BMW N57 on Almost 300k Timing Chains and Bearings

BMW X5 F15 with N57 engine. In this video we going to service:
- Timing chains + tensioners + timing chain guides + timing chain sprockets
- Main crankshaft bearings + Connection rod bearings
- Oil pump
- Valve/rocker cover
- Oil filter housing
- EGR Delete kit
Front differential side seals installation tool:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404576142318
Front crankshaft seal installation tool:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404456468499
Crankshaft Stand: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/405250299353
www.merino-shop.at/en/
Support the channel: www.patreon.com/crankauto
Shop coordinates ( for business inquiries ): crankauto/
CRANK

[@jamesdills6720]

There is a reason the main cap bearings are not lasting as long as they should. Not commonly seen in many other motors. The clearances are much too tight from Factory. Obviously this custmer has really good oil change internvals so everything looks really nice. You should look into speaking with someone in the USA that builds race motors and understands clearances in order to buy bearing that provide slightly better clearances. Keep up the great work!

[@Nico_335i_DCT]

Very interesting video guys. Thanks for sharing again. Have a good one. Dutch regards, Nico.

[@crank3646]

Thanks Nico!

[@W15Garage]

Great video! Well done. In your experience what is the oil pressure for n57 fully warmed up? Thanks

[@crank3646]

Thanks! Around 0.8 bars

[@W15Garage]

@@crank3646 thanks for your reply, keep up the good work!

[@MrAdske]

Hey mate how much does a timing chain, main and conrod bearing change cost and where are you located ? Brilliant work 👌🏻👌🏻

[@oxZanderxo]

After I change the bearings do I need to do something special, drive the car like its new to break it in? Change the oil after the first 100km, 1000, 5000km or something like that?

[@crank3646]

No, drive it like you stole it

[@georgievvladimir]

I believe you must drive moderately and change the oil after 1000km.

[@StarDriftLambo]

Could someone point me in the right direction on where to buy new main bearings, and which colors correspond to which numbers?

[@reco783]

Very nicely done, how much does the repair cost?

[@MJ-yu7kw]

Same happened to me. Is it necessary to change cylinder sleeve and glow plug as well during the overhaul ?

[@romanpunto98]

Hello. from your experience are number 2 bearings still commonly used on all n57 engines? or you have already encountered another combination 1/2/3

[@openureyes]

Great videos

[@TomoReso]

My friend has 305 000 km on his n57, will the bearings start to knock first or they just spin xD? Also how often does the crank or the block goes out of alignment? It works really well, no noises whatsoever.

[@crank3646]

You will not hear anything most of the time from the main bearings, you will hear only the conrod bearings. But most of the time when you hear the conrod bearings is because a main bearing have failed before that, which is causing the conrod oil channel to get blocked

[@TomoReso]

@@crank3646 Thanks for the reply and your time and effort to share all of this with us!

[@petar443]

1. След колко км се сменя маслото когато се сменят само лагерите? 2. 8:50 не разбрах това термостат които контролира маслото кога да навлезне в охладителя ли е? Големи коли са BMW-тата 17:50 Много добър съвет.

[@crank3646]

Стандартна смяна 8-10к км. Не остава отворен кръга и маслото ще загрява по-бавно.

[@pablopastor9157]

Hi, I'm going to rebuild a gen2 n57 313hp with spin main bearing and I found an engine block in apparently good shape (cilinders are OK and bearings not spin) are something more that I would check before buy it? I'm going to use a new crank but I don't know If choose the original or a not original forged one, I don't know what's better. Thank you!

[@kingGar27]

What is the difference between the 535d and 550d crankshafts? I can see they have different part numbers.

[@petar443]

Малко въпроси 🤓1. 14:00 с каква грес пълниш помпата? 2. 14:40 смазваш ли новите шпилки с моторно масло ?

[@crank3646]

Assembly lube на лукас или на амсойл. Не ги смазвам.

[@georgievvladimir]

Изглежда колата е гледана правилно. Имаш ли информация за интервалите на смяна на масло и маслен филтър на тази конкретна кола ? Също би ли споделил за колата на подемника, която каза, че е със супен мотор на 219 000 км ?

[@crank3646]

Нямам пълната история на колата. Обслужвана е само в БМВ до края. Колата на 219к км е вече ремонтирана и се кара от собственика. Там също се сменяше маслото на малки пробези. Но нямаме информация от предишните собственици дали това се е спазвало.

[@Assimilator1]

Interesting video :), you said at 2:23 that "the valves are bending", did you mean that the valve cover is bent? (distorted would be the right word btw :) ). Btw at 4:42 , I'm not seeing any copper being exposed in that bearing, is the camera not picking it up? Or did you mean tin/aluminium exposed?

[@crank3646]

Yes my mistake I mean the rocker/valve cover. It is not a secret that my English is far away from fluent. If you look closer you will see that some of the bearings has black exposure and the one that I'm showing has gone after that and you can see the small cooper coloring.

[@Assimilator1]

@@crank3646 No worries, you're English is pretty decent actually, if a rather strong accent😉, I just wanted to be sure we were talking about the right item. I can't see any copper on bearing no3, perhaps the camera simply didn't capture that. I do see the blackness on the end bearing quite easily though. Amazing how good the rod bearings are!

[@Assimilator1]

@@crank3646 Oh btw, I forgot to say, I've noticed that for BMW's S65 engine that their later bearings (tin/aluminium ones) quite often get darkened too. But on at least some of them that is only light surface wear+discolouration. I and a few others have rubbed down some shells in the dark patch and it reveals that the babbitt (embedding/protective) layer actually isn't worn through (if you want to see photos of that, Google m3post forum and check out this thread - "Volunteers wanted for a simple experiment on your old tin/alu rod bearing(s)" , YT doesn't let us post full links 😛), that might be the case too with the bearings you saw in this engine. If so, then they would've had plenty more life, good to see them in such good shape at that mileage 🙂

[@까리슴아]

hi. This is South Korea. My car is F10 550d, and a new engine was installed at BMW service center 3 years ago due to a load bearing failure at 140k km. The cost is very expensive. I am worried that it will happen again. Is the oil pump likely to be the cause of the load bearing failure? So, do you recommend replacing a new oil pump after driving 200k?

[@games3display11]

I would say that all problems due to the main bearing caps have a very small contact area to the block, causing it to sink in to it and making bearings to be closer to crankshaft and seize it.

[@andreiovidiu4969]

Hi! I have a f10 n57 3.0d 204hp and bearings were changed recently with oem standard. Can i use a 5w40 ll-04 instead of the 5w30 that i have now in the car? Thanks!

[@thepricylon]

what is the milage of the car?

[@andreiovidiu4969]

@@thepricylon 300.000 km

[@joker8541]

Hi.if camshaft good condition. Need fit bearings STD?

[@valymyt]

what is the price for such an operation ?

[@kzperformance]

Hi, What you say about KOLBENSCHMIDT bearing and Febi chain? Are they ok att use if i want to make a rebuild? Tank you!

[@crank3646]

If its up to me, I will never use them in this engines.

[@arsenal831]

@@crank3646Why 😅 ? Its the original supplyer.

[@arsenal831]

@@crank3646But i can’t find in it sizing with colors, just with millimeters.

[@Strmi]

Can I fit M50D oil pump on 530xd?

[@penq1117]

Do you know if the b57 engine (with higher mileage) has the same issues as the n57? Or it’s more reliable?

[@crank3646]

It is more reliable

[@oxZanderxo]

​@@crank3646why? My guess is because of the heat shield between the dpf and the block...

[@johnfarray2821]

@@crank3646 you say that because they are new engines and still have no enough statistics. You are talking shit.

[@omyasmina]

Here bmw 535d 2013 f11 stage 2 from 150k now 212k km 406hp 742nm egr delete dpf delete downpipe zf8 xhp tune no problems til now but ym going to replace the chaine at 250k the n57 is e robuust good engine dont believe al this gloor en doom on the internet just take car off the car if you scare off spending mony dont buy powerful bmw's en delete egr en dpf thats very important many people don't now that

[@Daniel-SB77]

A stupid question. Can the M57 be installed in the F10? manual gearbox

[@crank3646]

Ofc, but it will require a lot of fabrication

[@Daniel-SB77]

F10/11 are both really nice cars for me. but the N57 is a risky engine. M57 can endure a lot of terror and with a very nice power the chip can withstand a lot. I worked very similarly on Audi, the biggest work was about electricity and coding. I think the F10 with the M57 engine would be a top car.

[@MrTrollHunter]

How many workhours for this job?

[@crank3646]

A lot cant tell exactly

[@theone0070]

My f01 n57 has 385 k km original chain and bearing. I know playing with the devil

[@crank3646]

Good luck with the game

[@izaya8986]

313bhp or 299

[@blablablaqwd]

@@crank3646 because of the bearings or the chains? or both?

[@crank3646]

@@blablablaqwd Design of the cylinder block + the crankshaft

[@dusanh.]

My f11 N57 XDrive has 328000, also original chain and bearings. Before I bought it oil service interval used to be 20000 - 30000 km😵. I am aware it is pure luck or better to say - lottery to keep it running. Now it is time for big service, because I can hear little rattling sound when engine is cold, at 1500 rpm.

[@renatasr4570]

👍😎

[@ДмитрийЛебедев-и6я]

Чётко 👍

[@igotaction]

I bet that crankshaft is bent 1 thousandths of an inch (0.025mm) maybe 1.5 based on the main bearings. Those crankshafts will bend if someone drives for extended period with a misfire because the balance goes to 💩💩. If it doesn't spin like butter with new bearings it is bent.

[@crank3646]

I have measured the run-out of the crankshaft, it was 0.005-0.01 mm. So it should be fine. I have seen much worst ones running.

[@TomoReso]

@@crank3646 How much run-out do you consider still good?

[@crank3646]

@@TomoReso 0.01 - 0.03 mm most of the time is ok, more than that starts to make you nervous

[@alien9114]

Is n55 better choice than n57?

[@HarlekinN57]

It boggles my mind how a diesel engine only last 100km before it needs new bearings… I own a 14 n57 lci in an f10 130k miles 400hp… just took mine apart to do this as I found little shavings in the oil filter. Very disappointed because the amount of work this requires including chains. Its pathetic a diesel engine does this. Im used to cummins running 350k MILES being tow horses… yet my F10 diesel engine can barely hit 130k miles. Main bearing in my case… and what is worse is that there is not actual “permanent fix”… its an engine out job every 60k-100k miles. Like what in the actual fuck… my M52B28 Iron block e36 has 131k miles on stock engine running perfectly… I just struggle to understand that a diesel engine can’t get to 150k miles unopened.

[@crank3646]

Still the efficiency btw N57 and the cummins engine is from the moon and back.

[@HarlekinN57]

@@crank3646 absolutely. I shouldn’t even compare them in the real world…. Out of curiosity, why can’t the cranks be reground? My engine didn’t knock and the bearing didn’t get to spin, the crank doesn’t seem to have anything major on it. I was thinking of getting it polished if acceptable if not then grind it down to .25 but then again all I hear is they fail shortly after. Im in the middle of the woods at night without any light atm with all this stuff. Thank you!

[@crank3646]

@@HarlekinN57 Polishing will increase the clearance just a small amount, so probably will be acceptable. If it was me I was not going to do it, it makes almost no difference in real world. If bearing spun out, then the issue is the cylinder/crankshaft block tunnel not the crankshaft journals re-sizing.

[@HarlekinN57]

@@crank3646 my bearing didn’t spin, but say it was to happen: could line boring get the block straight again along with honing cylinder walls and grinding the crank down to .25 bearings? Also, in my case that the bearings didn’t spin: would you suggest polishing the crank, or grinding it to .25 bearings. Or just buying a new one? Thank you!

[@crank3646]

@@HarlekinN57 Go with regular new ones

[@johnfarray2821]

Every idiot and my grandma started talking about the "N57 bearings", it's good money mule, to scare people.