Rod Bearing Installation Q&A Thread

[///Mobbin]

I'm gearing up to swap my rod bearings and instead of continuing to pollute other threads with my questions I thought it would make sense to dedicate a thread to installation questions.

I am also assembling a compilation guide of various DIY's, tips/tricks, etc. to use when I do the install (I will share the guide when finished).

DIY's and other useful threads located so far:

Rod Bearing DIY pointer thread

Rennwerks Rod Bearing DIY and advice thread

gsxliterbikz Rod Bearing DIY thead

e92zero Rod Bearing DIY and torque values post

[///Mobbin]

List of specialty equipment/tools needed:
Engine Hoist
Torque Wrench w/ ~50 ft/lbs mid-point
Jackstands – high reaching or a Lift
T30 long reach bit
(still adding to list)

[///Mobbin]

Question - With the DCT transmission is there a way to leave it in neutral and how should I go about rotating the engine?

[Phil5129]

To leave the DCT in N, these is a turn key switch under the shift boot. You turn it and the car remains in N until turned back. You can get more detail in the owners manual.

[///Mobbin]

Originally Posted by Phil5129

To leave the DCT in N, these is a turn key switch under the shift boot. You turn it and the car remains in N until turned back. You can get more detail in the owners manual.

Thanks! It never occurred to me that this might be useful for towing. LINK to YouTube video showing this

[Phil5129]

No worries. This is a useful thread. I'll be doing this over the winter as well so will post my experiences as I go through the install.

[///Mobbin]

A number of folks have referenced parts you should replace or consider replacing when doing this job. For BMW parts I ordered mine through a forum advertiser, LINK - getbmwparts.com, watch for coupon codes. Visual Guide

11137841085 - e92 m3 oil pan gasket

Oil pickup tube/system parts that I also ordered (just in case):
11417839832 - pickup tube o-ring
11417839833 - pickup tube o-ring
11417838534 - suction pipe gasket

And may as well grab:
11427837997 - oil filter kit (oil filter, o-rings, crush washers)
07119904550 x 2 - oil pan drain plug (includes crush washer also)

Then I think you can re-use these but I ordered new oil pan bolts since I am replacing my oil pan (long story):
07-12-9-905-537 - 16 x oil pan screws
07-12-9-905-599 - 12 x oil pan screws
07-12-9-905-600 - 2 x oil pan screws
12611744292 - oil level sensor o-ring

And of course now would be a great time to replace your engine mounts!

BMW:
11812283798 - engine mounts (might include nuts, not sure)
07119904025 x 4 - engine mount nuts

I purchased Vibra-Technics street engine mounts instead of OEM.

Make sure you order some oil also, I always have plenty of Castrol Edge 10w60 on hand.

[ek9hatch00]

I pretty much followed gsxliterbikz's guide when I did mine a couple months ago. I chose to let the subframe hang rather than fully removing it since I was doing this on jack stands and this method didn't require me to uninstall much. I would say this job is actually quite straight forward and simple.

Only thing that took me a while to find was the steering column bolt (see below).


I rotated the crank by the pulley cover (see part #10). I'm pretty sure I used a 32mm socket, but you'll have to varify that.

[JonM]

Originally Posted by ek9hatch00

Only thing that took me a while to find was the steering column bolt (see below).


I rotated the crank by the pulley cover (see part #10). I'm pretty sure I used a 32mm socket, but you'll have to varify that.

For the steering bolt, was the part number 32306778609?

[Leonardo629]

For those that have tackled this job, how do you get the top bearing out? I know the bottom is accessible once you remove the rod cap, but how about the top? Just curious.

[pbonsalb]

Push up on the rod or turn the crank a little to get the rod off the crank. Then reach up over the crank and pull the shell out of the top half of the rod.

[ek9hatch00]

Originally Posted by JonM

For the steering bolt, was the part number 32306778609?

Yup, that's the one.

[Leonardo629]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

Push up on the rod or turn the crank a little to get the rod off the crank. Then reach up over the crank and pull the shell out of the top half of the rod.

thanks for the reply

[///Mobbin]

What is the proper socket size for the OEM and then ARP rod bolts?

[JsL]

Originally Posted by ek9hatch00

I pretty much followed gsxliterbikz's guide when I did mine a couple months ago. I chose to let the subframe hang rather than fully removing it since I was doing this on jack stands and this method didn't require me to uninstall much. I would say this job is actually quite straight forward and simple.

Only thing that took me a while to find was the steering column bolt (see below).


I rotated the crank by the pulley cover (see part #10). I'm pretty sure I used a 32mm socket, but you'll have to varify that.

Just adding this bit of info to the thread: the crank pulley cover is not used if you have a Dinan underdrive pulley, so you will have to find another way to rotate the crank.

[///Mobbin]

I have DCT and the Dinan pulley, interested to hear thoughts on the best way to rotate the crank.

[bigjae1976]

Couple of lessons learned from my S54 job...

Remove the front subframe and suspension. Its just too much of a PIA.

To turn the crank, you can just rotate the crank from the hex nut in the front pulley.

[admranger]

Originally Posted by ///Mobbin

What is the proper socket size for the OEM and then ARP rod bolts?

12 point 11mm and 12mm iirc.

[///Mobbin]

Just noting this, if the S65 has "fractured" or "cracked" connecting rods (which I believe it does) one needs to take care in handling the rod caps and also to reinstall them on the rod they came from in the same orientation they were previously installed.

See this post from SYT_Shadow regarding the connecting rods on his S54, LINK:
"Note 3: Fun fact! This car has fractured connecting rods. Basically the rod was one forged part, then it was split in two in a single blow.
This means the mating surfaces are rugged and only mate with each other.
This also means you must maintain rod/cap association and also reinstall in the same direction you removed them."

And also this post from an E60 M5 rod bearing replacement guide, LINK:
"Make sure that you mark them somehow to ensure that they go back on the same connecting rods they were removed from.

A word of caution is in order regarding working with "cracked" mating surface connecting rods. Be VERY careful to not bump the cracked surface of the rod cap against anything remotely hard. The cracked surfaces of the rod and cap consist of many tiny peaks and valleys which must mate to each other again perfectly when reassembled. While connecting rods are strong, they are not terribly hard. If you bump the cracked surface of the cap against something you run the risk of slightly flattening one of the little peaks. If that happens the cap will never fully seat properly onto the connecting rod again."

[pbonsalb]

The rods are fractured. This really is not an issue in practice, since the easiest way to do the job is one at a time, and being careful is common sense. You would really have to be a hack mechanic to be at risk of mixing up or damaging the rods, and if you are, you should not be doing this job.

[///Mobbin]

Originally Posted by JsL

Just adding this bit of info to the thread: the crank pulley cover is not used if you have a Dinan underdrive pulley, so you will have to find another way to rotate the crank.

Originally Posted by ///Mobbin

I have DCT and the Dinan pulley, interested to hear thoughts on the best way to rotate the crank.

For the S54 BMW sold a "crankshaft socket" to rotate the crank by the attachment bolts, LINK, curious if anything similar might exist for the S65?

[///Mobbin]

Originally Posted by ///Mobbin

For the S54 BMW sold a "crankshaft socket" to rotate the crank by the attachment bolts, LINK, curious if anything similar might exist for the S65?

Interestingly the crank pulley assembly between the S54 and S65 shares some common parts and appears to have the same center-bolt spacing and M12 torx bolt heads. With that in mind I think this tool might also work on the S65.

S54 Crank Pulley Assembly

S65 Crank Pulley Assembly