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      03-02-2018, 05:07 PM   #1
racerbruce
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Did BMW really correct the rod bearing issue in the 2006-2008 S54?

Questions, questions....
1. Did BMW really correct the rod bearing issue in the 2006-2008 S54?

2. Is the high compression ration (11:5) of the 2006-2008 S54 contributing to the current failures of rod bearings?


S54 BMW recall info from early 2000's:
http:/www.siwilson.com/BMW/Service_bulletins/S54%20Bearing%20shell%20Service%20Bulletin.pdf

Compression ratio info:
https://www.wikihow.com/Calculate-Compression-Ratio
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      03-02-2018, 05:16 PM   #2
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BMW never fully addressed the "rod bearing" issues that plagued the S54. However, the original first gen S54 in the 2001-2003 era E46 M3s were self-destructing at such a high rate that it is virtually impossible for BMW to sit idle and do nothing.

I mean the rate of spun bearings on those early S54s were insanely high. Like every single one of them without the update were having spun bearing issues LONG before the warranty was up. Initially BMW blamed it on over-revs but when SMG equipped S54s started blowing up, it was impossible for them to hide behind "user error" anymore and in 2003 and later S54s had changes to the lubrication routing and the Castrol TWS 10W-60 being the ONLY approved lubricant for the S54 enforced.

At this point it's probably easier, since all S54s are out of warranty, to just treat the bearing as a wear/tear item to be replaced as soon as lead levels rise on UOA. There is no "fix."

EDIT: I don't think high compression ratio is the primary contributor to bearing issues, especially considering all these engines are equipped with knock sensors to retard timing to prevent detonation. And in BMW engines the S54's compression ratio is middle of the road. The M57, for example, has a compression ratio as high as 18:1. Spun bearings has not been an issue on the M57. High compression combined with stratospheric top end RPM? Maybe.
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      03-02-2018, 05:24 PM   #3
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Thanks Hack,
If the old S54 rod bearings failed very early in engine life, why are our 2006-2008 S54's rod bearings lasting much longer?? Is this due to the revised spec oil??
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      03-02-2018, 06:16 PM   #4
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The original bearing didn't have enough clearance between the bearing and the crank journal.

Some good info can be found in this article from Lang Racing:

https://www.langracing.com/finding-a...aring-failure/

As far as I know, theirs is the only "solution" to the issue. The OEM bearing is too small. They offer a wider bearing. Of course, this means you have to replace the crank and connecting rods...

Also some good info from BE Bearings (this rod bearing problem is even worse on the S65 and S85 motors):

http://www.bebearings.com/store/inde...products_id=27
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      03-03-2018, 03:14 AM   #5
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Not wide enough bearings in addition to high reving engine (bet most owners use the entire rev range often) and thick oil (if cold started often) contributing to faster wear. No surprise the bearing will wear faster than in most engines.

If you have a S54, S65 or S85 equipped car as a daily driver I can see the problem. But if you have the car as an enthusiast car and seeing the engine is basically a race engine I think the cost of replacing the rod bearings are acceptable.
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      03-03-2018, 07:54 AM   #6
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I wonder if there is a connection between colder climates and rod bearing failure? In cold climates the oil is thicker and doesn't lubricate as well at initial startup. Would be interesting to see the spatial distribution of engine failures on a map.
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      03-03-2018, 12:58 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SDCoupe View Post
I wonder if there is a connection between colder climates and rod bearing failure? In cold climates the oil is thicker and doesn't lubricate as well at initial startup. Would be interesting to see the spatial distribution of engine failures on a map.
I don't believed climate is much of a factor if you don't hammer it until oil gets up to temp. I'm in SoCal and has even tried a slightly lower viscosity oil (5w50) and my bearings are pretty much shot in about 50k miles => http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1461006
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      03-03-2018, 01:05 PM   #8
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Yikes. I'm afraid to check. Are there any warning signs? Besides an oil analysis?
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      03-03-2018, 01:18 PM   #9
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No other warning signs other than oil analysis trends. I can't stress enough on trends as you may miss the warning signs if you just do random oil analysis. If you just take my last oil sample without seeing all previous analysis, you would think my bearings are perfectly healthy.
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      03-03-2018, 04:28 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The HACK View Post

EDIT: I don't think high compression ratio is the primary contributor to bearing issues, especially considering all these engines are equipped with knock sensors to retard timing to prevent detonation. And in BMW engines the S54's compression ratio is middle of the road. The M57, for example, has a compression ratio as high as 18:1. Spun bearings has not been an issue on the M57. High compression combined with stratospheric top end RPM? Maybe.
Not sure comparing a direct injection diesel engine to a manifold injected gas engine is an apples to apples comparison, but I agree RPM limit is more a contributor. Back in the 70's if you wanted to high rev a big block and keep the bottom end inside the block the standard practice was to change the rod bearings every other oil change. High rpms and rod bearing wear/failure isn't a new issue invented by BMW. Oil has a compressive limit and at a given force level struggles to keep the spacing between the rod bearings and the crank journal.
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      03-05-2018, 02:11 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SDCoupe View Post
Yikes. I'm afraid to check. Are there any warning signs? Besides an oil analysis?
If you're at or near 50k miles and haven't done UOA I'd just pony up the 1.6-18k and replace the bearings. W/O a baseline you could see low lead and it could give false assurances. The lead just may be gone!

A new motor or rebuild (assuming rods stay in the block) is 6-8x that cost. Yes it's expensive. But there's expensive and there's expensive.

I've done two this year. Z4M with 44k miles and a Z3M with 80k miles. Both showing sig signs of wear. (Now way if knowing how the prior owners drove, but the Z4M lived in SF for its early life, hills, short distance, cold engine. The Z3M was owned by an enthusiast/track rat who was precise with warm up and judicious with keeping under 6-7k even on track.)

I'd just figure in doing this every 40-50k miles. Keep the paperwork is a huge selling point if/when you need it, and you'll sleep better at night and not worry when driving.
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      03-05-2018, 03:21 AM   #12
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I dont think bearing width is an issue as the s50 (euro s50 that is) has the same problems.

I think it has to do with oil cavitation (the bearing spots start as typical cavitation wear sign), so its a matter of revs, crank radius and maybe oil pressure or shape/dimensions of the oil feed channel. I dont know exactly what parameters in the oil feed system are the most critical in regard to oil cavitation.

The size of the bearing itself is large enough to hold those forces imho, they dont show the typical wear pattern of an overloaded bearing. I also think the the difference in design in the '03 era hasnt really to do with the rod bearings but with the connecting rods/connecting rod bolts. That the spun bearing issue of that time was a result of bolts having more/different stretch etc. They went to a completely different bolt size I believe.

Just calculate in the rod bearing replacement every 50k miles as periodical maintenance and you're fine (unless yous're a track junkie). Shouldnt cost more than $0.02 or $0,03 per mile so nothing to worry about unless you're really cheap but then a s54 might not be the best choice to begin with.
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      03-05-2018, 05:36 AM   #13
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This is on my 'to do' list, but at almost 160,000 miles I'm thinking I'd end up 'fixing' one thing and breaking another!
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      03-05-2018, 08:00 AM   #14
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I do a Blackstone every oil change, once I learned of this issue at 60,000 miles (bought the car used at 30,000). I found that my lead came way down by letting it partially warm up every time I drive it, and going easy until it is up to temp. I have 128,000 on it now, lead is acceptable (4 to 5 ppm) and no copper yet. My well respected independent repair shop take the view that replacing rod bearings is a maintenance issue, and does them every 60,000. I may be coming up on replacing the oil pan gasket, and getting to that is half of the labor of replacing the rod bearings, so if it needs the gasket then I will do the bearing prophylactically. By the way, I need to keep this car forever (daily driver) so I follow Mike Millers lifetime maintenance schedule, not BMW's--for oil, that means every 5-7,500, I end up around 5 each time.
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      03-05-2018, 09:47 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Gent View Post
I do a Blackstone every oil change, once I learned of this issue at 60,000 miles (bought the car used at 30,000). I found that my lead came way down by letting it partially warm up every time I drive it, and going easy until it is up to temp. I have 128,000 on it now, lead is acceptable (4 to 5 ppm) and no copper yet. My well respected independent repair shop take the view that replacing rod bearings is a maintenance issue, and does them every 60,000. I may be coming up on replacing the oil pan gasket, and getting to that is half of the labor of replacing the rod bearings, so if it needs the gasket then I will do the bearing prophylactically. By the way, I need to keep this car forever (daily driver) so I follow Mike Millers lifetime maintenance schedule, not BMW's--for oil, that means every 5-7,500, I end up around 5 each time.
I do the same maintenance as you - average 6K or less oil change intervals. The problem with Blackstone is that copper may not go up in the analysis even when some of the bearings are already into copper - which completely caught me by surprise.
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      03-06-2018, 11:18 AM   #16
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I hope we'll one day have a definitive answer on the rod bearing damage.

I think it almost has to be something with cold starting or actual engine assembly for many of the bearing issues we see. Taking it into redline territory a lot could also do damage, but I think these are two completely separate events, and that most bearing wear is not from high RPMs.

Maybe some folks like mmm-five lucked out and his bores were perfectly round and will go to 200K without issue. Or folks like me with 40K, and I get 43ppm lead readings driving it like a grandma. There has to be some event that caused that spike. I went from 7 to 43 to 18 (short change interval). What happened between the 7ppm reading and 43 ppm reading? Why so much metal to metal contact out of the blue when the driving style didn't change at all?

Even if we finally determine the cause, the fix is likely going to be too expensive, so it will remain a 50-60K maintenance issue. But dang-it, I want to know why it happens. LOL

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      03-06-2018, 12:00 PM   #17
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Here is a nice article I came across talking about bearing wear/spun bearings:

http://www.enginebuildermag.com/2017...spun-bearings/

The author mentions engine lugging as a possible cause, and I had mentioned that earlier. I'm thinking on the babied S54's with bearing wear, lugging and cold/dry start are the likely culprits, but it would be interesting if some combination of events is causing low oil pressure. Maybe we all need to install oil pressure gauges.

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      03-08-2018, 02:07 PM   #18
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For our S54 rod bearing issues, is there any early warning (knocking sound, abnormal oil temperature, etc) besides oil analysis??
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      03-08-2018, 03:33 PM   #19
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Good luck guys, hope your motors last for years and years. This issue was unfortunately the deciding factor in me moving on from the Z4M. I loved the car unlike any other I've owned, but the thought of having to plunk down $15k+ on a 12 year old car for a major repair (and then it would still be on a shell with 84k miles) was just too much for me.

Happy motoring all, Z4M Roadster owner here forever in spirit.
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      03-08-2018, 07:49 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by racerbruce View Post
For our S54 rod bearing issues, is there any early warning (knocking sound, abnormal oil temperature, etc) besides oil analysis??
Unfortunately not. If you are getting knocking from the rods, it's already too late. Oil analysis trends are about the best we can do, and it has to be a trend, because it may spike one oil change then drop very low the next, because the lead has been removed and it is in the copper. Probably the best bet is to plan to change every 50K or so. Now, when I do this again at 100K, I'll check for wear and if the new BE bearings solve the problem, then maybe I won't do it again until 200K. By then, we'll probably all be driving batteries with wheels.

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      03-08-2018, 08:08 PM   #21
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Batteries With Wheels....

Quote:
Originally Posted by SaltyNC View Post
Unfortunately not. If you are getting knocking from the rods, it's already too late. Oil analysis trends are about the best we can do, and it has to be a trend, because it may spike one oil change then drop very low the next, because the lead has been removed and it is in the copper. Probably the best bet is to plan to change every 50K or so. Now, when I do this again at 100K, I'll check for wear and if the new BE bearings solve the problem, then maybe I won't do it again until 200K. By then, we'll probably all be driving batteries with wheels.

Salty
Thank you SaltyNC,
i'm at 65K miles and have not performed an oil analysis....I have scheduled an oil change for this month (Mar 2018) and have received the Blackstone sample bottle - I'll post an update.

Love your description of the future....it's happening. Formula E continues to make the news, and there is some quiet dialogue that Formula 1 will become an electric powered series in the early 2020's....
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      03-09-2018, 02:51 AM   #22
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Since we've gone off topic.
Formula E?
Call me back when they can get close to 200 mph and run for at least 3 hours without changing cars.
Hybrid is the hot setup!
Hopefully WEC LMP1 will be able to put together a field this year. I'll miss the 919.
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