Aftermarket Rod Bearings Spun

Iv'e got a little horror story for my fellow s65 owners.

I bought my e92 M3 with 70k miles. It was very well maintained by the previous owner. At around 74,000 miles I got some BE bearings thrown in. A few weeks ago I spun 2 bearings at 81,000 miles. After pulling it apart we found that journal 1 lost oil pressure causing the bearings to fuse to the crank and spin. This also caused some major scoring to cylinders 1 and 5. Could have maybe been a problem with my oil pump or maybe even one of the jets. The car wasn't ran low on oil. When it initially died I was going about 40mph in 3rd gear and the car just went into neutral and shut off. It wouldn't turn over so when I came back in the morning it started and drove perfectly fine. Then when I was doing a test drive around the block, SNAP, there goes the bearings after about a mile of the car running. After that I pulled over and it asked for another qt of oil. I had a pretty good idea the engine was done just by how bad the knocking was but I still added another qt. When the oil was drained the car had 10qts in it which is 1 above what it should be. So the car knew it was in need of oil but unfortunately still spun the bearings. Anyways it's time to get a new motor back in her.

Has anyone had something like this happen to their engine or heard anything like this happening?

Here are some pictures and a video of the knocking, maybe it'll help someone.

You can see how hot the bearings got and charred the crank.

Oh man, here we go....

Damn...sorry for your loss

Have you pulled your codes yet? Also we're you running any aftermarkets??

Nebo wrote

Have you pulled your codes yet? Also we're you running any aftermarkets??

The car didn't throw any codes at all. And by the time the shop had the car all the data logs were gone. Yes, I had a Macht Schnell intake and catless xpipe, axle back. Also was running a Gintani flame file....

Can you Blackstone your oil to see if there is excessive petrol in the oil? I'm wondering if the flame tune could have diluted the oil.

Tear the engine apart and get the crank out. Most likely main bearing failure.

tdott wrote

Tear the engine apart and get the crank out. Most likely main bearing failure.

Yep that's the next step. I'll update you guys.

Redd wrote

Can you Blackstone your oil to see if there is excessive petrol in the oil? I'm wondering if the flame tune could have diluted the oil.

Not really my biggest concern right now. I'm just getting a new s65 because this one is done. Eventually after I'll definitely have to investigate more.

How were the original bearings before the BE's were thrown in?

tdott wrote

Tear the engine apart and get the crank out. Most likely main bearing failure.

This.

S65 RIP

Wow man sorry to see that. No matter what that engine is toast. Yank her out and tear her down to see the mains. That might be where all this started. Also you can use all your spare parts like the throttle actuators, iacv, heads are hopefully not filled with metal, coils, etc

Very sorry to see this. It's sad seeing so many S65's with this kind of damage.

10 quarts of oil is usually fine, no?

If I let mine drain for a full 30 mins, it'll take 9.5+ quarts and still read half on the oil gauge.

What oil was used and what was the spark plug interval? 37.5k per BMWs rec? This kinda case supports the hypothesis that main bearings might be behind this. Nik Saran might be right about plug interval factoring into this.

Sorry for your loss & wallet.

chocstraw wrote

10 quarts of oil is usually fine, no?

If I let mine drain for a full 30 mins, it'll take 9.5+ quarts and still read half on the oil gauge.

What oil was used and what was the spark plug interval? 37.5k per BMWs rec? This kinda case supports the hypothesis that main bearings might be behind this. Nik Saran might be right about plug interval factoring into this.

Sorry for your loss & wallet.

chocstraw wrote

10 quarts of oil is usually fine, no?

If I let mine drain for a full 30 mins, it'll take 9.5+ quarts and still read half on the oil gauge.

What oil was used and what was the spark plug interval? 37.5k per BMWs rec? This kinda case supports the hypothesis that main bearings might be behind this. Nik Saran might be right about plug interval factoring into this.

Sorry for your loss & wallet.

Previously had liqui moly 10-60 and previous owner said he did all maintenance at BMWs recommendations. I changed the plugs at around 75,000 miles. Definitely could be the mains. Don't know until I get it apart.

Looks like replacing rod bearings doesn't save us. Maybe this wasn't gonna happen if you'd leave your original ones in place..

seeing that scares the bleeped out of me.

I'd be curious to know the condition of the crank and original bearings that were changed. Was the crank originally undamaged? I won't ask who did the work, but was it DIY or shop? I see you (or they) went with BE bearings, but bolts are not mentioned. Do you know which bolts were used?

Is this the first failure of BE replaced bearings? I know shops have done hundreds of replacements, so I cant figure what might have gone wrong here.
Those bearings look horrible. The ends are completely gone to to point they spun showing wear marks from foreign material. Total lack of oil? top and bottom flipped during install? torqued out of spec, brings me back to the bolts.

TrAcK TRaP wrote

Looks like replacing rod bearings doesn't save us. Maybe this wasn't gonna happen if you'd leave your original ones in place..

and you base this on what exactly? Troll on man

TX wrote

Is this the first failure of BE replaced bearings?

At this point, it'd be more accurate to call this a failure with BE bearings, not a failure of them.

I feel like this can't be the first, but that's just my suspicion. Nothing this widely used and this sensitive gets installed this many times without a single failure, even if it's not the fault of the part itself. Certainly seems to be one of the first to be made widely known, though.

Placing my bet: the cause of this failure is either install error or some other thing that would have happened with any rod bearings.

TrAcK TRaP wrote

Looks like replacing rod bearings doesn't save us. Maybe this wasn't gonna happen if you'd leave your original ones in place..

Living in denial huh? Our Failed rod bearings registry thread with close to 200 members just on here who had their engine blow due to rod bearings is not enough for you?

IamFODI wrote

At this point, it'd be more accurate to call this a failure with BE bearings, not a failure of them.

I feel like this can't be the first, but that's just my suspicion. Nothing this widely used and this sensitive gets installed this many times without a single failure, even if it's not the fault of the part itself. Certainly seems to be one of the first to be made widely known, though.

Placing my bet: the cause of this failure is either install error or some other thing that would have happened with any rod bearings.

Could be the mains gave out first...gotta wait till he opens up the engine completely