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      12-20-2024, 11:47 PM   #1
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It happened, Cracked s65 supercahrged

Hey guys,
I was hoping to never have to make a post like this but my s65 block is doomed. Not even rod bearings or main bearings

The block developed a crack near the water jacket causing an excessive coolant leak. I had assumed it was from somehwere else but after ruling out all hoses we found this.

https://youtube.com/shorts/n6XwYuunnPQ

Now I know this is absolutley not recommended. Buttt. Since the block is trashed does anyone see a way to do a temp repair? Worst case the block is still trash.

Would it be possible to weld this? I know the alusil alloy makes it difficult and also no telling the damage heat can cause or if the crack will continue speading.

Anyone have recommendations for a bandaid solution? Should I just throw exoxy on it until I can source an engine?

Some background:
Car is supercharged. It had been running fine leaking some coolant to the point where I had to top it off about every 2-3 weeks. Car is a daily driver put 12k miles on it in ~8 months.

Got that leak repaired as it appeared to be from a hose when I replaced the clutch. After that I was having to fill it up with coolant every 2 days and was baffled from where the leak was since I had done the other coolant hoses at that point. Drove it like this for 2 months and engine seemed happy enough. No overheating or any other signs.

Currently looking at options for sourcing a new block from bmw (~7k for a shortblock) If anyone has suggestions I'd be happy to hear it.

Has anyone done some welding with success? Since its just an external leak I'm hoping it may be done.

Not even sure what causes a crack like that.
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      12-21-2024, 05:53 AM   #2
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Thats crazy, usually ive seen the blocks crack from improper head bolt torquing but that seems like a failure in the casting of the block. It wouldnt hurt to drain the cooling system totally empty and try to epoxy that, especially if you have plans to replace it already. I would probably grind the surrounding area and get an appropriate commercial grade epoxy and try to repair it. most aluminum alloys can be welded but im not a welder. porosity and possibly corrosion can cause that, have you always used bmw coolant?
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      12-21-2024, 08:50 AM   #3
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What a major bummer. So sorry. MPorium BMW in Texas has experience welding alusil blocks. I recommend contacting them and it might even be worth sending your car there.
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      12-21-2024, 04:31 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by amrazM View Post
Thats crazy, usually ive seen the blocks crack from improper head bolt torquing but that seems like a failure in the casting of the block. It wouldnt hurt to drain the cooling system totally empty and try to epoxy that, especially if you have plans to replace it already. I would probably grind the surrounding area and get an appropriate commercial grade epoxy and try to repair it. most aluminum alloys can be welded but im not a welder. porosity and possibly corrosion can cause that, have you always used bmw coolant?
I had been filling it with distilled water the past 2 months since it was leaking so heavily. But I was adding just a bit of bmw coolant to keep things lubricated. I feel like corosion wouldn't happen that quickly. Before that oem coolant only.

Also the engine has never been apart as far as I know so I don't believe improper head torque caused this. I'm still not sure. I'm leaning towards a manufacturing defect/ weak casting and just luck of the draw.

I've decided to find a good welder and try to weld up the crack. I know it most likley won't work but worst case I'm in the space position I'm at right now.

Figure welding is the better approach than epoxy although neither is ideal for sure.

Spoke to Peter over at Partee racing. Who seems like a great guy and took some time to give me his experience before. He's seen the same crack twice before on s65 and both times the owner was able to get the engine running again. One using welding and one using a liquid metal substance. So it gives me some hope. Peter seems very knowledgable and I'll be going to him to try and build an engine on the side. Although its really not in my budget at the moment. I'm very grateful he replied to my message as their is no monitary benifit for him. Just helping out another enthusiast. Peter if you see this thank you!

I also found another thread with a crack in the exact same spot. But that engine had a different story.

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1464716

Should happen somtime in the next 2 weeks. I'll update the thread when its done. Defintely bad news to hear but I'm crossing my fingers. These cars are a headache but the plan had always been to keep it forever.
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      12-22-2024, 09:11 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rip View Post
I had been filling it with distilled water the past 2 months since it was leaking so heavily. But I was adding just a bit of bmw coolant to keep things lubricated. I feel like corosion wouldn't happen that quickly. Before that oem coolant only.

Also the engine has never been apart as far as I know so I don't believe improper head torque caused this. I'm still not sure. I'm leaning towards a manufacturing defect/ weak casting and just luck of the draw.

I've decided to find a good welder and try to weld up the crack. I know it most likley won't work but worst case I'm in the space position I'm at right now.

Figure welding is the better approach than epoxy although neither is ideal for sure.

Spoke to Peter over at Partee racing. Who seems like a great guy and took some time to give me his experience before. He's seen the same crack twice before on s65 and both times the owner was able to get the engine running again. One using welding and one using a liquid metal substance. So it gives me some hope. Peter seems very knowledgable and I'll be going to him to try and build an engine on the side. Although its really not in my budget at the moment. I'm very grateful he replied to my message as their is no monitary benifit for him. Just helping out another enthusiast. Peter if you see this thank you!

I also found another thread with a crack in the exact same spot. But that engine had a different story.

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1464716

Should happen somtime in the next 2 weeks. I'll update the thread when its done. [...]
Sorry
Which supercharger kit so I can avoid…
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      12-23-2024, 06:05 AM   #6
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fingers crossed, i have faith welding it will be a good repair.
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      12-23-2024, 09:12 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucky1 View Post
Sorry
Which supercharger kit so I can avoid…
Doesn’t seem to be related to the supercharger.
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      01-11-2025, 06:11 PM   #8
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An update to this thread,

Unfortunatley the welding did not work. It appears to have held pressure until the engine was heatcycled at which point it started leaking.
Its possible the welding job was at fault but I can't speak to that as my shop helped me source welder. I believe this might've worked out with a little better luck.
So, looks like I'm to be bankrupt replacing my engine unfortunatley.

The plan is to do a ground up rebuild with a used engine and run the current engine until some catstrophic failure happens. If I go this route and the engine continues running I will give it a proper send off by turning it up to 15 and seeing what a stock s65 can take before swapping in the new engine. Currently it runs pefectly normal apart from the coolant leak.

The new engine would make me happy. But the unfortunate thing is even with a perfect build theres just no gurantee the engine would last. Much more likley to have issue when compared to other preformance motors. Makes you consider how valuable the e9x m3 is to you. (I've already replaced a manual trans due to similiarly unfortunate cirucmstances). At the end of this process I will likley be near 60k into a 2008 m3 with 120k miles.

Just looking at this failure. This crack could happen on the new motor just as easily. As far as I can tell I did nothing improperly for this crack to happen. Just luck of the draw I suppose, unless somone has another opinion.

So time for some more deep research on the s65 build process. I'm planning on doing this mostly myself apart from machine shop aspect. I would love to make this engine handle large boost but even after the engine being out nearly 20 years it looks like people haven't found a sure fire way for big power reliably out of a s65. I'd be happy with ~700-800 which isn't unheard of but certainly no one has vouched for reliability. I wish it was as simple as dropping in some sleeve. Just my opinion but I need more power than the stock setup supplies. This certainly is not the right platform for big power of course.

Unfortunate all around. Wishing none of you all find yourselves in my shoes.

(btw I doubt this was from the supercharger. But its an ess 625 kit. Stock tune not turned up in any way. Treated realitivley nicley.)

Last edited by Rip; 01-11-2025 at 06:17 PM..
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      01-11-2025, 06:50 PM   #9
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If you need big power, what other vehicles would you consider? It would seem this is maybe not the right platform to dump money into if you need big power.
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      01-11-2025, 07:44 PM   #10
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A 6th gen Camaro ZL1 will give you all the power you’re looking for out of the box. I’ve owned two, and now have a sleeved/forged/na 08 M3 because I prefer the NA powerband and appreciate the stoutness of the rotating assembly. Could never enjoy the Camaro 650hp safely/legally on the street anyway.

Best of luck going forward.



Edit: I will start a thread about my motor once there is something interesting to post but honestly it just works and there are zero issues. I’ve seen all the opinion posts about sleeves/forged pistons and people are entitled to them, but it feels to me like more folks are commenting than actually have firsthand experience with it. For instance, there aren’t many (any?) posts with actual photo/video evidence like OP has valuably provided here.

Mine was done by VAC with their sleeves, CP Carrillo forged rods and pistons, and SuperTech valve springs and Ti retainers. It has ~10k miles on it. I’d call VAC or 5150 Autosport to discuss a similar build/costs/etc.

Last edited by CCase; 01-12-2025 at 01:41 PM..
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      01-12-2025, 04:22 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CCase View Post
A 6th gen Camaro ZL1 will give you all the power you’re looking for out of the box. I’ve owned two, and now have a sleeved/forged/na 08 M3 because I prefer the NA powerband and appreciate the stoutness of the rotating assembly. Could never enjoy the Camaro 650hp safely/legally on the street anyway.

Best of luck going forward.
Agreed. Somthing about the look and general feel of the e92 m3 that draws me. Dream cars aren't generally applicable to logic

Can I ask you how you sleeved m3 has treated you? I think theres a fair amount of misinformation on sleeving and most seem to think it doesn't work for the s65. Also I'd love to hear what companies you went with/ general pricing if your willing to chat. IMO sleeving would seem like the obvious choice but others opinions have me questioning

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Originally Posted by akkando View Post
If you need big power, what other vehicles would you consider? It would seem this is maybe not the right platform to dump money into if you need big power.
I had a quite heavily modified f82 m4 in the past. Shrick cam, pure stage 2+, meth+e85, ported head/turbo (this was all done myself). On that platform for example a full engine build would net easily over 1200hp for similar pricing.

I'm a bmw fan so while american cars can easily be more capable I would stick to my roots.

The new g8x m3 is another story. They are cheat codes. I do like the f8x gen better for no apperent reason. I would do a f8x single turbo build as I love the sound, looks, and driving experience of that platform as well.

Last edited by Kprad12; 01-12-2025 at 04:35 AM..
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      01-13-2025, 05:55 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kprad12 View Post
I had a quite heavily modified f82 m4 in the past. Shrick cam, pure stage 2+, meth+e85, ported head/turbo (this was all done myself). On that platform for example a full engine build would net easily over 1200hp for similar pricing.

I'm a bmw fan so while american cars can easily be more capable I would stick to my roots.

The new g8x m3 is another story. They are cheat codes. I do like the f8x gen better for no apperent reason. I would do a f8x single turbo build as I love the sound, looks, and driving experience of that platform as well.
I'm out of my depth here, and I'm sure you would know better than I, but I hear the B58 is a good candidate to make big power.
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