08 e93 M3 Rod Bearing replacment

[gsxrliterbikz]

Soooo, I posted a few times recently that I was going to do this job soon. Well, just wrapped it up today.

A little background on the car
08 e93
One owner car originally bought from BMW of Warwick by a doctors wife. It was serviced there its whole life too. Then traded in on a new 435.
I bought it on the last day of December 2014 with 53k miles.
Did my first oil change at 61k last month.
Blackstone came back with REALLY high lead levels. Like, normal is 9ppm, mine was 64ppm

So obviously I decided to change them asap.

So this isnt really going to be a diy. Theres a few out there already that are nice. But they have you fully removing the subframe.
Luckily I live near a fellow boardmember that just so happens to have a lift and a fully stocked shop. Plus he has done this job to his own e90 M.

So Friday night we got started. Spent about 3 hrs working on it and had it all apart, up to the bearings.

As mentioned, Phil had the idea of not fully removing the subframe. So a list of things we did do is:
Starting in the engine bay, we removed the air box. Then a couple air ducts in front that gave us access to the ele. fan. Which we took out. Then we installed a engine hoist that sat on the top of the fenders and held the motor in place allowing us to lower the subframe.
After that we moved under the car.
Remove all the splash shields including the big Alum. stiffening plate.
We didnt open up the PS system, just uncliped all the hoses allowing them to move around. There was one hose that was bolted to the subframe with 3 10mm bolts and 1 10mm nut.
There is also the 1 torx bolt that holds the steering shaft to the rack.
We then loosened all the brake hoses and wires in the wheelwells allowing them to have more slack. So we didnt actually remove any of them, just uncliped them, freeing them up to move.
Also undid the lower bolt on the endlink.
We didnt remove the serp. belt tensioner, but we did pull the belt off of its wheel and we had to remove the lower mount that it bolts to since 2 bolts go into the pan.
There is also a bracket on the front drivers side of the pan with 2 10mm bolts that comes off.
Once all that is done, you can start to lower the frame. Its super light. Held in place by 4 bolts on each side, and 2 nuts, one on each side for the motor mounts. We used a jack of sorts to hold it up while we removed the bolts, then we lowered it till it hung off the suspension. Its super light, so it wont hurt any of the suspension.
That left us access to the pan. Its held in by tons of little 27mm torx bolts. 2 are tricky to find. Right near where the pan flares out. And theres 4 bolts through the back from the trans. Once they are all out, my pan just fell off on its own.
There are 3 oil pickup tubes in there, one of which prevented us from pulling the pan all the way out. So we took it off first then removed the pan. Then just pull the other 2 tubes and you now have clear access to the bearings.

I choose to use the new VAC Clevite coated bearings and ARP bolts.
VAC recommended 45lbs of tq. using a 3 step torquing. We did 20lbs, 30lbs, and a final 45lbs using ARP's special super duper lube.
After that, reinstall in the reverse order.
I also replaced the motor and trans mounts. I neglected to get a pic of the motor mounts (maybe you could grab some phil?) but they were trashed. Trans looked fine.
Only parts I needed were the bearings, bolts, oil pan gasket, and I got 2 orings. One for each of the larger oil pickup tubes.
Its never going to be easier to change the motor mounts, Thats why I choose to get them.

So onto the pics. I kinda just snapped a few as we took breaks. So these are not blow by blow pics. And alots probably missing. Just fill in the blanks with the other DIY's.





Here it is with the frame hanging



Frame down and as you can see, plenty of room to mess with the bottom end.



Working on one of the caps





And now the money shots.....Was it all worth it?








Id say so.

Thats all I got for now. Cant say thank you enough to Phil. It was fun working with him for the last couple days. All in we figure it was about 10 hrs or so of casual working.
Only time will tell if I did it right. She ran great on the ride home. Oddly enough, the oil temps really did drop a bit. Car used to hover over the 210 mark by a few mm. Now it almost never gets over it at all and usually sits at or below 210. Guess the box was right

Im gonna take it for a ride to Conn. tomorrow morning, so I'll keep an eye on it to see how she does.
Hope this helps others that might be thinking of doing this to their car.

[BzsBimmer]

Awesome! It's got to be great to have a friend with a lift and tools!

[MrPrena]

Thanks for posting.
Made it look easy, but it is out of my league.

[OneMmmm]

Nice write up. I'm always impressed and humbled by how capable some of the members on this forum are. Kudos and thanks for sharing! Hope you enjoy the many worry free miles to come!

[davesaddiction]

Thanks for sharing all this. #4 looks like the ticking time bomb we're all worried about. Was there any noise indicating an issue, or was the Blackstone report the only sign of a problem?

Glad you caught it!

[Flea7]

Thank you for sharing!
I have a lift in my garage and I'm planning on doing this when I reach 60-70k miles.

[SteveInfante]

Thanks for taking the time to share this with us on the forum. Looks like you guys knocked it out of the park. Where did you source your parts?

[roastbeef]

think the oil temperature difference is attributed to anything other than coincidence?

[STooK]

I'm no expert but the bearings look pretty beat for only 53k miles. Glad you got them swapped. I wish I was more mechanically inclined..good work!

[pbonsalb]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

think the oil temperature difference is attributed to anything other than coincidence?

The Calico box containing the VAC Clevite bearings had a list benefits that seemed far to good to be true. Calico makes its coating seem like the fountain of youth. Anyway, one benefit on the list was lower oil temperatures. Given that gsxr had changed his oil just 1000 miles ago with BMW 10W60 and we put BMW 10W60 back in, I doubt the fresh oil explains the lower temps. I'd say more driving time than the ride home is needed to confirm. I am not an engineer so I don't know whether bearing wear affects oil temps.

[pbonsalb]

gsxr's bearings at 61k looked worse than mine at 61k. We both have 08M3 and I did mine a year ago.

What I would like to know, and maybe one of the engine builders here could comment, is how fast the deterioration process goes once it is advanced like this. Like would gsxr have been in trouble in another 15k? Another 30k?

[///M Power-Belgium]

Think a good job was done here , because OP's bearings showing wear !
Good that you noticed that your S65 runs cooler now , what means that our bearings run hot by lack of lubrication and so also increases the engine oil temp.
It's not the first time that I hear that the S65 runs cooler after bearing replacement.
All this is again another proof that the S65 bearings suffering from BMW's bearing design flaw !
This bearing wear is not normal .

Your question was....Was it all worth it ?
No doubt => "Yes"
Thanks for sharing of the comment and pics , I really appriciate it !
Edit :
Is your car stock ?

[Nice Rumble]

Nice write up on the bearing swap Nick. Nice to know a fellow M3 member has first hand experience and a lift to make this job not as daunting as it seems. Looks like I'll be doing an oil analysis after every oil change as part of preventative maintenance. Let us know how it goes as you put more miles on.
See you on the road.

[GRUESOM3]

Nice job op. It's great to see threads like this what amazes me is stuff like this never gets noticed, but hey I shipped my car to IND and slapped on some parts and wrote a check and call it a build gets front page

[Dean//m]

You went 8k miles before oil change?

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

The Calico box containing the VAC Clevite bearings had a list benefits that seemed far to good to be true. Calico makes its coating seem like the fountain of youth. Anyway, one benefit on the list was lower oil temperatures. Given that gsxr had changed his oil just 1000 miles ago with BMW 10W60 and we put BMW 10W60 back in, I doubt the fresh oil explains the lower temps. I'd say more driving time than the ride home is needed to confirm. I am not an engineer so I don't know whether bearing wear affects oil temps.

interesting.

i'm always a tick below 210- about a full needle width (socal weather) pretty much year round. it will be right at dead center on a hot day with the a/c running, and i've only seen it above center during aggressive driving.

maybe i have good bearings?

[runnyeggsham]

Nice job.

[runnyeggsham]

Originally Posted by davesaddiction

Thanks for sharing all this. #4 looks like the ticking time bomb we're all worried about. Was there any noise indicating an issue, or was the Blackstone report the only sign of a problem?

Glad you caught it!

Whats a Blackstone report cost? What are the high values? I think a bearing job costs about $2k.

[gsxrliterbikz]

Thanks guys. Happy to post this up. Worst part of the job was heading into something I'd never seen, or done. I've done big jobs before, just not bearings. So having Phil there was a huge help. And I think that's why threads like this are good. Gives people the chance to see what they are getting into beforehand.

Originally Posted by davesaddiction

Thanks for sharing all this. #4 looks like the ticking time bomb we're all worried about. Was there any noise indicating an issue, or was the Blackstone report the only sign of a problem?

Glad you caught it!

I had no symptoms that I could tell. Just super high lead levels in the report.

Originally Posted by roastbeef

think the oil temperature difference is attributed to anything other than coincidence?

I doubt it. It was an immediate change after the bearing swap. And nothing else changed.

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

gsxr's bearings at 61k looked worse than mine at 61k. We both have 08M3 and I did mine a year ago.

What I would like to know, and maybe one of the engine builders here could comment, is how fast the deterioration process goes once it is advanced like this. Like would gsxr have been in trouble in another 15k? Another 30k?

That's a great question. Would be good to know how bad they really were and what, if any symptoms, would have started showing up.

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Think a good job was done here , because OP's bearings showing wear !
Good that you noticed that your S65 runs cooler now , what means that our bearings run hot by lack of lubrication and so also increases the engine oil temp.
It's not the first time that I hear that the S65 runs cooler after bearing replacement.
All this is again another proof that the S65 bearings suffering from BMW's bearing design flaw !
This bearing wear is not normal .

Your question was....Was it all worth it ?
No doubt => "Yes"
Thanks for sharing of the comment and pics , I really appriciate it !
Edit :
Is your car stock ?

Car is bone stock.

Originally Posted by Nice Rumble

Nice write up on the bearing swap Nick. Nice to know a fellow M3 member has first hand experience and a lift to make this job not as daunting as it seems. Looks like I'll be doing an oil analysis after every oil change as part of preventative maintenance. Let us know how it goes as you put more miles on.
See you on the road.

I would recommend the black stone to anyone with lead bearings. Not sure it would be helpful on the later bearing types.

Originally Posted by Dean//m

You went 8k miles before oil change?

Yes

Originally Posted by roastbeef

interesting.

i'm always a tick below 210- about a full needle width (socal weather) pretty much year round. it will be right at dead center on a hot day with the a/c running, and i've only seen it above center during aggressive driving.

maybe i have good bearings?

That's the temps I'm seeing now. Prior, my oil temp would run up to about a needle width above 210 and park itself there. Now it's at about a needle width below 210 90% of the time and only under spirited driving or heavy traffic will it hit 210. But it's never over anymore. I've put over a tank of gas on it now too.

Originally Posted by runnyeggsham

Whats a Blackstone report cost? What are the high values? I think a bearing job costs about $2k.

$25. Normal values are listed in the report.
My parts cost was around 1k. That was bearings, bolts, oil pan gasket, motor mounts, and trans mounts, and oil. Bearings and bolts came from VAC. Everything else came from the dealer near me.
Labor costs will vary.
I could have saved a lot of money buying OE bolts, but it's a much longer install procedure. Probably saved an hour or more using the more expensive ARP bolts.



As mentioned above, I've put a good few miles on it today. Some of them were quite "spirited". I live in central NH and I drove it to northern CT yesterday.
On the way home I had a nice run against a friends jb4 tuned 2010 335xi. Gotta say, torque ftw. The turbo just pulls quicker. From 4th gear at about 65, he pulled a car length on me. But he had to shift and I started catching him. Probably with enough road I'd have caught him. But happily my car didn't blow up. Still sounds good, pulls strong, and puts a smile on my face every time I drive it

[SenorFunkyPants]

The off-centre wear on bearing #4 is a little atypical but it lasted for 53k miles so there is every reason to believe the new ones will be equally good for another 53k miles.
To me it would seem a little strange that any significant change in oil temp could be attributed to the new bearings...all else being equal it would seem unlikely there would any reduction in friction between the old worn in bearings and the new ones as these parts don't touch in normal use (unless you used a thinner oil?)

[e92zero]

Nice write up and nice lift. I can also confirm that the oil temp is lower after bearing swap. Not just the oil temp, coolant temp is noticeably lower too afterward so engine is most definitely running cooler.

[NotoriousART]

Hmmm, so is a hot running engine a sign for people to look out for?