The Saga of Trigger's S54....

[mr wilks]

Not trying to be arsey , pedantic or catch you out PT but you are skating over relevant facts RE your own cars possible reason for fails , its all documented on the forum pages ,
The service history flaw being 2yrs 8 months between services , the oil filter issue being that the one on the car at point of fail was deemed incorrect due to number of vanes & the cams that went back in yours were the originals not the Schrick ones .

It does come across that way, mate, sorry. The car was SORN indoors in 2012. The “gap”, in which 6500 miles were covered, was also after the extra Insp 1. As the car didn’t sell for a while, I had 6 weeks to learn as much as I could about these issues and, as I said, by pure luck I was able to speak to the local specialists that serviced it. I also drove to Ipswich BMW with the previous owner (who, might I also add, let me test drive it on an airfield!) to pick up a copy of the itemised invoice for the bottom end overhaul.

Old cams went back in, yep - that’s what I said. Schrick ones were purchased but returned.

As for " i don't think track days directly cause these failures " ? Its all conjecture no matter which side of the divide you sit .

Can only agree with you here.

Take it whatever way you like but i am honestly not having a poke at you in any way other than exploring a topic that interests many & highlighting facts that are relevant as to why cam followers "randomly" fail when the potential answers are hard to ignore .
Re the Schrick , my mistake for misreading your words "The previous owner probably just needed new followers but went the Schrick route for the same reasons as Ed "

The issue of incorrect oil filter being questioned i suspect would be more relevant than either the service record or having the Eventuri fitted with regard potential low oil supply on the track visit prior to fail ?

[BMWZ4MC]

Schrick followers. They go through an additional case hardening process to augment the OEM case hardening (the deficiency of which is likely to be the root cause of the follower wear that in turn leads to cam lobe wear).

[Beedub]

patiently waiting for mine to blow up. its sat in the car park at work and im giving it the side eye right now.

[Smartbear]

patiently waiting for mine to blow up. its sat in the car park at work and im giving it the side eye right now.

What’s the mileage on your car now Beedub?
Rob

[BMWZ4MC]

patiently waiting for mine to blow up. its sat in the car park at work and im giving it the side eye right now.

You’ll be fine unless you park it at a race track

[Beedub]

patiently waiting for mine to blow up. its sat in the car park at work and im giving it the side eye right now.

You’ll be fine unless you park it at a race track

LOL

[Beedub]

patiently waiting for mine to blow up. its sat in the car park at work and im giving it the side eye right now.

What’s the mileage on your car now Beedub?
Rob

hi rob, just under 15k i think.... maybe abit less.

[craig3.2]

Having read through this,
Very interesting points made by many,Inc op.

Nice write up indeed,Ed
I don't think its Scare mongering,more an outline of your unfortunate experience,as others do on here.

Alot of forums are same,for various cars.
People more often post things about issues/problems they have than just saying " my car is great,and runs fine", lol.

While I get what some people say,that track use may contribute, but so would spirited driving on UK roads,which Many many M owners on here do,by their own admission..... myself included.
The cars were after all designed with spirited driving in mind.

My car always gets warmed up properly,and isn't revved anything but gently,until the oils properly warmed up to temperature.
It does get Driven quickly quite often,alot of the 5k miles I put on it each year,on average,driven spiritedly,and revved up in the higher revs,as that's where max power is.
I know lots of M owners who drive their cars in the same way on roads as some would on tracks, without having any issues.

I also know some well,like Tony (M5), who have had a couple of engine failures....but as Andy said elsewhere,his first engine was Low mileage,and remains unclear,after alot,at the time,of in depth research by BMW to find out the cause and to fix it,but instead,they gave up,and renewed his engine under Warranty.
His 2nd one died at a Ring track day,but it had done over 140,000(mainly motorway) mileage,and with frequently changed oil,etc.
I don't think 140k is too shabby.

One if the big issues with these engines is,that over the years,alot of BMW dealers or "Specialist" BMW Indies, have unfortunately Not serviced them correctly,or done Valve clearance work/shim adjust/replacement properly,if at all.

Which may also contribute to their failure??

It would surprise you how many Specialist BMW Indies I spoke to,here in Scotland and in England,who either said they don't do Valve clearances ,or Shims,or it didn't need doing on our engines at every Inspection service,
Or , Who said they could do it the same.day you drop it off (not so,as it's needed the night before,ao as to be.fully.cold).

Anyway, good write up Ed ,and for potential owners, don't be putt off buying one, unless you don't budget around 1k per year for service and repair costs.(and have some cash in reserve,if needed).

Theses cars are not for everyone,as has been highlighted on here often,and why some examples charge hands regularly.
Others of us have them for a while,many years in some cases.
They are superb cars,but don't buy blind.
Hence why this forum is so helpful at times still

[JoshsZ4M]

Great write up EdDoe, can’t believe it’s taken me this long to read it. Not going to weigh in on any parts of the argument, as there’s no need. It’s useful information for everyone, even if it just means they ask for the followers to be be checked at a valve clearance inspection.

Most importantly, good luck with the baby

[Milz4y]

Thanks for sharing your story Ed. As you know, currently going through a similar journey of throng to diagnose so the pictures and breakdown were super helpful for someone new here. Also very interesting as an engineer.

I think I've been quite naive in assuming I could budget £1k a year on maintenance costs for my Z4MR!