Foray into the M54 World... [Archive] - Bimmerforums

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AquilaBMW

01-13-2014, 01:06 AM

Pekelicious

01-13-2014, 08:52 AM

Dope! I wish I could find one in good conditions where I live :(

BMW540san

01-13-2014, 09:45 AM

My brother had one and I drove it often. As much as I love the M52 for simplicity, M54 is in different league but with way more problems. Your vacuum could be many things as you know, but don't forget to check DISA valve. That one always scares me due to potential of doing serious damage. Nice car.

rf900rkw

01-13-2014, 10:16 AM

Traitor!!!

No seriously! I have an E46.... but at least mine is a touring!

:) :)

It took a few years to "get it", but I now really like the M54 motor.

auaq

01-13-2014, 10:39 AM

What makes you like the M54 compared to other M5x motors?

tmvE39E53Z32TT

01-13-2014, 11:37 AM

Stop hoarding all the bimmers and fix the ones you had, M. :D
Nice find BTW.

AquilaBMW

01-13-2014, 12:33 PM

Dope! I wish I could find one in good conditions where I live :(

Thanks! Hope you eventually find one, the seem to be nice cars.

My brother had one and I drove it often. As much as I love the M52 for simplicity, M54 is in different league but with way more problems. Your vacuum could be many things as you know, but don't forget to check DISA valve. That one always scares me due to potential of doing serious damage. Nice car.

Thanks, and thanks for the heads up on the DISA. Don't fully know what that is yet, but I will learn. I'm not looking toward to tracking down that vacuum leak. It's never fun.

Traitor!!
No seriously! I have an E46.... but at least mine is a touring!

:)
It took a few years to "get it", but I now really like the M54 motor.

He He! I could not pass up on the deal! I figured it was worth the price in parts alone. I have zero experience with the M54, so expect a million questions from me :-). I find the M54 peppy enough in this car.

Stop hoarding all the bimmers and fix the ones you had, M. :D
Nice find BTW.

HAH! So says the man with a BMW parking lot in his driveway:-). I need daily driver while I fix the DINAN and the touring. Thanks!

manticore33

01-13-2014, 01:40 PM

I personally like the M54 over the M52 since it has more power and better fuel economy. DBW is not my favorite thing, but what is not DBW anymore? I do not find the engine to be that complicated and it likes oil. I had one vacuum leak that threw a CEL which was promptly fixed with a new CCV and associated hoses. 230k+ here with no CELs and good idle. I have not played with the DISA valve or vanos seals yet. I've personally put over 50k miles on this car.

Edit: I also did about the 30k miles in a M52B28 e39.

Aryana

01-13-2014, 02:03 PM

Sweet ride! Welcome to the I6 world :buttrock The M54 is a gem, IMO one of the best variations of the I6 that BMW made...but I'm slightly biased.

tmvE39E53Z32TT

01-13-2014, 04:04 PM

HAH! So says the man with a BMW parking lot in his driveway:-). I need daily driver while I fix the DINAN and the touring. Thanks!

:D
So you decide to fix both of the E39s?

AquilaBMW

01-13-2014, 10:47 PM

Sweet ride! Welcome to the I6 world :buttrock The M54 is a gem, IMO one of the best variations of the I6 that BMW made...but I'm slightly biased.

Thanks man!!! I am looking forward to learning about the M54 and getting familiar with it. Hopefully, I can sort out that SES issue soon.

I personally like the M54 over the M52 since it has more power and better fuel economy. DBW is not my favorite thing, but what is not DBW anymore? I do not find the engine to be that complicated and it likes oil. I had one vacuum leak that threw a CEL which was promptly fixed with a new CCV and associated hoses. 230k+ here with no CELs and good idle. I have not played with the DISA valve or vanos seals yet. I've personally put over 50k miles on this car.

Edit: I also did about the 30k miles in a M52B28 e39.

Thanks! I am hoping it is not the DISA valve (Still gotta figure out what that is! LOL!). Hoping it's just seals or something. I enjoy driving the car, the M54 is peppy enough to make it a fun drive.

:D
So you decide to fix both of the E39s?

Yup! Kinda crazy story. I got back my other DINAN - the 1998 and was going to keep that one. Then I reviewed all the stuff on the 2003 and realized it even had things like the rear adjustable sway bar, etc. Since I had a transmission for it and DINAN would be willing to install for me which could give continuity to the service history there, I put the 1998 up for sale and sold it pretty quick much to my surprise. So.... the 2003 got a reprieve :D

tmvE39E53Z32TT

01-14-2014, 09:23 AM

Send one to me when it finished or whenever you want and I'll finish the job. You won't be able to drive them all anyway :D

AquilaBMW

01-14-2014, 10:41 AM

Send one to me when it finished or whenever you want and I'll finish the job. You won't be able to drive them all anyway :D

You and I should do a Car Exchange Program! LOL!

rf900rkw

01-14-2014, 11:15 AM

What makes you like the M54 compared to other M5x motors?

Power-wise, the area under the curve is comparable to a S52. Technology-wise, the cooling system is miles ahead of the M50/52. Keep in mind the M52TU is a M54-beta. This is just for stock street cars. The M/S52 is more tunable.... for now.

newton22

01-14-2014, 11:35 AM

In my experience the M52s are absolutely bulletproof, more so than the M54s. M54s are more efficient though.

Aryana

01-14-2014, 11:46 AM

True, my M50 was way less picky (maintenance wise) than the M54 and ran to 350k miles with no issues. I still think the M54 is nicer (power and smoothness).

Jason726

01-14-2014, 12:14 PM

Just a heads up on the M54: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?713873-M54-oil-pump-nut-warning

I have no personal experience with this, but while researching my M52tu->M54 swap, I ran across several threads discussing this. The general consensus seems to be that the issue is aggravated by near redline RPMs. There are a few fixes out that seem to have mixed results. I figured to check mine once the engine is on the engine stand, then probably not worry about it too much since mine is going in an automatic slush box.

auaq

01-14-2014, 01:35 PM

I think the only issue I believe would be oil consumption only. Not really concerned about the notorious cooling system break down though.

rf900rkw

01-14-2014, 01:46 PM

The oil pump nut backing off is a very common cause of death for M50 on up (including the S52) that get turned hard.

The FIX (http://www.rallyroad.net/content/secured-oil-pump-nut-kit-bmw-6-cylinder)

Aryana

01-14-2014, 02:24 PM

Is the oil pump nut a reverse thread?

auaq

01-14-2014, 02:26 PM

Aryana

01-14-2014, 02:30 PM

I hammered on my M50 really hard for 20 years and never had any problem either. I think there is a bit of luck involved here too. Some can be beat on and never fail, others can be babied and have it fail early...and everything in between. There are millions of these engines on the road worldwide and an issue that hits even a small percentage of them is still a pretty large number.

I just roll the dice and don't lose any sleep over it. If my M54 loses oil pressure and commits suicide, then I'll be looking for an M5 as a replacement :cool

auaq

01-14-2014, 02:35 PM

While you get the M5 I get the skyline gtr r32;)

rf900rkw

01-14-2014, 02:42 PM

By "turned hard" I don't mean just run up to the stock redline. At least with the S52, it seems the majority of the failures are on the cars with the redline reprogrammed up past 7000. Many have it bumped up to 7200.

Aryana

01-14-2014, 02:53 PM

While you get the M5 I get the skyline gtr r32;)

Deal! Why wait until our engines blow up? That could take too long!!!

auaq

01-14-2014, 03:16 PM

AquilaBMW

01-15-2014, 09:12 PM

I was able to finally scan it with INPA and run a diagnostic on the DME and other area of the car like the convertible top. I got 8 errors on the DME and a few on the top. Here are the reports:

143 - Tank Leak Diagnosis

142 - Module Failure DMTL

2 - Ignition Cyl. 4

188 - Lambda Probe Upstream Sensor 1

238 - Burning Fail Cyl. 1

242 - Burning Fail Cyl. 5

243 - Burning Fail Cyl. 6

239 - Burning Fail Cyl. 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was able to clear all the codes - they all went away. I then ran the car in park for another ten minutes while checking the status on a number of items. The SES light was out and did not come back. While checking status on INPA, the only items that showed any flags were the O2 sensors - which were in the Red. I am guessing this relates to the Lambda Probe Error I got. The alternator read a healthy 13.5+v while the car was running. Idle RPM was +/- 700 RPMs and coolant temp was in operating range.

Cylinder roughness readings were also healthy on the engine. I have been reading up on the DMTL module issue with these cars and it seems they do go bad and that there was even a BMW recall on them at one point - at least on some models. I will see if the code comes back and the figure it out.

After clearing the codes, I took a 100 mile trip with the car. I sadly noticed the transmission seems to slip a bit and shudder sometimes. I am going to try a transmission service to try to fix this. Also... later that day, I was getting vibration while driving which seemed to be under the car. I will have to jack it up and look under there. I wonder if it is the Guibo Joint that is bad.

I took the car to a smog shop and amazingly, it almost passed. Only reason it failed was because the OBDII was not ready to be tested. I had just cleared the codes and it had not been driven enough to re-initiate the OBD - DAMN!

dragracer440wed

01-16-2014, 10:33 AM

Wow Michael did you clean out the "Toy Store" for more room to add to the fleet?? :eek:

AquilaBMW

01-16-2014, 11:31 AM

Wow Michael did you clean out the "Toy Store" for more room to add to the fleet?? :eek:

Hi Ezra - Well........ I am kinda in the process of cleaning up for more space. I am getting rid of that touring today - FINALLY! BTW - I might need your assistance with a 2001 Yukon. Having running and battery drain issues. I'll call ya.

geargrinder

01-16-2014, 12:21 PM

I recently joined the E46 world with a 2003 325Ci. The car is great, it is my first 6 Cylinder car and I am actually enjoying it compared to the V8s I usually drive. I got the car at a steal - it has SES light for a vacuum leak, the ABS lights are on and I suspect the sensors are bad / dirty, and of course the top actually stopped working a week before I bought it.

Cool. Steel grey or steel blue metallic? I think my hard top is steel blue metallic.

Looks better than this now, this was before I blacked out the gills and grill and did body-color kidneys and shadowlined the hardtop trim. At first I was going to paint it TiAG but I quickly decided I dig the two-tone. Esp. cuz the soft-top is blue too, so it's like I planned it that way...

http://www.j2c3.com/misc/BMW/E46M3Hardtop.JPG

AquilaBMW

01-16-2014, 10:53 PM

Cool. Steel grey or steel blue metallic? I think my hard top is steel blue metallic.

Looks better than this now, this was before I blacked out the gills and grill and did body-color kidneys and shadowlined the hardtop trim. At first I was going to paint it TiAG but I quickly decided I dig the two-tone. Esp. cuz the soft-top is blue too, so it's like I planned it that way...

Very nice man. Wish I had gotten the M3, but that was out of budget at the time of the purchase and this just happened to come along at the right moment.

Here are some more pics of it. Damn SES light came back on at the bloody Smog shop of all places! Go figure! It's the DMTL error code.

http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww171/ElaineBeemer/E34%20Bumper%20Cover/Eleanor010.jpg

http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww171/ElaineBeemer/E34%20Bumper%20Cover/Eleanor009.jpg

http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww171/ElaineBeemer/E34%20Bumper%20Cover/Eleanor008.jpg

http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww171/ElaineBeemer/E34%20Bumper%20Cover/Eleanor007.jpg

http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww171/ElaineBeemer/E34%20Bumper%20Cover/Eleanor005.jpg

With the sister....

http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww171/ElaineBeemer/E34%20Bumper%20Cover/Eleanor004.jpg

http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww171/ElaineBeemer/E34%20Bumper%20Cover/Eleanor001.jpg

AquilaBMW

03-19-2014, 09:45 AM

I had quite the day with the 325. They say an idle mind is the Devil's play ground - might be some truth to that! :evil2

So, I was bored around 12:30 in the afternoon and decided to replace my Valve Cover Gasket. I had a box from FCP sitting for about a month and I had been delaying the job till I had more garage space. I figured I could knock out the VCG while the car was outside. The VCG was also leaking bad and would soon kill the lower coolant / radiator hose.

So... I set about the job and was in the process of removing the valve cover when all hell broke loose! :eek::eek: The upper PCV hose that clamps to the front side of the Valve cover broke. I mean the thing was like a thin biscuit cracker. It literally came apart as I tried to pull it off. :mad

This now meant I had to replace the PCV hose/s, the PCV and other associated parts since I would be down in that area anyway.

Thankfully, the Good Lord probably knew I would do this, so the FCP box included a bunch of other parts. Here is what I had to replace:

Cold Climate PCV Breather System
Oil Dipstick Seal
Air Distribution Piece
Oil Dipstick Seal Upper
Throttle Body Gasket
Valve Cover Gasket
Spark Plugs - NGK BKR6EQUP
Intake Manifold Adjuster (DISA VALVE)
Cabin Air Filter
Intake Boot Upper
Air Flow Meter Boot
Air Intake Boot Lower

Some to the work was a royal PITA !!! I had watched a number of videos of this job being done - particularly the one from FCP where the guy replaces these parts on an M52 (pretty much same engine). I felt like I was making the same video. All my hoses were brittle and literally just fell apart as I removed them. Even the darn PCV valve broke in half as I pulled it out.

It took me just shy of six hours to complete this project. One hour involved prepping, gathering tools and cleaning. One and half hours involved removing the bloody lower intake hose. Whoever worked on the car previously thought it would be a devilishly great idea to turn the clamps fasteners upside down! :mad:mad:mad WHAT A PITA !!!!

Of course, like many first time things, I broke a couple of things along the way - one was a vacuum hose which I am going to have to replace... :(

All in all, it wasn't the worst thing in the world. I watched the videos about five times or more so they were replaying in my mind as I worked. You certainly do a lot of blind stuff - you better be good at feeling your way through as connecting the PCV to all the hoses was done pretty much by feel and sound - the click.

When I replaced my DISA valve - I noticed that when I pulled the old one, the flap was loose. I did not realize it was a bad thing till I pulled out the new one. The new one is firm. I am glad I replaced this part. I have heard horror stories of that flap coming loose in the engine. My symptoms that suggested the DISA might be bad was primarily acceleration after slowing down or trying to pass cars. The car would bog down pretty bad and I would hear like a low whooshing noise. It's not a cheap part by any means - but worth replacing if old.

Sadly, I am also going to have to buy a replacement Valve cover. I found out my valve cover has a crack and a piece is missing on the left side right above the O2 sensors. I can see how one of my O2 sensors died now. I will get a new one down the line - but won't wait long enough for those darn hoses to get brittle again! LOL! :nono

Anyway.... I was able to complete the project. I was able to drive the car home 20 miles with no incident. I will update once I drive it some more. It seems to respond much better. I no longer have the bogging down effect when I try to accelerate while driving. Idle seems a little off as I come off the throttle so I will scan it to see what's up.

Car sounds tighter as far as the engine goes and it certainly feels like it has more power. I used to call it the Gutless Wonder, but it seems to have a bit more oomph now. I tell you what, I am getting pretty familiar with the IL-6 engines now. I figure I can know this kind of work out in 4 hours or less if I have to tackle it again.

:alright

auaq

03-19-2014, 10:51 AM

Well, now you know how to tackle any problems again but in a much lesser time. The hardest part for me was when I was replacing the entire ccv stuff and in the process I also decided to replace the throttle body gasket and the intake manifold gasket. Although they don't fail really but did it as a preventive maintenance. Rest all stuff wasn't hard at all.

jstern

03-19-2014, 11:15 AM

Good work! That's a ton of stuff to do all at once but several pieces has to be removed anyway since you were doing the CVV.

When you replace the damaged valve cover, do the Vanos seals at the same time (if they haven't already been done). You'll be amazed at the pickup in low end torque.

geargrinder

03-19-2014, 12:54 PM

That blowz. I hate when a "this should be a quick fun project" turns into a hell project session. My Audi turbo upgrade that was going to be a quick 1/2 day a few years ago turned into a 6 week long head-off, do-15yrs-of-deferred-maintenance-on-top-and-front-of-engine nightmare costin me only about a billion dollars more than expected.

But glad you are feeling the good results.

Now that you have full awesome I6 power back, you are undoubtedly blowing off V8's left n' right like auaq. Must be awesome! :evil2

Doru

03-19-2014, 02:42 PM

Speaking of e46, I added to my stable this 2006 with 66k miles a few days ago. In and out in pristine condition, rubber mat a bit dirty, but it's still bad weather out there. Phone pics.

496559496560496561496562

Mannyf540

03-19-2014, 02:48 PM

Congrats, very nice clean ride !!

rf900rkw

03-19-2014, 03:30 PM

I don't even screw around with it. Need a valve cover gasket? Off with the manifold. It is a bit tougher on the E46 than it is on Z3s... what a PITA battery cable routing.

Oh, and the hose clamps on the intake point down from the factory. It makes sense when you figure the factory puts them on before the engine goes in the car. Having the right tool helps a lot with remove and install.

BimmerBreaker

03-19-2014, 04:07 PM

I like the M54 a lot. Has about the same low-down torque as an S52, more "butt dyno" feel too, just runs out of breathe up top. I was actually starting to look for 3.0 Z3's when I owned my S52 Z3 because I preferred the M54.

I had two M54s in my life very recently, now only one in the form of a 2.5 Z4. They are great engines. They have some quirks (throttle boot elbow connectors always dry out, crack, then whistle on throttle for one...) but they are great around town. They have less cooling issues than many other BMW engines from that era too so thats always nice :)

AquilaBMW

03-19-2014, 10:57 PM

Thanks guys - appreciate the comments and feedback.

Doru - Congrats on the new car, that looks really clean.

Unfortunately, all is not well in paradise with the darn car. Right around 50 miles after all this work, the SES light is on. Wonder if it is the broken hose underneath the air filter. Will have to scan to figure it out. Always something.

auaq

03-19-2014, 11:14 PM

AquilaBMW

03-19-2014, 11:30 PM

Let me guess it could be your SAP vacuum line that goes around the back the head and to the right of the intake manifold. That hose does get brittle and will break easily. Although that will cause you a vacuum leak and throw out a lean mixture code and you will notice rough engine running. If I'm right, do I win a lottery?

Sorry... no lottery for you. The hose in question is on the left of the throttle body / ICV. It is right next to the Idle Control Valve and plugs into some kind of vacuum pump or something. It then runs beneath the MAF / Air filter box to the driver's side inner fender wall and then underneath the car. I haven't tracked it yet to see where it goes. I broke at the mount while fiddling with the Dip stick.

auaq

03-19-2014, 11:46 PM

Doh ....

I think you're referring to that hose that goes to the fuel tank breather valve.

AquilaBMW

03-20-2014, 06:56 AM

Doh ....

I think you're referring to that hose that goes to the fuel tank breather valve.

You might still win the lottery. I think that is the one. I was looking up yesterday and I think it is called the scavenger air hose or something like that. Could that cause an SES light?

AquilaBMW

03-20-2014, 10:24 PM

UNBELIEVABLE! So... today while driving, the car started bogging down again. It is almost as if it stumbles sometimes from around 20 - 30 MPH when accelerating. ARRGH! I initially thought it might the transmission or even the Torque Converter, however from the scan, there were no errors at all on the transmission. So.... I scan the DME and there is the DMTL error! The car has a bloody brand new DMTL pump from the dealer that doesn't even have 2000 miles on yet!

Could it be the broken vacuum line in the engine bay causing this ?!?!

auaq

03-20-2014, 10:42 PM

Forgive me for my limited knowledge, but what does DMTL stands for?

AquilaBMW

03-20-2014, 11:20 PM

Forgive me for my limited knowledge, but what does DMTL stands for?

It is a pump used in conjunction with the Charcoal canister at the back of the cars - it is a smog / air quality thing that is used to collect or minimize fuel vapours. The E46 models are know to suffer from this malady.