BMW N57 & N54 Common Problems

BMW’s N47 and N57 engines have some pretty serious and potentially catastrophic common issues you should know about. So here’s everything you need to know, including the service schedule!

• Maintenance schedule
  • Oil change every 5-10k miles
  • Air filters every 2-3 services
  • Zf8hp after 60k miles /8 years – less if you tow
• Timing chain
  • At the rear of the engine so engine out to replace
  • Regular oil changes help, DONT FOLLOW BMW RECOMMENDED
  • Around 100K miles
• EGR clogs, either clean or remove (do at your own risk)
• DPF – long journeys needed regularly to do DPF regenerate
• Glow plugs – fragile, careful when extracting. Could be module instead
• Crankshaft pulley/damper – apparently cracks and splits at 100k miles
• Injector seal/injectors
• Swirl flaps – brass rod fails
• Sensors – we have personal experience with this. Issues can be masked, no error codes thrown. Massive pain.
• Turbos can fail at higher mileages