E46 ///M rod bearing failure

[flyitlikearental]

I think the worst just happened.

On my way to work this morning I went past some slower traffic, and as the rpm got to about 7100 I heard the engine note change. Car felt like it lost power slightly. Immediately put the clutch in, it idled okay, blipped the throttle and heard this krrrrr noise. pulled over to the side of the road and switched off. Just towed the car home, there is oil in the splash guard, so will begin stripping shortly. She's a 2004, with 196k km on the clock, gets oil changes at 12500km (half interval services, only been on TWS from day one.) I'm too scared to look where that oil comes from, I just hope there is no gaping hole in the side of the block...

 

[Ratslaaf]

Geesh man, that's terrible news. I'm holding thumbs that it's not the worst, but oil outside of the engine can only mean one thing I'm afraid.

 

[Peter@AEW]

Hopefully you do not have twisted rods and the crank can be saved.

 

[flyitlikearental]

Just stripped off the reinforcement plate and all the covers underneath. There is oil everywhere on the r/h side of the engine, but the block looks intact. Suppose if it put a rod through it would have been a big bang, which it wasn't. It was also not misfiring when I shut it down. Pulled the dipstick, also no shavings on it. Oil looks like its coming from the front of the motor. Going to strip off all the heatshields etc from the exhaust for a better look.

 

[Peter@AEW]

I for one am holding thumbs for you.

Oil outside the engine after a KRRRRRR incident is not a good sign.

 

[M3_devil]

Good luck dude. Hopefully damage is not to severe.

 

[Gizmo]

There is a hole somewhere, you just haven't found it yet. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Tehwalleth]

Good lord another. I hope you have minimal damage.

VAC bearings all the way. And any member of this BB should by now have noticed it's a growing trend and get theirs tended to asap.

 

[Gizmo]

Bad news Monday!:thumbdo:

 

[flyitlikearental]

Bad news monday you can say that again...

Still getting all the covers etc off.

I started her again just before stripping, no misfire just a heck of a loud knocking sound. Needless to say i jumped on that ignition switch REAL quick. Pulled all the sparkplugs, all look the same color etc. Did check the dipstick again, I think there is metal in that oil.

I believe some people do rod bearings on these things at about 160k km as a preventative measure.

Let the search continue...

Thanks for the input so far gents.

 

[Ratslaaf]

Dude, take your keys and put them away. Don't start it again till professionally looked at.

 

[Fordkoppie]

Pretty sure its the Vanos oil accumulator pipe that burst.

Common failure point. Happened to me as well back in 2010:

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=22640.

 

[444YYY]

Sorry to hear about this. Hope you up and running soon!!!

 

[Fordkoppie]

If it ran bearings, and there is no conrod protruding from the block, there wont be oil spillage

 

[Nikhil]

Power steering line exploded?

 

[Gizmo]

Pretty sure its the Vanos oil accumulator pipe that burst.

Common failure point. Happened to me as well back in 2010:

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=22640.

Did it throw an oil pressure light?

---

Power steering line exploded?

You would only lose p/s, it wouldn't have anything to do with the engine going krrrrrrrr...

 

[Fordkoppie]

Did it throw an oil pressure light?

I don't recall seeing one.

I just remember switching off really quick when I noticed smoke in the rearview mirror

 

[flyitlikearental]

Fordkoppie mine also didn't throw an oil light, but seeing as it happened on the wrong side of 7k tpm it could have reduced the oil pressure just enough to wreck the bearings. Busy stripping and preparing to pull the motor. Going to replace everything while I'm in there. Its gonna be back better than new.

 

[Fordkoppie]

Fordkoppie mine also didn't throw an oil light, but seeing as it happened on the wrong side of 7k tpm it could have reduced the oil pressure just enough to wreck the bearings. Busy stripping and preparing to pull the motor. Going to replace everything while I'm in there. Its gonna be back better than new.

Mine let go at 8k rpm.

But its never a bad idea to replace bearings on S54

 

[flyitlikearental]

If only I saw the smoke. Pretty sure thats whats happened here, only it ran along long enough to kill a savings account, and a second bond on the house...