BMW N54: Everything You Need to Know

Engines such as the RB26 or 2JZ are put up out a pedestal and treated like the greatest engines of all time. They’re praised for being able to withstand insane amounts of power without exploding but there is another turbocharged inline-6 which rivals the performance of those two engines and that’s the BMW N54. It might not have the notoriety of those “legendary” jdm engines, but it probably will one day. This is everything you need to know about the BMW N54.

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[Dustrunnersauto]

N54, 2JZ, or RB26 - which one would you pick and why?

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[yungmugel]

the N54 is only for car enthusiasts that know it’s going to take some loving on to keep running like the ultimate driving machine, if you’re not mechanically inclined, your wallet better be fat

[SupraSav]

Had my 335i for a year now, full boltons. Pushing 390-400 rwhp. I had to change injectors when I bought the car, other than that, everything was routine maintenance. I beat on it pretty hard too

[joshuamedina]

I mean Toyota knew what they were doing coming to BMW for inline 6 ENGINE. MPOWERRR

[jacobhauenstein]

Owning an n54 is what changed my mind about BMW.

[ThabangMtshixa]

my dad bought it 5years ago 2nd hand 160+km had to replace the turbos once yea and the water pump and the rediator....but man for a 2007 car in 2023 we still use it as an everyday car and to top it up it still gives me goosbumps when i get to drive it, like how can i still feel you "bmwn54 35 mr 2007" how do they do bmw is way ahead of time.

[mortkb]

I have a 09 535i with the N54 and other than a few VANOS solenoid issues and waterpump replacement, it has been super reliable. Valve cover oil leak, oil pan leak but so far (fingers crossed) it has been an amazing engine. 28-30MPG on the highway and about 27 average and when you stomp it, it rolls out pretty good. No mods because honestly, it just doesn't need it. I feel like it is the closest thing to an electric motor you can get in a gas car. Torque is available everywhere in the rev range and it will scream up to 7K RPM no problem.

[rrudydedogg]

I have an N54 in my 2011 335is that has a few simple add-ons and an MHD Stage 2+ tune. The Dyno rated this as 485 horsepower and 537 lb.ft. of torque at the crank. It is mated to a DCT transmission and depending on which buttons are pushed and what mode you select you can either drive grandma to church without raising an eye or turn it into a track monster looking for something to kill. It is that flexibility I like the best and it does so reliably and efficiently. Love it!!

[valtisautoperformance]

To me n54 has done nothing but good, I compete in this car and has always come on top (not stock)

[dg]

I bought a 08 335i with 74k for $10k one owner almost brand new. 6 speed he was in the air force and bought it in Germany and shipped it back. I love my car.

[Stock.e]

I have a completely stock 2008 bmw 535i and honestly I can say at 177, 000 miles it still runs pretty smooth. I’ve replaced the water pump at about 156, 000 miles and it WAS expensive but i haven’t had any major problems since then. Over all I’d say the n54 is pretty reliable.

[noroy]

Have ‘08 335i with a N54 engine, best car ever had... greetings from Mexico 🇲🇽.

[NGASM]

My n54 has 150k Making 500ish whp owned it since 100k only had to replace coils plugs, gaskets and one water pump that was due. Other than that just the occasional walnut blast and regular fluid changes. It’s called preventative maintenance..

[ArkadyRenko]

Here in England, I saw a trend of 6 pot engines being famous. I bought the N53 330i. After a month I realized that I should have gone for N54 335i. These engines are solid and fast.

[airlinehum]

Short and very informative. More videos on YouTube about cars should be like this. Well done and thank you for keeping it going five years later!

[jamessimmons]

My 2008 535i has the N54. It still runs as smooth and powerful as when new. Unfortunately it did leave me stranded on the highway once with a failed water pump. And the fuel pump was replaced under the recall. Injectors were all inspected and none were among the defective serial numbers so no issues with injectors in 11 years. Overall I’ve been very happy with the N54... Knock on wood. 🙂

[stephenmaxwellfuks]

if you're seeing this video in 2022, I have some suggestions. Having owned an n54 now and taking everything apart to fix it, there are certain improvement fixes I'd recommend. If your injectors or hpfp fail and you're tuning your car, I'd reccomend just swapping to port injection, a port injection kit and controller will cost less than a hpfp, much less injectors. It will also be capable of producing far more power and running full e85 (with a supporting lpfp upgrade). I would also recommend that you try to do all the maintenance you can before doing any tuning. I would also recommend that you be careful with the manual transmissions, everyone says they are bulletproof, which seems to be true, they can handle the power, however they seem to have problems with the 2nd gear synchros so make sure the transmission feels good in every gear, as a looseness in gear (i.e. you can wiggle the shifter excessively even when the car is in gear) as this is usually a sign that the transmission is not as good anymore.

[VETaLEK]

i have a fbo 07 335 with 400whp. 180k miles no problems have a few friends with over 200k and one with 330k miles and hes running high boost on oem turbos

[PRbro]

One advantage of the N54 being that its nearly half the weight of a 2jz-GTE, and significantly lighter than the RB26DETT while still retaining its 3.0L displacement and (Most of its) reliability. I'm no expert, but if an "N54 Simplification" type of kit was sold for more serious builds, I doubt there would be the same reliability issues. More with the fanboying, but another reason why reliability is seen as lower on an N54 is due to the fact that most people who build them aren't building for racecars, instead for comfortable street cars on a budget sacrificing crucial things such as cooling. On the other hand, it's common for 2JZ tuners to essentially build the engine ground up with only performance in mind. Advances in popularity of N54 tuning will really show what its capable of, as of now we've only scratched the surface (We've actually gone pretty far but still a lot to go in comparison to 2JZ tuning).

[theforeignatics]

Working on building my n54 on my channel! Great engine running strong and fast 🔥🔥