Rod bearings at 92,000 miles

abeardo83 · 07-03-2017, 06:49 AM

As my car tipped in to the 90k zone i decided it was time to get the rod bearings replaced.
I know there's a lot of dialogue on here and the other M3 forum about the need for them to be replaced or why, but for me, I'ma bit of a worrier and i'd rather spend the £1k on getting the job done, than have to spend 3/4times that IF the engine goes pop.

Like i said, 92,000 miles on the clock. I've owned it for 7k miles.
Service book shows that it's only ever been to BMW for it's standard maintenance schedule and only used 10w60.

I've warmed it up before driving away (20/30sec warmup) and then not hit 3k rpm until the limiter is set to max.

Owner before me was a driver in the VTEC challenge, so i assume has been sympathetic with it too. He owned it for 10k miles.

Owner before that, no idea as to how they ran it.

Anyway, here they are. Other than the top 2, they look pretty good. For the two that are showing copper, the closeups show that they're only just hitting the copper.

I had an oil sample report done by Millers Oils about 3kmiles before this, and it showed 40ppm of lead and 11ppm of copper.

Personally i think that bar 1 and 2, they're in a pretty good state!!

deansbimmer · 07-03-2017, 03:46 PM

It's pretty cool to get some kind of correlation between the way the bearings look and the copper/lead numbers on current oil reports.

Well done!

abeardo83 · 07-04-2017, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deansbimmer

It's pretty cool to get some kind of correlation between the way the bearings look and the copper/lead numbers on current oil reports.

Well done!

Thanks - exactly why I did it. A lot of the posts I see on here have your blackstone reports saying "change bearings now!" at 10/15ppm lead. As you can see, I'm in the 40's and the wear isn't that bad, compared to some I've seen.

Here in the UK, we have two companies that do sampling - Millers Oils and The Oil Lab. We get an advisory for wear at about 50ppm of lead.

abeardo83 · 07-04-2017, 09:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dumitru Ivanov

Very good job! Do you also sell them or make custom requests?

No I don't sell the bearings myself. Plenty of places online to pick some up though.

07-03-2017, 06:49 AM	#1
abeardo83 Captain 108 Rep 808 Posts Drives: E92 M3 Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: Cheshire iTrader: (2) Garage List 2008 BMW M3 [0.00]	Rod bearings at 92,000 miles As my car tipped in to the 90k zone i decided it was time to get the rod bearings replaced. I know there's a lot of dialogue on here and the other M3 forum about the need for them to be replaced or why, but for me, I'ma bit of a worrier and i'd rather spend the £1k on getting the job done, than have to spend 3/4times that IF the engine goes pop. Like i said, 92,000 miles on the clock. I've owned it for 7k miles. Service book shows that it's only ever been to BMW for it's standard maintenance schedule and only used 10w60. I've warmed it up before driving away (20/30sec warmup) and then not hit 3k rpm until the limiter is set to max. Owner before me was a driver in the VTEC challenge, so i assume has been sympathetic with it too. He owned it for 10k miles. Owner before that, no idea as to how they ran it. Anyway, here they are. Other than the top 2, they look pretty good. For the two that are showing copper, the closeups show that they're only just hitting the copper. I had an oil sample report done by Millers Oils about 3kmiles before this, and it showed 40ppm of lead and 11ppm of copper. Personally i think that bar 1 and 2, they're in a pretty good state!!
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07-03-2017, 03:46 PM	#2
deansbimmer BimmerPost Supporting Vendor 4324 Rep 3,023 Posts Drives: 2011 E93 M3 Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: DFW, Texas iTrader: (17) Garage List 1988 E30 M3 [0.00] 2006 E46 M3 [0.00] 2024 X7 M60i [0.00] 2011 BMW M3 [0.00]	It's pretty cool to get some kind of correlation between the way the bearings look and the copper/lead numbers on current oil reports. Well done!
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