, don't take it as law but should give a good overview. Hopefully it helps you out.

[nissubaru]

Originally Posted by nOshi

I was in the same predicament as you last year. I ended up sourcing a motor locally and was able to hear it run. I removed the front clip and pulled the motor and transmission out together. I did this on an automatic and should apply the same to a manual. This was my first motor swap and it's quite straightforward. I made a video documenting what I did, don't take it as law but should give a good overview. Hopefully it helps you out.

Hey thanks for commenting! I've actually been watching your videos the past couple days. Looks very doable. I have a manual transmission though so I think I'll save myself some time and pull the transmission before I pull the engine. The other information I'm using for the swap is a Newtis article

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...engine/4QsLBF2

One question I have, maybe you can help me, did you swap over your turbos to the new engine? I don't think you mentioned in the video, although I noticed you swapped over the wiring harness. If I can manage swapping the engine I'm sure I can swap over the turbos...however, there's a $325 turbo installation kit that some places sell.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...-11627558906kt

Is this necessary if I just want to swap my old turbos over to the new engine? There are two engines I'm looking at, one with less miles but no turbos and one with slightly more miles but they include the turbos. Not sure which I prefer at this point.

One thing I worry about is any contamination in my turbos from the shavings in the oil. Dunno if I should worry about that or not but that's how I roll lol

[nOshi]

Not a problem. Nice great share with the newtis link, didn't know about that resource.

I had rb turbos at the time so I swapped my old ones over. I'd highly recommend getting a turbo install kit, since I reused mines and months later the rubber section of the turbo coolant line developed a leak. So that's what pushed me to upgrade to single turbo since I didn't want to go through the hassle of dropping the turbos again after this time.

I would flush out the turbo and have it cleaned up or if budget allows get a new set. You know the status of your turbo, that it wasn't smoking or anything compared to the donor set. But then again the donor set might be in great condition. It's all a toss up really.

Also components like alternator and ac compressor I'd check those or swap your old ones in. I used the donor motor ac compressor and when I went to refill it with Freon, it wasn't working. Ended up swapping my initial one in.

[nissubaru]

Originally Posted by nOshi

Not a problem. Nice great share with the newtis link, didn't know about that resource.

I had rb turbos at the time so I swapped my old ones over. I'd highly recommend getting a turbo install kit, since I reused mines and months later the rubber section of the turbo coolant line developed a leak. So that's what pushed me to upgrade to single turbo since I didn't want to go through the hassle of dropping the turbos again after this time.

I would flush out the turbo and have it cleaned up or if budget allows get a new set. You know the status of your turbo, that it wasn't smoking or anything compared to the donor set. But then again the donor set might be in great condition. It's all a toss up really.

Also components like alternator and ac compressor I'd check those or swap your old ones in. I used the donor motor ac compressor and when I went to refill it with Freon, it wasn't working. Ended up swapping my initial one in.

Hmm, good info. Thank you. Makes my decision a little bit tougher. My turbos weren't smoking, but they do have some wastegate rattle. No clue on the condition of the turbos from the donor engine although that one has 76k miles. I found another motor with 55k miles but no turbos. Roughly the same price, but with the 55k mile engine I'd have to swap mine over and that would make it more expensive. Probably a no brainer considering the mileage is 20k less but for say $300 more I could have it all done with the turbos swapped over. Decisions decisions! Doing it myself will save me probably $2500 in labor so that's something to consider.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by nissubaru

Hmm, good info. Thank you. Makes my decision a little bit tougher. My turbos weren't smoking, but they do have some wastegate rattle. No clue on the condition of the turbos from the donor engine although that one has 76k miles. I found another motor with 55k miles but no turbos. Roughly the same price, but with the 55k mile engine I'd have to swap mine over and that would make it more expensive. Probably a no brainer considering the mileage is 20k less but for say $300 more I could have it all done with the turbos swapped over. Decisions decisions! Doing it myself will save me probably $2500 in labor so that's something to consider.

Mileage alone won't tell you anything about the condition the engine is. 50k city vs 50k hwy. 50k with immaculate maintenance vs 50k of neglect. 50k with no truck days vs 50k with 50 truck days. Never make you purchasing decision based on mileage.

[FEDE/E92]

Just do a leakdown test before u buy. I bought a used engine and leakdowd tested before buying, cold is was with on 2-3% leakage. Gives you a good idea of the cond before you buy.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by FEDE/E92

Just do a leakdown test before u buy. I bought a used engine and leakdowd tested before buying, cold is was with on 2-3% leakage. Gives you a good idea of the cond before you buy.

That in addition to oil test since these engines are known to have crank bearing issues.

[nissubaru]

Originally Posted by FEDE/E92

Just do a leakdown test before u buy. I bought a used engine and leakdowd tested before buying, cold is was with on 2-3% leakage. Gives you a good idea of the cond before you buy.

Compression tests are about as good as I'm able to get with these guys, I can maybe try to push for a leakdown test. The lower mileage motor I'm pretty sure they aren't going to do that for, probably under the reasoning of "we tested it, we know it's good". For that motor the guy said he ran the engine for a bit and even drove the car around the block since it was still driveable or something. Couldn't find any pics of the damage to the car.

The other motor with more miles looks like it had side impact damage, engine cover and original intake still installed which is a good sign. I'll have to call back and ask some more questions but I believe they said they do a compression test first and they also ran the engine while it was still in the car.

I'm trying to stay away from cars where you can clearly see dual cone intakes or other modifications. There was one N54 I found out in California from a 135i and they were also selling catless downpipes from the same car. No thanks.

--

There's also a motor with 93k miles for $1950 and it's super local to me. If I want it they'll do a test for me, I have to confirm if they'll do a leakdown though.

Just to clarify, the leakdown is what I should be concerned with most for these engines? Sorry if it sounds like I'm a noob, I've literally never bought a used motor before. Or would you guys be content enough knowing they ran the engine and it sounded fine. I mean, even my busted ass motor sounds pretty good if you're just letting it idle.

[nissubaru]

Originally Posted by feuer

That in addition to oil test since these engines are known to have crank bearing issues.

I'm not sure how I could manage an oil test on a used engine that I'm getting from a salvage yard. I assume that they would have drained the oil when they pulled it? Or are you suggesting I try to find a car that was literally just totaled and get an oil analysis done while the motor is still in the car?