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S54 rod bearing

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Mikey_Boy
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S54 rod bearing

Post by Mikey_Boy » Sun Mar 19, 2017 5:32 pm

Cheers... :thumbsup: I'm leaning towards OEM for mine honestly - it's lasted nearly 70k so thinking it should be fine for what I use the car for.

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RickRob
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S54 rod bearing

Post by RickRob » Fri Apr 21, 2017 4:43 pm

I don't even know what I'm looking at, but it made me feel a bit queezy! :o
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Post by Vanne » Sun Apr 23, 2017 4:22 am

Don't be too queezy mate, the rod bearings are just a renewable part, its really not the massive hassle that its made out to be, just as long as you get to it before it lets go. There is a reason BMW won so many awards for this engine, it really is that good.
Bearing life depends on previous usage, and you will know by the general condition of the car if its had a hard life or not. Dont over think it. Live life, have fun :driving:
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Post by bmwaddict » Sun Apr 23, 2017 11:44 am

I'm looking at an s54 engined car, on 100k miles, planning on picking it up and taking it straight to CPC Engineering for rod bearing shells, no evidence of it having been done before. Advisable or am I overreacting?
Currently zedless :(

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S54 rod bearing

Post by mmm-five » Sun Apr 23, 2017 11:57 am

bmwaddict wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2017 11:44 am I'm looking at an s54 engined car, on 100k miles, planning on picking it up and taking it straight to CPC Engineering for rod bearing shells, no evidence of it having been done before. Advisable or am I overreacting?
Mine's on 152k and has never been done, but since I've been reading these threads it's definitely on my radar, as it's not really something you'd notice until it's too late :thumbsup:
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Post by BMWZ4MC » Sun Apr 23, 2017 11:58 am

Sounds like a sensible idea, but I'd try to negotiate the price of the car to reflect the cost of the work.
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S54 rod bearing

Post by Viren » Sun Apr 23, 2017 2:00 pm

bmwaddict wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2017 11:44 am I'm looking at an s54 engined car, on 100k miles, planning on picking it up and taking it straight to CPC Engineering for rod bearing shells, no evidence of it having been done before. Advisable or am I overreacting?
While the bottom end is dropped worth having the engine mounts replaced and engine mount bolts (the 4 on either side connecting the mount to the engine block) checked as these tend to back out. Also worth asking Phil to check the vanos, suspension, rear trailing arm bush, front control arm bush, brake calipers, exhaust clamp (these can that and break) and anything else. Although these probably aren't so urgent.
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Post by bmwaddict » Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:25 pm

Thanks for the replies, I have managed to negotiate a discount for the cost of the job from the seller so it will be within budget.
Currently zedless :(

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S54 rod bearing

Post by Argenta » Mon Jul 10, 2017 3:30 pm

I suppose this is THE rodbearing-thread so I should put mine up here aswell...

Relieved they could not find a single scoring mark or scratch on the crank surfaces.

Mine's a 2006, 178926km (111179miles) car.
Bought it at 154000km's, so I don't know the details of that distance other than it's been well serviced at BMW according to the service stamps/receipts.
During my time i've done 4 trackdays in total.

Paid 16177kr for the job (about 1463£)

In no particular order (got all in a bag):
IMG_0275.JPG
IMG_0275.JPG (171.67 KiB) Viewed 1427 times
IMG_0273.JPG
IMG_0273.JPG (177.95 KiB) Viewed 1427 times
Will run in for c:a 1200miles under 4000rpm.
Workshop (Bo&Jimmy's in Gothenburg, Sweden) claim I don't need to change oil after that but advise oil change each 10000km's maximum (which I always done anyway).
Last edited by Argenta on Tue Jul 11, 2017 9:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by GuidoK » Mon Jul 10, 2017 5:59 pm

......H.O.L.Y....F.#.C.K.

You are a Lucky man that your engine is still running... (although I'd measure the crank very carefully with a micrometer.....although the copper is an extra wear layer it is not as foregiving on the crank as the tin(?) layer)
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S54 rod bearing

Post by GuidoK » Mon Jul 10, 2017 6:05 pm

These are my rodbearings on a supercharged M54B30 at 150.000km (from which roughly 45.000km supercharged)

Image

Only the last bearing (cyl6) has some irregular wear which happened very slowly because the wearspot is very smooth and shiney.
The only reason I could think of is that that is the result of increasing the torque from 300Nm (stock) to 465Nm, and that that extra toque flexes the crank ever so slightly at the end (where the torque is highest)

I have no idea why the s54 has so much trouble with the bearings. It isnt the power/torque (as my bearings look much better and endure more torque/power and are smaller) so I think its that the high revs and longer stroke (so the crank swings more from left to right) cause cavitation in the oil passage. And cavitation erodes like hell (look at speedboat engine propellors)
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Post by Argenta » Mon Jul 10, 2017 11:54 pm

Thanx Guido, I'll ask the workshop if they did measure the crank.

It does have a ever-so-slight rattling noise on warm tick-over, only heard from inside the car with doors closed. I THINK it wasn't there before but I hope I'm mistaken.. New shells (less play) certainly should make it LESS noisy if anything so it may be something else.

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Post by GuidoK » Tue Jul 11, 2017 1:56 am

Usually bearing rattle ('conrod knock') is heard in the engine bay and increases in loudness at higher revs and is sometimes absent at idle.
If you hear it mostly at idle, it's something else.

Usually when you swap rod bearings all bearings should be plastigauged.
With bearings worn like this its important to closely inspect the crank on scoring marks.

As you can see on my picture I also plastigauged the old bearings. Mostly because nobody does that. All bearings were still in tact and hardly any wear so they measured up well within BMW spec.
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Post by BMWZ4MC » Sun Jul 16, 2017 7:00 pm

Argenta wrote: Mon Jul 10, 2017 11:54 pm Thanx Guido, I'll ask the workshop if they did measure the crank.

It does have a ever-so-slight rattling noise on warm tick-over, only heard from inside the car with doors closed. I THINK it wasn't there before but I hope I'm mistaken.. New shells (less play) certainly should make it LESS noisy if anything so it may be something else.
Cams / followers?
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S54 rod bearing

Post by Argenta » Mon Jul 17, 2017 1:06 am

Valves recently adjusted too so it might be noisy Vanos?

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