What to look for when buying an M52B28

[Supafly]

Hi everyone,

I'm about to buy an m52b28 and was wondering what checks should be made to ensure its a good un?

So far I've got

1) check for metal tab near sump/bell housing under starter for nikasil replacement block

2) make sure idle is smooth

3) make sure it is a b28? inlet manifold narrow tracts?

4) condition of cooling system, look at water in expansion bottle.. anything else?

5) any use looking at engine numbers etc? any easy to identify codes/casting numbers?

6) this is why I'm posting, late nights and fried brain mean I need help to think...

All advice greatly appreciated. Hopefully we can come up a with a mini e30 biased buying guide.

If there is already a thread for this then apologies, I haven't found it. Let me know and I'll ask for this to be removed and continue on the original one.

[E30BeemerLad]

You're much better off buying a complete running car.

But your list of check points is on the money, but only through driving the car and seeing how the engine behaves can you eliminate something that is a smoking dog, same for any engine really.

Regardless, the first port of call would be a new water pump, thermostat and fresh coolant. So long as the oil & coolant is looked after, these are no worse than any other BMW engine, nikasil issue is over hyped

[Supafly]

Thanks for the reply, I'm looking at buying one already in a car, but wanted to make sure that I didn't miss any m52 specific advice.

This one has had a new metal impeller water pump and thermostat, and also a new head gasket 15000 miles ago...

Hence me being a little nervous about what I should be checking. Is there any particular checks to carry out or standard to which they should be repaired e.g are they stretch bolts? should I ask for receipts for x,y,z or should I think it ain't broke so don't worry..

Any particular questions I should be asking?

[E30BeemerLad]

If it has done 15K since a headgasket replacement then it should be OK.

The only times these engines become scrap is when the cooling system is not maintained and they are allowed to overheat as the alloy block becomes a liability due to the threads in the block where the head bolts bolt into stripping when you torque the head back down. This renders the block scrap.