Another Rod Bearing Story
- Thread starter Polarbert
- Start date
What you see on forums is the experience of people. If the rodbearings wouldnt wear, you'd see more bearings not showing copper or bearing wear. But the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of engines being opened up do show extensive wear on the bearings.R60BBA said:
Way more than is usual in cars.
Like I said I'm sure I can find more pictures of worn bearings than you can find of bearings that have similar or less wear than yours had.
And with the risks of worn bearings you can do something about it or not.
Some people just want to be safe about these kind of things.
I mean most houses are insured. But how many people do you actually know that have had their house burn down?
I also know of less than 5 and I'm pretty sure I know more people that live in a house than you know people that own an s54.
But the most important question of all is: if it's such an overrated issue according to you, then why have you had your rodbearings changed? :scratchhead:
Can someone with a standard oil pump and oil pressure relife valve fit an oil pressure guage and do this test and report the results
From cold (record the ambiant temp) start up the engine and record the oil pressure
While recording the pressure and oil temp during the static warm up then the driven warm up and record the time and distance it takes to get water and oil to temp and the then oil pressure at tick over and the pressure the pump maintains when the engine reved.
I have an external oil pressure relife valve due to the oil pump being in good condition but the relife valve being very worn and the oil pumps being on back order at the time due to a fault in manufacturing, as discovered by JC Racing and Mr Vanos.
I can do the same it takes a lot longer than you think to get the 10/60 oil to temp so achiving the correct viscocity and pressure etc for the best protection for the engine.
From cold (record the ambiant temp) start up the engine and record the oil pressure
While recording the pressure and oil temp during the static warm up then the driven warm up and record the time and distance it takes to get water and oil to temp and the then oil pressure at tick over and the pressure the pump maintains when the engine reved.
I have an external oil pressure relife valve due to the oil pump being in good condition but the relife valve being very worn and the oil pumps being on back order at the time due to a fault in manufacturing, as discovered by JC Racing and Mr Vanos.
I can do the same it takes a lot longer than you think to get the 10/60 oil to temp so achiving the correct viscocity and pressure etc for the best protection for the engine.
North West Surrey
grannyknot
Member
No he isn't and neither are you, bearings that can wear out in as little as 50k, whether an M engine or not are something you should be concerned about. If your not concerned, fine but bad advice is still bad advice.R60BBA said:
do people go for OEM bearings or the King race style bearings? not sure if there is much difference and whether the king ones are harder wearing and can take higher revs?
you pays your way and take your chances....I know when I got mine at 98k and it had not been done it would not be long before they went. having the car opened up and the pics showed a fair bit of copper on show.
you pays your way and take your chances....I know when I got mine at 98k and it had not been done it would not be long before they went. having the car opened up and the pics showed a fair bit of copper on show.
Bearings can last 200,000+ miles as long as the car is looked after (ie regular oil changes and the car is warmed up properly).flimper said:
It also depends on usage, for example race teams change them every season, whereas this would be completely unnecessary for someone who only uses their car on the road.
I will change mine every 75,000 - 100,000 miles for peace of mind as part of an Inspection 2 service and get the engine mounts changed as they will be past their best by then. However based on my usage that won’t be for another 10 years or so, and assuming I will still have the car by then…
NLW73 said:
I went for King Race bearings
The OEM bearings have a top and bottom bearing the top one being made of a different mix of materials
The King Race bearings are the same top and bottom
It has been covered before but one of the reasons that the rod bearing are not as robust as some others are.
The piston is bigger and the rod bearing is narrower so more pressure is applied each time the piston is in the power stroke
This design change from the 3.0ltr engine size of piston and rod bearing width started to show its self while some S54 engines where under warranty so the fix was change the oil to 10/60W, Change the Top bearing material, make the bearings a service item as time passes it no longer becomes a dealer problem as out of warranty.
R60BBA said:
While this is true for a "normal" engine such as an M54, it's shouldn't be a blanket statement, especially for the S54. Mine has had it's oil changed regularly (every 3k-5k miles) and don't go past 4k rpm until car is properly warmed up. However, my oil analysis showed 15ppm average lead level since I started doing analysis at around 22k miles. Lead level dropped to less than 2ppm after bearings changed at about 55k miles. This steer me to believe that my bearings weren't properly installed (torqued) from day 1 at the factory. My car was built on March 2008, which I thought should be the latest and greatest iteration. I was obviously mistaken for making that assumption. I suspect many later S54 are the same, which is why I have seen worst bearing wears on S54 Z4M than those final E46 M3.
Even with the high average of 15ppm lead wear, the bearings made it to 55k and probably could have done another 10k miles, I'm fairly confident that the current set of bearings could make it to the next 100k easily with only 2ppm of lead wear...so my next change should be right around 150k.
PDJ said:
I am planning on getting mine done for the 2nd time very soon. It'll be interesting at the least to see what they look like, ~35k miles, I'd say at least 30% of those spent north of 5k rpm using the full 8k.
Always warmed up correctly. OE bearings with ARP bolts.
Of course the outcome could well depend on how they were installed so can hardly be conclusive I guess. I'll post them up when done.