N52 lifter noise

[Herbmiester 925]

I am looking at a 2007 325i Touring for the wife. Apart from the ticking lifters that some of these cars have what else goes wrong with the N52, I assume they leak like every other BMW with more the 70k on the clock? 

[M3AN 4016]

22 minutes ago, Herbmiester said:

I assume they leak like every other BMW with more the 70k on the clock? 

That's my experience, valve cover (easy), engine sump (expensive), trans sump (also expensive). The VANOS will need some attention at some stage but it's not terribly difficult/expensive from what I read. DISA valve... BMW will quote you over $2000 to replace it. ? I understand you can remove and clean it yourself.

 

[Jacko 2156]

CCV systems commonly sh*t emselves, and its a very different system between black and silver top N52s. I actually think failed CCVs kill DISA valves by soaking them in engine oil, the ones in my car are original and look new (at 270,000km+). There are aftermarket DISA valves which are cheap, or they can be rebuilt too, both are a couple of hundy max.

To replace both vanos solenoids is 2 bolts, 5 minutes, and about $200, and provided you regularly change the oil will last forever. Valvetronic, for such an oddball idea, is relatively problem free, other than gasket failures (which come with the rocker cover gasket kit)

Waterpumps and thermostats go, but its primarily at random rather than xxx km, normally they will both throw random canbus errors a few weeks before actually failing. Gets way overhyped as a big expensive job, its 4 hours work and with some shopping around $500ish in parts. 

 

 

[Herbmiester 925]

On 2/15/2020 at 10:54 AM, Jacko said:

CCV systems commonly sh*t emselves, and its a very different system between black and silver top N52s. I actually think failed CCVs kill DISA valves by soaking them in engine oil, the ones in my car are original and look new (at 270,000km+). There are aftermarket DISA valves which are cheap, or they can be rebuilt too, both are a couple of hundy max.

To replace both vanos solenoids is 2 bolts, 5 minutes, and about $200, and provided you regularly change the oil will last forever. Valvetronic, for such an oddball idea, is relatively problem free, other than gasket failures (which come with the rocker cover gasket kit)

Waterpumps and thermostats go, but its primarily at random rather than xxx km, normally they will both throw random canbus errors a few weeks before actually failing. Gets way overhyped as a big expensive job, its 4 hours work and with some shopping around $500ish in parts. 

 

 

What are the main differences between black and silver top engines? Do you mean M54 vs N52?

[Jacko 2156]

1 hour ago, Herbmiester said:

What are the main differences between black and silver top engines? Do you mean M54 vs N52?

Blacktops came out around 2007, have plastic rocker cover Vs the magnesium one on silver tops. Black tops CCV system is built into the rocker cover, and most of the time requires replacing the whole rocker cover (they also crack). Silver tops the CCV system is external, and available as smaller parts to replace, and the rocker covers corrode  . Internally the engines are identical, other than the blacktops will all have the cam ledge seal fix done, whereas some of the very early silver tops wont have. 

There is some conjecture around blacktops outputting slightly less power, but the standard for measuring changed at same time too, so who knows.

[lche059 1]

On 2/15/2020 at 10:39 AM, M3AN said:

That's my experience, valve cover (easy), engine sump (expensive), trans sump (also expensive). The VANOS will need some attention at some stage but it's not terribly difficult/expensive from what I read. DISA valve... BMW will quote you over $2000 to replace it. ? I understand you can remove and clean it yourself.

 

i don't think you can clean disas.

N52 got two disas. i bought them from the US (one genuine bmw the other vaico, you can check the prices on FCPEuro) and replaced them myself. i wouldn't do it for anyone for less than $1500...there's no cheap chinese made for disa i believe. BMWs are expensive to fix!

vanos solenoid, there're cheap chinese made ones. i first got two which didn't work. then i got another two from a different chinese supplier, which turned off the check engine light but the car still underperformed... until i got two bmw ones for  US$150 each..

Edited February 16, 2020 by lche059

[rb21443 0]

Have found with mine that electric water pump and water temperature thermostat are common to break.