When and how do bearings fail?

[playground]

I know this topic has been beaten to death.
But can anyone advise me how do bearings fail on our specific engine?
Does it fail only when we are high revving the car or does it fail in any given moment? When an engine blows, is it because it was under heavy stress at high RPM or could it blow at any given RPM range?
For a car that is a 2010 and 75k miles on it, if you were to drive it carefully and not rev it high, would the bearings still blow?

Thanks!

[Obioban]

a) there's no reason to own e30-e9X M3 if you don't rev high

b) the premature bearing failure on the s65 is not correlated to revving high. Seems to be purely lottery based, depending on how your engine did in the tolerance stackup lottery during production. It also does not seem to correlate with mileage, oil used, oil change interval, or driving environment, to preempt other excuses you may next think of that it could not happen to you (seems to be people's natural reaction).

If you're concerned, replace the bearings.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Obioban

a) there's no reason to own e30-e9X M3 if you don't rev high

b) the premature bearing failure on the s65 is not correlated to revving high. Seems to be purely lottery based, depending on how your engine did in the tolerance stackup lottery during production. It also does not seem to correlate with mileage, oil used, oil change interval, or driving environment, to preempt other excuses you may next think of that it could not happen to you (seems to be people's natural reaction).

If you're concerned, replace the bearings.

Yeah I agree , it's actually a *German S65 lottery* But when it knocks it's...

[Z K]

Originally Posted by Obioban

a) there's no reason to own e30-e9X M3 if you don't rev high

b) the premature bearing failure on the s65 is not correlated to revving high. Seems to be purely lottery based, depending on how your engine did in the tolerance stackup lottery during production. It also does not seem to correlate with mileage, oil used, oil change interval, or driving environment, to preempt other excuses you may next think of that it could not happen to you (seems to be people's natural reaction).

If you're concerned, replace the bearings.

+1

There is no correlation with revving the engine or any driver behavior. Probably not a good idea to rev it when the engine is cold but otherwise it is fine. It is all dependent on what they did at the factory and BMW's bad design.

My friend's S85 engine seized while idling in a parking lot. No drama, the rpm dropped from idle. The rod bearing went, seizing the engine. So totally not related to high rpm.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by Obioban

a) there's no reason to own e30-e9X M3 if you don't rev high

b) the premature bearing failure on the s65 is not correlated to revving high. Seems to be purely lottery based, depending on how your engine did in the tolerance stackup lottery during production. It also does not seem to correlate with mileage, oil used, oil change interval, or driving environment, to preempt other excuses you may next think of that it could not happen to you (seems to be people's natural reaction).

If you're concerned, replace the bearings.

This

Since the beginning of time, any and all bearings fail in the same way: there is mechanical contact between the crank and the rod instead of crank-oil-rod. Eventually the rod bearing, which holds the oil, gets worn from getting nailing by the rods. That allows the rod and crank to contact directly. Hilarity ensues.

In the specific case of the S65, this happens much sooner than in other cars because it appears the engine was produced with inadequate clearance to let the oil be in there and prevent the rod and crank from introducing themselves.

This, like the E46M vanos issues, is not related to use, there is no way to 'tell', there is no way to 'avoid'. The only thing you can do is replace the inadequately engineered part for a properly engineered one.
In the E46M vanos case, it's either the Beisan solution or the Turbotoy one. In the E9XM case, it's BE Bearings.

[playground]

Well here's the thing, I am asking if under which circumstances it is more likely to fail. At higher RPM's with stress or just city driving back and forth. I want to know how I can ensure my motor will be still alive before I can change the BEbearings, since they haven't been in stock for such a long time! That being said, what can I do temporarily to avoid a catastrophic engine failure, aside from not driving the car and waiting for the bearings.

Thanks.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by playground

Well here's the thing, I am asking if under which circumstances it is more likely to fail. At higher RPM's with stress or just city driving back and forth. I want to know how I can ensure my motor will be still alive before I can change the BEbearings, since they haven't been in stock for such a long time! That being said, what can I do temporarily to avoid a catastrophic engine failure, aside from not driving the car and waiting for the bearings.

Thanks.

I don't think the likelihood of it failing today or next week is high. An engine eventually can fail and I think most S65s eventually will, but it doesn't mean it will happen any second

Unless you think your engine is ticking, I wouldn't become worried for the short or even medium term

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by playground

Well here's the thing, I am asking if under which circumstances it is more likely to fail. At higher RPM's with stress or just city driving back and forth. I want to know how I can ensure my motor will be still alive before I can change the BEbearings, since they haven't been in stock for such a long time! That being said, what can I do temporarily to avoid a catastrophic engine failure, aside from not driving the car and waiting for the bearings.

Thanks.

Warm up your S65 longer than usual , and stay under 7K rpm's .

BE bearings are here in stock => http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1364294

[loveskiing]

Originally Posted by playground

Well here's the thing, I am asking if under which circumstances it is more likely to fail. At higher RPM's with stress or just city driving back and forth. I want to know how I can ensure my motor will be still alive before I can change the BEbearings, since they haven't been in stock for such a long time! That being said, what can I do temporarily to avoid a catastrophic engine failure, aside from not driving the car and waiting for the bearings.

Thanks.

Do as I do, put the car up on blocks, roll the entire thing out of the garage when it's sunny, install one of those scenery changing programs, and "drive" to your hearts content. My rods are well past 200,000 virtual miles on the original set!
Good luck!

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by loveskiing

Do as I do, put the car up on blocks, roll the entire thing out of the garage when it's sunny, install one of those scenery changing programs, and "drive" to your hearts content. My rods are well past 200,000 virtual miles on the original set!
Good luck!

rofl

[BaggedDevil]

What is the average labor cost on rod bearings? Or is it something you can do yourself?

[playground]

Originally Posted by BaggedDevil

What is the average labor cost on rod bearings? Or is it something you can do yourself?

Upon reading up some info here on M3post, it very well can be something you can DIY. I plan to follow the guide here that SYT_Shadow created.
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1333638

[jiggz]

Originally Posted by BaggedDevil

What is the average labor cost on rod bearings? Or is it something you can do yourself?

Use the Search feature. You're asking questions that have been answered on here too many times to count.

[BaggedDevil]

Thank Playground appreciate that link. I apologize Jiggz will do next time.

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by BaggedDevil

What is the average labor cost on rod bearings? Or is it something you can do yourself?

Seems to range from $1400 to $2500, depending on who does the work and what bearings and bolts you buy. People who have done the job a few times are doing it in about 8 hours. 1 person said he did it in 6 hours. If you were a DIYer who had never done bearings before and were using the slower to torque stock bolts, it could take you 12 hours. If you have never done bearings before, you might want to get help from someone who has. SYT_Shadow, who did the excellent DIY in the thread linked above, has flown in to help, though he is based in the NE. You might be able to hire him and learn something at the same time, which is always a good thing for a DIYer and often fun.

[McSwine]

I'm not scared to turn a wrench, but I think I would leave something like that up to a pro. I invariably turn a simple project into a fiasco, and this is something I wouldn't want to f-up.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by playground

Upon reading up some info here on M3post, it very well can be something you can DIY. I plan to follow the guide here that SYT_Shadow created.
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1333638

I need to update the DIY, haven't gotten around to it yet.

Updates are:
-No need to remove the fan, so those steps have to be removed
-No need to remove the front oil pickup pipe which is in the way of the oil pan removal. The oil pan can be angled out without removing this tube, so no reason to remove it and mess with it

The less steps one takes to do this the smaller the chance of screwing up