BMW M3 Forum (E90 E92)

BMW Garage BMW Meets Register Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read


Go Back   M3Post - BMW M3 Forum > E90/E92 M3 Technical Topics > Engine, Transmission, Exhaust, Drivetrain, ECU Software Modifications
 
Post Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
      12-11-2016, 08:00 PM   #1
SYT_Shadow
///M Powered for Life
SYT_Shadow's Avatar
11421
Rep
10,296
Posts

Drives: E90M/E92M/M4GTS/M4GT4/X5M
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Greenwich, CT

iTrader: (2)

DIY: S65 M3 Rod Bearing

S65B40 Rod Bearing DIY

Disclaimer
This DIY project is purely “at your own risk”. As with any DIY project, unfamiliarity with the tools and process can be dangerous. Posts should be construed as theoretical advice only.
If you are at all uncomfortable or inexperienced working on these projects (especially but not limited to electronics and mechanical), please reconsider doing the job yourself. It is very possible on any DIY project to damage your engine, vehicle, void your car's warranty, create a hazardous condition, or harm or even kill yourself or others.



The patient
2011 E90 M3 DCT purchased with 36k miles a couple months ago. It is a stripper car with DCT as the sole option… in other words cloth seats, no nav, slicktop! It is destined for the track in the 2017 season. The first step is fixing the bearings!


Special tools used
3/8” 12 point socket to install the BE-ARP bolts
6 inch T30. I had a 4 inch one and it doesn’t work, so I lost an hour driving around looking for one. Do not start the work without one!
To remove the OEM rod bolts you can use a 12 point 12mm socket.

Special hardware used
BW street/track (Group N) engine mounts. If yours is a street car, I suggest replacing them with OEM items
BE Bearings. I don’t understand why anyone would use something else
BE-ARP bolts. Again, these should be the default choice for everyone. Besides being the best bolts for these engines, you do not want to be angle torqueing stuff in this tight a space. Somewhere, someone is thinking ‘$500 is a lot for bolts’. Well good luck with that...
Plastigauge. You need the green one. You can buy some at http://www.summitracing.com/search/p...-77-plastigage
Two different Computorq3 electronic torque wrenches. I have the ½” one as well as the ¼”, which covers the range of required torque. To do this with a crappy/inaccurate torque wrench is a waste of time.
Harbor Freight Engine hoist. I used this on my E46M3 rod bearing DIY. It’s a cheap piece of hardware that works exactly as designed!
Snap-on 3/8 electric ratchet. This makes everything a lot easier. There are a TON of bolts you have to remove to do this job, I highly suggest either this or the Milwaukee one


Time taken
This took 12h, first time doing it. We usually are slow workers. It was 10h one day and 2h the next. There is no doubt that if we were not doing a DIY - which requires you to spend lots of time pausing to take pictures, etc and renders one of the two people working useless - it would have taken significantly less. There was also one snag with the 4” T30 and subsequent easter egg hunt which took time, but you get the idea.


Torque specs (courtesy of E92love)
oil pan bolts (30 qt) and all other M6 bolts inside/outside engine: 10 Nm
steering rack bolt on step 6 (1 qt) (M8): 21 Nm
E12 transmission to oil pan bolts (4 qt) (M10): 38 Nm
engine mount nuts. 1 top, 1 bottom on each side: 56 Nm
the 6 front subframe bolts (M12): 108 Nm
rear 2 most subframe bolts (M10): 56 Nm + 90 degree
re-enforcement plate bolts (7 qt) (M10): 56 Nm + 90 degree
4 water pump pulley bolts (M6): 10 Nm
pulley tensioning system on both sides. 2 for each side (M8): 19 Nm


Part numbers (courtesy of ///Mobbin)
---bolded part = essential---
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
11427837997 - oil filter kit (oil filter, o-rings, crush washers)
07119904550 x 2 - oil pan drain plug (includes crush washer also)
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
11812283798 - engine mounts (might include nuts, not sure)
07119904025 x 4 - engine mount nuts


Acknowledgements
Kurt, Philip, Ryan, Bert&Ernie from BE Bearings. You can self-identify if you wish, but I sincerely appreciate your openness to being contacted for issues as well as the technical help from Bert&Ernie

Special mention to GearHeads International – which is paradise for the motor enthusiast! As many of you probably know, I no longer have a lift (or heated garage, for that matter) so in the northeast winters my capacity to do more complex DIY’s has seen itself a bit hampered… so I’ve been limiting myself to doing work on the cars outdoors. Well, no more!
For $150 a day, GearHeads in RI will rent you a climate-controlled bay with a lift and all the SnapOn & GearWrench tools known to mankind. It is such an impressive place! Ron, the owner, is always there (yes, 7 days a week) and is really nice. I am sure I’ll be back!
Ron is a mechanic and he swings by to see how you’re doing and is always willing to lend you a hand. I could not have been more impressed!
GearHeads allows you to live in an apartment and still access tools and a garage to install your suspension, supercharger, rod bearings, all those critical projects. You no longer have any excuses!




Note 1
As you will drain the oil you will need to refill it. A typical oil change in this car is 8 quarts/liters and a little more. While changing rod bearings you remove a massive amount of oil which would typically never leave the engine, which means you will need 9.5 bottles to fill it back up so the car is happy. Protip: have more than that just in case!

Note 2
At times the DIY pics will show something I haven’t explained yet, so it may seem out of order. That is because at times you try different things. You should follow the order of instructions explained here

Note 3
Rod bearings do not require break in. If you used assembly lube, you should change the oil after a few thousand miles. Both BE Bearings and Bimmerworld were contacted to weigh in on this. When you think of it, a rod bearing should never have contact with the crank. Regular break in is more about seating the rings and walls than anything else

Note 4
If you have a Dinan underpulley set you'll need to rotate the engine through the alternator. It can be done counterclockwise.


The patient




Putting the DCT into neutral. The 6MT guys can skip this part
Lift the shift boot from the front by pressing rearwards and unclipping it




There is a black guard which you can see in this pic. With a screwdriver, move to forward and it will slide out of the way



Here you can see the white lever that hides behind the black guard. You put a screwdriver in there and move it. The car will go into neutral and you'll hear a dong complaiingn about it




Install your engine support brace. Here are some pics of mine. You need to slightly tension it ‘upwards’ so that it is trying to pull the engine up, just a little bit. Remember the engine mounts are still installed so the engine cannot move much











I try to minimize potential energy, so I put a cushioned mat on top of the sharp parts of the engine support bar and then rest the hood on it






Remove the front wheels





We remove all the black felt underbody panels. There are many, many little screws



Note the three rear ones of the front felt part are different than the rest









When you remove the side front ‘wings’ you can see the cable structure that supports the front felt part. You slide the top sideways and then out so it falls freely. Note you don't need to remove the two screws that hold the bottom of those cables.



Continue removing the bottom felt pieces




More felt pieces






This is what you’re left with. Note the clips on the bottom of the fan which hold piping. Remove all the pipes from the clips





2


Remove the aluminum chassis brace. There are 7 bolts, one of them is conveniently hidden inside the front center jack support









Remove the tranny felt underbody






A leaky DCT pan… wonderful… I’ll get to that sucker late[EDIT: replaced with Slonik/Slon Workshop DCT pan, incredible part!]



Go back to the top of the car
We now move onto the fan. I did the removal and reinstallation without removing any more of the air intake. It’s easier if you remove the air box, but it can be done like this



The radiator is held on by a single torx bolt on the passenger side. You can see it here. Remove it




Unclip the large connector right by the torx bolt



You can try sliding the fan upwards but it faces resistance. This is because there’s a clip that has to be undone on the driver side and the bottom of the fan has pipes clipped onto it
Lets go for the clip on the driver side, on the edge of the fan. You can just about put your arm in there and unclip it while you move the fan up. It’s a really tight, PITA fit but eventually you will release the whole fan after a lot of wiggling.






Peekaboo



Finally



Go back to the bottom of the car
Right by all the pipes you disconnected from the fan you have another ‘U’ pipe which is bolted onto the subframe. It has 3 bolts and one nut. One of the 3 bolts is shorter, that one goes on the passenger side of the rack







In the wheel well, remove the ABS/Brake lines from where they’re connected to the strut




Drain the oil. Remember there are two drain holes in the S65





Remove the front sway bar links. I see BMW learned from the bad design of the E46M and now you can use two regular open ended wrenches








The next thing in the way of lowering the oil pan is the belt tensioner. It is half attached to the engine and the oil pan, so we need to loosen it.
As it’s the tensioner it’s very hard to move and we must remove the belt first
Start by taking off the cap to access the bolt underneath. This is what we’ll use to release tension and remove the belt
EDIT: you can remove the belt tensioner once the subframe is out of the way. It's easier.



You then use a wrench to release the tension on the belt and slide the belt off. Once the belt is off, release the tension slowly until the tensioner reaches the end of its travel





Here you see the base of the tensioner which is still out of our reach because the subframe prevents us from reaching the bolts. Once we lower the subframe a bit we’ll return



Prepare to start undoing lowering the subframe.
First we unclip different wires. Here you can see two different cables that must be disconnected. One is to the lower left and goes to the arm which controls the xenon position, the other is a white connector



Remove the ground from the engine block



There is a bracket on the front driver’s side of the car. It’s held on with two bolts. Remove them



Notice the wrench I’m holding



Rotate the steering rack towards the passenger. Do it slowly and you’ll be able to peek at the steering rack bolt that has to be removed. You see this looking from the driver’s side of the wheel well



You need a E10 for the steering rack. Before touching this, draw a couple of lines between both parts you will uncouple. This allows you to mate it up exactly as it was. This is not poke-yoke, so it’s possible to set it back up with a crooked steering wheel. If that were to happen to me, I’d just get the car aligned, it is not the end of the world. I drew two lines and was able to reattach it perfectly



Here you can see the two lines


You need an extension to get there



It’s out!



Now we are ready to loosen then lower the subframe. Lets get the 6 bolts first. Note at this point I unscrew the 6 bolts but without removing them. You could also just remove them, the subframe weighs nothing and will happily hang from the suspension















After making sure no cable is about to snap, I release the bolts completely


We can revisit the tensioner now that the subframe is a bit lower. Remove the three bolts













Go to the back of the oil pan where there’s a surprising amount of cables. Unclip them and release the harnesses











It’s time for the oil pan bolts! Please take note of how long the T30 needed is. I used a 6 inch one because the 4 inch 'extra long' one I had bought for this job was insufficient



Remove all the oil pan bolts. There are many of them. The ones you need the extra long T30 are in the back of the oil pan





I followed smart people’s advice and inserted the oil pan bolts into the cardboard part that comes with the new oil pan gasket. There are a few diagrams I made. Left is the front of the engine, right is the rear. I put the car behind some pictures to make it extra clear. Note the two different lengths of bolts that are used, so take note!









Just like in the E46M, the back of the oil pan/tranny interface has 4 long bolts that go into the oil pan. I used an open ended wrench on 3 of them as a regular socket doesn’t fit







After that, the oil pan just falls down a bit. An oil pipe and the subframe avoids it from going far











Here you can see the fat pipe in the front which is standing in the way of our progress
UPDATE: it's possible to remove the oil pan without removing this pipe. You just have to finesse the oil pan into the right position.





Time to remove that pipe. It’s held on with two screws and has a mini gasket. Remove the short fat pipe. Note that this pipe has threadlocker on it, so be sure to reapply blue threadlocker when reassembling





Now you can drop the oil pan further





Next up are the two remaining oil pipes plus the supports. Remove them all. Note that all this hardware has threadlocker on it, so be sure to reapply blue threadlocker when reassembling











Finally, we can start accessing the rod bearings!
Cylinder 1 (most to the front of the car) is in the perfect position. You can do rods 1 and 2 without rotating the engine.
I went cylinder by cylinder completing the work
After loosening the two bolts that hold a cap, sometimes you need to give it a little nudge with a rubber mallet
Note these are cracked forged rods which, besides being awesome, are cylinder and side specific. That means cylinder one’s cap only mates to cylinder one and the left side must go with the left side. I guess enough people screwed this up with the E46M3 that they started numbering the sides, so now one side of each rod and cap has numbers are the other doesn’t.
Once you have a cap in your hand, you remove the old bearing. Easiest way I've found to do that is rotating it from the belly sideways, if need be one way and the other, and it'll slide right out.
Next get a new bearing, insert it into the cap (it is a bit springy, but it does fit), note that top and bottom bearings are identical in my case. Some BE Bearing sets will be marked 'top' and 'bottom' shells, so if that is the case be sure to put the 'top' shell into the rod, the bottom into the cap. The ones I received were undesignated tops and bottoms and could be installed interchangeably
Then, get some clean oil or assembly lube and cover the surface of the bearing. I misplaced my assembly lube but apparently oil works just fine according to technical folks, so I used that. I used a clean glove to spread the oil on, replacing it every time it got dirty because I touched another surface
First insert the bearing on the cap (where you can see what you're doing, and practice doing it by feel only), then the rod. To access the upper bearing just push the piston up by the rod and then nudge the old bearing sideways to get it out, just like you did on the cap.





Cap 1 removed!



Journal looks happy



Here are my new goodies



This is a pic of the socket you need for the ARP bolts



These are torqued to 50ft-lb. Note this entire DIY is in Nm except the rod bolts, which are made by ARP so they use an imperial fastener and imperial torque specs. First I torqued both sides to 30ft-lb, then to 50. I wanted to ensure they were well settled







BE-ARP bolts come with lube. There’s like 20x the amount needed even though at the beginning I thought there was too little. You are supposed to cover the threads and head with lube as seen below




Plastigauge/Plastigage
I wanted to write this up because I’ve always been curious. As luck would have it, the massive box of plastigauge I had bought sometime in the past had every size known to man except the one I wanted. Nonetheless, I went through the procedure even though the numbers here don’t mean anything
You are supposed to use the new bearings here, but I used the old ones as the measurements in my case are worthless as I don’t have the right material
Note that the desired range when using green plastigage I linked above which is in inches is:
You should see anything from 0.0022 - 0.0028. Even the upper end of 0.0030 isn't the end of the world. The connecting rod bores seem to wear bigger over time.
For those that are on the upper end of the clearance spectrum that you'd like to bring down, get some 600-grit wet sandpaper, and sand the parting lines (with the paper wet). Go 6-8 swipes in each direction with light-to-medium pressure (5lbs - 10lbs pressure). Clean the dust thorougly, re-install, and re-measure. If it's still not where you want it, do it one more time. I don't think I'd do it more than twice though.


First you lay a little piece of plastigauge across the belly of the rod bearing







Then, you torque it down to whatever the fastener you use takes. Again, I used the old fasteners and tightened to 30ft-lb because my sizes were wrong



Finally, you remove the cap again and then compare against the piece of paper that comes with the plastigauge
According to this, I have 0.0076mm of clearance




After the first two rods you’ll have to move to the third and fourth. You need to rotate the engine. You do this with a 32mm socket at the front of the engine and turn clockwise



Eventually the third and fourth rods with be right in the middle and you can work on those. Repeat the process until you’re done



Lets see what the bearings look like!









I also removed the engine mounts and swapped them for BW units. Note that after only 36k miles mine were not looking too hot









When reinstalling, you bolt the engine mount to the subframe instead of to the engine cradle where it just was

1029

Installation is the reverse of disassembly, but just in case I show the steering rack which is the hardest part. Start raising the subframe slowly and the parts will more or less mate up
Note you should reapply green loctite to the steering rack bolt before reassembling










Don’t forget to fill up with oil and change the oil filter before turning the engine on!

Last edited by SYT_Shadow; 01-25-2021 at 06:38 PM..
Appreciate 41
Nugget649.50
M3MPH1S592.00
///Mobbin1474.50
M43S7RO501.00
Honda274.50
e92zero212.00
JonM144.50
JsL447.50
redpriest2145.50
roastbeef11571.50
kamber166.50
Theodore667.00
BigRussia151.00
msan402.50
Maxf80M3174.00
TheBreeze254.50
94jedi829.00
Visceral363.00
pcohen15379.50
Mvy537.50
BIGMIG24.00
SAMM3Y3085.00
Edberto25.50
      12-11-2016, 08:01 PM   #2
SYT_Shadow
///M Powered for Life
SYT_Shadow's Avatar
11421
Rep
10,296
Posts

Drives: E90M/E92M/M4GTS/M4GT4/X5M
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Greenwich, CT

iTrader: (2)

Some comments from Theodore

Minor suggestions for the DIY:

1. Add in the necessity of a 12mm 12 point socket for the OEM rod bolt removal.

Extra tips and time savers:

1. Use a piece of piece of thick tape, placed on the steering column across the joint, and then use a box cutter to slice the tape right at the joint. The 3 dimensional marker works great and makes lining things up afterwards super easy.

2. To create more of a production line type efficiency, consider buying 3 inexpensive 3/8" 12 point sockets for the ARP bolt install

3. Bought the Stahlwille 46-12 Steel Extra Deep Bi-Hexagon Socket, 3/8" Drive and it is a much tighter fit than my regular 12 point 12mm socket on the OEM rod bolts. Highly recommended for this job.

4. Lots of people finish this job, bolt it up and then find oil leaking onto the floor. This is because when you remove the oil pan, oil starts dripping into the bellhousing and then leaks out later. Make sure you use a towel to soak up any oil that's on its way back there!


More comments, this time from Mmachines

I'm not sure if some of my thoughts below are covered elsewhere in this thread but wanted to put out there a few FYI's

1) This is better with a friend who knows their tools and can hand you stuff. That was a huge inefficiency but I survived just fine.

2) In addition to the tools mentioned in the DIY, things I needed that weren't standard within any of my kits include (and maybe I'm dense and missed it):
-16mm wrench
-E socket set (for E10 and E12)
-E wrench for where the socket doesn't fit, I got a dual sided E10/E12 (can't remember which I needed)

3) I zip tied through 2 holes the oil pan gasket to the pan while getting it positioned, got a few bolts started, cut the zip ties.

4) car positioning, put it higher than you think is good. I lifted front and rear but once that subframe is dropped it gets tight. I also pulled up close to a pole in my garage and it was constantly in my way. With the bottom of the front bumper at 16" high, I had 8" between the subframe and the floor.

5) My HID angle sensor would NOT plug in. 1 drop of lube worked around the seal with a toothpick and slid right in.

6) I prestarted my steering rack bolt for reassembly to not have to fight with it later. lol. It doesn't work like that, take it out. There's lots of play in this linkage it doesn't have to slide on as subframe is raised. I put the subframe up and put a few bolts in a few threads on passenger side, jacked subframe more to the point where it looks too high for the steering linkage then reached in and it slid right on about 1/4". I kept raising subframe and pryed it on the rest of the way. First try took me an hour with no success. Second try was maybe 5 minutes.





----------------------
Update 6/27/2018

Apparently we have had a failure due to improper installation.

Please note the bearings have notches which 'fit' into the cap and into the rod. So the cap bearing has a notch that fits inside the cap and the rod bearing has a notch that fits into the rod.
It is essential for the bearings to be fully seated. They have to be seated and level on both sides of the cap and the rod.

Last edited by SYT_Shadow; 06-27-2018 at 04:03 PM..
Appreciate 10
Visceral363.00
M3MPH1S592.00
jvictormp879.50
Bubbles2752.00
Edberto25.50
Davisca4552207.50
DrFerry6722.50
      12-11-2016, 08:02 PM   #3
SYT_Shadow
///M Powered for Life
SYT_Shadow's Avatar
11421
Rep
10,296
Posts

Drives: E90M/E92M/M4GTS/M4GT4/X5M
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Greenwich, CT

iTrader: (2)

Today, 4/1/17, we did the rod bearings on our E92 M3

Specs:
2013 car
6mt
30k miles
We bought it new and followed the break in to a T
No winter/cold weather use
10W60 BMW oil changed every 5k
Tracked for two seasons
yada yada yada


Here it is, about to be operated on!



And here are the rod bearings



bottoms


tops








People may keep telling themselves this is normal, but this is NOT normal!

Last edited by SYT_Shadow; 04-01-2017 at 08:08 PM..
Appreciate 8
chamba002238.50
Visceral363.00
M3MPH1S592.00
Edberto25.50
DrFerry6722.50
      12-11-2016, 08:03 PM   #4
SYT_Shadow
///M Powered for Life
SYT_Shadow's Avatar
11421
Rep
10,296
Posts

Drives: E90M/E92M/M4GTS/M4GT4/X5M
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Greenwich, CT

iTrader: (2)

Update:

Here's a video with some of the key moments of the RB replacement


Last edited by SYT_Shadow; 03-30-2018 at 10:13 PM..
Appreciate 7
Cbozz677.00
M3MPH1S592.00
Edberto25.50
Davisca4552207.50
DrFerry6722.50
      12-11-2016, 10:52 PM   #5
AutoTalent
Lieutenant General
AutoTalent's Avatar
2301
Rep
12,654
Posts

Drives: e92 M3 6mt | e60 M5 6mt
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Los Angeles

iTrader: (11)

Congrats on a world class DIY! Thanks for putting this together!
Appreciate 1
SYT_Shadow11421.00
      12-11-2016, 10:59 PM   #6
blue-mw
Private First Class
blue-mw's Avatar
217
Rep
183
Posts

Drives: E92 M3
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: STL

iTrader: (1)

Really insightful, thank you for sharing!
Appreciate 0
      12-11-2016, 11:12 PM   #7
javarithms
First Lieutenant
javarithms's Avatar
United_States
194
Rep
362
Posts

Drives: '13 E92 M3 SG FR, '03 530i
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Austin, TX

iTrader: (0)

__________________
Appreciate 0
      12-12-2016, 07:36 AM   #8
M3MPH1S
Captain
M3MPH1S's Avatar
United_States
592
Rep
769
Posts

Drives: 2010 E92 M3
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Atlanta

iTrader: (8)

Legendary! Bravo
Appreciate 0
      12-12-2016, 08:12 AM   #9
///Mobbin
Colonel
///Mobbin's Avatar
1475
Rep
2,672
Posts

Drives: m3
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Houston

iTrader: (3)

This rocks, asset to the e9x community here, thank you! I'll be going through this in detail before I do my bearing swap next week.
__________________
2021 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio | 2.9L | Trofeo White Tri-Coat | 8-spd
Appreciate 1
SYT_Shadow11421.00
      12-12-2016, 12:46 PM   #10
Helmsman
Major General
Helmsman's Avatar
Sweden
4379
Rep
7,055
Posts

Drives: 2011 AW E90 M3 ZCP
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

iTrader: (0)

What a master DIY SYT!! Are you going SC, or what was the reason to change bearings at 36k miles, anything suspicious? As usual hard to see much from the pictures, would you say they are badly worn?

Thanks!
Appreciate 0
      12-12-2016, 12:47 PM   #11
Richbot
Major General
2740
Rep
5,478
Posts

Drives: Jerez Black E90
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: STL

iTrader: (5)

Great contribution to the forum SYT
__________________
Appreciate 0
      12-12-2016, 12:49 PM   #12
SYT_Shadow
///M Powered for Life
SYT_Shadow's Avatar
11421
Rep
10,296
Posts

Drives: E90M/E92M/M4GTS/M4GT4/X5M
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Greenwich, CT

iTrader: (2)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Richbot View Post
Great contribution to the forum SYT
Sometimes I redeem all the rest of my comments
Thanks!
Appreciate 0
      12-12-2016, 12:51 PM   #13
SYT_Shadow
///M Powered for Life
SYT_Shadow's Avatar
11421
Rep
10,296
Posts

Drives: E90M/E92M/M4GTS/M4GT4/X5M
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Greenwich, CT

iTrader: (2)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Helmsman View Post
What a master DIY SYT!! Are you going SC, or what was the reason to change bearings at 36k miles, anything suspicious? As usual hard to see much from the pictures, would you say they are badly worn?

Thanks!
No SC, but I will track it intensively during 2017.

I feel it is well documented that this car wears through bearings too fast. I believe it's because of insufficient bearing clearance, which is solved through the BE Bearings I installed.

Absolutely no symptoms. When you hear a knock it's usually too late and the engine has to come out of the car.

I have another M3 with 31k miles which is sleeping for winter, but when it wakes up it will get the same treatment.

You know what they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Appreciate 0
      12-12-2016, 12:55 PM   #14
Honda
Lieutenant Colonel
Honda's Avatar
275
Rep
1,520
Posts

Drives: BMW
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: US

iTrader: (25)

Bravo
Appreciate 0
      12-12-2016, 01:10 PM   #15
Helmsman
Major General
Helmsman's Avatar
Sweden
4379
Rep
7,055
Posts

Drives: 2011 AW E90 M3 ZCP
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow View Post
No SC, but I will track it intensively during 2017.

I feel it is well documented that this car wears through bearings too fast. I believe it's because of insufficient bearing clearance, which is solved through the BE Bearings I installed.

Absolutely no symptoms. When you hear a knock it's usually too late and the engine has to come out of the car.

I have another M3 with 31k miles which is sleeping for winter, but when it wakes up it will get the same treatment.

You know what they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Yep, hear you man. So, what about the wear on the first set of shells coming out?
Appreciate 0
      12-12-2016, 01:14 PM   #16
SYT_Shadow
///M Powered for Life
SYT_Shadow's Avatar
11421
Rep
10,296
Posts

Drives: E90M/E92M/M4GTS/M4GT4/X5M
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Greenwich, CT

iTrader: (2)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Helmsman View Post
Yep, hear you man. So, what about the wear on the first set of shells coming out?
This is a ridiculous amount of wear for 36k miles! This car hasn't even been tracked!

It is not so dramatic visually because these are the new aluminum/tin bearings. If they were the older style copper ones they would look terrible.

My E46M3 with 130k miles and 3 years of track use looked better.

A friend in Barcelona bought an E92 with 70k km recently and I convinced him to swap the bearings for the BE ones. Sure enough, his were really worn.
Appreciate 0
      12-12-2016, 01:22 PM   #17
elim11
Major
424
Rep
1,325
Posts

Drives: e90m3
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: irvine/sf

iTrader: (13)

Very beneficial. Thanks for taking the time to document this!
__________________
Appreciate 0
      12-12-2016, 11:35 PM   #18
admranger
Retired Curmudgeon
admranger's Avatar
United_States
2982
Rep
4,046
Posts

Drives: ‘19 X3M40i, ‘18 m550i
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Las Vegas, NV

iTrader: (1)

Nice write up! You could have done this earlier...<cough, cough> Would have saved me some scrambling the first time I did the job...


FWIW, I've done this twice now w/o removing the fan. YMMV.

I like to drain the oil as far in advance of everything else as possible. Get the dripping done with (though it never ends, even after an overnight wait).

When you pull the oil pan off the subframe, a certain amount of tipping/tilting is involved. Be prepared for the oil that will inevitably come out.

I found the torque values provided by E92Love to feel a very low, especially the transmission torx bolts. Those suckers were on there and difficult to loosen. 38Nm is super light torque. I used the 'goodntight' torque values on all except the rod bolts. Snap on tech angle torque wrench buzzed me on every bolt. 10Nm may be correct for the oil pan bolts. Others feel really low. I'm not saying E92Love is wrong, just saying the torque values don't feel right to my 20years of this kind of wrenching calibrated hands. YMMV.

Great job as usual on the DIY! Should be sticky'd in the DIY section.

__________________

'19 X3 M40 Carbon Black/Oyster, '23 Jeep Grand Cherokee L Summit, Past BMWs: '18 M550i, '18 330 GT, '16 X5 40e, '11 E90M3, '06 X5 4.4, '03 330i ZHP, '02 M3, '97 Z3 2.8, '95 M3 (2x), '94 530i (manual), '92 525i (manual), '88 M3, '87 325iS
Appreciate 0
      12-13-2016, 12:02 AM   #19
deseroner
First Lieutenant
deseroner's Avatar
Nicaragua
78
Rep
398
Posts

Drives: Jerez black e92 m3 coupe 2009
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Pinole,CALI USA

iTrader: (5)

Awesome step by step
__________________
09 Jerez black coupe . 275/35/19 mss rear,Alex alpine gts dct software with some coding(euro mdm,DVD in ,mirrors fold on lock ) , rogue engineering pulleys ,TTFS TUNE . Eibach springs . New brake front rotors with new hawk pads no rear pads. Rd front sway bar.ACTIVE AUTOWERKE TEST PIPES .csf dct cooler ,BE BEARINGS/BE ARP BOLTS,vibra road e/mounts
Appreciate 0
      12-13-2016, 12:21 AM   #20
Bimmer22
Private First Class
United_States
27
Rep
162
Posts

Drives: 2011 E90 M3
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: NYC

iTrader: (1)

What an asset this DIY is to the community.
Bravo!
Appreciate 0
      12-13-2016, 06:52 AM   #21
SYT_Shadow
///M Powered for Life
SYT_Shadow's Avatar
11421
Rep
10,296
Posts

Drives: E90M/E92M/M4GTS/M4GT4/X5M
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Greenwich, CT

iTrader: (2)

Quote:
Originally Posted by admranger View Post
Nice write up! You could have done this earlier...<cough, cough> Would have saved me some scrambling the first time I did the job...
FWIW, I've done this twice now w/o removing the fan. YMMV.
I like to drain the oil as far in advance of everything else as possible. Get the dripping done with (though it never ends, even after an overnight wait).
When you pull the oil pan off the subframe, a certain amount of tipping/tilting is involved. Be prepared for the oil that will inevitably come out.
I found the torque values provided by E92Love to feel a very low, especially the transmission torx bolts. Those suckers were on there and difficult to loosen. 38Nm is super light torque. I used the 'goodntight' torque values on all except the rod bolts. Snap on tech angle torque wrench buzzed me on every bolt. 10Nm may be correct for the oil pan bolts. Others feel really low. I'm not saying E92Love is wrong, just saying the torque values don't feel right to my 20years of this kind of wrenching calibrated hands. YMMV.
Great job as usual on the DIY! Should be sticky'd in the DIY section.
I wish I had done it earlier. I had an agreement with my ex's brother to use his shop for the job, then he backed out on me at the 11th hour and left me stranded and garage-less. Some dark moments in my life

I'll add a note that it can be done without removing the fan. That would eliminate a decent amount of work!

The tranny torx bolts were indeed very tight. I was not able to fit the torque wrench in there so I also used the 'goodntight' method. On my E46M DIY I used that method on everything except the rod bolts and so far it hasn't blown up
Appreciate 0
      12-13-2016, 07:42 AM   #22
tdott
Brigadier General
3931
Rep
3,972
Posts

Drives: M3
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: South FL / 6ix

iTrader: (4)

Awesome, I should be tackling this job soon!
Appreciate 0
Post Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:20 PM.




m3post
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
1Addicts.com, BIMMERPOST.com, E90Post.com, F30Post.com, M3Post.com, ZPost.com, 5Post.com, 6Post.com, 7Post.com, XBimmers.com logo and trademark are properties of BIMMERPOST