Official S65 Rod Bearing Condition Example Thread

[Scharbag]

Originally Posted by ckang008

Looks like bad news. They said the valve most likely bent. Told me either to replace the engine or they will disassemble it and replace whatever parts broken. It's my first year driving the car and I'm planning to sell it after fixing it given this car has less than 30000km on it and frankly need a taller car to go through the frequently flooded roads in China where I'm taking it as daily. The water level that I went through this time is barely anything compqre to China roads. Will it be better to fix it up the current engine and resell it? . Prob just redo rod bearings too to give it more selling point if go with fixing engine route thanks

Ug. Sorry to hear this.

Hydrolock sucks. If I were you, I would source a used engine as there can be a lot of damage to rods and pistons. Unless you do a full tear-down, you might not find all the issues. The S65 is an expensive unit to rebuild too. Just the gaskets can add up!! Plus the shop better really know what they are doing.

Just my opinion.

Cheers,

[ckang008]

So the guys said if to get the right parts to fix it properly will take couple of months to source the parts. I'm guessing it is better bet to buy an used engine instead. I suppose I should get the rod bearings done prior to replacement engine install?

Thanks

Originally Posted by Scharbag

Ug. Sorry to hear this.

Hydrolock sucks. If I were you, I would source a used engine as there can be a lot of damage to rods and pistons. Unless you do a full tear-down, you might not find all the issues. The S65 is an expensive unit to rebuild too. Just the gaskets can add up!! Plus the shop better really know what they are doing.

Just my opinion.

Cheers,

[Scharbag]

Originally Posted by ckang008

So the guys said if to get the right parts to fix it properly will take couple of months to source the parts. I'm guessing it is better bet to buy an used engine instead. I suppose I should get the rod bearings done prior to replacement engine install?

Thanks

Yeah, I would always suggest that the bearings be addressed. Given the engine will be out, it is a good time to do that.

Cheers,

[BlueM3Wagon]

78k miles 2008 M3 single owner donor for my e91 build. Service history oil changes at 5-7500 miles. Through the Babbitt but not much copper showing. Last analysis shows low copper and lead.

Installed BE Bearings and bolts. Going to leave the shop sideways as I've not had the car over 5k rpm since I picked it up post swap!

[fatalelement]

Originally Posted by slcook54

Saw these in person on Monday while I was getting mine done and remember how bad #7 looked. Glad you caught it!

Haha no way! Yeah it looked like dog #$@!. Hope you're enjoying your newly safe engine! Malek is the best.

[ckang008]

So a replacement engine that the seller claims has been used for 50k km is going cost me 7000 USD without labor. I went ahead and order ACL bearings and Carrillo rod bolts that Andrew Lang from Lang Racing recommended. Is there anything else I should do before getting the engine installed?

Thanks

[BlueM3Wagon]

Originally Posted by ckang008

So a replacement engine that the seller claims has been used for 50k km is going cost me 7000 USD without labor. I went ahead and order ACL bearings and Carrillo rod bolts that Andrew Lang from Lang Racing recommended. Is there anything else I should do before getting the engine installed?

Thanks

You'll need new oil pan gasket and o rings for oil dumps. Also get new motor mounts and maybe trans mount. Check the valve covers for leaks. great time to replace while the motors out if they are leaking. BTW, I took the most precaution with bead blasting, power coating and ensuring no powder build up on areas the gaskets mate and still having leaking. I would highly recommend new OEM valve covers if you're replacing they already come with the gaskets and expensive hardware that's one time use only anyway!

[IamFODI]

Guys, didn't he say he was planning to fix and then sell?

I wouldn't put this much effort into a car I was about to flip. I'd just throw an engine in and be rid of it. Wouldn't even do rod bearings as the next owner might have a different opinion about which bearings are best and do them again "just in case".

[KrPa]

2008 with 180,000km on the dot

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by KrPa

2008 with 180,000km on the dot

Best shells on the show, looks great, and 180k km is a solid distance!

[KrPa]

Originally Posted by Helmsman

Best shells on the show, looks great, and 180k km is a solid distance!

They definitely weren't as bad as I thought they would be. But cylinders 5 and 6 had a line through that went to the copper and almost all of them had copper exposed on the edges. It was a nice piece of mind project to tackle, and gave me a chance to change a few other things

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by KrPa

They definitely weren't as bad as I thought they would be. But cylinders 5 and 6 had a line through that went to the copper and almost all of them had copper exposed on the edges. It was a nice piece of mind project to tackle, and gave me a chance to change a few other things

Yep see what you mean on the edges. Still getting to see almost completely "black" 088/089 shells coming out I believe is the first time on the board (assuming the edges didn't cut big furrows in the crank...).

What shells and bolts did you end up replacing with?

[G80indy]

Originally Posted by Helmsman

Yep see what you mean on the edges. Still getting to see almost completely "black" 088/089 shells coming out I believe is the first time on the board (assuming the edges didn't cut big furrows in the crank...).

What shells and bolts did you end up replacing with?

And what were the OCIs and oil used?

[Scharbag]

Originally Posted by 330indy

And what were the OCIs and oil used?

Has there been any correlation on brand, weight and OCI on bearing condition?

[KrPa]

Originally Posted by Helmsman

Yep see what you mean on the edges. Still getting to see almost completely "black" 088/089 shells coming out I believe is the first time on the board (assuming the edges didn't cut big furrows in the crank...).

What shells and bolts did you end up replacing with?

I ended up going with ACL-H and the Lang Racing bolts. I figured with standard clearance and Redline 5W-50 oil, I should be okay or at least better off than what they were. Seeing what came out after 180 000km, I'm thinking I may be one of the lucky ones

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by KrPa

I ended up going with ACL-H and the Lang Racing bolts. I figured with standard clearance and Redline 5W-50 oil, I should be okay or at least better off than what they were. Seeing what came out after 180 000km, I'm thinking I may be one of the lucky ones

Yep ACL standard clearance sounds like good in my ears. Believe these are targeted the OEM LCI 702/703 shells and are a tad more open than your previous ones. Your shaft and housing seems to be on the right end of the scale so should be great. Personally would stick to 10W60 but thats me.

[akkando]

Originally Posted by Scharbag

Has there been any correlation on brand, weight and OCI on bearing condition?

Has there been correlation to anything? I see posts from people losing an engine on a car that's lightly driven and cars that are driven hard. People lose a motor with oil changes every 3k or 5k or longer. Some people who run a 0w-40 and some LM 10w-60. Kind of browsing casually I feel like a lot of model year 2011 had failured but I wouldn't state that as a fact.

I'm starting to wonder though how many rod bearing failures are misdiagnosed and are really main bearing issues causing oil starvation to the rod bearing? We just saw one with perfect BE bearings come out except two, likely from the mains blocking the oil to those two bearings.

[KrPa]

Originally Posted by 330indy

And what were the OCIs and oil used?

I've only had the car since last August, and it was stored for the winter. I did a single oil change using LM 10W-60 right before I put it into storage. Since changing the bearings I've decided to try Redline 5W-50 after reading a lot of mixed opinions. The car has only one other previous owner, and all oil changes were done at the dealership within their given OCIs.

Personally, I plan on keeping the OCIs at 7500-8000km (5000 miles). Or at least once a year if I don't hit those numbers, since with Covid I've been driving a lot less

[bravehart38]

2011 E92 M3 71K miles. I'm the third owner. CarFax shows regular oil changes and 1200 mile service was performed. Interesting that when I took the rod cap off of cylinder #3 the rod bearing fell out of the cap with literally no effort.

[slcook54]

[us722]

Is this the next best thing to BE?
How much additional labor is with bmw bolts back ARP?
https://store.langracing.com/rod-bea...65-e90-e92-m3/

[DRLane]

Originally Posted by us722

Is this the next best thing to BE?
How much additional labor is with bmw bolts back ARP?
https://store.langracing.com/rod-bea...65-e90-e92-m3/

That's a great bundle price for what I assume are sorted/binned bearings, but I would still get ARP bolts. Simplified installation and reduced potential errors vs the bmw bolt torque process.