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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Powertrain and Drivetrain Discussions > N54 Turbo Engine / Drivetrain / Exhaust Modifications - 335i > How do these bearings and splash pan look?



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      10-21-2018, 09:34 PM   #1
JonEQuest
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I am checking my rod bearing because I have a tapping noise that went with the speed of the engine. After many hours of dropping sub frame etc. I got the pan off and noticed a few small pieces of metal. They came from the metal cover that is under the rods. The bolt(s) of rod #3 are what scraped the pan. I am not sure why though. I found part of an old belt up top by the timing chain so maybe something like that did something and made the cover get too close to the rod bolts. The cover does not look bent though. I started popping off bearing caps to look at my bearings. The photos are of rod cap #3 and #4. They seem the same even though rod #3 is the one that hit the metal cover. Any insight is appreciated.
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      10-22-2018, 03:50 PM   #2
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      10-22-2018, 05:23 PM   #3
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I, for one, am highly impressed that you don't hesitate to dig deeply into your engine to figure out clicking and tapping noises on your N54 motor, when there's a 99% chance that the problem is on the outside of your engine. Case in point, your lifter replacement.

I'm willing to bet that the rest of the folks on here don't really want to stand in the way of what appears to be SERIOUS determination on your part.

It is extremely rare to see internal motor failures on these motors.

May I ask, do you feel that you are doing an adequate job of diagnosing these problems before concluding that your motor must have internal damage?
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      10-22-2018, 05:51 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by malgyver View Post
I, for one, am highly impressed that you don't hesitate to dig deeply into your engine to figure out clicking and tapping noises on your N54 motor, when there's a 99% chance that the problem is on the outside of your engine. Case in point, your lifter replacement.

I'm willing to bet that the rest of the folks on here don't really want to stand in the way of what appears to be SERIOUS determination on your part.

It is extremely rare to see internal motor failures on these motors.

May I ask, do you feel that you are doing an adequate job of diagnosing these problems before concluding that your motor must have internal damage?
I feel the laughter in your response at my folly. I REALLY did not want to drop my subframe, steering rack, oil pan etc. I actually found my main source of noise in a turbo gasket leak that I fixed. I also found a broken motor mount bracket that had to be replaced. The reason I went this deep is because I needed to look in the oil pan. I found pieces of belt while doing the lifters and had to make sure there were no others ready to clog my oil pickup tube one day. I also had an oil leak at the rear of my oil pan so it needed to come off. If I had ignored the leak I would not have found the fact that a rod had been hitting the windage tray and leaving small metal pieces in my oil pan. Maybe this was the faint chirping sound I could hear with my stethoscope under the oil pan even with no belt driving accessories. Yes, I did lifters for nothing... But thank God I did because I found a shredded belt that would have eventually caused havoc. And now I have started looking at rod bearings that appear to be good. It was worth a look after what it takes to get the oil pan off. Which thank God for that too because I found metal bits sloshing around in my oil pan. I have no regrets about how deep I have dug so far. Now I know what I have. I have new lifters instead of older ones, and I have prevented 2 ways my engine could have likely been destroyed.
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      10-22-2018, 06:15 PM   #5
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I'm trying so hard to be nice! But really, I am quite impressed by your determination.

The fact that nobody has responded to your posts is also impressive. There must be some sort of groupthink going on...and thats why I had to chime in with something. However, it has not seemed to kickstart the supportive discussion that this board is generally known for (along with some tough love from time to time, case in point...)

The windage tray issue is quite interesting, I must admit. I would defer to the real engine experts here for insight.

How did your oil pump pickup look? The belt issue tends to harm the motor when enough bits clog the flow of oil through the pickup. Was yours clean?
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      10-22-2018, 06:25 PM   #6
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I really can’t add anything to answer your questions but I would commend you in having the initiative to go dig into your motor to this level...and I’m not being a dick about it...I’m being sincere...
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      10-22-2018, 06:31 PM   #7
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And just to be clear, I wasn't trying to be a dick either...but was trying to inject a little humor, in a Seinfeldian sort of way.

You are right about the luxury of knowing the inside of your engine secondary to the evidence of the belt ingestion.

I will continue to be curious about what may have caused the windage tray thing. Did you inspect the rod bolts? Are they all the same?
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      10-22-2018, 06:40 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bimmer_Engineer View Post
I really can't add anything to answer your questions but I would commend you in having the initiative to go dig into your motor to this level...and I'm not being a dick about it...I'm being sincere...
Malgyver, I guess your post sounded worse to me than what is was meant to. I know I must look crazy just opening up everything in such a short amount of time. But the windage tray is a great example of what I experienced with this whole car so far. Things that should be OK I find are not. I have literally found a few things held together with shoelaces. This car (an E93) came with sedan headlights, things like that. The engine came with a cracked water pump and it was 3.5 quarts low on oil. The oil it did have was as thin as WD-40 and as black as Wesley Snipes. I have found the left motor mount bracket and the transmission mount brackets cracked into multiple pieces. Of course the right motor mount was OK but BOTH bolts broke off in it during removal. On a different topic I found hidden frame rail damage under a replaced rear bumper (that was another Easter egg). So now I trust absolutely NOTHING about this car. I bought it and quickly spent thousands on parts so as the saying goes, I am "Balls Deep" in this thing and have to just fix it. At least I now feel the internals of the motor are probably fine, but I still need to pull the other 4 rod bearings and have a look after work tonight.
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      10-22-2018, 06:46 PM   #9
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I think you are rightfully frustrated, and probably hard to see the humor at this point. You'll look back later and laugh, I hope. And usually you will find more help on this forum, so don't give up. Keep asking questions. It will all piece together sooner than later.
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      10-22-2018, 06:49 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JonEQuest View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bimmer_Engineer View Post
I really can't add anything to answer your questions but I would commend you in having the initiative to go dig into your motor to this level...and I'm not being a dick about it...I'm being sincere...
Malgyver, I guess your post sounded worse to me than what is was meant to. I know I must look crazy just opening up everything in such a short amount of time. But the windage tray is a great example of what I experienced with this whole car so far. Things that should be OK I find are not. I have literally found a few things held together with shoelaces. This car (an E93) came with sedan headlights, things like that. The engine came with a cracked water pump and it was 3.5 quarts low on oil. The oil it did have was as thin as WD-40 and as black as Wesley Snipes. I have found the left motor mount bracket and the transmission mount brackets cracked into multiple pieces. Of course the right motor mount was OK but BOTH bolts broke off in it during removal. On a different topic I found hidden frame rail damage under a replaced rear bumper (that was another Easter egg). So now I trust absolutely NOTHING about this car. I bought it and quickly spent thousands on parts so as the saying goes, I am "Balls Deep" in this thing and have to just fix it. At least I now feel the internals of the motor are probably fine, but I still need to pull the other 4 rod bearings and have a look after work tonight.
My oil pickup actually was clear. That combined with the fact I found no belt pieces in the bottom means someone (probably BMW) was in here before and cleaned out the other belt parts and fixed the front main seal. I guess when they put back the oil pan maybe they tapped the windage tray and it was able to be hit by the rod bolts. That rod (#3) was as tight as #4 so it wasn't sticking down further. The bolts are also all the same size. I have new factory bolts on the way since I know I cannot reuse these. I will probably not replace the bearings if they all look good since they are already worn to match the crank, etc.
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      10-22-2018, 08:39 PM   #11
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Soooo, how do the bearings look?
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      10-23-2018, 04:58 PM   #12
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I finally got the other 4 out

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Originally Posted by JonEQuest View Post
Soooo, how do the bearings look?
I was pretty busy with work so I finally got around to removing the last four bearing caps today for inspection. I didn't remove the top ones but they looked better than the bottom ones which is typical. I noticed some of them have slight scored lines in them from some sort of trash at one time. I am thinking of just replacing all of them since I'm already here and I've had to buy new Rod bolts oil pump bolts oil pan bolts etc. I assume I just need standard size since I'm not refinishing the crank which looks great. All of mine are code "r" so I guess I need the red/yellow sizes.
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