MT Auto Parts Blog | Expert Tips for BMW enthusiasts on BMW Parts, Accessories, Engines and More

  Photo by Alex Mares on Unsplash If you’re sourcing a used BMW engine for a replacement, trying to understand a fault code, checking compatibility before buying parts, or just curious what’s under the bonnet, knowing your exact engine code is the starting point for everything. The model badge tells you very little on its own. BMW has fitted multiple different engines to the same car across production runs, and two cars with identical badges can have meaningfully different power units inside them. Here’s how to find it, how to read it, and what the most common modern codes actually mean. Four Ways to Find Your BMW Engine Code 1. The VIN — the quickest method Your BMW’s 17-character VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) encodes the engine type within the Vehicle Descriptor Section — characters 4 to 8. You don’t need to decode this manually. Enter the last seven digits of your VIN into BMW’s own parts lookup at realoem.com, or use a dedicated BMW VIN decoder such as bimmer.work. Both ...

Image: BMW 2 Series LED headlight for sale at MT Auto Parts Poorly aimed BMW headlights are more common than you’d think. BMW owners on forums have been complaining about it for years, cars arriving from the factory or from a previous owner with the beam pointing too low to be useful, or worse, angled so high that oncoming drivers are flashing you every half mile. Either way, it’s an easy thing to fix on some BMW models and a more involved job on others. What you can do yourself depends entirely on which type of headlights your car has. The process for halogen headlights is different to xenon, different again for LED, and for adaptive systems, there are additional considerations. This guide covers all of them. Why Headlight Aim Matters It’s not just about visibility, though that’s obviously the main reason. Headlights aimed too low dramatically reduce how far down the road you can see at night. Aimed too high and you’re dazzling every driver coming the other way, which is both danger...