[SnapCoupe]

Some of you may have seen my previous posts in which I received the unfortunate news that I spun a rod bearing and need a new motor.

Well, after going over all of my options i'm deciding to keep the car and throw a brand new N55 in it.

The car has 82k miles on it and I plan on keeping it for a while now that im getting a new motor. In this case, is there anything I should upgrade or replace while the front end of the car is apart? I was potentially thinking 335is motor mounts, but I can't really come up with anything else.

The car will remain FBO on the stock turbo and MHD stage 2+, so no need for any more power mods.

Thoughts?

[dleccord]

sucks to hear another N55 w/ rod bearing issues. are you going through BMW and having them install the motor?

[Johnny Boost]

Originally Posted by SnapCoupe

Some of you may have seen my previous posts in which I received the unfortunate news that I spun a rod bearing and need a new motor.

Well, after going over all of my options i'm deciding to keep the car and throw a brand new N55 in it.

The car has 82k miles on it and I plan on keeping it for a while now that im getting a new motor. In this case, is there anything I should upgrade or replace while the front end of the car is apart? I was potentially thinking 335is motor mounts, but I can't really come up with anything else.

The car will remain FBO on the stock turbo and MHD stage 2+, so no need for any more power mods.

Thoughts?

Just curious, did you buy your car new or used? If used, how many miles did it have when you bought it? How many owners?

[SnapCoupe]

Originally Posted by dleccord

sucks to hear another N55 w/ rod bearing issues. are you going through BMW and having them install the motor?

Yes, I work for BMW Portland so I am having the job done at my dealership.

[SnapCoupe]

Originally Posted by Johnny Boost

Just curious, did you buy your car new or used? If used, how many miles did it have when you bought it? How many owners?

Bought it used with 70k miles. Only 2 previous owners and I know the entire history of the car under the owner before me. The car had a JB4 and a charge pipe when I bought it, other than that it was stock.

[dleccord]

Originally Posted by SnapCoupe

Bought it used with 70k miles. Only 2 previous owners and I know the entire history of the car under the owner before me. The car had a JB4 and a charge pipe when I bought it, other than that it was stock.

did this car previously lived in California??

[scanspeak]

A better water pump?

[SnapCoupe]

Originally Posted by dleccord

did this car previously lived in California??

Originally an Arizona car. 5 years over there, then 3 over in the PNW.

[JETmn]

Do you have the separate oil cooler? If not, I would trash the old one and install one. If you do have one make sure it is cleaned out VERY well. When your rod bearing went there was metal particles in the oil and they like to collect in the oil cooler. I have seen many replaced engines go bad again (not N55) in short order because of this. Personally I always replace the cooler and flush the lines well. It is cheap insurance when you figure in the cost of another engine.

[Pladi]

Are you guys gonna take the old engine apart to see what happened ?

[dleccord]

Originally Posted by scanspeak

A better water pump?

You know you can work on that with the engine in the car right?

[dleccord]

Originally Posted by JETmn

Do you have the separate oil cooler? If not, I would trash the old one and install one. If you do have one make sure it is cleaned out VERY well. When your rod bearing went there was metal particles in the oil and they like to collect in the oil cooler. I have seen many replaced engines go bad again (not N55) in short order because of this. Personally I always replace the cooler and flush the lines well. It is cheap insurance when you figure in the cost of another engine.

Just so I understand, why do particles end up in the oil cooler?

[weehe126]

Originally Posted by dleccord

Just so I understand, why do particles end up in the oil cooler?

Oil gets dirty from metal bits. Oil passes through cooler. Cooler oil isn't fully drained on a oil change or engine replacement.

[SnapCoupe]

Originally Posted by Pladi

Are you guys gonna take the old engine apart to see what happened ?

As much as I would like to, there is a core charge for the new motor so I will not be able to. Also, given the symptoms, its pretty plainly obvious that the rod bearing was the cause of the problem.

[JETmn]

Originally Posted by SnapCoupe

As much as I would like to, there is a core charge for the new motor so I will not be able to. Also, given the symptoms, its pretty plainly obvious that the rod bearing was the cause of the problem.

Rod bearing wasn't the cause, it was just the failure point. Detonation or oil starvation were likely the problem. At a minimum I would take a look at the cylinder of the bearing that went bad to see if you had detonation. That might be from a bad injector which could trash your new engine too if you are reusing them. I would feel a whole lot safer knowing the cause if I was in your shoes.

[SnapCoupe]

Originally Posted by JETmn

Rod bearing wasn't the cause, it was just the failure point. Detonation or oil starvation were likely the problem. At a minimum I would take a look at the cylinder of the bearing that went bad to see if you had detonation. That might be from a bad injector which could trash your new engine too if you are reusing them. I would feel a whole lot safer knowing the cause if I was in your shoes.

Detonation seems to be the causation for the failure of the bearing. Oil pressure was perfectly fine and everything was running as intended. From what others have mentioned about my logs, it seems the timing corrections were probably the main cause. The new motor is being installed by BMW with a 2 year/unlimited warranty, so if it blows again its not my problem. In that case, they will do everything they can during install to make sure that doesn't happen.