Any way to confirm if engine is original or has been swapped in?

[Nowhereman89]

Story on my new M3 is that the previous owner had a doner car, a 6 speed convertible I think, and swapped over the manual transmission, engine, and gauge cluster into my coupe which was originally an automatic. Wanted to move the cluster so that it was the manual cluster rather than the SMG cluster.

Cluster shows 62k with the tamper light on, the chassis should have around 160k on it. Is there any way to confirm if the engine was actually swapped over? If it's 160k miles on it, need to do rod bearings ASAP, if only 62k, sounds like I can wait until closer to 100k?

EDIT: Yes this is the kind of thing that ideally I would've verified BEFORE buying the car I realize that.

[WestBankM4]

You'll need to figure out the engine serial number, which is located here.



After that, run the number in Real OEM and you'll know when the engine was manufactured.

[bmwfnatic]

BMW online systems know what exact engine number went into your car, it is stored.

Remove the underbody panels from the car, and check on the exhaust side of the engine where the block and oil pan meet.
There should be a little rectangular area where the engine number is lasered into the block, usually starts with a 6 from memory.

Once you know your current engine number, PM me your VIN, and I can tell you what your original engine number was, if they don't match, your engine was swapped.

The engine number I am referencing is not simply a generic part number but a unique number to your engine, since the method described by the user above wouldn't work if the donor vehicle had a similar build date.

Furthermore, if you want to fix your tamper light, write the car's VIN into the cluster using NCS Expert or PA Soft.
The tamper light doesn't care about mileage, it simply occurs if the cluster VIN does not match the light module's VIN.

[Nowhereman89]

BMW online systems know what exact engine number went into your car, it is stored.

Remove the underbody panels from the car, and check on the exhaust side of the engine where the block and oil pan meet.
There should be a little rectangular area where the engine number is lasered into the block, usually starts with a 6 from memory.

Once you know your current engine number, PM me your VIN, and I can tell you what your original engine number was, if they don't match, your engine was swapped.

The engine number I am referencing is not simply a generic part number but a unique number to your engine, since the method described by the user above wouldn't work if the donor vehicle had a similar build date.

Furthermore, if you want to fix your tamper light, write the car's VIN into the cluster using NCS Expert or PA Soft.
The tamper light doesn't care about mileage, it simply occurs if the cluster VIN does not match the light module's VIN.

Thank you, bringing it to a reputable shop on Monday for an inspection, so I'm hoping I can look at it while it's up on a lift or at the very least pass along this information. Over the phone the mechanic seemed to think it was impossible to fully tell if a swap had been done. But he also tried to tell me that rod bearings are a one-and-done thing (meaning I might as well do them even if my engine has 62k miles on it) - even though everything I've read makes it sound like a wear item you should do every 80-100k miles.

[bmwfnatic]

Thank you, bringing it to a reputable shop on Monday for an inspection, so I'm hoping I can look at it while it's up on a lift or at the very least pass along this information. Over the phone the mechanic seemed to think it was impossible to fully tell if a swap had been done. But he also tried to tell me that rod bearings are a one-and-done thing (meaning I might as well do them even if my engine has 62k miles on it) - even though everything I've read makes it sound like a wear item you should do every 80-100k miles.

It's definitely not a "one-and-done" thing.

BMW last updated the rod bearing part itself in May 2003, so all cars and engines built after that use the same design as the rod bearing you can buy from BMW today.
We are still seeing wear on those later built cars and engines, therefore you can easily conclude that the problem of the wear was never really solved.

[Nowhereman89]

It's definitely not a "one-and-done" thing.

BMW last updated the rod bearing part itself in May 2003, so all cars and engines built after that use the same design as the rod bearing you can buy from BMW today.
We are still seeing wear on those later built cars and engines, therefore you can easily conclude that the problem of the wear was never really solved.

For sure, and given that so many use OEM bearings as replacements anyway... it's something that may need to be done more than once. Question - rod bearings is probably more a mileage wear vs. age thing right? Can I rest easy with 62k miles on original rod bearings in a 2004 motor? Until 80k or so at least? or should I consider replacing ASAP...

[ChapterM3]

BMW online systems know what exact engine number went into your car, it is stored.

Remove the underbody panels from the car, and check on the exhaust side of the engine where the block and oil pan meet.
There should be a little rectangular area where the engine number is lasered into the block, usually starts with a 6 from memory.

Once you know your current engine number, PM me your VIN, and I can tell you what your original engine number was, if they don't match, your engine was swapped.

The engine number I am referencing is not simply a generic part number but a unique number to your engine, since the method described by the user above wouldn't work if the donor vehicle had a similar build date.

Furthermore, if you want to fix your tamper light, write the car's VIN into the cluster using NCS Expert or PA Soft.
The tamper light doesn't care about mileage, it simply occurs if the cluster VIN does not match the light module's VIN.

This is great insight - For the hell of it I just looked through some videos I had when under my car last and it seems that this plate is rusted completely, and looks to be flat. So no numbers on it. It was a new england car for it's entire life so I'm not surprised but this, but the fact that the plate is flat, with no numbers has me a bit suspicious now. Have you ever heard of that happening? Is there another place with this number on it besides this location?

Perhaps my video is just producing a not so clear image, but from the looks of it, it seems flat. Next time I'm under there I'll inspect it better, but thought to ask out of curiosity

Pic for reference -

[bmwfnatic]

This is great insight - For the hell of it I just looked through some videos I had when under my car last and it seems that this plate is rusted completely, and looks to be flat. So no numbers on it. It was a new england car for it's entire life so I'm not surprised but this, but the fact that the plate is flat, with no numbers has me a bit suspicious now. Have you ever heard of that happening? Is there another place with this number on it besides this location?

Perhaps my video is just producing a not so clear image, but from the looks of it, it seems flat. Next time I'm under there I'll inspect it better, but thought to ask out of curiosity

Pic for reference -

You need to look straight onto it with a light.

Mine looked similar and rusted from an angle


But when properly inspected the numbers are still there

[Xmetal]

For sure, and given that so many use OEM bearings as replacements anyway... it's something that may need to be done more than once. Question - rod bearings is probably more a mileage wear vs. age thing right? Can I rest easy with 62k miles on original rod bearings in a 2004 motor? Until 80k or so at least? or should I consider replacing ASAP...

It's a mileage thing for sure, but at 62k, it would still be a dice roll. Take a look at my rod bearings at approx. 55k on my 2008 S54 and judge for yourself...would you think I can make it to 100k? => https://www.zpost.com/forums/showthr...y+oil+analysis

[ChapterM3]

You need to look straight onto it with a light.

Mine looked similar and rusted from an angle


But when properly inspected the numbers are still there

Got it! Thank you for those example images, yeah that's exactly what's going on. I'll take a look with a light next time. Thank you!!

[Nowhereman89]

It's a mileage thing for sure, but at 62k, it would still be a dice roll. Take a look at my rod bearings at approx. 55k on my 2008 S54 and judge for yourself...would you think I can make it to 100k? => https://www.zpost.com/forums/showthr...y+oil+analysis

Geez! Didn't think it was possible for them to look so bad visually at such a low mileage. Guess it's something I'd better take care of sooner rather than later.