1999 540i Engine Replacement

[beachbumm]

Hi,

Kind of new to this forum. I recently to a whack to the underneath of my 1999 540I, due to some lovely person dropping an object off the back of his truck.

When I jacked it up to look at the damage, I saw that it took out the engine protection plate and bracket. No big deal.

Unfortunately I also saw some oil as well on the bottom exterior of the tranny. Took it to my local BMW dealer. First they (as I) thought it was the rear main seal. Unfortunately upon seperating the engine from the tranny, it was found that the "Starter" had been hit just right causing a fracture to run up and through into the block. The fracture goes right through an area that carries oil for cooling, hence junk engine. Does this make sense?

Now they are telling me that I need a new or rebuilt engine. I am trying to go through Insurance as they are telling me $15k US for a brand new one at 30 hours labor to install ($104 USD per hour in Northeast USA).

Questions:
Does this make sense?
Having a tough time finding a re-manufactured M62?
What years engines fit the 1999 540I M62 engine 1996 - 2001?
You never know what your going to get from a junk yard do you?.
Any suggestions on who to call (bimmerworld.com or bavengine.com) maybe?
What should the cost of the engine be?
Looking thru the net there is an engine for a 540I and a 540IT (What is the diff)?
Can an N62 engine be used?

Any and all suggetions are welcome..

Thanks,

[sp0rky]

As long as its an m62, it should fit and wire the same as before.
Not an m60. Ask if it's a possibility to fit an m62tu, you may want that since it has vanos and all.

there was no such thing as an n62.

[mbg1995]

if its an m62 it will work. A buddy of mine has an m62 that came out of a totaled 2003 range rover in his 99 540i. his origanal died after a supercharger was installed. (he tried to do it himself)

The n62 is out of the newer 745i's and will not work because the wiring harness is fiber optic.

[///Matt]

The N62 CAN be retrofitted. The fiber-optic harness is replaced with a secondary OBC which is part BMW's new campaign which allows them to phase out the rebuilding of the M62's...they can save big $$$ by having a smaller selection of engines.

[Eric S.]

I just saw an M62/M62TU engine on e-Bay that sounds like just what you need, listed for something like $3500 or thereabouts. It didn't include intake nor some other top/front parts, so there's labor involved in transferring some of that from your current engine. But it sounds like the rest of it is in good shape.

If you really want to go nuts, someone's selling a complete E39 M5 motor on e-Bay as well, totally complete, but I think he's starting at something like $8500, and that swap would definitely NOT be plug-n-play!

[Eric S.]

One more thing - I noticed you have a 1999 (so do I) - that means you have a M62TU, NOT an M62 (which was 1996-1998 in the E39 540's). The difference is not only in the Bosch engine management system (totally different in the M62), but also in that 1999 was the first year far VANOS, and it was on the intake valves only. Because of that and the interrelationship to the VANOS, I don't knw how easily you can make a M62 work, unless you strip it down practically to the short block.

The only difference in the 540i and the 540iT is that the 540iT is the Touring model ("station wagon"); the engine mechanicals will be identical for same years (see M62/M62TU treatise above)...