Just replaced my Rod Bearings, 40K miles.

[amrazM]

Hello All,

I've had my M3 for all about five months, put about 1k miles on the car and did two oil changes and there was copper in both oil services so I knew what needed to be done.

Just some information, the car is a LATE 2011 and the original engine seized in January 2015 with 25K miles on the car, the cylinder walls were scored and the motor was replaced with a NEW unit not a rebuilt.

Service history indicating that.
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At this point the car has a tick over 60K miles and about 40K on the new motor, a little less. A point to be made here, the new engine did not get a run in service and it went 10K miles on the first oil service which I suspect did ALOT of hard to the longevity of the bearings and the motor in general but it was a risk I took when buying the car.

Blackstone analysis below showing the metals which kept turning up in the oil, I honestly ignore their opinion on it because metal in the oil is obviously wear from the motor so its bad regardless.
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Keeping in mind I was taking the car down to the Tail of the Dragon this weekend I did not want to risk damaging the motor and also ruining the trip so last monday I ordered the VAC calico bearings with ARP bolts. I received them on Wednesday and then Thursday after work I set off around 6PM. Around 10PM oil pan was down cylinder 8 was out. Center and out edges of the shell were worn to copper then the top shows signs of oil bubbling.

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Cylinder 8 through 5 on the top left to right and 4 through 1 on the bottom left to right


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Maxjacks
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[BayE30]

im confused, why does a MY11 s65 have copper bearings??

[amrazM]

Originally Posted by SFCM3

im confused, why does a MY11 s65 have copper bearings??

It was mainly the lead in the bearing which was showing up but maybe someone more knowledgeable can chime in but I think the 702/703 bearing composition is mainly tin and aluminum but it’s still a tri metal bearing.

[pbonsalb]

Maybe the replacement engine was an early engine?

[Scharbag]

702/703 will not have lead as the EU no longer allows lead in bearings.

As for the copper, not sure about that on the 702/703 but I do not think copper is used either. What was stamped on your old shells?

Also, the wear is not great and is not even. Good to have changed them.

[Impervious]

Originally Posted by Scharbag

702/703 will not have lead as the EU no longer allows lead in bearings.

As for the copper, not sure about that on the 702/703 but I do not think copper is used either. What was stamped on your old shells?

Also, the wear is not great and is not even. Good to have changed them.

While I admit I’m uneducated on the rod bearing issue... it seems that the wear shown is nowhere near bad enough to cause a failure anytime soon. Is this correct?

[///Mbitions]

I love Oreos too

[Scharbag]

Originally Posted by Impervious

While I admit I’m uneducated on the rod bearing issue... it seems that the wear shown is nowhere near bad enough to cause a failure anytime soon. Is this correct?

If you can see copper, the wear is TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!

[MJBO]

Yeah my first thought was how was a Blackstone test on a 2011 offering any info on the rod bearings? You’d assume the new engine was later not earlier.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Excuse my language ... Your bearings look like 5H1T !

Your situation is caught on time...Good job

[amrazM]

Originally Posted by ///Mbitions

I love Oreos too

Can’t complete any intricate task without them.

[deansbimmer]

Originally Posted by Impervious

...it seems that the wear shown is nowhere near bad enough to cause a failure anytime soon. Is this correct?

That is a foolish and dangerous assumption. Bearing wear in any engine should never exceed past the top layer (babbit), there should be little to no visible wear. Exactly what wear would you consider bad enough to start regarding it as critical? (this is rhetorical.)

Nobody has a crystal ball to tell them that their engine has X hours of available wear remaining before failure. Even post morten cannot identify remaining lifespan. We (and others) have removed plenty of siezed/spun bearings from engines with the rest of its bearings looking just as bad as the OP's bearings. As bearings wear the wear rate increases exponentially until seizure. With that in mind, OP's bearings would be considered critical.

[Green-Eggs]

If those are the bearings from a "NEW" replacement engine, then I'm pretty sure the engine was old stock (pre-2010) because those look like lead/copper Clevite bearings, not the newer Bi-Metal, tin-aluminum Glyco bearings. I'm pretty sure if you inspect the backs of the bearing shells, you'll see something that looks like this: <CL> (which is the Clevite stamp).

[Impervious]

Originally Posted by deansbimmer

That is a foolish and dangerous assumption. Bearing wear in any engine should never exceed past the top layer (babbit), there should be little to no visible wear. Exactly what wear would you consider bad enough to start regarding it as critical? (this is rhetorical.)

Why don’t you relax a bit? I am asking a question and fully disclose I am new to the topic and want to learn.

[SYT_Shadow]

OP, I'm glad you replaced the bearings, those old ones look like a disaster waiting to happen

[JDM_CL9]

*Late MY2011, original engine quit, received a replacement that was supposedly NEW but upon opening it up recently, it has Lead Copper bearings. Sounds like they put a used motor in from 2008 to 2010.

Nonetheless, you're potentially preventing another catastrophic issue from arising so good job!

[Iyzmi]

Originally Posted by Impervious

Why don’t you relax a bit? I am asking a question and fully disclose I am new to the topic and want to learn.

I think you misread Dean's tone. He is direct and matter-of-fact in all of his posts, not combative or rude. You asked to be educated and he replied accordingly. Perhaps you should relax a bit?

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by Iyzmi

I think you misread Dean's tone. He is direct and matter-of-fact in all of his posts, not combative or rude. You asked to be educated and he replied accordingly. Perhaps you should relax a bit?

Tend to agree. The ones following and enjoing Deansbimmers commitment to help and inform the board realize this was a slight missunderstanding.

[330ciprem]

Was the car tracked before that 25k miles?

A crazy low number for a Fourth-of-July-engine event.

[amrazM]

You guys were right, car has 088/089 bearings [IMG]

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[GORDON.M3]

Now that's interesting, somehow BMW was sitting on a brand new motor from 2008-2010 in 2015. I doubt it was new... unless it was sitting around a dealership as (new-old-stock).