Higher mileage original N55 motors - N54Tech.com

Lowon · 10:38 AM

Hey Guys,
Just curious what are the highest mileage N55's that you know of or actually own?

Criteria:
1) Original Motor, no rebuilds or refreshes.
2) Driven Hard or spiritedly, no granny driving.
3) KM odometer reading are fine too.

Thanks!

Bimmer_Boost · 07-03-2017, 11:12 PM

Mine is only at 76,000 but has been tuned and driven spiritedly since 38,000.

Lowon · 07-04-2017, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bimmer_Boost

Mine is only at 76,000 but has been tuned and driven spiritedly since 38,000.

Thanks for the input!

keyap · 03:14 AM

Not really high mileage but, it has run perfectly.

30000 miles total
5000 stock
10000 JB4 + E boosting to around 19psi mid and tapering to low teens
10000 mods as per signature on N20 TMap map 7
5000 mods as per signature on map 6 with boost at 25psi to redline

3rd car so gets used for fun only - the foot therefore tends to be down most of the time.

Bar mods, only had to change the tires

NorCalN55 · 07-04-2017, 08:58 AM

110k. Fbo at 30k, Pure s2 around 55k. CA 91 and meth for the majority of these miles.

Peen · 07-04-2017, 10:31 AM

86k on mine, somehow was missing an air filter for 6 months. Driven hard, no issues

Lowon · 07-04-2017, 10:37 AM

Thanks for the imput guys, keep it coming

Newguy123 · 07-04-2017, 11:16 AM

Purchased mine with 25k on the clock its at 60k now. 30k of FBO+PS2 18+ psi stock motor and trans

LikeMike · 07-04-2017, 11:37 AM

10k miles with mods in sig installed, with e85 every other fillup.

cahme · 07-05-2017, 03:42 PM

I'm at 143k mi now, bought it at 113k and have been running stock exhaust & fmic with JB4 since about 115k. It's my DD and I spend a bit of time cruising, but it definitely sees full boost and > 5k RPM pretty much daily for the past 2ish years.

Replaced HPFP, DV, and VANOS bolts, but otherwise motor has been untouched.

Sicmadek · 07-05-2017, 04:18 PM

Anything to worry about as the miles rack up? Like water pump?

Lowon · 07-05-2017, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cahme

I'm at 143k mi now, bought it at 113k and have been running stock exhaust & fmic with JB4 since about 115k. It's my DD and I spend a bit of time cruising, but it definitely sees full boost and > 5k RPM pretty much daily for the past 2ish years.

Replaced HPFP, DV, and VANOS bolts, but otherwise motor has been untouched.

nice!

GaSs_ZA · 07-05-2017, 10:18 PM

My car is a Manual M135, was a BMW experience car that was used on track, bought it at 14k, I am now at 60K with around 20 Track days , driven hard

FBO, no meth

Lowon · 07-06-2017, 12:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GaSs_ZA

My car is a Manual M135, was a BMW experience car that was used on track, bought it at 14k, I am now at 60K with around 20 Track days , driven hard

FBO, no meth

Nice!

suchtragedy · 07-06-2017, 09:53 AM

Bought at 37k, FBO at 45k, now at 80k. Only issue I've had with it is small oil leak due to worn out oil filter housing gasket and an issue with a broken wire on the electric steering rack. Other than that I run this hard daily driving 60 miles per day highway 8 months out of the year. Regular oil changes every 5k, full synthetic of course. Car hasn't yet took a piss on me yet or left me stranded anywhere.

neejay · 07-06-2017, 10:38 AM

Bought @ 33k miles, currently at 85k miles

- BMS Stage 1 @ about 50k miles, JB4 @ about 65k miles
- Daily driven hard/spirited
- Oil changes every 10k miles

Lowon · 07-06-2017, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suchtragedy

Bought at 37k, FBO at 45k, now at 80k. Only issue I've had with it is small oil leak due to worn out oil filter housing gasket and an issue with a broken wire on the electric steering rack. Other than that I run this hard daily driving 60 miles per day highway 8 months out of the year. Regular oil changes every 5k, full synthetic of course. Car hasn't yet took a piss on me yet or left me stranded anywhere.

Good to hear!

Lowon · 07-06-2017, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by neejay

Bought @ 33k miles, currently at 85k miles

- BMS Stage 1 @ about 50k miles, JB4 @ about 65k miles
- Daily driven hard/spirited
- Oil changes every 10k miles

Nice!

Shawabkeh Bimmer · 07-08-2017, 02:24 AM

Bought mine at 72k. Tuned since 75k. 85k on the odo now but motor is toast. The belt entered the front crank seal and made the engine knock. So I basically drove it for a year, and spent 10k on fixing it for no reason. Here I am putting another motor in for another 10k. I did my oil changes at 3.5k with full synthetic BMW ll01 oil. For all that money I'm spending i could've just bought a new 335i or a better built car like a Subaru or Toyota. These cars aren't made to last. Definitely my last BMW I'll ever own, except for the E36. It has a special place in my heart. Do not purchase this a car with a n5x unless you have thousands of dollars at your disposal. This car definitely put me in serious debt.

mr_kay · 07-08-2017, 04:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawabkeh Bimmer

Bought mine at 72k. Tuned since 75k. 85k on the odo now but motor is toast. The belt entered the front crank seal and made the engine knock. So I basically drove it for a year, and spent 10k on fixing it for no reason. Here I am putting another motor in for another 10k. I did my oil changes at 3.5k with full synthetic BMW ll01 oil. For all that money I'm spending i could've just bought a new 335i or a better built car like a Subaru or Toyota. These cars aren't made to last. Definitely my last BMW I'll ever own, except for the E36. It has a special place in my heart. Do not purchase this a car with a n5x unless you have thousands of dollars at your disposal. This car definitely put me in serious debt.

The drive belt? Pictures? Was the belt showing signs of distress first?

Lowon · 07-08-2017, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawabkeh Bimmer

Bought mine at 72k. Tuned since 75k. 85k on the odo now but motor is toast. The belt entered the front crank seal and made the engine knock. So I basically drove it for a year, and spent 10k on fixing it for no reason. Here I am putting another motor in for another 10k. I did my oil changes at 3.5k with full synthetic BMW ll01 oil. For all that money I'm spending i could've just bought a new 335i or a better built car like a Subaru or Toyota. These cars aren't made to last. Definitely my last BMW I'll ever own, except for the E36. It has a special place in my heart. Do not purchase this a car with a n5x unless you have thousands of dollars at your disposal. This car definitely put me in serious debt.

First off, Sorry about what happened to you man, it's sad to hear that happen to a car owner as it's not cheap.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with your statement.

1)if the front crank seal is leaking, which is common on a high mileage car if you don't inspect the seals, will cause the belt to slip and thus enter the front crank seal. There are videos on YouTube saying if you have a leak you must repair the seal and ensure the hub is dry.

2) you bought your car used, you never know what the previous owner did. So it technically doesn't matter how often you did your oil changes if the previous owner neglected the motor. Did you get a PPI before purchasing the car?

3) 72k is quite high mileage (if it's miles), imo the car should have undergone a BMW inspection service before modifications as that can reduce the life of the motor. Again you gotta "pay to play" is the motto when people take the risk of modifications, it's generally really not a big deal on these cars as they're quite strong, but anytime you push a car past factory tolerances there's a chance for failure.

4) I wouldn't call Subaru (depends on model and driving etc) super reliable in my own opinion. Not sure if you've don't the research about spun bearings due to cracked oil pick ups, blown turbos due to ojl starvation, and cracked ring land due to brittle Pistons.

5) N5x motors seem to be pretty reliable especially since they can take unfathomable amounts of power and stress before failure, coming from the jdm community where built motors were required for anything more than FBO, you guys are so lucky you don't even understand.

Overall I wouldn't really judge a car or brand based on a car you didn't own since brand new for the afforementioned reasons in point 1,2,3. Hopefully you get this sorted out, try getting a used motor and Indy shop to drop it in. That should be alot cheaper. ~$3k motor + ~$2k install is roughly $5k.

Best,
Lowon

Shawabkeh Bimmer · 07-08-2017, 12:02 PM

The cheapest motor I could find was for 5k. Then the cheapest labor I could find was 3k. Then 1k for new fluids and plugs, coils, gaskets misc etc. Not a cheap job.

Lowon · 07-08-2017, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawabkeh Bimmer

The cheapest motor I could find was for 5k. Then the cheapest labor I could find was 3k. Then 1k for new fluids and plugs, coils, gaskets misc etc. Not a cheap job.

Do you want to start a thread asking for used motor help? I've seen alot of users post links to really cheap reasonable milage cars. Also install could be done elsewhere, most likely cheaper, just ship your car out.

So I'm thinking $3k for motor, $1k for the misc, $3k for install. So roughly $7k.

Shawabkeh Bimmer · 07-09-2017, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr_kay

The drive belt? Pictures? Was the belt showing signs of distress first?

The belt and all pulleys were new. I replaced everything 3 times in a span of 2 months. I wanted to make sure if any oil or coolant got on the belt I got a new one.

Lowon · 07-09-2017, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawabkeh Bimmer

The belt and all pulleys were new. I replaced everything 3 times in a span of 2 months. I wanted to make sure if any oil or coolant got on the belt I got a new one.

That's not going to help if there's a leak, I'm not talking about a one time oil spill from an oil change. I'm talking about an oil leak from the oil filter housing gasket. If that seeps out it won't stop until it's replaced and that causes the belts to slip.

There's a very informative video on YouTube by abrhouston regarding this issue.

The more important question is did you get a PPI from a reputable shop before purchasing the car?