BMW Diesel engine

Hi, Just a quick thought...

The 2.5 diesel engine is pretty unreliable.. So was thinking would the later 2003 2.5 6 cylinder engine be any better and more to the point, would it fit into the p38?

I disagree that the BMW diesel is unreliable. If not abused it`s as good as any... and better than most. I don`t know what experience you have of `em, but don`t form an opinion from forums such as this; by definition it`s full of us having a good moan.
There is an existing thread on here somewhere about a member instolling a 3 litre unit into his P38. Not a five minute job !! But makes me a bit jealous...

shaunm41 said:

Hi, Just a quick thought...

The 2.5 diesel engine is pretty unreliable.. So was thinking would the later 2003 2.5 6 cylinder engine be any better and more to the point, would it fit into the p38?

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the one your thinking of replacing is still a 6 pot 2.5 and whoever told you its unreliable is talking ****e, the golden rule of any diesel is to change the oil whenever necessary, there bullet proof and will last you 200.000 miles if serviced correctly, i have use mine off road, the wife put petrol in it for a year and a 1/2 and i have abused it on London roads, and its still going very strong, i have had to replace things on it, but with the amount of mileage that's on it, its to be expected, keep the one you have, the only thing is it suffers from a lack of power, but then consider its pulling near 1 1/2 ton and you can then understand why, but they can be chipped inter-coolers put in and tweaked, you will then se a marked improvement in them

Dopey said:

the wife put petrol in it for a year and a 1/2 and i have abused it on London roads, but then consider its pulling near 1 1/2 ton and you can then understand why, but they can be chipped inter-coolers put in and tweaked, you will then se a marked improvement in them

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a year an half putting petrol in a diesel?

p38's are over 2 1/2 ton, i had a 98 dse remapped, that was great, me mates got a 97 dse no mods and he's got no complaints about underpowered a bit slow from the mark but once it gets going its good, i aggree about the reliability.

I heard, don't know how much truth in it though...... BMW didn't want the RR to out perform it other 4X4s so gave it a chip that made it slower ??? or a chip that wast to out perform it BMW brand

Yea it just stopped......i pulled over first thing i did was check the tank took the cap off and.......Pssssst went the cap with the pressure, smelt it and heavy with petrol, i ask the wife what she put in and the reply was, the one that's black, what's black i ask, the pump at the station she says, i always use that one, so for all that time she was putting petrol in i was putting derv in, so it kinda even out, until she filled it right up to the top on day!!

ive no idea but it dont sound right?

I bought a 2001 TD5 3 weeks ago and have since replaced the power strering pipes as they were heavily corroded ( I was aware of nthis at time of purchase), then the turbo failed, then the intercooler failed and now the dreaded loose bolt on the pump has appeared with a total loss of oil pressure.

Fortunatly I think I caught it in time, well atleast the engine has not siezed. I now have the sump off and very small amount of swarf was found in the bottom, I think this from the turbo failure.

So here is hoping that the engine did not suffer any major damage.

and that relates to the p38 bmw diesel engine?

Thanks for all the replys.. appoligies for my missunderstanding of the bmw diesel engine, I must have just bought a bad one.. Lots of probs with mine, Poor starting, radiator blew a few month ago, using oil, using a bit of water, (no oil in water or water in oil though), lacking power off the mark.. maybe a good service will help??? The poor atarting does get annoying, especially when i accidently stall cos of the lack of power then it wont start for a while...

The thing is, these are oldish cars now, you will get problems, and when it has been in the hands of 3 or 4 owners, you'll find a lack of service and generally the whole thing has been neglected due mainly to the cost of fixing these things, you have to ask yourself the question when buying a car that's for sale, why is this person selling it, they wont tell you its having trouble, they will say "well im getting a company car so i don't need this one now, but it drives like a dream" then you'll hear there sigh of relief as you walk away, with your hard earned £££ in there sweaty mitts, and the nightmare to come, and more of your hard earned £££ just whithering away, but this could be said for any top of the range car, parts are expensive, you pay for a top car, then you pay the price in parts for it too

The useing oil, poor performance and crap starting may be related, i have a bmw325 (same one as the p38) engine in my clasisic and had the same problems.
The engine breather exits in to the air filter housing and then on to the turbo.Because of the way the oil is pumped up in the rocker cover it allows some of it to be drawn out of the breather pipe down to the turbo under acceleration, its worse with a cloged air filter . This then collects in the intercooler( if you have one) or the inlet manafold. Eventually it get to the heater plugs and kills them or runs though open valves overnight.

Thers a number of work arounds on bmw forums to fit breathers that vent to the engin bay.
All i did was strip it and clean everything on the induction side and change the air filter. the improvment was very noticeable and after a few day the starting improved.

hex said:

The useing oil, poor performance and crap starting may be related, i have a bmw325 (same one as the p38) engine in my clasisic and had the same problems.
The engine breather exits in to the air filter housing and then on to the turbo.Because of the way the oil is pumped up in the rocker cover it allows some of it to be drawn out of the breather pipe down to the turbo under acceleration, its worse with a cloged air filter . This then collects in the intercooler( if you have one) or the inlet manafold. Eventually it get to the heater plugs and kills them or runs though open valves overnight.

Thers a number of work arounds on bmw forums to fit breathers that vent to the engin bay.
All i did was strip it and clean everything on the induction side and change the air filter. the improvment was very noticeable and after a few day the starting improved.

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I'll definatly have to look into that, the breather on the rocker cover connects into the induction i think, I will have to have a look when I get home, but the breather seems to contain oil, and its not on properly, it moves about, and falls out pretty easily.. I'll certainly have to take a look and clean it all out.. maybe it will help as it did with yours..

Cheers for that

Dopey said:

The thing is, these are oldish cars now, you will get problems, and when it has been in the hands of 3 or 4 owners, you'll find a lack of service and generally the whole thing has been neglected due mainly to the cost of fixing these things, you have to ask yourself the question when buying a car that's for sale, why is this person selling it, they wont tell you its having trouble, they will say "well im getting a company car so i don't need this one now, but it drives like a dream" then you'll hear there sigh of relief as you walk away, with your hard earned £££ in there sweaty mitts, and the nightmare to come, and more of your hard earned £££ just whithering away, but this could be said for any top of the range car, parts are expensive, you pay for a top car, then you pay the price in parts for it too

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Well i had that in mind when I bought it, I knew range rovers wern't the cheapest car to repair.. Although they are pretty easy to work on if your any good at basic mechanics yourself.. Since having mine, 1995 (M REG) payed £1500 for it, clutch went, then 2 days after that was fixed the gearbox went, total cost for new clutch, full gearbox rebuild and transfer box rebuild £2150 (and that was a cash price) then the radiator blew, £140 for a second hand one fitting, now the sunroof leaks if I park facing up hill, it all flows into the roof then into the car when driving.. that needs sorting, all the other stuff with the engine need attention, the suspension drops over a few hours, not affecting things at the moment but when its parked a few days it takes ages to lift.....

I did get a set of 55 RR sport wheels and tyres for £50 so thats a bargin that i couldnt resist... and looks cool too...

My P38 DSE has just clocked 124000 miles and only thing i have changed is the waterpump, oil change every 5000 miles with Mobil One oil fully syn, there a little like the wife, give them regular attension and they will serve you well, better than the wife you can switch them off

Think you've bought a bit of a pup mate, mine has 141,000 on the clock, service it myself, oil change every 3000m. Only thing that has gone wrong for me is abs pump failed due to a sticking abs relay (black one in engine bay fuse box), this is a common fault so watch out for it, causes the abs pump to run continously and burns out the brushes/motor on the pump. These engines, as said before, are very good if looked after, I have a power chip on mine and a straight through (turbo back) custom made stainless exhaust, car pulls like a train and we still get a calculated 31mpg.
Give it a good service, if it's loosing water and is difficult to start then get your local garage to do a 'sniff test' on the coolant, it could be seeping a little water into the cylinder, hence the difficult starting.

Ohhhh it just gets worse and worse.... Now its parked up AGAIN... got a metalic tapping sound coming from the top of the engine.. This can be heard faintly from outside the car with the engine running.. But becomes quite aparent as the oil filler cap is removed..

What could this be? and how costly of a repair is due?

Tappets?

The Mad Hat Man said:

Tappets?

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Yeah I thought maybe that.. Are they hydrolic tappets though?

my bmw diesel has done 160,000+ miles still going touch wood! hoping for 200,000+ out of it, i try and change the oil every 6000, and i dont have to top up between the changes.

Mines on 228,000, over 100,000 of that has been done in the last 18 months. The last couple of months or so is the first time its been any problem with the rear diff, gearbox and crankshaft pulley giving up. Other than that I really can't fault it. It does get an oil and filter change every 6000 miles.

Rich