E46 M3

[kcmwinga]

Hi guys,

Thinking of buying an E46 M3 but I know it has an engine issue. Bearing knock. What would be the approximate cost to rebuild the engine. I know there could be surprises once the engine is opened up but would like to know a ball park figure to work with. Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[AdiS]

Short Answer: its a bad idea.

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=57907

 

[kcmwinga]

Short Answer: its a bad idea.

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=57907

Thanks... I can see my fears somehow confirmed. Only if one has money to "throw"

 

[AdiS]

Short Answer: its a bad idea.

http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=57907

Thanks... I can see my fears somehow confirmed. Only if one has money to "throw"

Even if you have money to 'throw', the consensus is that it's a far better idea to spend more buying a well looked after example. Otherwise even if you have the money, you are just buying a lot of time and effort to get the car into a reasonable condition.

 

[Crash_Nemesis]

Wow. 2nd thread about this in 2 days. What is with all the Bearing knock M3's... oh wait, BMW never really fixed the issue.

Look, it can be fixed. But it's not going to be cheap. AT ALL.

Just buy a 2nd hand S54 engine from IPC for R60k and throw that in. To rebuild the engine with proper parts and labour, you are looking at 100k. You could source 2nd hand parts that are cheap, but cheap means expensive in the long run.

If you want to fix the bearing knock issue and stop it from happening again, you might want to look at Vac Motorsports Main and big end bearings.

 

[AndreasSA]

Just buy a 2nd hand S54 engine from IPC for R60k and throw that in. To rebuild the engine with proper parts and labour, you are looking at 100k. You could source 2nd hand parts that are cheap, but cheap means expensive in the long run.

If you want to fix the bearing knock issue and stop it from happening again, you might want to look at Vac Motorsports Main and big end bearings.

Wow...rebuilding is much more expensive than in Germany...used engine is nearly the same...

I think that you can't stop the problem, it will always happen again even with different parts. Many of my friends tried it already....

The only solution is to check and replace the bearings latest with 100.000km if the M is used in a normal way......than you are really safe.:thumbs:

 

[Ga-3M]

Pretty sure the OP is looking at the same M3 as in the previous thread.

 

[kcmwinga]

Wow. 2nd thread about this in 2 days. What is with all the Bearing knock M3's... oh wait, BMW never really fixed the issue.

Look, it can be fixed. But it's not going to be cheap. AT ALL.

Just buy a 2nd hand S54 engine from IPC for R60k and throw that in. To rebuild the engine with proper parts and labour, you are looking at 100k. You could source 2nd hand parts that are cheap, but cheap means expensive in the long run.

If you want to fix the bearing knock issue and stop it from happening again, you might want to look at Vac Motorsports Main and big end bearings.

What was the cause of this bearing know issue out of interest? Is it jus the E46 M? Thought the BMW 6 cyl engines were bullet proof


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[Crash_Nemesis]

Bearings are too small and not enough oil lubrication gets onto them. They scuff up against the crank and eventually break.

Vac bearings have a better gap to allow oil in and are coated. Would look at upgrading to those bearings.

The S85 and S65 seem to also suffer from this.

 

[Dean ///M]

How come BMW didn't learn for the E46 and carried over substandard bearing clearances over to S65? Crash do you carry these bearings in stock?

 

[Crash_Nemesis]

Hey Dean, sorry man, but I don't work for Project Shift, but can tell you now from my experience with Burg, that the Bearings will be in the country via shipping within 3 days.

I have the Vac motorsports coated bearings on my S54 and the last time I bought engine parts from Vac Motorsports via Project Shift, it was a Friday afternoon. The parts were in the country come Sunday morning and cleared by customs late Monday afternoon. Tuesday morning 8am we had the parts.

So they arrive pretty quickly. Project Shift is a registered distributor with Vac, so they get a discount on prices. So the mark up on parts is minimal if I recall.

Speak to Burgy about bringing them in.