Need to figure out how bad my bearings are

I'm just here for the carmax link.....

bmwlover0725 wrote

I'm dying to read this. I'll get to it shortly, but no I am not going to trade my vehicle in anywhere. I didn't realize how short of a period of time this would work for or I probably wouldn't have done it, but I couldn't justify putting spun bearings back in the vehicle either. I'm definitely keeping it. It just wont be driven often if at all. Trust me I'm not a scumbag like that. My original intent on selling it after bearings was that I figured it would get a lot more like out of them anyway.

Having it for "short term drives" doesn't make sense, as you won't rev it out, won't enjoy the drive, etc...

You'd have more fun in a 1999 Z3 2.0.

Do it right and get it fixed or dump it for a loss with the disclaimer. Either way you won't have something linger on. There will be no joy associated with the car as is.

anerbe wrote

Having it for "short term drives" doesn't make sense, as you won't rev it out, won't enjoy the drive, etc...

You'd have more fun in a 1999 Z3 2.0.

Do it right and get it fixed or dump it for a loss with the disclaimer. Either way you won't have something linger on. There will be no joy associated with the car as is.

You're definitely right about that. It wont be enjoyable. I'm trying to let this thing get me through the remainder of my loan. At that point I'll probably swap a motor. My issue is that I'm currently out of work thanks to my consulting contract being cut by GM with all of the recent layoffs. I'd fix it the right way but I just don't have the money right now unfortunately.

Done. So far so good (obviously). We'll see how long it holds up. I'm driving like a grandma for now. I'll do an oil change pretty quickly around 500-1000 miles and get a Blackstone analysis assuming it holds up for that long.

SYT_Shadow wrote

well, OP did post on a public forum so I'm not so sure he's ok if this is his plan

When I sell/buy used cars the 'contract' always says 'car is sold in as is condition'.


Japan is a very different country, but I'm sure you can find sleazebags there just the same as you find them here.

Still need to disclose. My friend who is a lawyer bought his BMW, rather cheaply, from a small used car dealership, discovered that the CEL had been reset and several bandaids had been applied right before sale.

Either the dealership got scared or their counsel advised, in the end thousands were paid out. He signed an "as is" contract. Be careful folks.

Would you mind posting your VIN? Just curious...

Welp... didn't take long. OPs engine is toast. Can't say he wasn't warned... reported to RB failure thread of of 4/15 (yesterday):

Blown motors, Rod Bearing failure S65 Registry. [#2345]

The fact that the OP did his brakes on 4/12 (just three days ago) really leads me to believe he wasn't taking any of the input here very seriously :shrug:

Grinding/squeaking noise coming from rear brakes https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1603229

Sucks... but not surprising

Hope the OP swings back to give us an update.

So listening to OPs original video makes me nervous about my car. I hear a really faint knocking sound in the video at about 25 seconds, right after he starts it up. Mine does the same thing but goes away quite quickly (maybe 5 seconds) and I don't hear anything else out of the ordinary, especially not the knocking he has at the end of the video when he applies throttle. Is that a normal sound to hear... again... at the 25 second mark.

Cars make sounds as they warm up. If your motor has rod knock, it’s probably too late to save it. You probably don’t have rod knock. But your bearings may still be heavily worn and you might want to think about preventative maintenance replacement rather than risk failure.

pbonsalb wrote

Cars make sounds as they warm up. If your motor has rod knock, it’s probably too late to save it. You probably don’t have rod knock. But your bearings may still be heavily worn and you might want to think about preventative maintenance replacement rather than risk failure.

I'm already planning to replace the bearings but was hoping to make it to 75-80k miles before doing so. Just picked up the car in September with only 53k miles and a dealership had gone through it prior to my purchase so I'm assuming it should be okay... but the sound on OPs video is SO similar to mine... but only at start up. Once the cold start cycle is done it's as smooth as silk except for the intake rattle sound that seems to be normal.

There is no way the dealership can tell you the condition of the rod bearings based on a prepurchase inspection. Also, there is no safe mileage to go to before changing them.

The risk is small but it’s there. Totally up to you what to do. I changed mine at 60k in 2014 when my extended warranty ran out.

pbonsalb wrote

There is no way the dealership can tell you the condition of the rod bearings based on a prepurchase inspection. Also, there is no safe mileage to go to before changing them.

The risk is small but it’s there. Totally up to you what to do. I changed mine at 60k in 2014 when my extended warranty ran out.

Completely understand and have researched the issue in depth. What I was trying to say is that if it the knocking was potentially due to the bearings my hopes are that the dealership would have noticed and said something as a warning.

I live in the middle of nowhere so getting the opportunity to drive other cars and get a baseline of normal in person isn't possible. That's why hearing it in the video concerned me... I don't know what the normal sounds are.

cjm41 wrote

Welp... didn't take long. OPs engine is toast. Can't say he wasn't warned... reported to RB failure thread of of 4/15 (yesterday):

Blown motors, Rod Bearing failure S65 Registry. [#2345]

The fact that the OP did his brakes on 4/12 (just three days ago) really leads me to believe he wasn't taking any of the input here very seriously :shrug:

Grinding/squeaking noise coming from rear brakes https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1603229

Sucks... but not surprising

Hope the OP swings back to give us an update.

Sorry I should have been clear when I posted that. I thought that it was for engines which suffered rod bearing and crank damage which mine did. I'm still good though. I think that (so far) my saving grace has been that the crank damage was on a very small area of the journal not even covering the entire surface of the rod bearing. Not sure how long it will go, but I'm going on 500 miles soon without any issues. I think that I may be an exception to everything on here actually. While I did have slight crank damage on one journal, I also had FIVE spun bearings... none of which caused any damage to the crank. The rest of the journals looked flawless by some miracle. I'm still baffled by how they didn't toast the crank or at least cause SOME minor scoring. There was literally nothing.

bmwlover0725 wrote

Sorry I should have been clear when I posted that. I thought that it was for engines which suffered rod bearing and crank damage which mine did. I'm still good though. I think that (so far) my saving grace has been that the crank damage was on a very small area of the journal not even covering the entire surface of the rod bearing. Not sure how long it will go, but I'm going on 500 miles soon without any issues. I think that I may be an exception to everything on here actually. While I did have slight crank damage on one journal, I also had FIVE spun bearings... none of which caused any damage to the crank. The rest of the journals looked flawless by some miracle. I'm still baffled by how they didn't toast the crank or at least cause SOME minor scoring. There was literally nothing.

Take this with only minor offense. The people who commented on this thread to HELP you with this problem are much smarter than you (and I). You did not "get lucky" and "minor crank damage" is not to be taken lightly. Your engine is doomed. Quit dealing in half measures.

Ngilbe36 wrote

Take this with only minor offense. The people who commented on this thread to HELP you with this problem are much smarter than you (and I). You did not "get lucky" and "minor crank damage" is not to be taken lightly. Your engine is doomed. Quit dealing in half measures.

And if you looked at my earlier post when I was dealing with the issue, you'd see that I was out of work at the time. I needed to be able to use my car and had to proceed with a half-ass repair. I acknowledge that it is one. I'll ultimately end up purchasing another motor and doing rod bearings before it goes in the car, but this was required in the meantime so I didn't have much of a choice. The point I was making was that it was miraculous that more damage was not caused by multiple spun bearings.

bmwlover0725 wrote

And if you looked at my earlier post when I was dealing with the issue, you'd see that I was out of work at the time. I needed to be able to use my car and had to proceed with a half-ass repair. I acknowledge that it is one. I'll ultimately end up purchasing another motor and doing rod bearings before it goes in the car, but this was required in the meantime so I didn't have much of a choice. The point I was making was that it was miraculous that more damage was not caused by multiple spun bearings.

Don't listen to those cry babies,drive it like you stole it.If it blows up get new engine.

ciges wrote

Don't listen to those cry babies,drive it like you stole it.If it blows up get new engine.

That's the idea! Since you're not being rude, I'll ask - is it a good idea to do an oil change around 500 miles after rod bearings or do most people just let it go like normal?

bmwlover0725 wrote

ciges wrote

Don't listen to those cry babies,drive it like you stole it.If it blows up get new engine.

That's the idea! Since you're not being rude, I'll ask - is it a good idea to do an oil change around 500 miles after rod bearings or do most people just let it go like normal?

Give it a couple of thousand miles.. I believe SYT_Shadow recommends 3-5k miles in his diy. And I'm with the other poster, drive it like there's no tomorrow.. if it breaks again.. fix it and move on.

SAMM3Y wrote

Give it a couple of thousand miles.. I believe SYT_Shadow recommends 3-5k miles in his diy. And I'm with the other poster, drive it like there's no tomorrow.. if it breaks again.. fix it and move on.

Much appreciated. I'll do just that (assuming it lasts that long). I'm just happy to have it back.

bmwlover0725 wrote

ciges wrote

Don't listen to those cry babies,drive it like you stole it.If it blows up get new engine.

That's the idea! Since you're not being rude, I'll ask - is it a good idea to do an oil change around 500 miles after rod bearings or do most people just let it go like normal?

Having earned a living turning wrenches the first half of my work life, I would suggest the 500 miles. At a minimum, especially with your situation, change the filter at 500. There is likely some residual metal particles in the oil passages.

Dpc2u wrote

Having earned a living turning wrenches the first half of my work life, I would suggest the 500 miles. At a minimum, especially with your situation, change the filter at 500. There is likely some residual metal particles in the oil passages.

That's what I was thinking. I haven't had VANOS issues yet, but I did get a code at one point for it. I'd rather dump any residual particles out if I can.

Swallow your pride; park your M3 until you can afford to fix it and drive around a super cheap beater. When you can drive your m3 again it will be much more gratifying instead of the potential nightmare it is now.

You do not want to window your block or score your crank any further as you could probably have your motor rebuilt to something lovely like a stroker for what it would cost to get an unknown replacement motor.

There is no need for the "drive it until it blows" mentality with these engines. It's not a Honda b series or LS motor that has millions of replacements in the wild; the s65 is a rare bird that deserves proper care.