S54 Bearings changed today @ 107k....... Very worn shells content!

Andp said:
My car has done 107K now, had an oil analysis which came back with a caution due to high lead content.
Should I retest after an oil change ( which is over due ) or just book-in for rod bearing change?
The car is a keeper!
Any thoughts appreciated :D
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Changing the oil won't repair the damage the bearings must have suffered to give the high lead content reading.

Book in for a rod bearing change if you're planning to keep the car IMHO
 
Thanks for your advice, that is what I will do.
Just thought maybe the high lead could be because the oil was overdue a change.
 
Also an oil analysis report doesnt give the whole picture as it only represens a moment, and its the sum of all wear in the engine for that moment.
If you're at above 100k miles, you're about 50k miles overdue.
 
One factor that's difficult to guage with the bearing wear is usage prior to the current owner. Most aren't one owner cars and as such could have been tracked or just run 2 miles to tesco's and back, there's no real way to tell.
 
Exactly, which is why I got it done immediately on mine, they weren't actually too bad for the mileage, but it was worth it for peace of mind.
 
bmwaddict said:
Exactly, which is why I got it done immediately on mine, they weren't actually too bad for the mileage, but it was worth it for peace of mind.
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What was your mileage?
 
bmwaddict said:
107k mate. Well overdue so I wasn't taking any chances.
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I fully get the peace of mind element, but were the old bearings worn? I was talking to BMW technician who said that he had never seen knackered shells, even on cars with over 150k on the clock.
 
RickRob said:
bmwaddict said:
107k mate. Well overdue so I wasn't taking any chances.
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I fully get the peace of mind element, but were the old bearings worn? I was talking to BMW technician who said that he had never seen knackered shells, even on cars with over 150k on the clock.
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Mine weren't too bad.
Maybe he hasn't, Phil at CPC certainly has.
I've spoken to several people both here and on M3 Cutters who's shells have gone, causing major damage. Have you seen the state of Hopz' shells on page one of this thread? I'm sure many are a ticking time bomb, why risk it?
 
It's all risk isn't it, who knows till you take them out... I'm going to do mine at 60k and at the same time I'll do the top end too (and probably some cams :evil:)
 
RickRob said:
bmwaddict said:
107k mate. Well overdue so I wasn't taking any chances.
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I fully get the peace of mind element, but were the old bearings worn? I was talking to BMW technician who said that he had never seen knackered shells, even on cars with over 150k on the clock.
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Most BMW Tech's wont be working on these cars anymore as most are serviced by Indys now, the choice is yours what you want to do regarding it.

The fact is unless you know 100% the history of the car and previous owners you wont know how it has been treated.

I was glad I decided to change mine after I saw the state of the ones I removed from the car, it now gives me confidence to use the car to its full ability instead of constantly worrying if it will soon spin a bearing at the top end of the rev range.

My car had a pretty decent service schedule too and since my ownership the oil has been dropped every 6000-7000 miles, I would have thought there is many cars which are as bad or worse than the wear seen on my bearings.

For the price I wouldn't think twice about changing them, if your car decides to spin a bearing it will be a lot more than £800-£1000 and could even total an engine!
 
Thanks for the advice.

I have decided that, assuming the Zed doesn't need a lot spending on it to get it through an MOT, I will get the shells done this year. As has been said £800 is not a lot for the peace of mind. I plan to keep the car "forever" and want to make sure that the car is not the one that packs up first!

Additionally I got the car at a great price 3 years ago, have only spent money on servicing and tyres. If it was a "normal" car I would be looking to move it on at a loss, so in theory the "Zed bank" is in credit to the tune of a large sum!

Thanks again chaps!
 
hopz121 said:
Most BMW Tech's wont be working on these cars anymore as most are serviced by Indys now, the choice is yours what you want to do regarding it.
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This is quite true: a friend of mine is a BMW technician and he also agrees that it's quite rare for them to see cars of Z4M vintage or beyond. He drives an E46 M3 though and changed his rod bearings at 130k kms. Not knowing how it has been treated by some of the owners before me, I intend to do mine at around 120k kms.
 
RickRob said:
Thanks for the advice.

I have decided that, assuming the Zed doesn't need a lot spending on it to get it through an MOT, I will get the shells done this year. As has been said £800 is not a lot for the peace of mind. I plan to keep the car "forever" and want to make sure that the car is not the one that packs up first!

Additionally I got the car at a great price 3 years ago, have only spent money on servicing and tyres. If it was a "normal" car I would be looking to move it on at a loss, so in theory the "Zed bank" is in credit to the tune of a large sum!

Thanks again chaps!
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Nice man maths :thumbsup:
 
Mine's booked today for this job, comforting enough!
21st of June.
172000km's, and there wont be much more until after! :)
 
Argenta said:
Mine's booked today for this job, comforting enough!
21st of June.
172000km's, and there wont be much more until after! :)
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Please post pics of the old shells!
 
In this thread, there are several mentions of 'not sure how it might have been treated before you got it' and 'it might have been tracked' implying that high rpm and track use correlate with premature wear of the bearing shells.
I had mine changed at 50k miles and they were perfect. At that point, mine had covered 25k unknown miles in the hands of the previous owner, then 25k miles in my hands. The latter miles were spent exclusively between 7500 and 8000 rpm, including a great many miles of track use.
The anecdotal evidence from my experience does not support an association between the car being driven hard and excessive bearing shell wear (although I accept that n=1).
 
BMWZ4MC said:
The anecdotal evidence from my experience does not support an association between the car being driven hard and excessive bearing shell wear (although I accept that n=1).
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Will have to wait and see what 150,000 road/track/ring miles have done to mine...when I eventually get around to getting them looked at :P

Mine doesn't move unless it's going to do enough miles to get everything up to temp (engine, coolant, gearbox & diff) - so I always make sure my short (less than 10 mile) trips include the 'long way home'.
 
TBH I would suggest the wear generally prone when the car is not up to temp. So short journeys, going past 3000 when not warm etc
 
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