Spare engines.

[X5chemist]

My niece in Az has an '04 Z4 with only 80k miles on it. I had a good look over it. I'm surprised it's not plagued with oil leaks. If it's in an accident, I told her I want the engine. The 04-06 M54 should be compatible, right?

My other niece has a nice 645Ci. It's in near perfect condition. It had a non working power lighter. The problem was a blown fuse. My niece now knows how to replace a blown fuse. It's located in the trunk.

[Effduration]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

....... If it's in an accident, I told her I want the engine. The 04-06 M54 should be compatible, right?

Yes, it's certainly compatible...

I like to have a couple of M54's on hand in case I come across an E46, E53, E83, E39, E36/7 that blew a head gasket or has some other engine failure. I would often pick up used engines,...usually overheated, and rebuild them. I really only want the 3.0 liter M54B30...

I found myself a few years ago with five M54's ready to go, so I sold several, including one I shipped across the country. Now I have one B30 and one B25..

But the truth is, that if you can keep oil and coolant in your M54, it will likely last longer than the rest of the car.

[nick325xit 5spd]

I cant say that an M54 is an engine that I feel motivated to keep a huge amount of spares for (absent a SpecE46 build that's probably never happening).

I do have a spare S54 in the basement, though.

[getty150]

Having these 3 forces me keep the M54!
Loving every wenching turn of it.

Sent from my TMAF035G using Tapatalk

[X5chemist]

getty150, super nice collection! Are they all daily drivers?

The S54 sounds interesting. I had too google it to find information.

Effduration, you are correct. After two years of maintenance, the X5 is happy daily driving above 2000 RPMs. It likes highway speed. Long and short bursts of 70-90 MPH are nothing. I bet it could turn 2500-3200 RPMs all day. An oil pan gasket fix removed a lot of oil sludge build up. A proper thermostat runs at ~193 F. To help with cooling, I keep a stock mechanical fan running. I can hear it engage during warm up. Now if I could fix the oil burning issue, I would be super happy. It's not bad. I can see a small cloud when taking off from a dead stop.

[nick325xit 5spd]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

getty150, super nice collection! Are they all daily drivers?

The S54 sounds interesting. I had too google it to find information.

Effduration, you are correct. After two years of maintenance, the X5 is happy daily driving above 2000 RPMs. It likes highway speed. Long and short bursts of 70-90 MPH are nothing. I bet it could turn 2500-3200 RPMs all day. An oil pan gasket fix removed a lot of oil sludge build up. A proper thermostat runs at ~193 F. To help with cooling, I keep a stock mechanical fan running. I can hear it engage during warm up. Now if I could fix the oil burning issue, I would be super happy. It's not bad. I can see a small cloud when taking off from a dead stop.

As much as it would amuse me to S54 the X5, that's either for the E30 M3 (already S54ed) or maybe E36.

[Effduration]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

...... Now if I could fix the oil burning issue, I would be super happy. It's not bad. I can see a small cloud when taking off from a dead stop.

https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/...ption.1259657/

See post #4...It will clean the carbon off your rings, and will likely fix your oil burning issue. It will also completely de-sludge your engine.

This of course assumes your CCV is fresh and not failed.

[Fifty150hs]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

getty150, super nice collection! Are they all daily drivers?

The S54 sounds interesting. I had too google it to find information.

Effduration, you are correct. After two years of maintenance, the X5 is happy daily driving above 2000 RPMs. It likes highway speed. Long and short bursts of 70-90 MPH are nothing. I bet it could turn 2500-3200 RPMs all day. An oil pan gasket fix removed a lot of oil sludge build up. A proper thermostat runs at ~193 F. To help with cooling, I keep a stock mechanical fan running. I can hear it engage during warm up. Now if I could fix the oil burning issue, I would be super happy. It's not bad. I can see a small cloud when taking off from a dead stop.

Your smoke symptoms sound like a CCV problem.

[X5chemist]

Thanks, an OEM CCV is ready for installation. A coolant pipe refresh is coming soon. The CCV will go in at the same time. An oil pan gasket and OHFG stopped all the oil drips. It's nice to see a garage and driveway drip free.

During winter driving, white goo was visible on the oil cap. Summer driving has no buildup. Would that be a sign of a bad CCV?

It's at 159645 miles. An oil change is due at 160k miles. I should at buying the BG "EPR" # 109. Two cans are not expensive.

[Fifty150hs]

Originally Posted by X5chemist

Thanks, an OEM CCV is ready for installation. A coolant pipe refresh is coming soon. The CCV will go in at the same time. An oil pan gasket and OHFG stopped all the oil drips. It's nice to see a garage and driveway drip free.

During winter driving, white goo was visible on the oil cap. Summer driving has no buildup. Would that be a sign of a bad CCV?

It could be. It depends on whether you do a lot of short trips or longer. The engine needs time to cook off moisture in the oil, short trips don't allow that and you can end up with "mayo" on the cap. It could also be the CCV. That's what it was with mine. Most specifically, I discovered when I did the replacement, the drain back hose had collapsed internally. The oil would build up in the the hose and back into the CCV until it got sucked into the intake and burned off. Turned out I could have probably just replaced the drain back hose. I eventually got rid of the CCV all together and put in the Cn90 mod with a catch can.

The coolant pipe job is a PITA. I just did mine a couple weeks ago along with new hoses and metal impeller water pump. Allow plenty of time.