Head gasket gone, new engine needed. need advice

Hey all, update to this.

Engine was replaced with an M50. It was decided that a head gasket repair might be a waste of time due to the risk of the bolts pulling when tightening the head back on.

Thanks to MBW1 for the replacement engine!

 head gasket cousing that problem(its the first sign that HG f***ed)as he told me.something with the presure that makes that botle cracked.(sorry about my english,im not local in ireland) this is my first car and im preaty desepointed:( i realy love that car and i dont want to sell it or something.thanks for ur help 

it`s a e46 318 2001 nothing big :) well the problem that coolant botle(tank) cracked(water leeks).i went to one garage they told me more about that.he told that it cost about 6oo euro to fix this.anyway i just wanna be sure before paying or fixing anything... thanks for the number (handshake)

hi guys,does anybody knows good garages in dublin  (south if posiblle) that could fix this problem(head gasket).maybe u know where to get that fixed cheeper.thanx for help.

quarryman wrote: Is carrying over the M50 inlet manifold, ECU and loom a lot of extra work?

Yes. Modified M50 manifold and a special adaptor for the throttle body
for starters. The M50 tb does not fit the M52 inlet manifold and vice
versa.

That's if you use the 325i inlet manifold which is another can of worms
best left unopened for now! The actual engines are identical in terms of
can profiles, head, displacement etc. To keep it simple use a bare M50
engine and fit the complete 323i M52 engine loom, ECU and manifolds.
That's just nuts and bolts and is the quickest way to get the car on the
road again.

PM replied to (comprehensively!)

I wouldn't even consider helicoiling an M52 block. For every success story
there are ten failures and the problem is, the head can lift and pull the
helicoils with it. BMW dealers use Timeserts which are better but are
ultimately a bodge because the loading stresses of stretch bolts are
immense.

I saw a 728i once that had the head gasket done by a main dealer and the
head gasket went again. They did the job and added three timeserts and
it lasted less than a month before it pulled the threads again. There was
quite a battle before the dealer held their hands up and replaced the
short engine with one of the 'campaign' short engines that BMW were
supplying cheap (around £800) when the Nikasil thing was going on.

One more thing: (honest)

There is no such thing as an Alusil M52. Engines up to @Feb 1998 were
Nikasil which is a silicon nickel bore coating. After that they used steel
liners pressed into the block which itself is a can of worms because on
engines with the 84mm bore (2.5 and 2.8) the alloy can - and does - sink
between the liners causing gasket failure. The block is scrap when this
happens. 2 Litre engines have an extra 4mm of alloy between the liners
and they don't seem to suffer.
Alusil was used on the later 3.5/4.4 V8 and V12 engines and is a special
alloy that has no bore coating and no liners.

I have a very good engine here - an iron block 2.5 Single Vanos with
112'000 miles.
This is the old M50 325i engine which was an iron block verion of the
later 323i. These will fit straight in once the manifolds and engine loom
are swapped over. They are a vastly better engine, no Nikasil, no shifting
steel liners and no head bolts pulling out. Same capacity and same
cylinder head. The only difference is the material used for the block.

You can have this engine for £250 but you'll need to sort out a courier to
collect it from the UK.

Certainly beats £1000. That's just ridiculous for an old BMW engine.

Agreed !

Sticking in a complete M50/Loom/ECU MUST be less labour that removing, stripping, rebuilding and refitting the one you have.

I'm not a qualified mechanic and I'm estimating it will take me a few hours to fit my M50 to the 328i Touring and get it running. As Ben says on the loom there are 3 cables that attach to the car plus a few plugs.

Edited by big pimpin

It takes 10 minutes to change an ECU and the loom comes attached to the engine, disconnect the earths/jump starting points and plug out. Job done. Its no harder to fit an M50 and anyone that tells you that is just trying to squeeze more money out of you!