[SpoolinAddict]

I currently have a N55 F30 and looking to get into a e90 n54 but I keep hearing the horror stories about the n54.

Besides the wastegate rattle and injectors (can you even find index 12's still?)
what are the most costly things I would be looking at?

On a scale of 1-10 how "reliable" is the e90 n54 and how much $ should I expect on putting on it?

And how would you compare reliability to a f30 n55

[oVeRdOsE.]

I own both.

N54 and N55 are very similar engines. Internally you wont have any major issues with N54.

But few stuff around it makes it ''unreliable''.
I mean is all the small stuff that adds up, that will get people mad, especially if they are not DIYers and go to dealer.

coils pack, charge pipe, hpfp, vacuum hoses, radiator (plastic) , water pump, thermostat, seal leak (especially the oil filter gasket can make the acc belt slip in the crack shaft and very possibly kill the engine) , turbos rattle&shaft play, PCV valve, carbon built and of course injectors.
(you can note that a lot of this stuff is on N55 too)

Injectors still available, but they are insanely expensive.

Best best is what I did, the previous owner dumped 9k$ in repair in 2021-2022 on a 100k km N54, and in late 2022 the clutch gave up and the rear turbo started to rattle as hell.

He was done with this POS, and I entered the chat.

I'm a DIY, so haveing 9k$ of brand new stuff was a miracle on a 100k km 7000$ car.


I wont say horror, when you know your stuff those engine are fine.

Not like audis 4.2L or 3.0T or 2.0tfsi that the timing chain can pop out anytime without warning and it cost you an engine. even if you get it before buy looking at the tensioner position, this job is insane. 4.2 and 3.0 need to get out of the car.

so yeah, all relative.
You'll forget it when you get 500-600whp ''reliable'' on a old L6.

[SpoolinAddict]

Originally Posted by oVeRdOsE.

I own both.

N54 and N55 are very similar engines. Internally you wont have any major issues with N54.

But few stuff around it makes it ''unreliable''.
I mean is all the small stuff that adds up, that will get people mad, especially if they are not DIYers and go to dealer.

coils pack, charge pipe, hpfp, vacuum hoses, radiator (plastic) , water pump, thermostat, seal leak (especially the oil filter gasket can make the acc belt slip in the crack shaft and very possibly kill the engine) , turbos rattle&shaft play, PCV valve, carbon built and of course injectors.
(you can note that a lot of this stuff is on N55 too)

Injectors still available, but they are insanely expensive.

Best best is what I did, the previous owner dumped 9k$ in repair in 2021-2022 on a 100k km N54, and in late 2022 the clutch gave up and the rear turbo started to rattle as hell.

He was done with this POS, and I entered the chat.

I'm a DIY, so haveing 9k$ of brand new stuff was a miracle on a 100k km 7000$ car.


I wont say horror, when you know your stuff those engine are fine.

Not like audis 4.2L or 3.0T or 2.0tfsi that the timing chain can pop out anytime without warning and it cost you an engine. even if you get it before buy looking at the tensioner position, this job is insane. 4.2 and 3.0 need to get out of the car.

so yeah, all relative.
You'll forget it when you get 500-600whp ''reliable'' on a old L6.

Thanks, more than half of those I'm familiar with since I have a f30.

Which would you recommend doing preventative maintenance on? I think index 12's are around 3-4k last time I casually looked.

I'm guessing, the CP, seal leak (especially the oil filter gasket can make the acc belt slip in the crack shaft and very possibly kill the engine).

Just anything that would leave me completely stranded, but I only drive 11 miles both ways to work so I guess that's not so bad

[whyzee125]

N54's have a bad reputation bc of the clout chaser idiots on instagram and FB who abuse them, don't maintain them, then get attention bc they broke their car.

I've owned 3 N54's over the past 11 years and have been stranded exactly once. All over 100k miles, all tuned, and all been great to me. I've had a few injector failures, a few water pump failures, but there's absolutely no reason to be surprised when stuff like this happens.

I can understand the frustration of the original owners of these cars and the let downs they experienced when their 60k car repeatedly left them stranded. All the info is out there now and the cars are genuinely better than they were when they first came out due to the updated, turbos, HPFP, injectors. I'd try to find one that already has index 12's as they're very expensive but readily available.

Great cars, but they're 12-15 years old so things will break. If you can DIY and have owned a BMW before you'll be just fine.

[SpoolinAddict]

Originally Posted by whyzee125

N54's have a bad reputation bc of the clout chaser idiots on instagram and FB who abuse them, don't maintain them, then get attention bc they broke their car.

I've owned 3 N54's over the past 11 years and have been stranded exactly once. All over 100k miles, all tuned, and all been great to me. I've had a few injector failures, a few water pump failures, but there's absolutely no reason to be surprised when stuff like this happens.

I can understand the frustration of the original owners of these cars and the let downs they experienced when their 60k car repeatedly left them stranded. All the info is out there now and the cars are genuinely better than they were when they first came out due to the updated, turbos, HPFP, injectors. I'd try to find one that already has index 12's as they're very expensive but readily available.

Great cars, but they're 12-15 years old so things will break. If you can DIY and have owned a BMW before you'll be just fine.

Got it, after owning a f30 n55, I know the "usual" things to look out for.

I feel more comfortable getting my feet wet on a n54. Only info I had before were from youtube videos. I guess making those common problems videos do get them more clicks, but as a casual person watching them...would make you stay away from them.

[GoRomeo]

Originally Posted by SpoolinAddict

I currently have a N55 F30 and looking to get into a e90 n54 but I keep hearing the horror stories about the n54.

Besides the wastegate rattle and injectors (can you even find index 12's still?)
what are the most costly things I would be looking at?

On a scale of 1-10 how "reliable" is the e90 n54 and how much $ should I expect on putting on it?

And how would you compare reliability to a f30 n55

I bit the bullet on mine. 🤟😂 . E88 with N54 engine..Being an E90 N52 owner since 06 I ve always wanted to get an 335 or 135 but back then I couldn’t afford one. N54 I had to repair a few things including rebuilding the tranny but Oh well I love driving every minute of it. All stock. Its a weekend car since I use my E90 as my DD. STILL 😂 My daughter loves the E88 too. ☝️😄.

[Podunk]

i bought mine for the wife, pay close attention to what you're looking at, and get as much info on the car as you can, have them also check things like wheel gap and exhaust.

mine ad a VRSF race exhaust installed, along with the cone filter mod, and a hard pipe with blow off valve. and lowering springs, it's a pain to drive as low as it is, it scrapes on everything. the car was also advertised as 151K miles, and arrived with 181K miles.

as for issues, the M control arms for the M sport suspension are replaced with base suspension arms, the inner tie rods are shot thanks to the lowering kit, and i have zero audio sound out of the Harman & Becker L7 amp, so i mentally broke down and bought the bimmergeeks protool app license so i could check live data to see if it's more the CCC headunit, or the L7. Everything is pointing to the amp, the MOST fiber ring has light on all points, and a jumper didn't[ restore anything, the navigation works, the communications module links to phones via blue tooth, and the microphone built into the car works great. and sirius appears to work as well, but has a code for the Sat antenna.

with all that said, the engine seems decent, but it did throw a VANOS code.. ONCE, cleared it cause I wanted to verify it was exhaust VANOS, and it hasn't come back yet after several trips, so i dunno.

previous techs never cleaned the block post gasket repair work, so all gaskets have been done in last 40K miles, and a walnut shell blast was also performed sometime in last 40-60K miles. as there was service records with the car.

overall i paid too much for it, especially with the problems it has, but the engine other than the one hiccup seems solid, and the waterpump was replaced with radiator in last 40K miles cause the car was saying the engine was getting hot. and i will say this, i have NEVER seen a BMW absolutely 100% need an engine replaced or major engine work unless the engine failed, and i worked on a lot of them when i was a tech thanks to a drivetime leasing them left and right a block away from the shop i worked at. so keep up on the gaskets, make sure coolant is right kind, and maybe ditch the plastic mickey mouse outlet for an aluminum one and be aware the HPFP can fail ( like just about every chevrolet HPFP on their DI cars has, only this one doesn't dump gas into the oil when it fails as there is a vacuum pump between the HPFP and the oil system, UNLIKE CHEVROLET) and will put the car into limp mode. and the lpfp can also fail like any car.

Before modding make sure the car performs properly, and any weak components are identified and replaced cause mods WILL exacerbate ANY issue, including if the DME is MSD80 with crappy MOSFETS.