Maybe it's in combination with the recent weather, but the last week or two have been a smidge depressing lol. The initial thought that I might end up breaking the car for parts etc were filled with a feeling of dread.
But now that the threshold has been crossed and it's being fixed, it's been a refreshing few days. And knowing it's going to be back on the road and from that point onwards for the next 100k+ miles it's going to be absent of this kind of issue happening again is a big peace of mind.
On the upshot, this has resulted in greatly reduced labour rates on other jobs being done at the same time like the clutch and flywheel, bearing shell upgrades, free oil service and stuff.
With the roof up or down, soon as that induction burble starts at 2500-3000rpm even just driving around town normally, everything is right with the world, and everyone inside the car has a smile
I'm a bit late to the party, but good lord I can't believe this has happened to yours mrk..
I only thought this was a real issue with abused or run on a shoe string examples (which many are now)..
From everything I've seen on here its got to be one of the most cherished and pampered M3's in existence. Judging by how immaculate you keep it, I'm in no doubt you'll have been very sympathetic to that engine, ensuring its fully up to temp every time you enjoy it.
I can't recall what mileage you bought the car on but I think the odo said currently 114k in the vid, so I imagine you have put half or more of the miles on this engine yourself?
You say you've stuck to BMWs service interval, so is that 10 or 15k oil changes with castrol 10w60?
If this is the case, it just goes to show you how wrong BMW got it with this.. and people aren't just scaremongering after all..
You've been through a lot with this car to get it to and keep it at the level it is, I am not surprised you want to hang on to it. But that is an eye-watering unexpected cost..
You do get what you pay for in the end though, so if its still a keeper, good on you. Redish will probably get it turned around in no time with full peace of mind.
Mine is on around 112k now and had the full Mr Vanos treatment a while back (new rod bearings, rebuilt top end, new headgasket, vanos refresh, service). It came to £2345 and the bearings which came out looked to have some signs of wear, but not bad at all when compared to many i've seen photographed, the guy said he was 50/50 on whether they'd been replaced before. Mine's an 02/03 car, no paperwork or evidence of the recall or any previous replacement, and the inside of the engine was a bit gummed up too (according to Mr Vanos, an issue with castrol and why he only uses shell).
So many mixed opinions on these bearings, my standpoint is that they are a 100k service part and oil needs replacing every 5k or annually.
I look forward to seeing the updates on your new engine. I've got my fingers crossed for you that it all goes to plan.
Whilst I've been mechanically sympathetic, I can't vouch for its previous owners. I am owner number 5
but the overall condition of the car when I bought it at 62k miles (now on 114k) was really quite good so I had no reason to suspect anything else at the time. I also didn't learn of the rod bearing issues all of these are prone to until more recently so there is that. What people and tuners say is correct, an engine so highly strung needs stronger components. The engine isn't the only place BMW fell short on with the E46 M3 though, the brakes as we all know are rubbish after a few heavy stops on a spirited drive. Uprated pads and fluid with some stainless steel braided hoses make a world of difference. But even still, single piston calipers up front to stop a 1730KG car is just too small.
Regarding oil, each time the cluster said an oil service or inspection 1/2 was due, I booked it in. Each reset as you know starts at 15k miles ETA but drops based on the driving conditions, so some of those intervals have been 10k, some have been 12k between changes. I just went with what the OBC asked for. I've always used Castrol Edge 10w60. When I first heard about bearing issues I thought maybe it was scaremongering to a small extent. But the issue is definitely real as Gibbo pointed out before. Evolve's video highlighted the issue perfectly. The tolerance gap is very small. BMW's original shells were a weak point for such an engine, they revised them in later models, and later better engineered aftermarket ones like the ones from King Racing came out that didn't cost much more than BMW's ones. As others have mentioned, the only way to know if bearings are on their way is to regularly send oil samples away to a lab to test for metal/copper content and track how much increase there is in each result.
The King Racing shells came to £140 for all 12. I looked them up and they come highly rated. Whilst the OEM ones might last 100k miles, the King ones are more robust and engineered using modern materials and technologies for a similar price difference, so it's a no-brainer really.
I will also be changing the oil every 5k miles (or once a year) myself from here on, and let the indy do the inspection services.
The last 4 years have been costly to maintain this car. Sprouts of bad luck have attributed to a lot of that cost, but it's also been a huge learning experience and knowing what is what with E46 M3 ownership now. Had I known the trials I would go through, then I'd have been put off and bought something Japanese. Putting lots of miles on one of these demands digging into the pockets for sure!
But having actually gone through all this now, I can't imagine going through it with anything else as I'd have been annoyed to the point of just breaking it for parts lol. To me the S54<>E46 combo is special enough to make it just about OK in the long run.
