Thanks Andy - hit the nail on the head.
mr wilks wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2020 1:26 pm
The scaremongering being the caveats added at the end of post to remind all S54 owners that worn cams & followers is a very real issue but is it?? Or is it more prominent in cars pushed to the max of heat - cool - heat - cool in relative short bursts.
Pure opinion which I'm entitled to have & voice , you aren't of the opinion that engine went from good to bad at that moment between sessions purely by chance or bad luck are you? & suggesting the previous rebuild was iffy is also clutching at straws too , it's managed 10k with no issues
There is obviously a divided camp of owners Re tracking cars or not but fro. My own perspective I wouldn't knowingly touch any car that had track history with a barge pole let only a broom.
I'm going to completely ignore your tone and digs in your first response.
That aside, you are arguing the issues aren't very real because you haven't suffered with them, and I am on the other side of the scale with a hard-used example, but I must stress I'm just sharing my experiences and opinions. The difference however is that this issue HAS happened to me.
Interestingly, Mr Vanos (who I spoke to at length throughout the early phase of working out what the hell do to) also told me he'd already done about 20 follower/cam refreshes on S54 M3s this year, from cars with the same top-end noise as mine was making. Redish also separately said that they are seeing an increasing number of follower/cam wear in the S54. I'm afraid it is happening - there's a fair bit more of it on the M3 forums because quite honestly the z4 tends to be more of a sunny day occasional car so mileage generally is less on Z4s compared to M3s of comparative ages.
Out of interest, in relation to my apparent naivety in putting the noise down to issues with the rebuild rather than a mere 40 miles on track, Redish did a timing check upon receipt of the vehicle and confirmed it was perfectly timed. Therefore it would not be possible for only two valves to bend on an interference engine - it either bends them all or none. This does indicate issues with the previous rebuild, and yes if the bend was slight and the valve still sealed it could have been an unseen issue that was carried for many miles until it got hot enough for things to start to expand and therefore affect operation.
In the interests of drawing a line under your (in my opinion misguided) remarks, I will modify the wording in my original write-up to clarify that in my opinion it would always be a worthwhile investment to budget for rod bearings, and to investigate the condition of the cam lobes and followers, as certainly if I were a prospective buyer once again, I would have wanted to at least know of this so I could make an informed opinion on whether to investigate any car before purchase. I hope this will make you feel a little better.
mr wilks wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2020 1:33 pm
& btw Ed., I'm not blasting you for the thread or insinuating you are bleating at the expense incurred , I actually found it a interesting read but to point out that its a potential concern for all owners of S54 is not wholly accurate.
I do however think it's a concern if you intend tracking which not all owners do.
As for bigging up Redish I have 2 thoughts
1) a big time reputed indy that dropped the bottom out when the fault was actually a bent valve? Surely they've come across the fault before if as you say its prevelent in S54
2) wasn't it Beedub who had a big issue with them after claiming to have done valve check when they hadn't?
You may not have wanted to blast me for the thread, but I'm afraid the tone and sarcasm of your posts has largely achieved just that. I'm not a sensitive soul by any stretch but I'm equally not a fan of being accused of stirring it up, and I strongly believe I have done nothing more than record my experiences and offered a word of advice based on that.
In relation to your comments on Redish, my responses as follows;
1. I insisted that Redish drop the sump and check the rod bearings before allowing them to start the car to listen to the engine, because I thought it might be bottom end failure, and I didn't want to do more damage to the crank. That was 100% my call, and I insisted on this approach because I was holding onto the hope the crank journals wouldn't be scored, as the as the clatter had only started at ~1500 rpm and I'd only had the car running for a short period of time. I had hoped that any scoring that had happened would also have been minimal and could have therefore been sorted with a slight polish rather than a new crank, at a new crank costs approx. £2.2k. As you can appreciate, with an undiagnosed issue of this magnitude I was quite cautious, an approach which Redish fully supported!
2. I wasn't aware of Beedub's issues, the above posts I have made are purely a summary of my own experience with Redish. I don't think there are many companies who would do youtube videos to explain progress and critical areas for discussion/decision making - as far as I'm concerned they have gone above and beyond in performing my diagnosis and rebuild. Not sure what else to say really?!
Happy to discuss this further, but please could we leave it out of this thread going forward - I think I've adequately addressed your issue, and I don't think further back-and-forth is adding anything meaningful to the discussion on the thread.
Thanks!
Carbon Black '07 M Coupe: Intrax 1k2 Coilovers, AP-Racing, Raybestos ST45s, Tillets, Schroth, Vibratechnic, Apex EC7, Strongstrut, Eventuri, H&S, RTD, 4.1FD
Silver Grey '06 3.0si Coupe -
SOLD 
Sounds like you've just been a bit unlucky to be honest as well as the previous rebuild not being up to standard going from what James said which no doubt was part of the problem. Least it's all sorted now though, take it they still didn't figure out why the noise went away for no particular reason at one point?
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