What have you done to your car today?

Soldato
Joined
7 Nov 2004
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15,688
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East of England
Welcome to M ownership. Ha

I’m listening out for mine but I got it at 32k and now on 45k so hoping it’s been well treated. My S2000 started knocking and went at 180k miles so I’m very aware of the potential but my feeing is the ragging from cold. Which is very tempting due to the noise. Mine does sound pretty noisy after 2-3 weeks of not starting but I think that’s all the vanos bits running as my s2000 knocked on start up after a week at an airport. To be honest the oil was telling me something going on from 150k

US seems a bigger problem. I’m wondering if fuel has an effect and the V10 seems worse.

Get some of the used oil as would be interested in having a look. Is yours a 2011+ ? (lead free bearings )

Mine is a late 2009 so it still has lead/copper bearings from factory. What did you do when your S2000 started knocking? Did it need a new engine/rebuild or were the shells being replaced enough?

Soooo anyway, all done. The bill was 2 grand which hurts quite a lot, but boy am I glad I took it in.

Two of my bearings were *absolutely* trashed (as in had gone completely through the copper layer to the steel backing plate) and weren't far from spinning, another 3 or 4 were very worn, 3 or 4 slightly worn and 6 or showed almost no wear. I got told to buy a lottery ticket because he said that he's seen bearings that have spun before that have had less wear than some of mine! And even more luckily, he measured the crank at the required places and found it to be absolutely fine. No scoring, no grinding, completely round still and within spec. As i've only owned the car for 10 months or so, this wear was clearly done by the previous owners and it was only due to my mechanical sympathy when warming it up that it didn't spin and write the engine off.

Anyway, new engine mounts in, new bearings in, new DCT pan/seal/oil and a wallet that is light as a feather. Also got a complete health check done and the rest of the car is absolutely spot on.
 
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Soldato
Joined
12 Mar 2008
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West sussex
Wow. That's pretty shocking.

Not knowing about these particular cars - Have BMW ever commented/issued a service bulletin on this issue? It seems more a case of when this happens, not if from reading about it?

It's been a thing on many "Sxx" engines! m5/6 e46, e92 I believe all have it. Don't think that BMW has said anything about it but if I was to own one of the cars with said issue I'd treat it as consumable and get my oil tested and shells done if needed. Wouldn't want engine to go pop and get a 20k bill after haha.
 
Associate
Joined
26 Jan 2018
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Southampton
It's been a thing on many "Sxx" engines! m5/6 e46, e92 I believe all have it. Don't think that BMW has said anything about it but if I was to own one of the cars with said issue I'd treat it as consumable and get my oil tested and shells done if needed. Wouldn't want engine to go pop and get a 20k bill after haha.

Are there any up-rated shells which are fitted or are they generally replaced with new BMW bits? Seems like a pretty big issue. I guess those that buy any of the M range will likely have read about the issue online prior to buying one.
 
Caporegime
Joined
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Boston, Lincolnshire
Are there any up-rated shells which are fitted or are they generally replaced with new BMW bits? Seems like a pretty big issue. I guess those that buy any of the M range will likely have read about the issue online prior to buying one.

Every engine has its issues at the end of the day unless it is a 2JZ ;). Remember that all S engines from that era rev high so are bound to be pushed.
 
Soldato
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Installed focus rs injectors. A job which should have taken me no more then an hour turned into a 4 hour job. Dropped a clip into the pipe which goes into the intercooler. Thus stripping most of the front end to find where it bloody went before I realised. :o

Was an excuse to over check everything. All looks good.
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Oct 2002
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Here
Bearings are due to people ragging them when cold, remember these engines run 10W-60 oil too.

Uprated bearings won’t help. But don’t peiple think a bigger clearance helps. And others run

That middle one is interesting how it’s delaminated, did the crank survive? Did it knock at all on start up ? How’s it sound /feel now?


Earlier question:
S2000 I just ran till death. Gearbox was noisy, roof worn and arches rusty so not point doing much.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 May 2010
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Tampa, Florida
Installed focus rs injectors. A job which should have taken me no more then an hour turned into a 4 hour job. Dropped a clip into the pipe which goes into the intercooler. Thus stripping most of the front end to find where it bloody went before I realised. :o

Was an excuse to over check everything. All looks good.

Don't you need to tune it for the new injectors? (If they are for a different model)
 
Soldato
Joined
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United Kingdom
Don't you need to tune it for the new injectors? (If they are for a different model)

Yes I will need to which should be done this weekend. I don’t use the car much these days, my current tune is probably a tad out of spec for fuel trims. Though I had no issue with the small drive I took it on.
 
Caporegime
Joined
22 Oct 2002
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26,960
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Boston, Lincolnshire
Been quite busy over the summer. Refurbed my whole rear subframe. Everything painted and all bolts acid dipped and zinc plated. New bushes where needed and a full alignment. Also rebuilding all my calipers. Just finished the fronts and will get them back on the car tomorrow. New seals and genuine Toyota pistons where needed. Coupled with Carbotech XP10 pads and M-Tech Grooved discs going to be a bit of an upgrade over my 23 year old stock setup!

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Soldato
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Yeah so broke down today. First time in the focus. Injector fuse blew, only occurred after flashing my lights to let someone by. Not sure why it happened but the aa man put a 15amp in instead of the standard 10. Mapping on Monday so hopefully that won’t cause any more issues.
 
Associate
Joined
26 Jan 2018
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1,089
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Southampton
Got the S40 T5 back from Volvo today.

- Coolant leak sorted, was a hose coming from the radiator, new hose and coolant fitted.
- Oil leak was the oil filter housing that the Focus ST/RS suffers from too, along with new oil.
- 3 new engine mounts
- 2 new control arms which I wasn't expecting

Best part of £700 all in :(

Car drives much better now though so was worth getting done. 56% off labour too due to uncle being a master tech at Volvo. ****** rip off for the average Joe paying their labour rates!
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Nov 2009
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11,596
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Northampton
Yeah so broke down today. First time in the focus. Injector fuse blew, only occurred after flashing my lights to let someone by. Not sure why it happened but the aa man put a 15amp in instead of the standard 10. Mapping on Monday so hopefully that won’t cause any more issues.

Get that swapped back for a 10amp immediately
 
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