[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by 9krpmrx8

Right, so you admit that the failures are not normal, and just an anomaly.

No sorry, what I meant is an engine failing like that is not something that should happen and is acceptable, at least not before at least 200k KM.

[Pladi]

All its gonna take literally is someone who works at a dealership with enough higher level access to compile some data from a database server. There must be some type of system for dealers to log some of that information. If you do two dealerships ull get the story. Even if you have say 50 cars with rod failures of different years/engines.

Say out of the 50, 40 of them are n55 and 90 percent of those are from e90. Then ur on to something.

I cant imagine someone who is reading these threads doesnt have that level info. Its impossible. I bet people who do have that info are reading these threads and laughing because they know something but its not in the interest of dealerships who sells cars to say yes there is a problem with these cars. Or these years. We are talking about someone coming FW with data.

Thats IF ofcourse.

[9krpmrx8]

Originally Posted by TheMidnightNarwhal

No sorry, what I meant is an engine failing like that is not something that should happen and is acceptable, at least not before at least 200k KM.

As pointed out already, all engines fail prematurely to some degree. Even the most reliable manufacturers have issues that are far more widespread than this wannabe issue. Hondas new engines are dumping fuel into the oil pan causing high oil levels, IIRC they have recalled 400k of them outside of the U.S. alone.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by 9krpmrx8

As pointed out already, all engines fail prematurely to some degree. Even the most reliable manufacturers have issues that are far more widespread than this wannabe issue. Hondas new engines are dumping fuel into the oil pan causing high oil levels, IIRC they have recalled 400k of them outside of the U.S. alone.

Yeah I agree but something where an issue appears right away is acceptable because you have the warranty that comes with it.

If your engine been running perfectly fine for like 100k miles and one day just shits the bed that is such a shit thing to happen, you're out of warranty and it's going to cost your like 5k$ or more for a normal person (no DIY).

Like in my head, if the engine runs fine for 100k miles how can it one day chose to say fuck you. Whatever I'm probably just ignorant about life since I'm young but just imagining you buy a car that is 25 000$ and the next day it could shit the bed and you SOL no warranty.

But I believe in my N54 so I'm not worrying to much I am just following these threads as I'm really curious and knowledge is great to have.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by Pladi

All its gonna take literally is someone who works at a dealership with enough higher level access to compile some data from a database server. There must be some type of system for dealers to log some of that information. If you do two dealerships ull get the story. Even if you have say 50 cars with rod failures of different years/engines.

Say out of the 50, 40 of them are n55 and 90 percent of those are from e90. Then ur on to something.

I cant imagine someone who is reading these threads doesnt have that level info. Its impossible. I bet people who do have that info are reading these threads and laughing because they know something but its not in the interest of dealerships who sells cars to say yes there is a problem with these cars. Or these years. We are talking about someone coming FW with data.

Thats IF ofcourse.

Let's just hack BMW's databse!

[Ozzie335i]

Originally Posted by 9krpmrx8

Right, so you admit that the failures are not normal, and just an anomaly.

Have you ever heard the term "When your neighbor is out of a job it is a recession. When you are out of a job it's a depression."

I for one am minimizing the odds of it being my depression due to my particular engine's potential "anomaly."

9k, if the 737 max was not grounded, would you not at least be a little uneasy flying on one? After all there have only been two catastrophic failures.

[Ozzie335i]

"This was a stock car - 75k miles, full BMW service history and was an AUC car, it was also a 2007. Car was fine for another 3 years after that when I sold it. Does this mean 2007 N54's have issues now?"

Cute, do you and bb or 9k hang out? Asking as I hadn't seen you comment here on N55. You were totally stock, thus had a warranty. Many here with these 2011s now are highly tuned and many FBO, if not more. Kind of like pretty much all N54s now. Hardly cars that any company would cover. But since you brought up 2007 N54 and issues... even us N55 low life's are aware they exist.

[Pladi]

Originally Posted by Ozzie335i

"This was a stock car - 75k miles, full BMW service history and was an AUC car, it was also a 2007. Car was fine for another 3 years after that when I sold it. Does this mean 2007 N54's have issues now?"

Cute, do you and bb or 9k hang out? Asking as I hadn't seen you comment here on N55. You were totally stock, thus had a warranty. Many here with these 2011s now are highly tuned and many FBO, if not more. Kind of like pretty much all N54s now. Hardly cars that any company would cover. But since you brought up 2007 N54 and issues... even us N55 low life's are aware they exist.

Dont forget to post ur bearings ozzie. Ur doing that work soon.

At the end of the day all i need to see is bad bearings from cars with low miles and i am convinced..

So far one has been ok and 3 bad or something like that.

[9krpmrx8]

Yeah well, it doesn't take much to convince a noob of much.

[9krpmrx8]

Originally Posted by Ozzie335i

Have you ever heard the term "When your neighbor is out of a job it is a recession. When you are out of a job it's a depression."

I for one am minimizing the odds of it being my depression due to my particular engine's potential "anomaly."

9k, if the 737 max was not grounded, would you not at least be a little uneasy flying on one? After all there have only been two catastrophic failures.

Shit happens with cars, it sucks but it what it is. It could have been a fault of the engine or it could have been owner neglect, bad tune, etc. , so who knows until a competent person or persons tear it apart to find out. But thinking it is a widespread issue with the engine is just being stupid and ignoring the obvious.

And no, I would not hesitate to fly on a 737 Max because there has only been one commercial airline death since 2010 in the United States. Again, Chicken little syndrome.

[Had0uken!]

Originally Posted by Ozzie335i

"This was a stock car - 75k miles, full BMW service history and was an AUC car, it was also a 2007. Car was fine for another 3 years after that when I sold it. Does this mean 2007 N54's have issues now?"

Cute, do you and bb or 9k hang out? Asking as I hadn't seen you comment here on N55. You were totally stock, thus had a warranty. Many here with these 2011s now are highly tuned and many FBO, if not more. Kind of like pretty much all N54s now. Hardly cars that any company would cover. But since you brought up 2007 N54 and issues... even us N55 low life's are aware they exist.

Nope, never met the guys or girls - or posted in here much (although I have posted!) as I only recently got an n55 - Oh and I'm in the UK.

For the record that was 3-4 years ago - I got the car from a Bmw dealer; approved used with a 1 year warranty so kept it stock for that year (luckily I did since 4 months later it had that issue plus another long list of warranty repairs - totalling around £15k!). After the warranty was up I had it FBO for 2+ years running MHD without any *major* issues.

Sold it in October and got an N55. It's a 2010 btw so maybe that excludes it from all these 2011 issues? and yes my n55 is currently stock - waiting until the weather warms up a bit here before starting to mod it, although I must admit I am missing the n54; but not missing the repairs so far!

[gmx]

Wow, the last handful of pages are absolutely useless bickering.
What's the feasible solution

M2 pump, pickup tubes, pan.

And N54s? I haven't had the pan off either engine. From a quick look, the pickup tube, sprocket and chain used is the same between N54/N55 blocks. Oil pump obviously different but uncertain if they're interchangeable.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Originally Posted by gmx

Wow, the last handful of pages are absolutely useless bickering.
What's the feasible solution

M2 pump, pickup tubes, pan.

And N54s? I haven't had the pan off either engine. From a quick look, the pickup tube, sprocket and chain used is the same between N54/N55 blocks. Oil pump obviously different but uncertain if they're interchangeable.

Pretty sure the pickup tube is different.

[bbnks2]

Originally Posted by gmx

Wow, the last handful of pages are absolutely useless bickering.
What's the feasible solution

M2 pump, pickup tubes, pan.

And N54s? I haven't had the pan off either engine. From a quick look, the pickup tube, sprocket and chain used is the same between N54/N55 blocks. Oil pump obviously different but uncertain if they're interchangeable.

The pickup tube and wind-age trays are different. The oil pumps are also different parts but similar in operation. Both pumps used a keyed sprocket so no chance of it slipping. Negligible differences and N54 is just as likely to have bearings wear and fail.

A "solution" completely depends on what problem you think there is that needs addressing...

If you're talking about oil starvation during high g-force scenarios then yeah, M2 oiling system retrofit (for N55s), or, something like an Accusump+baffle to help ensure you don't lose oil pressure.

If you're talking about excessive wear then there isn't much you can do outside of ensuring any contaminates like condensations and fuel get burned off on a daily basis. Possibly replace rod bearings as maintenance items at 100K miles or so like people do with other BMW engines? Not an N55 specific thing by any means.

If you're talking about the few engines that randomly seized up after an OFHG job then who knows whats happening there... "prime" the system to ensure you have oil pressure before driving away? No one really knows what's going on with that. Again, I wouldn't call it an "n55" specific thing.

[gmx]

Originally Posted by bbnks2

The pickup tube and wind-age trays are different. The oil pumps are also different parts but similar in operation. Both pumps used a keyed sprocket so no chance of it slipping. Negligible differences and N54 is just as likely to have bearings wear and fail.

A "solution" completely depends on what problem you think there is that needs addressing...

If you're talking about oil starvation during high g-force scenarios then yeah, M2 oiling system retrofit (for N55s), or, something like an Accusump+baffle to help ensure you don't lose oil pressure.

If you're talking about excessive wear then there isn't much you can do outside of ensuring any contaminates like condensations and fuel get burned off on a daily basis. Possibly replace rod bearings as maintenance items at 100K miles or so like people do with other BMW engines? Not an N55 specific thing by any means.

If you're talking about the few engines that randomly seized up after an OFHG job then who knows whats happening there... "prime" the system to ensure you have oil pressure before driving away? No one really knows what's going on with that. Again, I wouldn't call it an "n55" specific thing.

I'm talking oil starvation and whether N55 and N54 parts are interchangeable. Are the blocks even "similar"? The pan flange looks exactly the same. I don't have these two engines side by side unfortunately.

The N55 has the M2 parts at the very least, expensive or not. If parts are interchangeable, it's not a bad idea to do on the N54 as well. Where'd you mount the accusump and route the lines in your 1'er engine bay?

[bbnks2]

Originally Posted by gmx

I'm talking oil starvation and whether N55 and N54 parts are interchangeable. Are the blocks even "similar"? The pan flange looks exactly the same. I don't have these two engines side by side unfortunately.

The N55 has the M2 parts at the very least, expensive or not. If parts are interchangeable, it's not a bad idea to do on the N54 as well. Where'd you mount the accusump and route the lines in your 1'er engine bay?

The n55 M2 components wouldn't all be a direct swap on an n54 since it's single turbo and the n54 is twin turbo. The m2 scavanges oil from the turbo drain. Maybe the s55 M2C system would work if the drains are in the same physical location as on the n54. The other issue would be... are the windage tray and oil pump bolts the same pattern and size? Not sure on that. Also, the n55 uses an electronic valve in the block to control oil pressure. Maybe the oil pumps output would differ from what an n54 needs.

No clue really I just know people with n55s have swapped in the m2 n55 oiling system and that gives you decent protection against starvation.

There was a n54 user on spool&street who tapped the front of their oil pan and used an external pump to dump it to the rear. That's honestly the cheapest and easiest way to mimic what the m2/m3/m4 does.

I plumbed the accusump to the top port of the oil thermostat return side. Tucked the 3qt canister itself between the stock intake box and the chargepipe. Fit perfectly.

[TZANIDO777]

FYI, I attempted last week to retrofit all the M2 parts of the oil supply and ran into two issues. The oil pump does not fit through the guide rail to properly bolt up to the sprocket and you will need to delete or at the very least relocate your power steering pump as it bolts to the oil pan. M2 oil pan does not have anywhere to bolt the power steering pump to as those cars come with electric power steering. Everything else bolts up no issues, wind-age tray, suction pump (secondary pump) and oil pan.

This would be a direct bolt on for a f series N55 engine but not for any e series N55.

[bbnks2]

Originally Posted by TZANIDO777

FYI, I attempted last week to retrofit all the M2 parts of the oil supply and ran into two issues. The oil pump does not fit through the guide rail to properly bolt up to the sprocket and you will need to delete or at the very least relocate your power steering pump as it bolts to the oil pan. M2 oil pan does not have anywhere to bolt the power steering pump to as those cars come with electric power steering. Everything else bolts up no issues, wind-age tray, suction pump (secondary pump) and oil pan.

This would be a direct bolt on for a f series N55 engine but not for any e series N55.

The power steering part makes sense. The oil pump part doesnt though. Are you saying the sprocket is larger? Or that the pump sits in a slightly different place?

[vespa]

So I gotta ask. This rod bearing epidemic has been consuming N55s and forums for quite a long time now. Has anyone actually seen a damaged bearing?

I know there was one guy who had some engine trouble on the track and removed 5 of his bearings, which looked fine, then claimed that the 6th was probably bad.

Then there were a couple of folks who removed all their bearings preemptively, and all looked fine.

I'm not saying that the wave of stiff or noisy engines isn't disconcerting, but how is it that "rod bearing tracking" became a thing without a single human ever witnessing a failed rod bearing? Or did I just miss it? I agree that it sounds like a rod bearing and feels like a rod bearing, but with millions of N55's on the road, dropping like flies and nearly all out of warranty, wouldn't we see at least one blurry dirty cellphone pic of a damaged bearing? Even if it didn't actually spin, just one pic of a copper patch shining thru would go a long way toward explaining this apparent crisis.

P.S. Googling the most generic of terms "BMW spun bearing" returns a million N55 (not S65) results, but not a single indication of a spun bearing on any model BMW since the beginning of time as far I could tell. Only a handful of worn S65 bearings and endless conjecture about N55 bearings.

[rich_mane]

Here's mine, I just pulled the pan last week and started disassembling.



That's cylinder 5. No bueno.

Also removed the cap on cylinder 2 but that bearing looked fine aside from a bit of wear. Can't get any others off because the motor is still seized and bolts are too close to the crankcase to get a socket on them. Waiting on some offset etorx wrenches that I ordered to come in.

[vespa]

Whoa! That looks to be legitimately spun! I stand corrected.

[Pladi]

Originally Posted by vespa

So I gotta ask. This rod bearing epidemic has been consuming N55s and forums for quite a long time now. Has anyone actually seen a damaged bearing?

I know there was one guy who had some engine trouble on the track and removed 5 of his bearings, which looked fine, then claimed that the 6th was probably bad.

Then there were a couple of folks who removed all their bearings preemptively, and all looked fine.

I'm not saying that the wave of stiff or noisy engines isn't disconcerting, but how is it that "rod bearing tracking" became a thing without a single human ever witnessing a failed rod bearing? Or did I just miss it? I agree that it sounds like a rod bearing and feels like a rod bearing, but with millions of N55's on the road, dropping like flies and nearly all out of warranty, wouldn't we see at least one blurry dirty cellphone pic of a damaged bearing? Even if it didn't actually spin, just one pic of a copper patch shining thru would go a long way toward explaining this apparent crisis.

P.S. Googling the most generic of terms "BMW spun bearing" returns a million N55 (not S65) results, but not a single indication of a spun bearing on any model BMW since the beginning of time as far I could tell. Only a handful of worn S65 bearings and endless conjecture about N55 bearings.

Its the opposite, most bearings that were pulled do not look good for the mileage. Spun bearing is another story.. a bearing that does not look good at 50 k can turn into a spun bearing at any time.. So the fact that these bearings dont look good and some seize like rich's car for no apparent reason is concerning..