I love these cars. I'm convinced that the people who buy them secretly hate themselves. I mean seriously, rod bearings? Hell no. I ain't doin that just for the sake of knowing they're "okay". Keep your German engineering, thank you very much.
I was in the automotive industry for 43 years, starting with mechanical repair and engine rebuilding and including 15 years of full collision repair and restoration. I finished with 28 years of insurance appraising before retiring. I stumbled upon your videos and love everything about them! It brings me back to the great times I had being in the auto industry. Thank you for an enjoyable and educational channel. Since I was active on the older, simpler designed engines etc, your videos show me the difference between those older cars and the newer ones of today. Keep up the great work you’re doing creating your videos.
It takes a lot of engineering talent to build so many fatal flaws into a single engine. Rod bearings! Multiple catastrophic Vanos failures! Disintegrating chain guides! This engine has it all.
Reminds me of the 5.4 3V, of which I own one. In that engine's case add oil pump, they are all aluminum and tend to get high clearance inside after a good amount of miles. The Melling replacement has a steel backing plate instead of being all aluminum. At least the 5.4 3V easier to work on. Couldn't believe the stuff that was pulled under the car on the M3, completely removing the steering box and folding all that stuff out of the way. Yikes.
The Vanos and chain guides are stupid, but the bearings aren't really an issue on this engine until very high miles. It's not like S65 and S85. This engine is NA 3.2L and makes 333 hp without direct injection. It revs to 8k and it's oversquare. It's a highly stressed design so some bearing wear is to be expected. To me, it's worth the trade-off. It's an amazing engine that requires some preventative maintenance.
You know, I'm not sure how your channel was recommended to me, but I'm absolutely digging it! The bits of humor you inject into each video are, in my opinion, perfect. Glad your car didn't blow up on you!
I love when I get home from work and there’s another video that I can watch from I do cars. This is by far an amazing youtube channel. I love learning about malice in the combustion palace and old blue and his ever growing collection of bmw’s. Love your videos man.
That circular plate on the bottom of the oil pan that you had to remove to reinstall the pan looks amazingly like the oil screen plate on an old VW aircooled engine.
All through the rod bearing segment I was going "Seconds from disaster? come on, those bearings are worn, but seconds from disaster? nahhhh" Then I saw the cam gear bolts and instantly I was eating my words, good lord that was a close shave! bet you felt good not putting it off for another tank of gas!
When I got to the part of the video where you show what was going on with those bolts, my jaw dropped. It's a miracle that engine didn't grenade it's self. I've owned too many BMW's, I am used to them totaling themselves without ever being in a crash.
@@yamaha226 Before everything started inflating, it made more sense to buy one at such a low price if it was in decent shape and then take a gamble on getting a year or two out of them before scrapping it, not so much anymore.
Used to totally themselves without being in a crash? Tf that even mean? That just sounds like a bad owner? Ive owned many too but never lost my faith in a single BMW.
This reminds me of when I replaced all the rocker arms and lifters on my Wrangler's Pentastar V6 as preventative maintenance. Jobs like that are always daunting, but if you're meticulous and follow the steps, it's definitely achievable. A $4,000 estimate was all the incentive I needed to tackle the job.
That's such a great engine, but like this bmw, I can't understand what happened with the rocker arm and valve train issues on those things? Was Chrysler just cheap? Bad metallurgy?
@@life_of_riley88 that's a fair question. I think every drivetrain has its Achilles Heels, some are more problematic than others. I can't speak specifically in the case of Chrysler, but it could have been a supplier issue (like the valvetrain issue on a specific batch of Ford Bronco 2.7s), possibly a specification issue, or something else. What I do know is that when I did the job, the part numbers were revised at least once, possibly twice. In my case, I could tell the rollers on the rocker arms were starting to tighten up, but it would've done me no favors to wait on it. Luckily the cam lobes weren't wiped, but I'm sure if I did nothing until the bearings started to seize, I'd have been looking at a much more expensive repair. After the fix, though, the engine runs wonderfully. So that's something. :)
@@mphilleo 4.0L TJ guy here. I know those motors are pretty powerful...but man do i ever love my straight 6. Not the most powerful or efficient..... but always reliable. Congrats on a job well done sir. o7
@@ericthimot the 4.0 was/is wonderful. I'd have loved to own a 4.0 TJ (having had a number of XJs and ZJs). Great engine. I've seen the 3.6 Pentastar go 350-600,000 miles, so I know my effort was well-spent at 86,000 miles. And thank you for the kind words.
Chrysler had absolutely no excuses for screwing up their valvetrains as bad as they did.. Then just like their German owners at the time denied it was ever a problem.
Holy cow! I was so shocked when you started pulling bolts out of that timing gear. Just blew my mind. Major bullet dodging there! Glad you were able to save the engine from sure disaster.
Absolutely love the e46 content! This is my dream car I would love to drive a e46 m3 never drove one ! I have 325i e46 I can only imagine how awesome m3 is ! Good for you man you deserve it !
Love your passion for complicated vehicles!! And or engines, I’m a 2004 6.0 power stroke non deleted, owner, for last 12 years, for the exact same reason, Yes it’s not simply, it’s not easy, to own and drive every day, and keep it reliable. I do all my own repairs, and maintenance. But nor am I, my wife tells me!! Lol Love your channel! Love your passion!!! Keep up the good work!!!
This channel reminds me of when I found Vice Grip Garage at about as many subs but all the videos were so good I just knew it was gonna blow up. I look forward to your O'Reillys commercial
I am always amazed when people can do this kind of work. I would never be able to do this. Sure I can do easy things I can see, like brakes, spark plugs, alternator, but that’s the extent of my ability. Big fan of your channel.
Love watching your videos, your camera angles are good i can see most of what your talking about. Usually voice is clear and i learn something each post. Keep doing what you do.
I have an e82. I was considering an e46, but I'm glad I went with my choice. Thing rips, although both cars would have been a great journey. I've done so much to the car myself in 2 years of owning it. Oil pan gasket, Valve cover and gasket, belt and pulleys, motor & trans mounts, full m-control arms, lsd, axles, & solid subframe bushings (warped a 6-ton hydra press!) There's much more to be done, like an m3 rack, better turbos, fuel pumps, m-fender flares, sunroof delete, a better sound system, & an Android head unit, but it's been a lovely (& extremely painful) experience, because when I drive the car, oh man, it drives amazing, feels intense, and the slow progression I feel as I turn it into a better car is satisfying. I feel like I can tackle almost anything, because of what working on this car has taught me. Oh and it's RUclipsrs like you and many others that upload helpful content for those looking to start work on their car!
All i can say is Wow! You did get your amoking gun at the end of it all with your backed out and broken bolts. Good thing you decided to fix your Vanos. Cheers!
Reminds me of back in the day changing out the wet sleeves and the bottom end in a Renault R10, in our driveway Had to use a cigarette package for gasket material... Oh and, we didn't have a hoist 😉
You’ve got the best mechanic videos and the best RUclips fans. You are the Leonardo decaprio of RUclips auto! I have an 87 corvette with a late 90s iroc block, it’s been sitting awhile because of blow by and my cash sitch right now. you give me the motivation to break it down myself and rebuild it I just need breaker bar, 10 mm socket amd a pry bar lol
This was fun. On your teardown vids we don't see you reassembling things with the torque wrenches to get them together right. The company I work for actually calibrates torque wrenches. They're important in a lot of industries.
Holy mackerel, backing out cam gear bolts 😮 Looks like BMW built in ‘special’ failure points just as a sort of “surprise” for unwary owners. Good video series, very enjoyable to watch 👌
BMW M Series: The M stands for Maintenance. As in don’t defer on Maintenance. At least an alert owner knows what he’s in for and the jobs are straightforward. And this generation of M3s will never go out of style.
Eric, more more more. This content is amazing, I have notifications on and I watch your videos so quickly after uploading, sometimes RUclips won't even let me have 1080p as it hasn't rendered yet haha. Loving the updates, I was wondering what had happened to the M3! Great to see it still running, albeit after such a close brush with motor death.
thanks for the update vid, very well done it looked complicated and you made it seem easy, i just rebuilt the front suspension on an S-10 4x4 and i thought that was an ordeal keep the vids coming please
Enjoy watching you tear down these engines more then you'll ever know. See if you can find some small engines like Kubota's and other little diesels....Thanks G!!
First time and maybe last comment I will make here. I am currently working on doing a refresh on an 00' C5 Corvette with 120k on it, 90k of it me. Ignition sensors, gaskets, timing assembly, balancer, engine mounts, differential mounts, all suspension bushings. Inspected the cam lobes I could see and they looked perfect. +1 for using quality oil and keeping up with it. I really like that you went through the effort to make sure the car was mechanically sound. Not only do I dislike the throw-away mentality BMW seems to have but I champion the skills required to fight their laziness and the resulting autonomy gained from it. Being an engineer myself, when you you found the pen marks on the crank from a 30k bearing change I had question marks running through my head... 30k and it needs a bearing change? That seems absolutely insane to me. Furthermore when you were pulling the bolts out of the cam gear I literally cussed at the top of my lungs at the absolute incompetency of the design work put into such a neat vehicle. I would really like to know why these bolts fail in this manner. Was it improper torquing from the factory? Undersized bolts? There are classes where all you do is literally study fastener design and I just cannot wrap my mind around how BMW hired someone that would do this kind of sloppy work.
Normal cars, IE Your corvette, can and will last as long as it’s owner or user will take care of it. This particular engine, not all BMW’s, but most BMW’s with the “S” designation” are very high strung and for these engines rod bearings are a maintenance item. Early m3’s of this generation like mine were subject to a preventative technical service bulletin where bearings and bolts were replaced preemptively. The originals likely looked fine. The cam gear bolts back out. Proper torque and some loctite would’ve kept that from happening. I don’t consider this to be anywhere near as awful to maintain as modern BMW’s and that’s why I don’t own any.
@@I_Do_Cars Agreed, they really want to lease as many as possible, thus the sealed transmission cases. It would be interesting to see some ambitions hobbyist cut through, rebuild, and weld one of them back together just to spite BMW and their current design model.
Way easier than my Range Rover which btw does not have an oil pan gasket! You have to use RVT to seal it. Such a pain. I love your channel and you do great work. Been here since the beginning. Thank you !
Wow talk about hanging on by a thread! That's why these cars are only for true enthusiasts! I can only imagine what that maintenance bill would look like if you had to take it to BMW or even an independent mechanic. I'm impressed with your mechanical knowledge and work ethic.
When you go on a first date with someone you've just met and the first thing they do is introduce you to their kids as their new parent......and than you get the chance to high tail it out of there..... that is dodging a bullet. This is on par with bullets being dodged. So much car-nage would have ensued from those last two savoir bolts failing, but they held true. They deserve a place of high regard my dear sir. Do not simply throw them out. Mount them high on a mantel to be admired and have stories told of their heroic feat. All hail the Hercules fasteners.
I’m a the end now, great video man ! So bad that you didn’t catch on video the vanos system. But still, so impressive to see, all those bolts broken and the 2 remaining soon to be ! If the guy who drove it wasn’t a mechanic, this car could be destroyed by now. Such a faint noise, weard but discret ! Sorry for my english speaking, I’m french ^^ Keep going man, so cool to see videos about a guy that just focuses on mechanical stuff. So much learning. Thanks man
Seriously lucky you caught it when you did even the new engines fail with super low miles from the cam gear bolts breaking and shearing off wow you lucky guy you.
working overhead like that tires me out quick...watching you do this complicated stuff helps me push through my car problems ... a week of troubleshooting, with no ECU codes for clues to track down..lol
Nice job, I appreciate you taking the time to film this. It will help me when the time comes to do my S54 rod bearings…probably in the next year or so. It wasn’t as bad a job as I feared. Get out there and enjoy the car, it is one of the all time greats!
I feel so lucky when I had to drop the oil pan on my 2.5T XC90 when I serviced the PCV system, other than a single engine mount bolt in the way that I had to remove there was nothing in the way to drop the pan. The drain back from the PCV was completely filled with carbon with the consistency of a charcoal briquet from the previous owner probably using cheap oil and never changing it. Only fun part was the anaerobic sealant Volvo uses instead of a normal pan gasket. Saved a bundle though changing it myself and other than some bruises on my forearms from the stupid banjo bolt up top that is a royal pain to get started it was an easy job just took a few hours to clean everything before it went back together. I keep a bronze wire wheel on my bench grinder to clean up all the bolts before I reassemble too, nice to see others clean them too. I see a lot of Volvo's with 2.5T's with blown head gaskets on facebook market place, that would be one that would be nice to see a tear down of.
You talked about the chassis reinforcement at the beginning of the video and I suspect we're thinking about the rear subframe stresses that are common on E46s. My wife has a 2003 325i E46 sedan. It's pretty vanilla with an M54 and a 5L40E automatic transmission, but it does have sport suspension. I've done a lot to it over the years, but I'd love to tackle all of those "Big 3" projects in the near future. Thanx for the update on your gem.
Very good job on this one. Sometimes the car good give us some miracle like those 2 half bolt on the intake cam gear. WOW ! I'd like the way you work. I just finished refurbished my Golf R mk6 2012, and people laugh at me putting OEM VAG components. They don't understand. We want it perfect. And then i modified the car little bit for max power, max fun, and for sure make me proud of my job.
It was funny when you said diff clunking because I was just having an issue with my e53 4.4i when it would shift 2nd gear only I would get kinda a clunk/shutter feel in the floor and while mine wasn't diff related I only spent 30 dollars for a qaurt of transfer case fluid and thing shifts like brand new again. Love the channel and keep up the great videos. One of my favorite channels to watch for sure.
I liked this better than your tear down videos. So lucky to catch this eminent failure. I had to replace the same rubber isolator on mine. Wasn't cheap and special order.
The project update vids are a great variety interlude to the teardowns. TBH I don't watch your channel for the teardown engine gore. I watch it because you're entertaining and educational. You could be telling us how to change diapers or clean a grill and I'd still be here for it. 😂
Really enjoy your content ! Only concern is not resizing the rod big ends when using the arp fasteners. The increased clamp load will throw the big ends out of round and increase bearing wear.
I had always heard about rod bearings on S54s being doable without pulling the engine, but had never seen it done before (admittedly, I never looked either; was one of those 'I'll watch it if a vid shows up up in my recommendations' type things). This was very illuminating.
Watched Johnny do one of these on Hoovies channel with his table but that engine was fully toast. Never saw an engine hang from the fenders before -- cool.
Wow, if ever there's an example of why you shouldn't ignore an unusual noise! Also, great tip about soaking fasteners in brake cleaner whilst they're off. I'll be doing that from now on. Love the BMW wrenching content on your channel
Hey Eric, what a nice car and in my favorite color. Man, did you ever dodge a bullet. I'm so happy for.you that you were able to diagnose the vanos bolt problem in time. I remember in an older video you posted about viewer comments that they'd never let you work on their cars because of the way you tear down engines. I thought those to be stupid comments because you were tearing down core engines. Anyway, I really enjoy seeing what you do with your own vehicles and the knowledge you have and are willing to share. Thanks Eric and keep the content coming. Cheers!
Your Dad taught you to be thorough and cautious. You knew at some level something wasn't right. Good thing you checked or you would have been one unhappy camper due to five small bolts failing. I don't know how much they cost, but there needs to be better ones that don't back out or break in half. That seems like a design flaw.
Thanks for the update on the project. I do love seeing you tear apart, but I also love seeing you build. Basically, if you are into it, I will be too. Thanks for sharing! Always fun to watch over the shoulder of somebody passionate about what they are doing. Happy Driving!
well I like to see the tear downs and see what caused its failure or issues. but watch a repair or build videos are what I love. next time record the timing issue! thanks again great vid. much love from Australia.
He says that most failures are due to oil starvation. I think it's completely stupid for those who neglect, or are ignorant about something as simple as pulling a dipstick every month.
Love the honesty and mannerisms. I've told myself thats OK so many times and I am glad somebody else does it too. Great content, great concept and mix of videos.
I'm digging the E46 content. I also had to save an E46 from the brink of death, so maybe I'm biased. My car is a 330i, and the timing chain guides disintegrated.
I've read some of the comments on your videos and people say they wouldn't want you to work on their cars. I'd let you work on mine. Nice job and good find on the bolts being loose.
I think knowing what you know, and what I now know about these cars... I absolutely would have done the "Vanos" rebuild first! Those rod bearings would have lasted a LOT longer than those last two nearly broken vanos bolts! Great video, really enjoyed it. super glad you fixed the real issue in time, cuz it Almost was NOT fine! Thanks!
My N55 had a recall to replace the aluminum VANOS bolts as they like to break too. Amazing that BMW seemingly went backwards with those bolts in later engines even though the early ones had problems too. They appear to be steel in your S54 and still failed.
Awesome channel. Every Sunday morning in NZ I sit down to watch your next teardown. Its a nice change to see come preventative maintenance done here - as it brings some balance to all the mayhem we see in some of your teardowns. Oil is so much cheaper than a rebuild - why will some people never learn :) Regardless - thanks for the varied content.
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absolutely pumped to know I can pick up an engine hoist at Walgreens
I love these cars. I'm convinced that the people who buy them secretly hate themselves. I mean seriously, rod bearings? Hell no. I ain't doin that just for the sake of knowing they're "okay". Keep your German engineering, thank you very much.
It's something. Might have something to do with the car vs man.
I was in the automotive industry for 43 years, starting with mechanical repair and engine rebuilding and including 15 years of full collision repair and restoration. I finished with 28 years of insurance appraising before retiring. I stumbled upon your videos and love everything about them! It brings me back to the great times I had being in the auto industry. Thank you for an enjoyable and educational channel. Since I was active on the older, simpler designed engines etc, your videos show me the difference between those older cars and the newer ones of today. Keep up the great work you’re doing creating your videos.
It takes a lot of engineering talent to build so many fatal flaws into a single engine.
Rod bearings! Multiple catastrophic Vanos failures! Disintegrating chain guides! This engine has it all.
Reminds me of the 5.4 3V, of which I own one. In that engine's case add oil pump, they are all aluminum and tend to get high clearance inside after a good amount of miles. The Melling replacement has a steel backing plate instead of being all aluminum. At least the 5.4 3V easier to work on. Couldn't believe the stuff that was pulled under the car on the M3, completely removing the steering box and folding all that stuff out of the way. Yikes.
Also the cooling system, and the CCV system. And on the non-M engines, you have to worry about the oil pump self-disassembling.
Don’t forget the oil pump failure
cant beat ford cleveland, last forever, never stop..
The Vanos and chain guides are stupid, but the bearings aren't really an issue on this engine until very high miles. It's not like S65 and S85. This engine is NA 3.2L and makes 333 hp without direct injection. It revs to 8k and it's oversquare. It's a highly stressed design so some bearing wear is to be expected. To me, it's worth the trade-off. It's an amazing engine that requires some preventative maintenance.
You know, I'm not sure how your channel was recommended to me, but I'm absolutely digging it! The bits of humor you inject into each video are, in my opinion, perfect. Glad your car didn't blow up on you!
Go back and watch his older content, it is awesome.
Note the "in joke" about always (wiping) from "front to back".
I love when I get home from work and there’s another video that I can watch from I do cars. This is by far an amazing youtube channel. I love learning about malice in the combustion palace and old blue and his ever growing collection of bmw’s. Love your videos man.
And not forgetting about the "piston mc-nuggets"! 🙂
And it is "old blue to the rescue", "...this timing chain, will keep for later"...
i agree! love this channel! i actually found a post about this m3 on reddit when you had like 100 followers and subb'd then and kept coming back
@@liver.flush.maestro ...this timing guide, absolutely perfect! *yeet* (garbage bin sounds)
@@michaelthorne1347 🤣
Couldn’t have said it any better
That circular plate on the bottom of the oil pan that you had to remove to reinstall the pan looks amazingly like the oil screen plate on an old VW aircooled engine.
That's what I saw!
Congratulations 🎉 🎉🎉!
I mean it. Hearing that your S54 blow wouldn’t have been fun.
I’m excited to see more about your journey with this car.
All through the rod bearing segment I was going "Seconds from disaster? come on, those bearings are worn, but seconds from disaster? nahhhh"
Then I saw the cam gear bolts and instantly I was eating my words, good lord that was a close shave! bet you felt good not putting it off for another tank of gas!
Yeah. I don’t gamble but I accidentally did here. Coulda been terrible. 😬
I know very little about cars, but for some reason really enjoy watching your videos.
When I got to the part of the video where you show what was going on with those bolts, my jaw dropped. It's a miracle that engine didn't grenade it's self. I've owned too many BMW's, I am used to them totaling themselves without ever being in a crash.
Yeah, they commit suicide looks like🙂
Good reason to keep purchasing them.
@@yamaha226 Before everything started inflating, it made more sense to buy one at such a low price if it was in decent shape and then take a gamble on getting a year or two out of them before scrapping it, not so much anymore.
@@Elementaliti I understand now.
Used to totally themselves without being in a crash? Tf that even mean? That just sounds like a bad owner? Ive owned many too but never lost my faith in a single BMW.
You are the best thing to happen to your collection of cars. Thanks for the videos.
This reminds me of when I replaced all the rocker arms and lifters on my Wrangler's Pentastar V6 as preventative maintenance. Jobs like that are always daunting, but if you're meticulous and follow the steps, it's definitely achievable. A $4,000 estimate was all the incentive I needed to tackle the job.
That's such a great engine, but like this bmw, I can't understand what happened with the rocker arm and valve train issues on those things? Was Chrysler just cheap? Bad metallurgy?
@@life_of_riley88 that's a fair question. I think every drivetrain has its Achilles Heels, some are more problematic than others.
I can't speak specifically in the case of Chrysler, but it could have been a supplier issue (like the valvetrain issue on a specific batch of Ford Bronco 2.7s), possibly a specification issue, or something else. What I do know is that when I did the job, the part numbers were revised at least once, possibly twice. In my case, I could tell the rollers on the rocker arms were starting to tighten up, but it would've done me no favors to wait on it. Luckily the cam lobes weren't wiped, but I'm sure if I did nothing until the bearings started to seize, I'd have been looking at a much more expensive repair.
After the fix, though, the engine runs wonderfully. So that's something. :)
@@mphilleo 4.0L TJ guy here. I know those motors are pretty powerful...but man do i ever love my straight 6. Not the most powerful or efficient..... but always reliable. Congrats on a job well done sir. o7
@@ericthimot the 4.0 was/is wonderful. I'd have loved to own a 4.0 TJ (having had a number of XJs and ZJs). Great engine. I've seen the 3.6 Pentastar go 350-600,000 miles, so I know my effort was well-spent at 86,000 miles. And thank you for the kind words.
Chrysler had absolutely no excuses for screwing up their valvetrains as bad as they did.. Then just like their German owners at the time denied it was ever a problem.
Wow! Close call on the intake cam bolts. Ya almost had "malice in the combustion palace". Glad you caught it in time.
Love your videos not only engine tear downs but maintenance as well and explained so well
Absolutely love that blue color. Definitely my all time favorite!
Holy cow! I was so shocked when you started pulling bolts out of that timing gear. Just blew my mind. Major bullet dodging there! Glad you were able to save the engine from sure disaster.
Absolutely lucky 🍀
@@jimamizzi1 The "timing" was just amazing... 🙂
This is a perfect example of why you do not ignore unusual noises in your car. You saved an awesome car from disaster & for that I salute you. 👍
What? You mean people shouldn't turn up the radio volume when unusual noises occur? Haha
Holy cow that was close!
You are a really skilled mechanic man. Thanks for sharing all of your knowledge.
I knew it!!!! I knew you could put things back together!!!!!
Wow that was super close 🫣
Wow Eric! ...that's quite a close one! Glad you were persistent in finding the source of the noise and solving it! Wow! ...that was close!
Wow that sump screen on the bottom of the oil pan looks exactly like the oil screen cover from an air cooled VW engine.
Absolutely love the e46 content! This is my dream car I would love to drive a e46 m3 never drove one ! I have 325i e46 I can only imagine how awesome m3 is ! Good for you man you deserve it !
One word, PRIDE, simple thing but not many people take real pride in their work, this guy does. Man that Vanos thing was CLOSE to going BOOM.
I am convinced that BMW ownership is a love - hate relationship that I can do without.
Love your passion for complicated vehicles!!
And or engines,
I’m a 2004 6.0 power stroke non deleted, owner, for last 12 years, for the exact same reason,
Yes it’s not simply, it’s not easy, to own and drive every day, and keep it reliable. I do all my own repairs, and maintenance.
But nor am I, my wife tells me!! Lol
Love your channel!
Love your passion!!!
Keep up the good work!!!
Good catch. If there is a sound or noise, I always investigate.
Wow your lucky you caught that when you did.
Great video repair
This channel reminds me of when I found Vice Grip Garage at about as many subs but all the videos were so good I just knew it was gonna blow up.
I look forward to your O'Reillys commercial
We're in the same boat. Started watching VGG when he was around 100K, and that channel went to the moon. This one is of that caliber.
That would be crazy if an O'Reilly rep was sent to his shop right? Imagine if that happened...
You and VGG both appeal to me too. You’re more relevant. VGG didn’t really explode until the “independence chevelle”
I am always amazed when people can do this kind of work. I would never be able to do this. Sure I can do easy things I can see, like brakes, spark plugs, alternator, but that’s the extent of my ability. Big fan of your channel.
I can’t even do them and i got one of these parked in the garden , got some saving up to do lol
Love watching your videos, your camera angles are good i can see most of what your talking about. Usually voice is clear and i learn something each post. Keep doing what you do.
This is legit the first time I have actually gasped watching a gear head video. Amazing it didnt blow sooner.
My damn.. You were very blessed to dig into that noise when you did. 🙏🏼
Love E46's!
I have an e82.
I was considering an e46, but I'm glad I went with my choice. Thing rips, although both cars would have been a great journey.
I've done so much to the car myself in 2 years of owning it. Oil pan gasket, Valve cover and gasket, belt and pulleys, motor & trans mounts, full m-control arms, lsd, axles, & solid subframe bushings (warped a 6-ton hydra press!)
There's much more to be done, like an m3 rack, better turbos, fuel pumps, m-fender flares, sunroof delete, a better sound system, & an Android head unit, but it's been a lovely (& extremely painful) experience, because when I drive the car, oh man, it drives amazing, feels intense, and the slow progression I feel as I turn it into a better car is satisfying.
I feel like I can tackle almost anything, because of what working on this car has taught me. Oh and it's RUclipsrs like you and many others that upload helpful content for those looking to start work on their car!
Wow. Great catch. Goes to show why people should have those noises investigated asap! Glad you caught it before anything major.
All i can say is Wow! You did get your amoking gun at the end of it all with your backed out and broken bolts. Good thing you decided to fix your Vanos. Cheers!
Car is so clean. Love the Laguna seca blue
Reminds me of back in the day changing out the wet sleeves and the bottom end in a Renault R10, in our driveway
Had to use a cigarette package for gasket material...
Oh and, we didn't have a hoist 😉
Happy for you that you caught the bolts.
You’ve got the best mechanic videos and the best RUclips fans. You are the Leonardo decaprio of RUclips auto! I have an 87 corvette with a late 90s iroc block, it’s been sitting awhile because of blow by and my cash sitch right now. you give me the motivation to break it down myself and rebuild it I just need breaker bar, 10 mm socket amd a pry bar lol
Blue
This was fun. On your teardown vids we don't see you reassembling things with the torque wrenches to get them together right. The company I work for actually calibrates torque wrenches. They're important in a lot of industries.
Holy mackerel, backing out cam gear bolts 😮
Looks like BMW built in ‘special’ failure points just as a sort of “surprise” for unwary owners. Good video series, very enjoyable to watch 👌
Damn, GREAT catch!! Glad you were able to address that before it went kablooey!
Thanks Eric, Yep seconds from disaster, another reason to never ignore unusual noises in the engine compartment.
You sir are a fantastic wrench.
BMW M Series:
The M stands for Maintenance.
As in don’t defer on
Maintenance.
At least an alert owner knows what he’s in for and the jobs are straightforward. And this generation of M3s will never go out of style.
I love these types of videos when you work on your own cars.
Eric, more more more. This content is amazing, I have notifications on and I watch your videos so quickly after uploading, sometimes RUclips won't even let me have 1080p as it hasn't rendered yet haha. Loving the updates, I was wondering what had happened to the M3! Great to see it still running, albeit after such a close brush with motor death.
thanks for the update vid, very well done it looked complicated and you made it seem easy, i just rebuilt the front suspension on an S-10 4x4 and i thought that was an ordeal keep the vids coming please
That was a great video😊. Always good to switch it up
thank you for keeping a launa seca alive a little longer!
I remember this car from the STL Euro car show! I just got a 05 M3 and damn, they are great cars!
Enjoy watching you tear down these engines more then you'll ever know. See if you can find some small engines like Kubota's and other little diesels....Thanks G!!
First time and maybe last comment I will make here. I am currently working on doing a refresh on an 00' C5 Corvette with 120k on it, 90k of it me. Ignition sensors, gaskets, timing assembly, balancer, engine mounts, differential mounts, all suspension bushings. Inspected the cam lobes I could see and they looked perfect. +1 for using quality oil and keeping up with it. I really like that you went through the effort to make sure the car was mechanically sound. Not only do I dislike the throw-away mentality BMW seems to have but I champion the skills required to fight their laziness and the resulting autonomy gained from it. Being an engineer myself, when you you found the pen marks on the crank from a 30k bearing change I had question marks running through my head... 30k and it needs a bearing change? That seems absolutely insane to me. Furthermore when you were pulling the bolts out of the cam gear I literally cussed at the top of my lungs at the absolute incompetency of the design work put into such a neat vehicle. I would really like to know why these bolts fail in this manner. Was it improper torquing from the factory? Undersized bolts? There are classes where all you do is literally study fastener design and I just cannot wrap my mind around how BMW hired someone that would do this kind of sloppy work.
Normal cars, IE Your corvette, can and will last as long as it’s owner or user will take care of it.
This particular engine, not all BMW’s, but most BMW’s with the “S” designation” are very high strung and for these engines rod bearings are a maintenance item. Early m3’s of this generation like mine were subject to a preventative technical service bulletin where bearings and bolts were replaced preemptively. The originals likely looked fine.
The cam gear bolts back out. Proper torque and some loctite would’ve kept that from happening.
I don’t consider this to be anywhere near as awful to maintain as modern BMW’s and that’s why I don’t own any.
@@I_Do_Cars Agreed, they really want to lease as many as possible, thus the sealed transmission cases. It would be interesting to see some ambitions hobbyist cut through, rebuild, and weld one of them back together just to spite BMW and their current design model.
Dude...that engine support looks sktech AF! I don't think I'll ever believe someone when they brag about the quality of a BMW.
Way easier than my Range Rover which btw does not have an oil pan gasket! You have to use RVT to seal it. Such a pain. I love your channel and you do great work. Been here since the beginning. Thank you !
Wow talk about hanging on by a thread! That's why these cars are only for true enthusiasts! I can only imagine what that maintenance bill would look like if you had to take it to BMW or even an independent mechanic. I'm impressed with your mechanical knowledge and work ethic.
When you go on a first date with someone you've just met and the first thing they do is introduce you to their kids as their new parent......and than you get the chance to high tail it out of there..... that is dodging a bullet. This is on par with bullets being dodged. So much car-nage would have ensued from those last two savoir bolts failing, but they held true. They deserve a place of high regard my dear sir. Do not simply throw them out. Mount them high on a mantel to be admired and have stories told of their heroic feat. All hail the Hercules fasteners.
I’m a the end now, great video man ! So bad that you didn’t catch on video the vanos system. But still, so impressive to see, all those bolts broken and the 2 remaining soon to be ! If the guy who drove it wasn’t a mechanic, this car could be destroyed by now. Such a faint noise, weard but discret !
Sorry for my english speaking, I’m french ^^
Keep going man, so cool to see videos about a guy that just focuses on mechanical stuff. So much learning. Thanks man
Your attention to detail saved the day!
Seriously lucky you caught it when you did even the new engines fail with super low miles from the cam gear bolts breaking and shearing off wow you lucky guy you.
I reałly appreciate when you are doing cars. Undoing engines is quite enjoyable as well.
working overhead like that tires me out quick...watching you do this complicated stuff helps me push through my car problems ... a week of troubleshooting, with no ECU codes for clues to track down..lol
Great video, that was a close call, (very close) I’m glad you didn’t have an engine to replace.
You lucky rascal. 2 bolts away from doom. Nice find and fix!
Nice job, I appreciate you taking the time to film this. It will help me when the time comes to do my S54 rod bearings…probably in the next year or so. It wasn’t as bad a job as I feared. Get out there and enjoy the car, it is one of the all time greats!
I feel so lucky when I had to drop the oil pan on my 2.5T XC90 when I serviced the PCV system, other than a single engine mount bolt in the way that I had to remove there was nothing in the way to drop the pan. The drain back from the PCV was completely filled with carbon with the consistency of a charcoal briquet from the previous owner probably using cheap oil and never changing it. Only fun part was the anaerobic sealant Volvo uses instead of a normal pan gasket. Saved a bundle though changing it myself and other than some bruises on my forearms from the stupid banjo bolt up top that is a royal pain to get started it was an easy job just took a few hours to clean everything before it went back together. I keep a bronze wire wheel on my bench grinder to clean up all the bolts before I reassemble too, nice to see others clean them too. I see a lot of Volvo's with 2.5T's with blown head gaskets on facebook market place, that would be one that would be nice to see a tear down of.
Great save! You are so lucky to have discovered that problem before it turned into a disaster!
You talked about the chassis reinforcement at the beginning of the video and I suspect we're thinking about the rear subframe stresses that are common on E46s. My wife has a 2003 325i E46 sedan. It's pretty vanilla with an M54 and a 5L40E automatic transmission, but it does have sport suspension. I've done a lot to it over the years, but I'd love to tackle all of those "Big 3" projects in the near future. Thanx for the update on your gem.
Wow! Am I ever happy you decided to investigate the noise and you saved your engine. Great work!
Very good job on this one. Sometimes the car good give us some miracle like those 2 half bolt on the intake cam gear. WOW ! I'd like the way you work. I just finished refurbished my Golf R mk6 2012, and people laugh at me putting OEM VAG components. They don't understand. We want it perfect. And then i modified the car little bit for max power, max fun, and for sure make me proud of my job.
It was funny when you said diff clunking because I was just having an issue with my e53 4.4i when it would shift 2nd gear only I would get kinda a clunk/shutter feel in the floor and while mine wasn't diff related I only spent 30 dollars for a qaurt of transfer case fluid and thing shifts like brand new again.
Love the channel and keep up the great videos. One of my favorite channels to watch for sure.
I liked this better than your tear down videos. So lucky to catch this eminent failure.
I had to replace the same rubber isolator on mine. Wasn't cheap and special order.
You are teaching me how to take care of my bimmer and just wanted to say thanks!! Amazing channel!
The project update vids are a great variety interlude to the teardowns. TBH I don't watch your channel for the teardown engine gore. I watch it because you're entertaining and educational. You could be telling us how to change diapers or clean a grill and I'd still be here for it. 😂
That's incredible that those 2 remaining bolts were still somewhat intact
So glad you found that in time! Trust your instincts!
Wow, you dodged a big one! That was literally hanging on by a thread. It looked like combined it was holding on by one bolt. Great work! 👍🏻
It's a little crazy that rod bearing are a maintenance item. Great video and glad you saved her.
Just watched 2minutes 30 for now, so good to know that you are aware of danger ! Be safe man, I’m gonna watch the rest of the video 👍✌️
Really enjoy your content ! Only concern is not resizing the rod big ends when using the arp fasteners. The increased clamp load will throw the big ends out of round and increase bearing wear.
I had always heard about rod bearings on S54s being doable without pulling the engine, but had never seen it done before (admittedly, I never looked either; was one of those 'I'll watch it if a vid shows up up in my recommendations' type things). This was very illuminating.
You can change rod bearings on almost any (non-flat) standard format engine without pulling the engine.
Watched Johnny do one of these on Hoovies channel with his table but that engine was fully toast. Never saw an engine hang from the fenders before -- cool.
Wow, if ever there's an example of why you shouldn't ignore an unusual noise! Also, great tip about soaking fasteners in brake cleaner whilst they're off. I'll be doing that from now on. Love the BMW wrenching content on your channel
Hey Eric, what a nice car and in my favorite color. Man, did you ever dodge a bullet. I'm so happy for.you that you were able to diagnose the vanos bolt problem in time. I remember in an older video you posted about viewer comments that they'd never let you work on their cars because of the way you tear down engines. I thought those to be stupid comments because you were tearing down core engines. Anyway, I really enjoy seeing what you do with your own vehicles and the knowledge you have and are willing to share. Thanks Eric and keep the content coming. Cheers!
Your Dad taught you to be thorough and cautious. You knew at some level something wasn't right. Good thing you checked or you would have been one unhappy camper due to five small bolts failing. I don't know how much they cost, but there needs to be better ones that don't back out or break in half. That seems like a design flaw.
Threadlocker? Maybe? I know nothing about BMWs, so that's my "shot in the dark".
Thanks for the update on the project. I do love seeing you tear apart, but I also love seeing you build. Basically, if you are into it, I will be too. Thanks for sharing! Always fun to watch over the shoulder of somebody passionate about what they are doing. Happy Driving!
well I like to see the tear downs and see what caused its failure or issues. but watch a repair or build videos are what I love. next time record the timing issue! thanks again great vid. much love from Australia.
He says that most failures are due to oil starvation. I think it's completely stupid for those who neglect, or are ignorant about something as simple as pulling a dipstick every month.
Love the honesty and mannerisms. I've told myself thats OK so many times and I am glad somebody else does it too. Great content, great concept and mix of videos.
I'm digging the E46 content. I also had to save an E46 from the brink of death, so maybe I'm biased. My car is a 330i, and the timing chain guides disintegrated.
I've read some of the comments on your videos and people say they wouldn't want you to work on their cars. I'd let you work on mine. Nice job and good find on the bolts being loose.
I think knowing what you know, and what I now know about these cars... I absolutely would have done the "Vanos" rebuild first! Those rod bearings would have lasted a LOT longer than those last two nearly broken vanos bolts! Great video, really enjoyed it. super glad you fixed the real issue in time, cuz it Almost was NOT fine! Thanks!
While you're in there-Tilton twin disc clutch, solid engine mounts. Bimmerworld solid race shifter
Love your videos one of the few longer format videos that always keeps my attention
Love the attention to detail on your work!!!
My N55 had a recall to replace the aluminum VANOS bolts as they like to break too. Amazing that BMW seemingly went backwards with those bolts in later engines even though the early ones had problems too. They appear to be steel in your S54 and still failed.
Awesome channel. Every Sunday morning in NZ I sit down to watch your next teardown. Its a nice change to see come preventative maintenance done here - as it brings some balance to all the mayhem we see in some of your teardowns. Oil is so much cheaper than a rebuild - why will some people never learn :) Regardless - thanks for the varied content.
Great luck with the vanos!!!