E30 Zone

Whats the favoured engine swop for a E30,
Oldskool M30 3.5
or
More modern twincam (M50/M52/S50)

3 or 4 years ago M30 was very popular, but more and more M5x conversions are done now and in another 3-4 years I think that M30 conversions will be thin on the ground (or at least new M30 conversions will be, the ones already done will still be going strong)

Agreed with the above^

I've just done my m50 conversion and very soon will be upgrading to m52.

I think the 24v conversions are best and most popular

billgatese30 wrote:3 or 4 years ago M30 was very popular, but more and more M5x conversions are done now and in another 3-4 years I think that M30 conversions will be thin on the ground (or at least new M30 conversions will be, the ones already done will still be going strong)

Well Said, the M30 is a very strong engine and will keep on going while the the M5x' will be changed again and again and again.
It all depends on wether you want to cange the engine once or more times.

Rav335uk wrote:

billgatese30 wrote:3 or 4 years ago M30 was very popular, but more and more M5x conversions are done now and in another 3-4 years I think that M30 conversions will be thin on the ground (or at least new M30 conversions will be, the ones already done will still be going strong)

Well Said, the M30 is a very strong engine and will keep on going while the the M5x' will be changed again and again and again.
It all depends on wether you want to cange the engine once or more times.

Why as soon as i saw this thread did i know you would have written this

Haha dez is in there

M30 vs m50 n m52, let the games comence

The m30 is a torquey lump in fareness but its time to move over and make way for 24v greatness lol

24v FTMFW

I like the idea of both, a 24v light revy and fast, M30 heavy torquey bullet proof.
It's six of one half a dozen of the other

Dezzy wrote:

Rav335uk wrote:

billgatese30 wrote:3 or 4 years ago M30 was very popular, but more and more M5x conversions are done now and in another 3-4 years I think that M30 conversions will be thin on the ground (or at least new M30 conversions will be, the ones already done will still be going strong)

Well Said, the M30 is a very strong engine and will keep on going while the the M5x' will be changed again and again and again.
It all depends on wether you want to cange the engine once or more times.

Why as soon as i saw this thread did i know you would have written this

Because you know the true


I have owned mant m20/30 and many m5x 's in my time. And yes you can make an m5x quicker but the mx0's out last by a long shot.

And don't be fooled by weight, An m50 donk is a heavy one. So if you are going 24v at least use an m52 os s3x

Dezzy wrote:

Rav335uk wrote:

billgatese30 wrote:3 or 4 years ago M30 was very popular, but more and more M5x conversions are done now and in another 3-4 years I think that M30 conversions will be thin on the ground (or at least new M30 conversions will be, the ones already done will still be going strong)

Well Said, the M30 is a very strong engine and will keep on going while the the M5x' will be changed again and again and again.
It all depends on wether you want to cange the engine once or more times.

Why as soon as i saw this thread did i know you would have written this

Because I knew you would be on this one like a shot

Rav335uk wrote:

Dezzy wrote:

Rav335uk wrote: Well Said, the M30 is a very strong engine and will keep on going while the the M5x' will be changed again and again and again.
It all depends on wether you want to cange the engine once or more times.

Why as soon as i saw this thread did i know you would have written this

Because I knew you would be on this one like a shot

I am staying well out of it. I wouldnt fit either M50 or M30 tbh

YBT.

Nissan make some good engines.

One of theirs.

There is a guy on here with a jap engine, G5TYLE i think

Rav335uk wrote:There is a guy on here with a jap engine, G5TYLE i think

He's running a pretty serious 2jz

I'd be happy with a M47 diesel in my touring.

Sorry Zaust and Rav but M5x's are just as durable if not more so than M30's.

Yes if you badly overheat an alloy blocked M52 it will be scrap (which is always down to poor maintainence and stupidity but they dont suffer cracked heads, worn cams and snapped rockers like M30's. Nor do they leak oil as badly.

My daily E46 with an M52 has just clocked 225000 miles and its still as good as one with a quarter of the mileage on.

An M52 (if maintained correctly) is generally regarded as bullet proof by nearly every BMW tech i have spoken to. Shame the same cant be said about the N5x six cylinder engines in the E9x E6x models. Or the M30 for that matter.

You can have a look round mine Baz for Oil leaks, you'll find none

Rav335uk wrote:You can have a look round mine Baz for Oil leaks, you'll find none

Yet.

bss325i wrote:Sorry Zaust and Rav but M5x's are just as durable if not more so than M30's.

Yes if you badly overheat an alloy blocked M52 it will be scrap (which is always down to poor maintainence and stupidity but they dont suffer cracked heads, worn cams and snapped rockers like M30's. Nor do they leak oil as badly.

My daily E46 with an M52 has just clocked 225000 miles and its still as good as one with a quarter of the mileage on.

An M52 (if maintained correctly) is generally regarded as bullet proof by nearly every BMW tech i have spoken to. Shame the same cant be said about the N5x six cylinder engines in the E9x E6x models. Or the M30 for that matter.

I had a M52B25TU which pretty much lasted 126000 miles till the oil pump packed up. Yet it had a FBMWSH.
I am wondering whether it was anything to do with the service intervals BMW recommends at 15000 miles? I have seen articles where some Techs from USA recommend to change the oil at least every 7000 miles to prevent this long-term damage.

The service interval apparentlly takes into consideration driving style though it seems to have always been 15000 miles apart.

What is strange is even on BMW E46 M3s which have a highly stressed engine have the same service intervals (as far as i am aware on the whole) except the traditional BMW M 1200 mile running in service.

My mate also has a 328Ci similar to yours and had no end of overheating problems.......hes replaced thermostat, radiator, god knows what.......and it still overheats........I think I read somewhere might have been Total BMW that these tend to get cracks in the combustion chambers.....?

As long as it's been fitted Barry, I replaced most of the gaskets on her before she went in

bss325i wrote:

Rav335uk wrote:You can have a look round mine Baz for Oil leaks, you'll find none

Yet.

the M30 donk in the 333i is bone dry, and hasn't as far as i can tell had any replacement gaskets since it was fitted in 1987

pony wrote:I had a M52B25TU which pretty much lasted 126000 miles till the oil pump packed up. Yet it had a FBMWSH.
I am wondering whether it was anything to do with the service intervals BMW recommends at 15000 miles? I have seen articles where some Techs from USA recommend to change the oil at least every 7000 miles to prevent this long-term damage.

The service interval apparentlly takes into consideration driving style though it seems to have always been 15000 miles apart.

I have never heard of an Oil pump going on an M52 of any sort. agree that the service interval of 15k is to much but you are right, the DME takes into account a number of factors to determine when the service becomes due and a lot of the time it is less than 15k. Its my own personal opinion that oil should be changed between 6-10000 miles on any engine, even ones using so called "long life" oils.

pony wrote:What is strange is even on BMW E46 M3s which have a highly stressed engine have the same service intervals (as far as i am aware on the whole) except the traditional BMW M 1200 mile running in service.

My mate also has a 328Ci similar to yours and had no end of overheating problems.......hes replaced thermostat, radiator, god knows what.......and it still overheats........I think I read somewhere might have been Total BMW that these tend to get cracks in the combustion chambers.....?

The radiator an all E46's (and many cars) generally has a life of about 100k and the thermostat and plastic impeller water pumps do not last for ever.

As a rule of thumb, when the rad starts to leak or bulge (at about 100k), replace the pump and stat then your good to go for another 100k.

M42/M44's get cracks in the combustion chambers, not M52's.

e30topless wrote:

bss325i wrote:

Rav335uk wrote:You can have a look round mine Baz for Oil leaks, you'll find none

Yet.

the M30 donk in the 333i is bone dry, and hasn't as far as i can tell had any replacement gaskets since it was fitted in 1987

Common M30 oil leaks,

Rocker cover gaskets
Sump gaskets
Camshaft seals
Head gaskets

Just like an M20!

M52 FTW.

The old skool mod wasn't dropping engines in but building the iconic 2.7. Thats what everyone wanted to do. Shame there aren't many good strong ones left because they will out perform an stock engine M50/2 conversions. And most M30s

Tuned M52s and upwards are a bit much for them

bss325i wrote:

e30topless wrote:

bss325i wrote: Yet.

the M30 donk in the 333i is bone dry, and hasn't as far as i can tell had any replacement gaskets since it was fitted in 1987

Common M30 oil leaks,

Rocker cover gaskets
Sump gaskets
Camshaft seals
Head gaskets

Just like an M20!

All done, bar the H/G, wasn't needed.
Not disputing anything, my M20 leaked round the front all the time

Which engine make the faster car, better handling and comfy to drive

bss325i wrote:

pony wrote:I had a M52B25TU which pretty much lasted 126000 miles till the oil pump packed up. Yet it had a FBMWSH.
I am wondering whether it was anything to do with the service intervals BMW recommends at 15000 miles? I have seen articles where some Techs from USA recommend to change the oil at least every 7000 miles to prevent this long-term damage.

The service interval apparentlly takes into consideration driving style though it seems to have always been 15000 miles apart.

I have never heard of an Oil pump going on an M52 of any sort. agree that the service interval of 15k is to much but you are right, the DME takes into account a number of factors to determine when the service becomes due and a lot of the time it is less than 15k. Its my own personal opinion that oil should be changed between 6-10000 miles on any engine, even ones using so called "long life" oils.
.

Is the oil pressure sensor malfunctioning a common fault on E46s M52/M54 engines as it was amber intermittedly for a long time?
I thought it was at first just a sensor issue.

Then one day while on the motorway the oil pressure light senor light goes red. I stopped even though oil level fine. The engine got looked by a dealer who basically said the oil pump failed. I dont know if they can tell that from the fault codes stored when they plug in the on-board diagnostics or if they opened up the engine?

Sorry for going off topic fellow E30zoners.

pony wrote:

bss325i wrote:

pony wrote:I had a M52B25TU which pretty much lasted 126000 miles till the oil pump packed up. Yet it had a FBMWSH.
I am wondering whether it was anything to do with the service intervals BMW recommends at 15000 miles? I have seen articles where some Techs from USA recommend to change the oil at least every 7000 miles to prevent this long-term damage.

The service interval apparentlly takes into consideration driving style though it seems to have always been 15000 miles apart.

I have never heard of an Oil pump going on an M52 of any sort. agree that the service interval of 15k is to much but you are right, the DME takes into account a number of factors to determine when the service becomes due and a lot of the time it is less than 15k. Its my own personal opinion that oil should be changed between 6-10000 miles on any engine, even ones using so called "long life" oils.
.

Is the oil pressure sensor malfunctioning a common fault on E46s M52/M54 engines as it was amber intermittedly for a long time?
I thought it was at first just a sensor issue.

Then one day while on the motorway the oil pressure light senor light goes red. I stopped even though oil level fine. The engine got looked by a dealer who basically said the oil pump failed. I dont know if they can tell that from the fault codes stored when they plug in the on-board diagnostics or if they opened up the engine?

Sorry for going off topic fellow E30zoners.

My E46 M3 light came on orange when I switched the engine off once after driving it fo a couple of hour, the handbook said it was low on oil, but I checked the oil and it was up to the upper limit, dealer found no faults with it.

pony wrote:

bss325i wrote:

pony wrote:I had a M52B25TU which pretty much lasted 126000 miles till the oil pump packed up. Yet it had a FBMWSH.
I am wondering whether it was anything to do with the service intervals BMW recommends at 15000 miles? I have seen articles where some Techs from USA recommend to change the oil at least every 7000 miles to prevent this long-term damage.

The service interval apparentlly takes into consideration driving style though it seems to have always been 15000 miles apart.

I have never heard of an Oil pump going on an M52 of any sort. agree that the service interval of 15k is to much but you are right, the DME takes into account a number of factors to determine when the service becomes due and a lot of the time it is less than 15k. Its my own personal opinion that oil should be changed between 6-10000 miles on any engine, even ones using so called "long life" oils.
.

Is the oil pressure sensor malfunctioning a common fault on E46s M52/M54 engines as it was amber intermittedly for a long time?
I thought it was at first just a sensor issue.

Then one day while on the motorway the oil pressure light senor light goes red. I stopped even though oil level fine. The engine got looked by a dealer who basically said the oil pump failed. I dont know if they can tell that from the fault codes stored when they plug in the on-board diagnostics or if they opened up the engine?

Sorry for going off topic fellow E30zoners.

The oil level sensor on M52tu and M54's are common for failing, not the oil pressure sensor.

What happens is it burns out if the ignition is left on with no oil in the sump, ie during an oil change. This will make the amber light come on twice every time you start the engine.

If the red light comes on then it is low oil pressure. There may have been faults stored relating to low oil pressure but for proper diagnosis of low oil pressure a gauge would have been used for an oil pressure check.

bss325i wrote:

pony wrote:

bss325i wrote: I have never heard of an Oil pump going on an M52 of any sort. agree that the service interval of 15k is to much but you are right, the DME takes into account a number of factors to determine when the service becomes due and a lot of the time it is less than 15k. Its my own personal opinion that oil should be changed between 6-10000 miles on any engine, even ones using so called "long life" oils.
.

Is the oil pressure sensor malfunctioning a common fault on E46s M52/M54 engines as it was amber intermittedly for a long time?
I thought it was at first just a sensor issue.

Then one day while on the motorway the oil pressure light senor light goes red. I stopped even though oil level fine. The engine got looked by a dealer who basically said the oil pump failed. I dont know if they can tell that from the fault codes stored when they plug in the on-board diagnostics or if they opened up the engine?

Sorry for going off topic fellow E30zoners.

The oil level sensor on M52tu and M54's are common for failing, not the oil pressure sensor.

What happens is it burns out if the ignition is left on with no oil in the sump, ie during an oil change. This will make the amber light come on twice every time you start the engine.

If the red light comes on then it is low oil pressure. There may have been faults stored relating to low oil pressure but for proper diagnosis of low oil pressure a gauge would have been used for an oil pressure check.

I thought the oil can light just related to oil pressure not oil level or am i getting confused somewhere?
Does the oil can light up if oil pressure or oil lovel is low or just oil pressure?

pony wrote:I thought the oil can light just related to oil pressure not oil level or am i getting confused somewhere?
Does the oil can light up if oil pressure or oil lovel is low or just oil pressure?

Amber for level

Red for pressure.

Cheers nice one.

zaust wrote:And don't be fooled by weight, An m50 donk is a heavy one. So if you are going 24v at least use an m52 os s3x

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