stupid Q ... 97 328is .. what engine do I have? M50 ? M42 ? M52 ? ..how to tell ?

[BlackHawk]

hi all.. as title.. how can I tell what engine do I have for my 97 328is ? (the one w/ later grill style)

thx

BH

[Jed]

You have the M52 engine. Technically it's the M52 B28. E36 6-cylinder 3 series cars with the OBDII are M52s.

The M52 denotes the engine family and the B28 denotes the displacement (2.8). The E36 325s have M50s. M50 B25 for the preVANOs and M50TU B25 for the VANOs. The TU stands for Technical Update (VANOs in this case). The M52s in the E46 328s are M52TU B28 (the Technical Update being the stepless double VANOs)

Probably more than you wanted to know.