Your channel is literally the N54 bible. Thanks for your videos dude.

Glad to watch all these DIY videos. Gives me the confidence to tackle maintenance on my own N55 engine. Unfortunate that your N54 failed even with all the strict maintenance you complete. We definitely be tuned into your future videos to see how the project comes along!

Once again more amazing content! Love watching your videos taking these N54's apart. Makes me fall in love with my 335i all over again!

We need more N54 videos, this page always inspires me to work on my 335i🙏🏻 thanks!!

Great detective work! You’re a huge asset to the N54 community, keep it up! 👍

if you did a mini series on refreshing this engine I would strongly consider purchasing it for my 200k mile 335i sedan

Yep 👍 thank you so much for all you do with this car !! Sorry to see that failure, but hats off to you for minimizing the damage. Thank for the videos you have put out on this machine you have truly built an entire video library of E90 n54 problems and how to fix them. Thank you for always documenting the problems and that needs to be done to fix them. And have a wonderful Christmas. You are the leader in making these BMW E90 car videos, looking forward to the next episode!!

I feel really bad for you, but I really enjoyed watching you take the engine apart. It's a beautiful design.

I love these kind of vids!

Boooy...such a pleasure watching your work

Been lurking for a while, love the videos! Can’t wait to see what’s next.

Thanks for keeping on topic and taking a loss like a pro......inspiring

this is my favorite yt channel rn

Love. You changed my life and that from my N54 😀

Thanks for opening the engine for us anyway. I appreciate your effort

Sorry that happened bro, it was the KZfaq gods wants more footage

Always quality content ....I learn so much about bmws from you ...keep up the good work!!!

Thank you for all the content I have learned so much from your channel that I am taking on projects on my n54 I would never dream of. Keep positive don't give up on your car, I believe it was all oil temp. related

Thank you as ever for the upload, looking forward to the next video and engine

I can't believe it is just related to pushing hard with cold oil temperature for once. Many people who have no clue in mechanics do it. Must be related to the new bearing installation. At least it is a great video with a nice N54 overview.

Excellent DIY video!! Thanks for the information.

Finally ! I’ve been waiting for the part 2 of the last video

You’re Absolutely, Positively, Amazing!!!!!!!

Awesome video!!!!!! Sorry that happened to you bro. Its true i guess when they say, when you think ita hot enough, wait that extra bit longer before hammering it. Every engine is different but always baby it on cold start ups.

It must be frustrating trying to work and not trip over your camera gear. I appreciate your efforts man.

2 things, never use the factory bolts, to much margin for error, also do not use that rod again once the bearing spun it ruins the connecting rod

Your history of competence makes this feel like “no problem”, I’d have put off removing the bearing caps just not to receive the verdict.

Best N54 channel

It's really amazing how some people can't actually not like this video. 🤨 Thats just hate.. keep up the great work man, ur vidz are great.

I’d definitely change out all the seals on the “newer” motor before putting her in. 1) rear main 2) crank seal 3) oil pan 4) valve cover 5) OFHG I wouldn’t use the crappy, over priced BMW sealant, for the crank seals either. Ultra Grey plus an OEM gasket for the 2 crank seals & Ultra Black, plus an OEM gasket for everything else. I strongly believe ultra black/ grey enhances the longevity of the seal when coupled with an OEM gasket.

SO easy to work on when the engine is out.

Top class disassembly and info.

The more you play with your engine the higher the chance of f**in something up imo. That being said, we appreciate you taking one for Team. Keep up great N54 content. God Bless.

My experience with king bearings is they are normally on the looser side of clearance. I use them in all my builds(now) and haven't had a problem. My last build I used them in was a vq35de originally used 5w30 and after build I switched to a 10w40 for break in and 5w40 T6 after. I also make sure to get the coolant temp up to around 180f before I run the engine hard. Haven't had any problems in the 5 builds that I used king in. I used to use ACL.

You are one cool cat. Great content, thanks for sharing your experience.

Sorry about what happened to your motor goodluck and thanks for the vids very knowledgeable

Your videos are awesome man!

The bottom ends stock can handle quite a bit of power. I am unsure if you used factory or upgraded bearings, but the upgraded tend to have a black coating on them. Also most tunes/piggybacks will auto trigger limp mode if you try to apply power before the oil is up to temp I think most use 200 degrees as a cut off. On the flip slide, there are a ton of aftermarket upgrades that are not expensive. Just have a machine shop look over the block, they may even be able to save the crank. But the rods I would easily swap those out with all new ones with aftermarket fasteners.

Great work buddy!

Probably oil, probably too lose on the bearings, could have been a bunch but every motor I’ve built I make sure to check the clearance all the time no matter what.

Fantastic work.

Hey man so sorry to see what happened to your 54, in the little experience i have as a farmer building engines may that be old diesels though, opening connecting rods are a fearsome thing for me as especially these bmw machines are extremely sensitive for clearances and I understand why you did it , preventative is always better for sure , but when you did your video on the oil pump change and when you opened the rods I thought to myself......I’m not brave enough for that😀😀 but some you really win some you don’t , awesome videos thanks 🙏🏻 Would love to see what the engineering shop recommends on the clearances Best wishes

Keep Up The Work!!!!

Great video! Waiting for the update on the reason why this happened. :)

Sad to hear 😞. Glad to be in anticipation for the next video. With the new motor? 👐 I am currently in the market for a m52tub28 engine. OR a link or links for tools needed to replace the head gasket. I’m scared to make a money pit mistake, nervous even😬

That sucks! Maybe it was a little lose...that & being cold was enough for it to give in & spin? At Least the rest is all good. Drop that off & have the crank redone & some new bearings installed. Nothing wrong with having an extra motor stashed away...👍🏁

Thinking bout joining the corvette family... but my heart says M3 e92 upgrade from my current n54 , too much issues been sitting more than on the road ... it sucks 😔 but my love for bmw still there

Im almost over my N54. I love it to death... but its like... i spend more time finding part numbers then driving the car. Then when i rarely do drive, i press the gas, then get a fckn ticket anyways. As always. Keep up the good work. Dont let the BMW devil take your spirits down. When it works, it works good.

I’ve been waiting for this vid... can you post your oil sample results? I’m curious to see it to compare with my n51... which is currently parked until I do my bearings... I wouldn’t rule out poor tolerances as the culprit, especially since it’s so recent. My knowledge on n54 is limited compared to the n51, but ISTA and other sources show you need to do clearances with plastic gauges, oil the new bearings and I also read you need to prime the oil system before starting it - several accounts of spun bearings shortly after replacement due to not priming the oil system. As always great vids! You have definitely gave me great confidence in doing big jobs like this I wouldn’t consider before. Great to see someone doing this kinda stuff in their own garage with out a lift! Thanks for the great vids!

Awesome content brother. Thank you for your work. Really helpful.

Same thing happened on my e90 N52 cylinder 5. All other bearings showed signs of light wear. Research suggested bearing clearances from the factory were super tight, just something BMW did without having the best oil tech at the time. I installed a new crank, rod, and standard size bearings with .0002" rod bearing oil clearances. (Slightly larger than factory specs.) 5,000 miles later it runs super smooth, quiet, and is happy in 0 degree C startups with synthetic 0w-40 oil exceeding BMW's oil standards for the N52 (2006 330i e90). The spun bearing occurred at 170k miles. I suggest dropping the oil pan and changing bearings if you can at 150,000 miles to avoid a rebuild and crank machining seeing this seems to be a common failure point for this generation of BMW I6 engine.

I spun a few bearings back in January. I know the pain. I'm looking forward to more videos, awesome content! Where did you get your new motor from?

This was insanely interesting to watch

Best channel☺️👍

Dude, you are a beast

I could be wrong but my gut is always telling me that messing with bearings is a risky business, unless you are super familiar with the particular motor you're working on (and I know that you know this motor as good as anyone) there just seems to be so many variables between tightening issues, too tight or not tight enough etc. I mean, the clearances we're talking about here leave very little margin for error. Then you could think about ambient temps when you installed the bearings, if it was a hot or cold day that day, the particular bolts used, etc. I'm no master mechanic like you, I'm actually a chef by profession so I'm just spitballing here. It's certainly a pleasure to watch someone work that is a master at their craft, no matter what that might be. I always get a lot of "you make that look so easy" when I'm cooking for family or friends but it's just 25 years of experience. If one does anything for that long , you are bound to get good at it. Anyways, better luck with the next engine! Merry Xmas and Happy New Year dude!

Great video, what power wrench are you using? You make a full engine tare down look so easy🙌

Probably was cold oil. That sucks but at least now we're 99% sure it was running it hard when it was cold. Not sure if that helps or not but at least it's the truth. Maybe have a machine shop turn that crank and get some more donations to make a built single turbo out of it? Would have to find a donor car chassis but 335i's are still somewhat cheap; especially if you find one with a completely unusable grenaded engine. Just a thought to help you not look at that engine you have as a complete loss.

Yeah definitely probably clearance issue being that you winged. But hey learning is tearing stuff up and building better. Nice video too 😂

You have to open the oil pump for further good diagnostic usually you will some résidu of métal. For me I didn't like the color for the cyl#2 its like near black. For the connecting rod I didn't see any things. Well you have to send the crankshaft to the machine shop after that replace all the connecting rods and cleaning well the oil pump assembly. That what I did for all my bmws. And the important thing you have to be super clean when you work on N54 or N20 or N55. Good 👍

Great video and a super channel to have access to if you have this platform, which I do. I have a 2009 E92, and I always watch your vids before attempting anything. I hate this happened to your car, but we all know how these cars keep us busy and on our toes. No matter how much we curse at them while working things out, as soon as you drive it again we realize it's all worth it. I don't believe it was low oil temps. I believe it was the bearings themselves. Thousands of people drive their's hard right from the start. And while I know that is a horrible thing to do to any engine, these engines do well in holding up against such abuse normally. That's why I believe it's not just the oil temp thing. I'd like to ask you if your knowledge of this car is formal education or self taught?

I wish I had your knowledge on how to work on these engines

Will change mine in the next few weeks, gonna go with oem bearings. but i really gotta figure out what the correct clearance is for the n54. Good luck with your car dude

Dry interesting, thanks. Subbed.

I never heard of installing new bearings without plastigauge - maybe your clearance was too tight? I used to work as a certified tech rebuilding motorcycle engines (mostly Japanese). Great content and thanks for uploading!

Did someone ever tell you, that you have an Optimus Prime like voice? xD It's fascinating to see how capable you are. In the last video I almost panicked because I just couldn't imagine how someone could remember how to put all of this back together. Greetings from Bavaria

I have a 2016 X5 35i which engine siezed up a couple months ago when the temperature was 25 below here in Minnesota. BMW dealer said moisture build up in the oil siezed the engine. Apparently BMW is aware of this moisture problem along with extremely cold temperature can cause seizure. Vehicle had 80,000 miles with no warranty but BMW NA paid 60% of New Engine, turbos, intake and Starter.

I wouldn't say completely a fail.. just more content 👍

I’ve heard it’s somewhat common for you to get metal shavings in your oil not long after doing rod bearings on these n54’s. I just did my bearings and am almost ready to get it all out back together so hopefully mine lasts a little longer than yours did, but if not atleast I can watch your videos of you replacing your engine to walk me through it.

I wouldn’t mind donating. The amount that your videos have saved me, I would love to give back.

I would have gone with a VAC calico coated bearing also your issue was most likley a bent crank, did you check for straightness when installing the rod bearings? When building these engines because of the bed plate design it’s important to get a line hone and check the crank for true straightness. I’ve seen several n54s with bent cranks from the factory that ended up spinning bearings.

WoW this N54 is really a pain in the ass until the last bolt

Your a genius man

Nice to finally put a face to the voice!!

BMW Master mechanic!

This is why ima go single turbo next year

just seeing this video now. I just bought an N55 with slight rod knock i believe and will attempt to fix it. Just a question though, if the crank was not ruined would you have just replaced the rod bearings again and sent it on its way?

There's a place in Oklahoma called Ghassan Automotive that sells rebuilt N54 engines that can be custom upgraded to your liking , you can tell them you want forged pistons and rods , ARP rod bolts , ARP main studs , upgraded valvetrain and so on , pretty much anything you like, price for an engine starts at $3500 and can go all the way up to around $15000 if you get everything upgraded , with a 2 years unlimited miles labor and parts warranty ,

I feel sorry for you. You must be heart broken after having done so much work on the car only to fail because of a cold oil. What's more, you're in Texas which is NOT THAT COLD compared to where I live (Michigan). I appreciate the transparencies with your content, I think it is always tempting to cover up something bad to fit a narrative when making these videos. Please keep up the honest transparent videos.

One good thing come of this you have alot of spare parts for the next motor

been getting on my f30 335i recently while still a little bit cold, not redline but 4-5k, stopped once i saw this, also i use a friction modifier, liqui moly mos2

How can I know my oil temp is in the right range to work the engine hard? Thanks for all the vids!

My N54 is currently out of the car, it was definitely neglected, so I want to replace the bearings as preventative maintenance. Do you still maintain that King bearings with stock (new) bolts is the way to go?

“YOU ARE WATCHING A MASTER AT WORK.””

Seen alot of your videos. Wish you my mechanic in Washington state.

Hi, interesting video what oil do you use?

Ouch. Sorry dude.

Did you find oversised bearing or you have to have them custom made? Mine N54 died 2 years ago and I was found that there are no oversized connecting rod bearings on the market. At least in EU. My crankshaft was rebuild to the nominal size.

Vehicular DIY I have 2008 335xi e90 I'm about to do a major engine service as well as upgraded turbos, inlets, charge pipe and BOV. (Used your link to the 775RS's)I am planning to do rod bearings as well as timing chain complete service. This n54 is at 120k with a less than desirable service record. I feel like you installed these bearing 100 percent correct. My question is do you think the seating (the grove you could get your fingernail to catch on) had not worn that pattern for an initial ware in period? Any recommendations (King rod bearings as well)

Not saying you did it AT ALL, i know you know what you are doing. But for anyone who cares ,this is why i MAKE SURE to let my car warm up to a reading temp everytime i leave in it. Especially if it's gonna be a 5-10 minute trip to the store or anything.... i had to do this once before and it just made me remember what i had to go through haha.

I know morally you don't like asking for donations for these builds, but maybe instead use the channel members option. Let us join the channel as a member for like $5/month or so, in return make your videos available to members a day or two before public release. At least we'd be technically paying for something and not just offering donations. Btw thanks for continuously putting out useful content. The vids have definitely helped me maintain my '11 e93 328i.

We’re you pushing any modifications? I have an N55e with 181k and am scared the motor will fail soon, stock but well kept up.

Sorry to see you have to experience this mann. Could it be a very tight tolerance engine, with the wrong viscosity oil, in winter ❄️ all be contributing factors?

I guess I'm in the cold oil camp as well but curious on the 'half engine' warning in the last video. Did you pull codes? saw the 'half engine' on my N54 (stock) due to jammed VANOS / failed bearing ledges (there was a batch of N54s with improperly heat treated bearing ledges). Clearly the rod bearings are damaged but curious.

Great video! Sucks that the engine is shot tho :/

Just out of curiosity did you put the shell marked SV on top and the shell marked cp on the bottom ?

Pull a couple degrees out of those cylinders in the tune should stop that

I have no idea what I'm seeing, but it's fascinating! You mention "abuse". Is this a track car, or can this happen with "spirited" daily driving?

Thanks for the video! Time for a channel rename / (DIY)? Wow. I haven't looked but I hope you did some vids of the engine removal process if you have it.

I don't believe the engineer who built this engine could disassemble and put it back like you do