Yup that is it, although does not look as glorious as those beautiful illustrations. It was quite filthy obviously
I have to say I am extremely worried for all owners of n52 engines out there that within the next 5 years they will have many failing engines because of this. BMW would not design a brand new head and give this to customers under warranty because the "ticking is annoying." Lots of bmws tick quite honestly and while it does get bad in a very select few cases, I believe bmw knows darn well this lack of oil pressure in the hydralic valvle area is not good.
Of course dealers and their "official" word is going to be that it does not damage anything or else 10s of thousands of customers are goin to be in with a recall-something bmw could not handle.
My 07 530 is running stronger than ever and revvin gmore freely and running smoother than ever. It feels stronger and faster than ever and this all makes sense because lack of oil pressure to lifters and valves will limit those parts fully functioning so I am one happy camper. I would have liked to see a brand new head but was not able to.
I am pleased with the procedure. I wonder why some engines do this and some dont-That is puzzling to me. The process went flawlessly and the service manager dealt with me directly as well as his shop foreman and most experienced guy. They did the job in 2 days which is great. They put the head in with the new gasket, changed the oil and ran the car. Let it sit cold overnight and then ran the car again. Then changed the oil again. I actually picked up the car and the ticking was till there! I was in shock but they assured me it would be gone when I got home and sure enough it has been gone since. I gues a new head needs time to get fully lubricated.
BMW would not be giving us 7000 dollar pieces for no reason gusy-get those heads changed. I love these n52 engines. I have had a 335 loaner and as fun as those engines are, I would take and keep an n52 engine with my 255hp. I love the way it has all the top end power and I love revving it up to 7k and feeling the pull from 6k through 7k. I love keeping the engine revving high. On the n54 engine, there is gobs more torque throughout but at 6k it plummets and from 6 through 7 there is nothing so you have to change gears at around 6. You dont get to have as rev happy as an engine. With the n54 it has so much torque and power that you hit the gas and you are over the speed limit before you can even get the revs high and there is no power so you have to stay in the low range. WIth the n52 you can get it up high and it sounds great. I think this is a great engine.
Anyway get those heads changed!