I blew up my N52 Engine - any ideas how?

Hey Guys,

Really struggling to wrap my head around this - so maybe y'all have some input (sorry in advance for the essay below - tl;dr at the bottom for the lazy)

So I blew the my engine up on last week Sunday (RIP Me) - but the more I look into it, the less I understand how I have managed this

In terms of background/context, I have the 2011/2012 Model E82 125i - which, as far as I am aware has an N52B30 engine, supposedly quite a bulletproof engine
I'm currently the 3rd owner I believe and while I have very little idea what the first owner was like (other than a few very old speeding tickets which were unpaid but it was like 10 kms over speed limit so I doubt they were abusing the car), I believe the second owner had it for the majority of its life (minimum 80k kms and 8-10 years)
Second owner, was a female driver, who took exceedingly good care of it (or her man did tbh), when I bought it, I took it to the mechanic first thing who confirmed it was in great condition

Now, while I do drive the SHIT out of it relatively often (definitely most abusive owner - but I'm not reselling so idgaf) - I do go out of my way to take exceedingly good care of it, and will take it in for a check as soon as I notice anything slightly different with it (I learnt the hard way when I felt my gears shift like.. half a second slower than usual, and because I was like 200-300km from my next service, ignored it - that basically resulted in my gearbox going and needing to be replaced - which I did much to my bank accounts chagrin) and also bring it in for a service/lookover at least every 7.5K to 10K kms, because I love the living daylights out of it

I've had it for +- 18.5K Kms over around 1 year and 3 months - its currently sitting on just over 161k mileage which, while high is not ungodly

When it happened, yes, I was admittedly driving quite hard, but my no means hitting rev limiter or anything like that - heard a bit of a boom, smokescreened the whole road with THICK white smoke (Assumedly oil & water mixing) and I'm pretty sure engine cut off as I rolled into the emergency lane with my remaining momentum, leaving quite a massive oil trail in my wake (some of which was becoming slightly milky which lead me to initially believe it was just the head gasket)

While I am still waiting on mechanic to strip the engine and see what actually failed and how bad the damage is (his lift was damaged and was waiting for the techies to come sort it out), he did do a few checks to see if the engine would turn over and it did not which led him to believe that I might have cracked the engine block instead of just blowing the head gasket like I initially suspected.
He's basically told me to prepare to potentially either swap in an import engine or see what parts are needed and rebuild it, both of which will be quite expensive and labor intensive๐Ÿ˜‚

From what I'm seeing, people are turbo-ing and putting down like 600hp to grenade these things with people putting down 500hp on the stock internals with no issues and while my car is slightly modified, there's no turbo and 100% not putting down anywhere close to 400hp let alone 600hp so I'm just really confused as to how I managed this ๐Ÿ˜…

While I'm not discounting the possibility that its a 13-14 year old car and I was just unlucky and life gave me a massive middle finger - I'm just wondering if any of y'all perhaps had some insights as to how I managed to achieve this seemingly impressive feat of blowing it up๐Ÿ˜‚ maybe I'm just grasping at straws as a way of mourning but still ๐Ÿ˜‚

On a side note, no I won't strip, break or sell the car, I'll be buried in it if I can help it ๐Ÿ˜‚ - and am pretty much ready to dump all concepts of financial responsibility down the drain to rebuild the engine and get her up and running again with "original" engine (code at least ๐Ÿ˜‚) - I was putting cash away to buy a car for me/wife, but that is pretty much all going straight into this now๐Ÿ˜‚

I will also say my mechanic is exceedingly honest, trustworthy and knowledgeable , especially with older BMWs and has been working on my fathers BMWs since quite literally before I was born so I highly doubt any ulterior motives or unscrupulous behaviors on his side (he pretty much exclusively works on BMWs with very few exceptions - I think he took at look at our Hyundai Getz once as a favor?)

tl:dr - Somehow blew up my N52, trying to figure out how ๐Ÿ˜‚
 

msm

Well-known member
I'm really keen to hear what happened here, as I'm potentially in the market for a N52 - which is supposed to be reliable, not too old where it's become a maintenance nightmare, and not too new, where it's crazy expensive to maintain.
 

Gordvisr

Well-known member
Hallo

Sorry to hear about this mishap, how often do you check your oil on this engine. A few things might have happened. I am also an owner of a E82 125i ( N52B30K Motor ) With mileage currently going for 230XXX Km, Your oil cooler gasket might have failed pushing water to your engine, you mentioned milky substance when it failed. So when this seals fail, either oil goes to cooling system or coolant goes to lubrication of which enters your engine. and sometimes both depending on the failure of the seal. So if you had too much coolant going to your engine side, this could lead to engine failure and even the opposite, Oil goes to coolant , hit low oil level and eina engine gone. Also what i have seen on mine, on spirited driving mode on a regular basis, it tends to chow a bit of oil, so much it need topup between service. Other than that i cannot see why the engine would explode. These are bulletproof engines ( in the right hands ). 162K sound a bit to low for a leaking oil cooler gasket seal failure so my next question, do you use normal water in your cooling system, this mess up components up on your cooling side . I have had my old 330I ( same engine ) visiting me a month ago, this guy did not stick to what i told him about coolant and for a period of about 40XXXkm his oil cooler failed.
This car currently has 245XXXKm on the odo and a small piece on the backplate on the Oil cooler was chowed away, started a leak, luckily picked up soon.
 

Gordvisr

Well-known member
I'm really keen to hear what happened here, as I'm potentially in the market for a N52 - which is supposed to be reliable, not too old where it's become a maintenance nightmare, and not too new, where it's crazy expensive to maintain.
If service record is clean, you should not have any issues, currently owning a 125I since 2016 ( was 152XXXkm ) and currently going for 230 XXX km. Replaced Oil filter housing and oil cooler gaskets at +\- 200000 Km and starter motor, the rest normal maintanace and service items still going like a train.
 
Hallo

Sorry to hear about this mishap, how often do you check your oil on this engine. A few things might have happened. I am also an owner of a E82 125i ( N52B30K Motor ) With mileage currently going for 230XXX Km, Your oil cooler gasket might have failed pushing water to your engine, you mentioned milky substance when it failed. So when this seals fail, either oil goes to cooling system or coolant goes to lubrication of which enters your engine. and sometimes both depending on the failure of the seal. So if you had too much coolant going to your engine side, this could lead to engine failure and even the opposite, Oil goes to coolant , hit low oil level and eina engine gone. Also what i have seen on mine, on spirited driving mode on a regular basis, it tends to chow a bit of oil, so much it need topup between service. Other than that i cannot see why the engine would explode. These are bulletproof engines ( in the right hands ). 162K sound a bit to low for a leaking oil cooler gasket seal failure so my next question, do you use normal water in your cooling system, this mess up components up on your cooling side . I have had my old 330I ( same engine ) visiting me a month ago, this guy did not stick to what i told him about coolant and for a period of about 40XXXkm his oil cooler failed.
This car currently has 245XXXKm on the odo and a small piece on the backplate on the Oil cooler was chowed away, started a leak, luckily picked up soon.
Hi :)

I check my oil and coolant levels electronically roughly once a week, physically once a month or so (and by physically, I mean open the cap and take a look with a torch because BMW doesn't believe in a dip stick๐Ÿ˜…) - I usually fill petrol, check tire pressure, and electronically check oil and coolant every Sunday because I like to start the week with a full tank and fresh car

In terms of oil, I usually use the Shell HX8 5W40, however, due to them being out of stock, probably 3 weeks ago, I topped up 2 x Pints of the Motul 5W30 which may be one of the reasons? But yes, I have been burning through the oil, I usually fill 1-2 Pints every 6 weeks to 2 months or so depending on need (honestly, spirited driving is mostly dependent on my paycheque and the petrol price that month)
In terms of coolant I use the BMW Blue (Coolant/Antifreeze) - I did have a slight coolant leak for around 2 weeks +- 3 months ago, but I got that sorted in December before I took a drive up to Sun City along with sorting out my oil sump which I think was loose and leaking tiny amounts of oil due to a pot hole (I think the car had to be parked for minimum 6 hours prior to seeing any oil puddles and even then, they were quite small (+- 10-12cm in diameter))
Previous owner may have used water/relatively heavily watered down coolant though as I recall doing a coolant flush when I first got the car - I have diluted the coolant once or twice with water which shouldn't have exceeded a 3:7 water : coolant ratio, if you think that might have been a cause?

The only warning lights I had on my dash were for Wiper Fluid - I've been struggling to get a hold of the Liqui Moly Lemon Scented Wiper Fluid Concentrate (If Anyone has a plug, hit me up ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚) - I'll have to double check my system today when I pass by, but I think it was still a good couple of 1000kms away from any of my services as well (general due in June as well)

Edited for clarity - on coolant :)
 
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If service record is clean, you should not have any issues, currently owning a 125I since 2016 ( was 152XXXkm ) and currently going for 230 XXX km. Replaced Oil filter housing and oil cooler gaskets at +\- 200000 Km and starter motor, the rest normal maintanace and service items still going like a train.
In all honesty service record is semi-clean, when I got it, it only had a partial service history, mostly at BMW - which I was willing to accept due to condition of the car (in my opinion) and performance during test drive (also got my mum who has driven BMWs pretty much exclusively for 30+ years) to test drive as well and according to her, compared to the others we had checked out, this one felt the "tightest, most responsive and in good condition"
I assumed the owner I bought it from was doing relatively regular service/checks themselves due to the condition of the car and risked it in all honesty, but literally drove it from pick up to my mechanic for a check-up (granted it wasn't a full in depth, invasive strip and check but driving checks, and general once over, oil and coolant levels checked, coolant flushed and refilled)
 

Spanky

Well-known member
Shit man, sorry to hear of your troubles. That's really unfortunate.

My guess would be loss of lubrication either via starvation or mixing of oil with coolant.
 
Shit man, sorry to hear of your troubles. That's really unfortunate.

My guess would be loss of lubrication either via starvation or mixing of oil with coolant.
Its all good, but thanks for the sympathies! Realistically since I have no kids I don't feel too bad about making horrible financial decisions to get her up and running again, so other than Ramen for next few months, nobody else should be affected too much and she should be running again soon enough with a rebuilt engine ideally - luckily wife loves Ramen and supports the rebuild ๐Ÿ˜…

Just trying to figure out how to keep it from happening again to be honest, as I intend to go the slightly more expensive route of rebuilding the engine vs buying an import engine ๐Ÿ˜…- I'm pretty much at the point of being just short of fully committing to a full rebuild with forged internals which I neither know where to source nor have the funds to do currently?๐Ÿ˜‚ so a standard rebuild with OEM replacement parts for the damaged parts at this point seems most likely, even if it takes me years and costs me everything ๐Ÿ˜‚
 

Gordvisr

Well-known member
Previous owner may have used water/relatively heavily watered down coolant though as I recall doing a coolant flush when I first got the car - I have diluted the coolant once or twice with water which shouldn't have exceeded a 3:7 water : coolant ratio, if you think that might have been a cause?



Edited for clarity - on coolant :)
If you need to use a mixture rather use distilled water, never ever tap water.
 

AshG108

///Member
Its all good, but thanks for the sympathies! Realistically since I have no kids I don't feel too bad about making horrible financial decisions to get her up and running again, so other than Ramen for next few months, nobody else should be affected too much and she should be running again soon enough with a rebuilt engine ideally - luckily wife loves Ramen and supports the rebuild ๐Ÿ˜…

Just trying to figure out how to keep it from happening again to be honest, as I intend to go the slightly more expensive route of rebuilding the engine vs buying an import engine ๐Ÿ˜…- I'm pretty much at the point of being just short of fully committing to a full rebuild with forged internals which I neither know where to source nor have the funds to do currently?๐Ÿ˜‚ so a standard rebuild with OEM replacement parts for the damaged parts at this point seems most likely, even if it takes me years and costs me everything ๐Ÿ˜‚
I'm going to be sworn at here but maybe a Lexus V8 with a turbo might be good option.

#kthxbye

:ROFLMAO: ๐Ÿ˜ฌ :ROFLMAO:
 
If you need to use a mixture rather use distilled water, never ever tap water.
The few times I have mixed have been with distilled water (luckily my mum's a doctor so we keep a decent amount at home) - never with tap as I know the Chlorine and other nastys in tap water generally shouldn't be in an engine

But I cannot say for certain with previous owners though ๐Ÿ˜…
 
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