Need Used 3.0 Engine for my 2004 6M/T
 

133k miles on my beautiful X5 with the 6-speed manual but unfortunately I am almost certain I have a head gasket leak that is building pressure in the cooling system. From what I have gathered if all goes well a head gasket replacement is $5k but the studs usually strip when tightening the head back on, so then you need a new engine.

It seems the logical thing would be to swap in a used engine. Or I could part the entire vehicle out or sell as is.

What would you do?

How hard is it to replace the engine?

All options are expensive...

have you owned and maintained since new?

how much for used, rebuilt engine?

if the prices are comparable I might consider dropping a new engine if I were you. post up in the manual trans registry and keep us posted!

Yes, original owner... done most maint myself, clutch replaced recently by BMW. I am in the 6M/T registry, thanks...

Used engines look to be between 2,500-5k with varying miles... of course it doesn't make much sense to replace it with one with high miles.

$5k seems excessive for a head gasket. I just called my friend's Indy shop, and he said $2,500-$3,000. But it can be easy to mis-diagnose this. I'll PM you his shop's details.

Many thanks Skyline... the $5,100 was from Bridgeport BMW.

Find a good BMW oriented Indie, get a 2nd opin and quote...the dlr price is usually stiffer.
If it were mine, I would fix it: $3-4Gs on an older car that you know and you like, is considerable cheaper than a new car, paying cash or money down/payments or lease.
But, your decision.

It is your oe engine and no one 'knows it' like you do; I would repair, vs dropping in someone else's used motor.
GL, mD

^ I'm with the above. If the indy knows what he's doing and uses and good torque wrench, the studs shouldn't pull out. If you overheated the engine then I'd say, yes, get a new engine. However, since you haven't stated any overheating issues, I'm going to assume the head gasket took a dump on its own rather than as a result of overheating/warped head.

PS. Your engine should be good for a long while. Many on this forum have well over 250K on their motors and they are still running strong. That said, I wouldn't consider replacing your engine; especially since you're the original owner.

Bridgeport BMW is a pig...Look for indy shop..

I just did my head gasket, none of the holes stripped out.
Bit, it is common, and not the technicians fault. These are prone to stripping out the treads for the head bolts.

If you get a used engine expect to pay 20-30 hours in labor plus the engine and all misc parts. And then you have an engine that you don't know the history
Head gasket is the way I would go.

Sent from my SGH-i917 using Board Express

And the threads can be repaired to be stronger than the factory holes

And you are not (easily) going to find a used motor with much lower miles than your currently at.

Thanks for the replies... keep them coming. I have a good lead on an indy shop I will be calling.

btw... last year sometime it popped the upper hose off while my wife was driving it. Didn't take long to overheat of course and it actually shut itself down and alerted with a message. I believe that is when the damage occurred.

So the motor did, in fact, overheat?

yes, when it popped the upper hose

How badly did it overheat (i.e. did the needle peg itself on the thermo.?)?

if you are original owner FIX IT

If you'd like to make a trip to Jersey I can recommend a few HIGHLY recommended indies well versed in European engine rebuilds

I have to tell you I am sick of working on this thing; seems like it's been one thing after another lately. @Bayerische - yes pretty sure it was pegged.

Ask your wife and see if she remembers whether it was pegged and, if it was, for long it was pegged before the engine stopped. If it was pegged for more than 45 seconds or so, you're more than likely going to need a new head (at least).

Take it to your indie and have him pull the head and check for deformation on both the head and the block. Maybe everything is fine and you'll just need a new head gasket. Maybe you'll need a head gasket and a head. Maybe you'll need a new motor. See? Too many variables to consider at this point. Taking it to an indie for a strip-down is the only thing you can do now (short of selling the car as is or just picking up a new motor without confirming what the problem with your current motor is).

Good lucka nd keep us posted as to how everything goes!

I do not believe my wife was watching the temp gauge but you can bet it was pegged... the thing just shut off and a message appeared on the status display saying something it shutoff to protect the engine. I was surprised any vehicle was capable of doing that.

This was about a year and a half ago and the thing runs great but lately throwing peake code 19 f0 f1, between cyl 3 & 4 and using antifreeze, rough on start up. Pressure blowing off through the radiator cap, as designed. It currently does not overheat, but pretty sure the head gasket is "seeping" and time for a new one.

I've had a '98 328is, '02 M3, '04 X5 and I think I'm done... we are looking at the Audi Q5 as a replacement. If someone wants a nice 6-speed M/T that needs a head gasket send me a PM. I might trade it (let it go to auction) or give it to my kid and have them drive it as long as they can.

Thanks...

what color is it and what options?

How much? color combo? options? Miles?

Sterling Grey paint w/Black leather

Premium Pkg - 4,100.
Panorama Moonroof, leather, wood trim, adj rear seat back, climate control, computer
Cold Weather Pkg - 750.
heated front seats, headlight washers, ski bag
Rear Climate Pkg - 600.
rear door sun blinds, rear climate control, privacy glass
Heated Steering wheel - 150.

Total suggested retail $47,095


http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m...crew/x5new.jpg

134k miles

Nada guide showing clean retail $14,125 - let's minus 3K for head gasket = $11k. Needs tires & front CV boot repair (have replacement axle), would like to get $9,500 or best offer.

not a bad start, with the cv repair and tires though thats a grand off the bat, and we havent tackled the head gasket yet. Honestly you may get more money if you fix the head gasket before selling.

I love my '03 Topaz 5 speed with EHCII and sport package too much at 66k miles, which is rare to have lower mileage on the boards.

Nah, I saw a 4.6 for nearly same price. Too rich for me. Looks good though, good luck whichever way you go though.

or best offer...

If you don't fix it before selling, no one in their right mind will pay you anywhere close to what you are asking. At this point, you can't assume it just needs a head gasket. It could also need a head, or a complete motor. So your worst case repair is about $5,500 or so, and add the tires and CV joint repair. Anyone who buys the car knowing the problems is going to need to subtract that "worst case repair" from an offer price.

"Clean Retail"???? I don't know where you are getting this $14K price, but assuming the car is a 2004, Kelly Blue Book private party price with this mileage is $10,190 in "Excelllent" condition. With no engine problems. So you're going to be lucky to get $4K for this car. Sometimes a mechanic will buy a car for a little more knowing that they don't have to pay themselves labor to fix it, but a good used head or used motor is still not cheap, and either way, even if just a head gasket, it's a very big job, (or a massive job if the motor must come out).

Sorry.

Also, while I think a lot of folks here love the MT cars, I think that reduces marketability in the real world.

It would probably be possible to pass this off to an unsuspecting buyer, but that would be highly unethical given what you already know....maybe even fraudulent. So the thing to do is fix the car, and hope the repairs turn out to be not the worst case.

I love the manual X5s. I've got a 2005 manual and a 2003 automatic. I'd be willing to trade you my 2003 automatic (153,000 miles, works perfectly fine and has the DISA upgrade flap; oil consumption is 1qt/2,000 miles) for your E53 + cash. Then you wouldn't have to worry about having to buy your kid a new car. I'd love to have 2 manuals in my stable.

I'm not kidding. PM me if interested.

FYI clean retail came from nadaguides.com ... I see Kelly is lower, not sure who they use. When I traded my Chrysler the dealer used neither one. I have nothing to hide otherwise I wouldn't be posting... I will confirm tomorrow with a combustion leak test if it's detected in the coolant. I already did a cooling system pressure test and that actually passed.

@Bayerische - thanks for the offer! I need to check things out some more, who knows but do appreciate your consideration. I agree I personally would not want one that was not a 6-speed, they are a blast. Mine is outfitted nicely except for no Navi and non-fancy radio.

Yup! Good luck!

Maybe that NADA guide means retail as far as what a dealer would sell it for off their lot????

Still, even if you want to part with the car, you should fix it first.

You might want to try one of these testers on it:

GDCT16, Tester, Combustion Leak

Snap-on sells mail order, or send me a PM if you want to borrow mine.

Here's what my older version looks like:

http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/q...r/DSC08097.jpg

Do I understand it right - $3k for head gasket replacement? Even in Germany it would be like max. 500 Euro. The thing is - usually the cylinder wall burns underneath the gsaket, so you'd normally need an another block.

But for 3k you can get a used engine here in Germany and put supercharger on it. Crazy...

Wow...that's very reasonble. What are your typical hourly labor charges over there for an independent BMW mechanic?

Does anyone have access to book-rate labor charges for this job in terms of number of hours?

A tipycal labour charge is between 45 and 70 euro, but you can always arrange a fixed price. So the flywheel and clutch replacement on V8 powered E39 would normally cost 200-250 Euro.

Don't forget, in germany, BMW is kind of domestic. I bet these engines are all over the place.

I bought & used the UVIEW 560000 Combustion Leak Tester.

No more head gasket seepage after applying 'Bar's Leaks 111 Head Gasket Fix' to the cooling system. I know it's temporary... but running great right now ;-)

So what did it tell you?

That there was no combustion gases leaking into the cooling system.

Can we go back a few steps here? So far, the two things you've told us in terms of what you consider to be a bad head gasket are that you think the cylinder pressure is pressurizing the cooling system, and that there is head gasket seepage.

For the first, did you ever hook up a coolant pressure tester? These can do two things; you can leave it connected and warm up the engine. This will show if you have excessive pressure. Second, you can pressurize the system while it is cold, and see if it holds pressure. This is a MUST DO device to properly diagnose any problem with the cooling system. The Uview can also eliminate the cylinder gases getting in the cooling system as a possibility, but it's nice to know if the system pressure is right, and it can also help find leaks, and determine if the system holds pressure.

For the cylinder head seepage...are you actually seeing it leak from the joint of the block and head? Or are you seeing white smoke in the exhaust? Or are you just losing coolant? Are you getting coolant puddles on the floor?

Using stop-leak on a system like this is bound to cause all sorts of other problems. The sooner you flush all that crap out of the system and address the problem the better. These cars can hardly even tolerate the wrong antifreeze; adding stop-leak is really not good.

Well, that's a good thing.

- I pressurized the cooling system while it was cold, 20psi and held for 2-mins like the manual states, without going down.

- Only visible sign of coolant leakage is out the radiator cap (blows off as pressure builds) and there is some white exhaust even after warmed up but hard to tell that when it's cold outside right now.

- Cooling system was flushed out pretty good... and stop leak still holding after a week.

How is this different symptom wise than before you used the stop-leak?

You should be able to check the cap with your pressure tester.

oh sorry... no more blowing pressure off through the radiator cap now. Appears to be less white exhaust smoke (hard to tell). Combustion leak tester showed slight discoloration before and none after, so it must have been a pretty small leak. Most noticeable is no more rough idle at startup in the morning and no more fault codes being set (misfire cyl 3 & 4, Peake code F19 : F0, F1).

cap was replaced