I'm driving home from work on Monday when I hear this faint ticking noise. I pull over to discover it nearly disappears at idle and sounds horrible at 2000 + RPM. I drive it home and the sound gets progressively worse as I near my apartment.

I call my local dealership and tell the service manager what I'm experiencing. He immediately says to have the car towed to the dealership in the morning. The next day I call BMW roadside assistance and get it towed. At this point it won't even start. :(

As of right now they have pulled off the connecting rod bearings next to the cams and removed the oil pan to reveal shreds of metal.

Coincidently there are currently 25 S54 engines available in the US for to take care of this problem. After further confirmation from BMW TechLine engine replacement is imminent.

I am told the engine swap will take approximately 2 weeks to complete and this is the 3rd M3 this has happened to at this particular dealership.

My car is a 2002 E46 M3 with SMG II transmission (11/01 build). I thought I was going to be the exception with 19K miles on the car now but it looks like I've been proven wrong.

Brian

sorry to hear it man... that really does suck. did you talk to BMW-NA about getting some sort of compensation ... after all, you are paying to drive an M3... not some loaner car.

I am told they don't lend M cars out, to make things worse the didn't have ANY loaner cars so BMW is renting me a Ford Focus. :)

Brian

Originally posted by dallasbboy
I am told they don't lend M cars out, to make things worse the didn't have ANY loaner cars so BMW is renting me a Ford Focus. :)

Brian

I'd call them and complain... you aren't paying XXX dollars per month to drive a Ford Focus. You may not get anything out of it... but it's worth a try.

I thought you're car was definitely one of hte ones that made it past the whole engine blowing up thing. Especially since you went as far as 19k miles.

Sorry to hear that, man..... :( And you should at least get a 3 series, I'd bitch!

My E46 M3 SMGII has an 11/01 production date and now has 7500 miles with alot of drag racing runs and one driving school.
Just cant wait till this sucker spins and knocks.

I am planning on having an oil sample analyzed when my next oil change is done. I am curious what will turn up on my 11/01.

ouch! sorry to hear.:(

If you can, I'd be very interested to know which bearing(s) failed and the mode of failure ie:pounded, overheated / oil starved

11/01 does seem to be the bulk of the failures unfortunately.:mad:

11/01 are the ones, huh? And someone said BMW NA has a bunch of replacement motors just waiting around for "when/if" they need to go into cars...?

I heard claims they were blaming the problems on a supplier and a bad batch of bearings were the reason for the 11/01 concentration, but there have been many mf'd on other build dates.

Coming from an SBC background where oiling is never even an issue I think there may be more to it than bad bearings...
I assure you though it's nothing I can't fix!:buttrock

sorry to hear that brian, that sucks.... :(
i would def complain about the loaner and get something better than a ford focus....

Originally posted by SilverStreak
11/01 are the ones, huh? And someone said BMW NA has a bunch of replacement motors just waiting around for "when/if" they need to go into cars...?


BMW has recognized the problem and is honoring all applicable warranties for repair/replacement.

Of course, if you pulled a money shift, you're S.O.L.

Originally posted by themadhatter



BMW has recognized the problem and is honoring all applicable warranties for repair/replacement.

Of course, if you pulled a money shift, you're S.O.L.


Handling the problem by replacing the engine under warranty doesn't seem to be recognizing anything. Taking care of the symptoms rather than the cause is something generally frowned upon in business. Surely a connecting rod replacement is more cost effective than an entire engine?

The proper way that BMW should have handled this is to have issued a recall for all possibly affected M3s NOT wait until they all blow up.

Brian

I agree with you. Unfortunately for the consumer (ie- you) I'm guessing replacement after the fact is cheaper (less money) than a full scale recall, and it's the accountants and bean counters along with the lawyers that things are the way they are.

It sucks, and it's unfair, it's a shame... any word on when you'll get your car back?

The engine bay (minus the engine)
http://home.attbi.com/~bngm3/vidz/M3/1.JPG
http://home.attbi.com/~bngm3/vidz/M3/5.JPG

The Air intake stuff
http://home.attbi.com/~bngm3/vidz/M3/6.JPG

The old engine
http://home.attbi.com/~bngm3/vidz/M3/9.JPG

The infamous spun bearings
http://home.attbi.com/~bngm3/vidz/M3/3.JPG
http://home.attbi.com/~bngm3/vidz/M3/4.JPG


The new engine to be put in by the end of the week :)
http://home.attbi.com/~bngm3/vidz/M3/2.JPG

Just to let you know everything has been handled very well by Autobahn Motor Cars in Fort Worth. I highly recommend them when your M3 blows up. :) They let me walk around and take pictures of my car and were nice enough to answer all of my questions and show me different parts I asked about.

Brian

What color blue is that, Brian?

Topaz Blue, Dave.

Brian

Oh, wow! That's what I thought. But I didn't know you could get the M3 in Topaz Blue. Absolutely love that color! Beautiful, man!

sorry, hehe when mom gets her 5 series serviced, they give her a 323i as a loaner car ;)