Markert Motor Works Service List

E8X/E9X/E6X 135i/335i/535i
Spark Plugs Need to be done every ~50k Miles. More often if tuned.
Oil Leaks:
• Valve Cover Gasket and Oil filter Housing gasket(s) will start to leak around 100k miles
• Oil pan gasket leaks begin to show up frequently north of 120k
• Rear Main Seal leaks are uncommon but do happen
• Turbo feed/drain lines occasionally leak
Coils will begin to fail around 80-100k miles, best to replace all 6 at once.
Automatic Transmission: Cars will need to be serviced with new pan and fluid as well as Mechatronics
seal and sleeve before 100k miles.
Main Drive belt and tensioner should be done before 100k. Main drive belt can/will be eaten by crank
pulley if failed and make its way behind front main seal into timing chain and oil pickup possibly causing
catastrophic engine destruction
• Beware of <2008 cars having power steering pulley sub frame contact issues
• If Oil filter housing gasket has leaked on belt this must be done sooner
For the most part all cars have had a few HPFP’s done by now and this doesn’t seem to be an issue any
more but if you are getting long cold starts and pressure drops in logs, its something to investigate
Injectors sometimes fail. They have been updated a number of times and are currently on a -12 revision.
Most cars shipped with -05 to -07 injectors. Decouplers should be replaced at the same time. Injectors
need to be coded to the car.
Depending on driving aggressiveness Thrust arm bushings will fail around 100k. Can be replaced with
ball joint type aftermarket ones.
Walnut Blasting necessary as often as every 40-50k miles. Do this with new intake manifold gaskets
MSD80 (2006-early 2008 cars) have very rare ECU Injector MOSFET driver failure. Drivers require
replacement and can be serviced. New ECU not necessary
Waste gates: Waste gate rattle both internal and external to the turbo will begin in some cases as early
as 70k depending on a number of factors. Some things can directly cause this however like vacuum lines.
Adding catless downpipes will magnify waste gate rattle issues. Failing wastegate thrust bearings can
cause under/overboost conditions as the wastegate arms inside the turbo can Jam.
Vacuum lines going from the vacuum pump to the vac canisters and ones going from the waste gate
solenoids to the turbos can crumble and leak. Will cause underboost codes and or waste gate rattle in
most instances.
Smoking: Caused by a number of different things from the PCV system to turbos. The valve cover PCV
system can internally fail and cause significant smoking/consumption. Adding downpipes to the car
further makes the smoking more apparent as the cats are no longer ‘filtering’ the smoke coming through
them.
Tunes/Tuning: The N54 is run by an extremely complicated ECU (MSD80/MSD81) and when you begin to
tamper with this many things can happen
• After adding a tune, if you haven’t already, you will have to do plugs/coils soon as the increase
in boost level taxes the coils further
• Piggybacks (Jb4) are typically the best bang for your buck as far as user interface and
customizing your specific setup.
• Piggybacks can ‘annoy’ the factory automatic Trans (or DCT) computer because of the
underrated load values being sent to the TCU. This can sometimes cause slipping/Jerky Shifts. A
proper ecu flash to go with the piggyback can remedy this if affected.
• No one to this day outside of Cobb has truly tried to ‘crack’ this ECU. Thus the ‘tables that are
available to augment leave many things to be desired. Prepare for terms such as ‘false knock,’
post shift timing flat line, throttle closure, 30FF/30FE codes, O2 sensor trimming faults, etc.
There are a number of ‘tables’ that are still left uncharted from knock control to ignition
intervention to injection timing (not opening time). This makes tuning these cars extremely
frustrating.
• There are a number of ‘pro-tuners’ around that can do a decent job of utilizing what tables they
do have to work with to get the most out of your car.
Fuel System: When ‘tuning’ to extremely high power levels, fueling needs become a concern. People
are currently adding secondary in tank pumps, secondary high pressure pumps and secondary direct
port injection fuel rails as well as meth to compensate.
Cooling System:
• Water Pump/Thermostat is good to around 100k. Past that and you’re on borrowed time.
• Oil cooler: If you don’t have a factory installed one, you need one as any spirited driving will
drop you into limp mode. If you do have one, this alone won’t keep you safe if you do an
extensive amount of hard driving/track/drift/etc. Additional aftermarket oil cooler setups
are recommended
• Adding an intercooler is a good idea for any car street or track to keep the extremely high
IATs down that are caused by the twin turbos.
Vanos: Expect to do vanos solenoids around 100k or sooner depending on how often the oil was
changed. You can sometimes get away with cleaning them but typically vanos codes (2A87/2A88) will
return. Worst case scenario is oil pressure to vanos hubs is being lost through cam trays (“hook ring
seals”) Cam trays/ledges will need to be replaced as well as the updated Teflon cam seals
Differentials: If you’re into performance driving you will want an LSD. The factory open diff is sufficient
for many but not most. There are a number of aftermarket alternatives available in this regard from
gear type to clutch type.
“Limp Mode”: Arguably the most infuriating thing about these cars is they will frequently for a number
of reasons engage limp or failsafe mode (half engine light). This can be caused by a number of things
from a cooling system issue, under/over boost, vanos, fuel injection, misfire, etc.
Boost Leaks: Factory Charge pipes going to the throttle body randomly fail at stock or elevated boost
levels. The factory diverter valves can also leak. The Hot side charge piping rarely leaks. Adding an
intercooler also adds more couplers and clamps that can leak. Boost leaks can and will cause extra
wear on the turbos as the ECU attempts to compensate for the loss of boost by working the turbos
harder.
 Oil System: Besides the aforementioned leaking issues, these engines are sometimes riddled with
sludging issues because of BMW’s suggested oil change intervals. This can sometimes lead to stuff like
Rod knock although this is fairly uncommon and seemingly random
Battery: Extremely overlooked and neglected this simple thing can cause widespread havoc on your
car. Keep it in good condition. When it’s starting to fail the IBS system will decouple the battery after
you shut the car off thus turning the water pump off after the car shuts down that acts as a ‘turbo
timer’ to cool the turbos down after shutdown. New Battery’s need to be ‘registered.’ If changing
battery capacity, battery needs to be ‘coded’ to CAS module.
Other emissions BS: DMTL pumps randomly fail. Emissions readiness monitors are sometimes
extremely annoying to get to set.

All in all the N54 car can be extremely fun and reliable if you maintain and build the car properly and
with an end goal in mind. High power cars can be extremely frustrating to keep as a DD because of their
nuisances.