Hi all - after many years of great driving (230000kms) our BMW has issues with cylindar 1 - Mechanic has stopped work as he feels its better to replace the engine. I wondered if anyone has ben down this route before. The car itself has had pretty much everything done - wheels - disks - gearbox service and its in great condition overall. Should we let it go as a non runner? or replace piston? or replace engine? Car is in Cape Town so looking for options.
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technical F22 220i - N20 engine replacement
- Thread starter WinstonG
- Start date
AshG108
///Member
Fit a Lexus V8 and be done. Sleeper of note!!!
Speak to a few people who rebuild engines first, to get some insight. Then ask yourself a few questions:
1. How badly do you want to keep this car going forward?
2. How much do you trust whoever will rebuild the engine?
3. What is your budget? Get prices for the best case, the average case and the worst case (based on what they find once the engine is stripped).
An import engine is usually advertised as "low mileage", but that is only a claim. I have one now and have no idea what its real mileage is. It also needed a lot of maintenance. The sump had to be swapped because it's an X5 engine going into an E46 (otherwise the same engine), and the sump gasket on the import engine was hard and brittle.
That said, an import engine is still cheaper than a full, proper rebuild (unless you do the rebuild yourself).
Personally, if this were my car, I wouldn't put another N20B20 in. I'd go with the B48B20 if you want to stay at 2L, or the B58B30O0 3L if you can find one. The Bxx engines are far more reliable than the N20 era, and they're still BMW engines that were used in the F22 series.
In Cape Town, LDR/TheEngineMen (where I got my engine) are a real importer and not one of the scams. It still isn't cheap, but a swap is more cost effective than a full rebuild.
I still don't know if my import engine works. I might see a video of it starting today. For me this is more of an experiment: I'm replacing a very tired 2.5L with a 3L. I still have two daily cars on the road (although they're thirsty on oil), so I have time to work through this third car's issues as they pop up.
1. How badly do you want to keep this car going forward?
2. How much do you trust whoever will rebuild the engine?
3. What is your budget? Get prices for the best case, the average case and the worst case (based on what they find once the engine is stripped).
An import engine is usually advertised as "low mileage", but that is only a claim. I have one now and have no idea what its real mileage is. It also needed a lot of maintenance. The sump had to be swapped because it's an X5 engine going into an E46 (otherwise the same engine), and the sump gasket on the import engine was hard and brittle.
That said, an import engine is still cheaper than a full, proper rebuild (unless you do the rebuild yourself).
Personally, if this were my car, I wouldn't put another N20B20 in. I'd go with the B48B20 if you want to stay at 2L, or the B58B30O0 3L if you can find one. The Bxx engines are far more reliable than the N20 era, and they're still BMW engines that were used in the F22 series.
In Cape Town, LDR/TheEngineMen (where I got my engine) are a real importer and not one of the scams. It still isn't cheap, but a swap is more cost effective than a full rebuild.
I still don't know if my import engine works. I might see a video of it starting today. For me this is more of an experiment: I'm replacing a very tired 2.5L with a 3L. I still have two daily cars on the road (although they're thirsty on oil), so I have time to work through this third car's issues as they pop up.
So for my daily cars, I only trust Garage808 to do the maintenance work on them. When I started asking questions about motor rebuild, they pointed me to Motor Masters who Colin has worked with himself for years and I got some of the best advice there and they are upfront that if things are bad that prices really go deep, as in a bottomless pit. But they are one of the places you can trust with a rebuild. Both these are the same street.
Things to keep in mind. Both a rebuild and import engine will take time. Rebuild anything 2-4 weeks. Import will take longer if the engine is not in stock, expect a month shipping time, expect addiitonal weeks if the weather prevents ship from docking in Cape Town.
Hopefully, you have a budget in mind, get some quotes for your car+engine combination and then you can choose whether you want to proceed with either or rather cut your losses and sell as non-runner.
Things to keep in mind. Both a rebuild and import engine will take time. Rebuild anything 2-4 weeks. Import will take longer if the engine is not in stock, expect a month shipping time, expect addiitonal weeks if the weather prevents ship from docking in Cape Town.
Hopefully, you have a budget in mind, get some quotes for your car+engine combination and then you can choose whether you want to proceed with either or rather cut your losses and sell as non-runner.
osiris
///Member
If you have a daily then I would say do the engine swap yourself, it will be a good learning experience.
You can take the time to set up your work space properly, get an engine hoist from like Ardendorf, won't be too expensive, start getting all the tools and things you are going to need and start watching videos on how to do it. This is exactly how I went about doing the turbos on my old Z4 35i. I had no real prior mechanical knowledge of taking on massive jobs like this where subframes and stuff need to be removed.
I did normal oil services and brake services etc but nothing massive like this. I watched a few vids, got all the torque specs that I would need written down and watched the process several times and then decided to go for it once I was fully prepared with all the tools that I needed and it actually went really smoothly, only hiccups were some stuck bolts that BMW over tightened and the steering rack that fought me for an hour or so. but once that was out things went fast and after that turbo job was done I drove the car for around 6 years without a hiccup. Actually the biggest issue was getting the subframe back on! That was a literal nightmare and took many hours to get back on because the engine had shifted slightly. But taking an engine out you don't need to worry about all that, you're working from the top of the car which makes things alot easier, you don't need to worry about all the suspension bits like control arms and subframe.
Obviously if this is your daily and you have no other means of transport this becomes tricky but from personal experience, don't be scared to take something like this on, it's really not that bad. This is obviously built on the fact that you are able to get a replacement engine.
You can take the time to set up your work space properly, get an engine hoist from like Ardendorf, won't be too expensive, start getting all the tools and things you are going to need and start watching videos on how to do it. This is exactly how I went about doing the turbos on my old Z4 35i. I had no real prior mechanical knowledge of taking on massive jobs like this where subframes and stuff need to be removed.
I did normal oil services and brake services etc but nothing massive like this. I watched a few vids, got all the torque specs that I would need written down and watched the process several times and then decided to go for it once I was fully prepared with all the tools that I needed and it actually went really smoothly, only hiccups were some stuck bolts that BMW over tightened and the steering rack that fought me for an hour or so. but once that was out things went fast and after that turbo job was done I drove the car for around 6 years without a hiccup. Actually the biggest issue was getting the subframe back on! That was a literal nightmare and took many hours to get back on because the engine had shifted slightly. But taking an engine out you don't need to worry about all that, you're working from the top of the car which makes things alot easier, you don't need to worry about all the suspension bits like control arms and subframe.
Obviously if this is your daily and you have no other means of transport this becomes tricky but from personal experience, don't be scared to take something like this on, it's really not that bad. This is obviously built on the fact that you are able to get a replacement engine.
This is an easy decision that must be made with the head and not heart, its a 220i sell it as is now and cry once, strip that engine to rebuild or remove to replace and you will cry many many times because as many parts as you already replaced there is still a hundred more that will break in the process or will be found to be worn.
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