BMW M62 Engine Teardown Reveals Utter Carnage

Sourced from an unspecified 5 Series from the E39 generation, most likely the 540i based on the 4.4-liter displacement, the powerplant in the following video is completely ruined. Improper maintenance has only aggravated the inherent issues of the free-breathing mill that BMW discontinued in 2005, an engine that already shows oil leaks on the block under both head gaskets.

Taking the oil pan bolt reveals a milkshake-colored sludge produced by the coolant getting into the oil. The sludge is also present in the oil filter, which is completely clogged just as the oil pickup screen. Internet mechanic “speedkar99” further discovers a timing chain that slipped off sometime in the past, ruining the timing of the engine as well as the chain’s guide rail.

The underside of the intake plenum is coated in oil. Thanks to port injection rather than direct injection, the intake valves are surprisingly clean for an engine this old and this badly maintained. Removing the oil pan is a wholly different story because the browny residue is complemented by pieces of timing chain slides and half a piston. The full extent of the carnage becomes clear with the heads off. Currently a V7 because one of the pistons went kaput, the M62 shows scored con-rod bearings and scraped cylinder walls.

Even the main bearings have suffered unrepairable damage, which goes to show that whoever owned the 5 Series didn’t care about maintenance one bit. But even with proper servicing, the Internet mechanic strongly avoids buying a second-hand car fitted with the M62 or high-performance S62. The inline-six engines that BMW offered at the time, namely the M52 and M54, are more reliable and easier to work on as well if anything does go south.