Rod Bearings ????

[the dink]

I have had several muscle cars thru the years and all were v8 powered American made. My question is why so much rod bearing replacement in these bmw engines. Is there a problem in engineering or is it vehicle specific. Mine is 3.0 automatic trans car that has no known rod issue or is it a time bomb waiting to happen. I have ran some of the v8 powered cars very hard and never replaced rod bearings or even heard of it so much like I do on this forum. Thanks for input!

[XMetal]

Unless you have the high rev'ing S54 or similar engine, you should be safe on rod bearings. Your M54 is pretty much bulletproof as there are many, many that are beyond 200k miles without issue. My '04 M54 X5 has 90k miles on the clock with nothing other than regular oil changes...and I don't plan on letting it go for a while or until the wheels fall off.

[Finnegan]

^WHS

[BruceJ]

Originally Posted by randyf

I have had several muscle cars thru the years and all were v8 powered American made. My question is why so much rod bearing replacement in these bmw engines. Is there a problem in engineering or is it vehicle specific. Mine is 3.0 automatic trans car that has no known rod issue or is it a time bomb waiting to happen. I have ran some of the v8 powered cars very hard and never replaced rod bearings or even heard of it so much like I do on this forum. Thanks for input!

Take a read - points toward engineering compromises BMW made in the S54. I think they regularly do this chasing performance at the cost of reliability. I cant argue BMW makes a drivers car. The Block in the M54 is great, but lets see.... cooling system, Vanos, E46 tailight wiring harness grounds. Its not that every car mfr doesnt screw up, but BMW doesnt think for the long term and fix it in the next year. Same Vanos problems throughout the entire E46 and E85/86 years. Why not improve it for the long term. It's not hard; Honda, Toyota & Nissan have been doing it for decades. They dont make a BMW but the 370z, S2000 and the GTR are looking better and better.
http://www.langracing.com/finding-a-...aring-failure/

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by BruceJ

The Block in the M54 is great, but lets see.... cooling system, Vanos, E46 tailight wiring harness grounds.

You think vanos is a problem?
only after something like 100K miles the rings harden that much that it can rattle. It's an hour work or so and $20 on rings to fix the problem.
I don't think that's a major issue...
And the m54 cooling system is bulletproof for the engine. I run it at 380Hp and a heat exchanger partly blocking the rad, and I have no problems

The major issue's for the z4 (non M) is the electric steering, as that is an expensive fix when it goes wrong, and the disa valve.
Not the failing of the disa valve per sé (It's an $200 valve), but there is a risk that the metal pin gets loose and falls into the engine. Thats bad when that happens....
Oh and the interior trim. some trim designs are out of production and not available anymore (for some time) and that is just bad for a premium brand like bmw. For instance no chrome line door handle bezels anymore. Now you have to settle for titanium which dont match with your steering wheel etc (or you have to change that too.....)


No car is perfect.

[the dink]

Thanks for all the great info. So I quess my 05z4 3.0 automatic is the m54 engine ? Please tell me this is correct. Read the article brucej sent pretty much explains what I was wondering. Randy

[XMetal]

Originally Posted by randyf

Thanks for all the great info. So I quess my 05z4 3.0 automatic is the m54 engine ? Please tell me this is correct. Read the article brucej sent pretty much explains what I was wondering. Randy

Yes...the 3.0i is the M54 engine.

[GuidoK]

I think there is also a US 3.0i n52 2005 model?
Imho the m54 is maybe a bit more reliable than the n52, but the n52 is definately more fuel efficient.