Rod Bearings Pics From High Mileage 2011.75

[Killerfish2012]

Originally Posted by Iyzmi

Could be. The tech also mentioned that he's worked on a lot of e9x M3s and hasn't seen a single one with rod bearing issues. Plenty of e46s with bearing issues, but no e92s. This is at the largest BMW dealership in SE Wisconsin FWIW.

Did you tell him you heard about it on this site. It would be interesting to gauge his response to that. Explitives and all.

[Iyzmi]

Originally Posted by Killerfish2012

Did you tell him you heard about it on this site. It would be interesting to gauge his response to that. Explitives and all.

I did mention that there is quite a bit of fuss about it on forums and we agreed that it's more than likely internet hysteria. Not to say there aren't rod bearing issues out there, just that it isn't very common and this particular dealership hasn't seen a single one.

He said that if there are issues, they are likely caused by 15k mile oil change intervals and this would be even more pronounced with people who track their cars. Told me that if I plan on tracking my car, I should be changing the oil a lot more frequently than that (which is obvious to me but there are some pretty dumb people out there).

I understand that we have seen members on this forum have rod bearings issues despite 7.5k mile (or less) oil change intervals, but to me these seem like one off cases rather than what should be considered the norm.

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by Iyzmi

I did mention that there is quite a bit of fuss about it on forums and we agreed that it's more than likely internet hysteria. Not to say there aren't rod bearing issues out there, just that it isn't very common and this particular dealership hasn't seen a single one.

He said that if there are issues, they are likely caused by 15k mile oil change intervals and this would be even more pronounced with people who track their cars. Told me that if I plan on tracking my car, I should be changing the oil a lot more frequently than that (which is obvious to me but there are some pretty dumb people out there).

I understand that we have seen members on this forum have rod bearings issues despite 7.5k mile (or less) oil change intervals, but to me these seem like one off cases rather than what should be considered the norm.

Lyz, out of curiousity, what oil interval did your mech recommend for the S65?

Thx

[Leonardo629]

I know I'm late to the party, but OP's bearings look normal to me

[squartus]

Yes the op's bearings look pretty good, happy that hes got one of the good engines.
Even without this forum I would of changed my bearings though, every indy shop I have been to either had M3's being torn down for bearing problems or had seen many come though the shop with spun bearings, always one of the first things they as me about especially being FI.
Considering the high cost of this engine being safe over sorry is simply being wise.

[Iyzmi]

Originally Posted by Helmsman

Lyz, out of curiousity, what oil interval did your mech recommend for the S65?

Thx

I don't remember him mentioning a specific interval. He just said it would be ridiculous to follow 15k intervals if I track the car.

[Iyzmi]

Originally Posted by squartus

Yes the op's bearings look pretty good, happy that hes got one of the good engines.
Even without this forum I would of changed my bearings though, every indy shop I have been to either had M3's being torn down for bearing problems or had seen many come though the shop with spun bearings, always one of the first things they as me about especially being FI.
Considering the high cost of this engine being safe over sorry is simply being wise.

That seems like an exaggeration. If it is true, I would be tempted to associate that with the fact that we are talking about indy shops and I'm assuming a lot of the cars they see have performance mods (like FI) and/or are driven pretty hard by enthusiasts. Not that that's inherently a bad thing.

Still, saying that they have seen "many" come through seems like a stretch. I wonder how they define "many."

[BMRLVR]

Originally Posted by Leonardo629

I know I'm late to the party, but OP's bearings look normal to me

Those photos usually show what wear should look like at rebuild time, not ~40k miles.

[Doc Oc]

Originally Posted by squartus

Yes the op's bearings look pretty good, happy that hes got one of the good engines.
Even without this forum I would of changed my bearings though, every indy shop I have been to either had M3's being torn down for bearing problems or had seen many come though the shop with spun bearings, always one of the first things they as me about especially being FI.
Considering the high cost of this engine being safe over sorry is simply being wise.

Before changing mine out last month I spoke to a shop in Charleston and two in Charlotte before deciding to go with a shop in Rock Hill. All 4 had done bearings in e92's. The owner of the shop that did my work was a certified BMW tech who had worked for BMW Charlotte for years. He still keeps in touch there and says it is common knowledge among those guys. Coincidentally while picking up my gaskets we saw an m5 there that was in the middle of being rebuilt after rb failure. With the 70 plus cases here and replacing my own bearings which showed signs of either rod stretch or over torqued bolts (bad wear at parting lines) on top of being partially wiped, I have to laugh at all the "it is just internet hysteria" guys. From what I can tell we have possibly 2-4 people who have actually pulled the bearings and found little to no issue.

[Doc Oc]

Originally Posted by Killerfish2012

Did you tell him you heard about it on this site. It would be interesting to gauge his response to that. Explitives and all.

Perfm3 spun a bearing and you asked me "why do you believe some guy on the internet?". But another guy with fewer posts (no offense lyzmi) says his dealer has never heard of the issue and you buy right into that. Lol.

[Killerfish2012]

Originally Posted by Iyzmi

That seems like an exaggeration. If it is true, I would be tempted to associate that with the fact that we are talking about indy shops and I'm assuming a lot of the cars they see have performance mods (like FI) and/or are driven pretty hard by enthusiasts. Not that that's inherently a bad thing.

Still, saying that they have seen "many" come through seems like a stretch. I wonder how they define "many."

That's one of the biggest problems with this whole "bearing failure" thing. F/I failures as well as failures due to 15k mile oil changes get lumped together as just plain failures. Leading guys with low miles on well maintained Naturally Aspirated daily drivers to "panic", and "not sleep well at night" thus these types of bearing picture threads become the norm.

[Killerfish2012]

Originally Posted by Doc Oc

Perfm3 spun a bearing and you asked me "why do you believe some guy on the internet?". But another guy with fewer posts (no offense lyzmi) says his dealer has never heard of the issue and you buy right into that. Lol.

My dealership hasn't seen one single E9x M3 bearing failure. NOT ONE. If you want the phone number to confirm, PM me. Something is going on in your area (BMW Charlotte) if you claim the center has seen 2-4 failures.

[Killerfish2012]

Originally Posted by Doc Oc

Perfm3 spun a bearing and you asked me "why do you believe some guy on the internet?". But another guy with fewer posts (no offense lyzmi) says his dealer has never heard of the issue and you buy right into that. Lol.

You and all these guys who want to basically come on here and brag about how smart you are in spending 2.5K in changing bearings are funny. I'm willing to bet if these new installs weren't torqued to the exact specs that no one but BMW knows, we are more than likely to see failures, and I bet you none of you will report back. We've already seen what happens when you throw a rod with coated bearings. The thread gets deleted, but y'all won't even have the Gaul to post a thread. Fear of I told you so, will be much > the initial fear of bearing failure.

[Doc Oc]

Originally Posted by Killerfish2012

My dealership hasn't seen one single E9x M3 bearing failure. NOT ONE. If you want the phone number to confirm, PM me. Something is going on in your area (BMW Charlotte) if you claim the center has seen 2-4 failures.

You misread my post. Never said BMW Charlotte has seen x amount of failures. They had a m5 there for rb failure and that wasn't their first. That's all I know about them.

[Ashley Schaeffer BMW]

I do 10-15k oil changes..... Sometimes 7k....

I don't have FI or a garage tune hack on my car though.

I'll prob swap out bearings at 125k just for shits and gigs

[Doc Oc]

Originally Posted by Killerfish2012

You and all these guys who want to basically come on here and brag about how smart you are in spending 2.5K in changing bearings are funny. I'm willing to bet if these new installs weren't torqued to the exact specs that no one but BMW knows, we are more than likely to see failures, and I bet you none of you will report back. We've already seen what happens when you throw a rod with coated bearings. The thread gets deleted, but y'all won't even have the Gaul to post a thread. Fear of I told you so, will be much > the initial fear of bearing failure.

You are far too hung up on forum egos and politics. I don't give a shit about looking smart to a bunch of strangers nor do I know/care about deleted threads. What I care about is that I paid 30 grand for a car that was chewing up its bearings. I don't make a ton of money and didn't have 2500 just laying around....but felt it was necessary based on bmw's history, the evidence presented here, and my blackstone. Turns out it was the right call. If I had listened to you and others who knows how long I had. Copper was showing not only in the middle but all over the parting lines, possibly indicating more than one issue. You can jack all the bearing threads, call it hysteria, and toss up all the anecdotal evidence you want, but I've got a worn out set of bearings on my desk that prove you wrong. So do a lot of others. It seems to me you are the one trying to be the internet smart guy....just without things like facts and evidence on your side

[squartus]

Perfect point, if I had followed what these anti bearing wear nutters were spouting I would have a brick for an engine right about now.
Sure am glad I used common sense, reason skills, visual skills, and perhaps a little math to make my decision instead of some forum troll.

Whats better...spending $2000 or $18-$20,000???

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by Killerfish2012

I'm willing to bet if these new installs weren't torqued to the exact specs that no one but BMW knows, we are more than likely to see failures, and I bet you none of you will report back.

Where do you come up with misinformation like this? The BMW rod bearing torque specs are published by BMW. They are what all of using BMW rod bolts have been using.

[Iyzmi]

Originally Posted by Doc Oc

Perfm3 spun a bearing and you asked me "why do you believe some guy on the internet?". But another guy with fewer posts (no offense lyzmi) says his dealer has never heard of the issue and you buy right into that. Lol.

Haha, no offense taken. I'm not hard set on either side of the debate, I'm more in the grey area. Just thankful that my bearings looked clean upon examination. I think there is indeed a bearing issue out there and it's silly to ignore all the evidence we have seen here on this forum and others. However I do feel like it is a bit blown out of proportion, given that there are major metro-area dealers that haven't seen a single issue. These are the places working on the vast majority of M3s out there, not indy shops. I don't think it's a coincidence that the places reporting bearing failures are indy shops that are inherently more likely to see modified cars that are driven hard. Seems like there is some connection there, though we can't be 100% sure.

In my case, I have an extended warranty that is covering the repair my car is currently in for and it would have been in the dealership's best interest to say the bearings are worn because the warranty would've paid to have them replaced alongside everything else they're doing. So despite not having a picture of the bearing that was removed, I am confident that if there was any cause for concern it would have been addressed.

I will continue to do an oil analysis with every oil change just to monitor lead content to help me sleep a little better at night. My oil change interval is somewhere between 5-7k miles because that's all my M3 sees in a year (gets stored for winter) and I like to get fresh oil in there when I take it out in spring. Once I'm out of warranty and into high mileage territory, I'll probably pull the bearings just out of curiosity, but I have a long ways to go before I get there.

[asbjorjo]

Originally Posted by squartus

Whats better...spending $2000 or $18-$20,000???

$18-20,000. Easy. More is always better.

[Iyzmi]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Where do you come up with misinformation like this? The BMW rod bearing torque specs are published by BMW. They are what all of using BMW rod bolts have been using.

Yeah, the torque specs are widely available. Here's a link for anyone who is interested:

http://workshop-manuals.com/bmw/3_se..._engine_block/
http://workshop-manuals.com/bmw/3_se..._and_bearings/

[Killerfish2012]

Originally Posted by Doc Oc

You are far too hung up on forum egos and politics. I don't give a shit about looking smart to a bunch of strangers nor do I know/care about deleted threads. What I care about is that I paid 30 grand for a car that was chewing up its bearings. I don't make a ton of money and didn't have 2500 just laying around....but felt it was necessary based on bmw's history, the evidence presented here, and my blackstone. Turns out it was the right call. If I had listened to you and others who knows how long I had. Copper was showing not only in the middle but all over the parting lines, possibly indicating more than one issue. You can jack all the bearing threads, call it hysteria, and toss up all the anecdotal evidence you want, but I've got a worn out set of bearings on my desk that prove you wrong. So do a lot of others. It seems to me you are the one trying to be the internet smart guy....just without things like facts and evidence on your side

I don't need the Lecture when you clearly dodged the point. Just say that you will report back, if you have a failure with your shiny new coated bearings, that's all. You didn't and instead gave a dissertation. So My point is solid. You won't.