Jalopnik BMW engine rant - I read this and I am pissed

[Redd]

Just met an F10 M5 owner whose engine seized because of rod bearings. I'll be sure to tell him what a special engine he has.

[yousefnjr]

Originally Posted by Redd

Just met an F10 M5 owner whose engine seized because of rod bearings. I'll be sure to tell him what a special engine he has.

You should also tell him he might have been able to catch it before kaboom with frequent oil changes and a $30 oil analysis

[davis449]

Every time I go to my indy shop there are at least two N63 powered BMW's in there completely fucked.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by Viffermike

Thing is, very, very few people want a writer who is going to get that technical, man -- and it damn sure isn't going to sell papers or magazines or get click-thrus or views. So what if he's leaving things out?

He's leaving points out in relation to what other engine could have done it better.
Everyone that really understands the basics of the mechanics of say an s54 or s65 knows that for example rodbearings should be treated as a maintenance item.
If you look at what the common conception to this is at large german sites and german specialists, its that they should be changed every 50k miles.
If you say on an american site, its all shock and awe. So its a matter of knowledge.
The writer leaves that out. Maybe because he misses that.
Its just like I said. What other oversquare engine revs to 8krpm. Who is setting the bar. That sets the balance on wheter its a good engine or not. That journalist completely ignores that. That's why its bad.
If he was a better engineer he would have pointed that out is my opinion.
As he didnt do that, he was writing that piece not to put things into retrospective but to set a certain mood.
Makes good reading for the ones that want to be entertained. Not so good for the ones that want to be informed.

[wdb]

If rod bearings are a maintenance item:

• why doesn't the service schedule list them as such
• why wouldn't the engineers make every effort to make them easy to change

[Z K]

For the average consumer, it makes no sense that these cars are so delicate.

For the enthusiast, they do research and figure out what to do and the associated costs. It's a completely different market and customer base - these are not the bread and butter for BMW.

I would say that BMW doesn't make good engines that the majority of people would like. The German reputation for making cars that fall apart is so pervasive that many people refuse to buy German cars because they have a reputation for being unreliable.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by wdb

If rod bearings are a maintenance item:
[*]why doesn't the service schedule list them as such

For the same reason that automatic gearbox oil is 'lifetime'.
Not everything is in the service schedule.
I consider a waterpump also as a maintenace item

[*]why wouldn't the engineers make every effort to make them easy to change

They are easy to change. If you think its difficult, then your knowledge is not up to par.

But regarding to one of the factual misinterpretations he makes in his column, just to prove my point or at least show what I mean, he says:

and their cooling systems were made of plastic and sealed, ensuring catastrophic failure where scalding hot coolant would shoot out of your engine bay, overheating your engine, at which point your head gasket would blow.

.
This is written in regard of the s54 engine (specificly in an e46 m3).
He bases this upon a thread that shows how to overhaul the cooling system in the e46 m3. Because over time things can start to leak (like a leaking waterpump or thermostat gasket). Fine. That is pretty much something that can happen on all cars.
But then he says that it ensures catastropic failure because coolant would shoot out and the engine would therefore overheat (headgasket failure etc bla bla bla).
Ok then, lets assume there is a coolant leak and deduct what will happen. Coolant is leaking out of the system. What happens is that the coolant level in the coolant reservoir will drop. The first result of this is that the coolant level sensor will cause a warning light on the dashboard. The engine then can only overheat if that warninglight is ignored. This means that if that scenarion would take place with the engine overheating and headgasket blown etc. that would be a drivers error.
He doesnt say anything about that. Why? Lack of knowledge, doesnt he know about that sensor/warninglight? (what that light means is explained in the owners manual) or did he just want to attract readers by setting a specific mood?
This makes it a badly written piece.

[NickyC]

Originally Posted by davis449

Every time I go to my indy shop there are at least two N63 powered BMW's in there completely fucked.

Made me lol.

Also, I'm not now nor ever buying the line about the rod bearings on the S54 being "maintenance" items. It was shitty design plain and simple, and nowhere in the owner's manual or anything else with "BMW" on it does it say to change the damned things every 50k miles.

I love my Z4M to death, but nearly every time I drive it I still have that thought in the back of my head "Was that a knock?". Mine has 75k miles on it now, and I'm rolling the dice. There are tons of examples of S54s with well over 120k miles on the stock bearings. I also don't pound the crap out of my car, don't track it, and always allow the oil to heat up before I go over 3k RPMs. A nice Z4M owner here on the forums last year changed his bearings out of preventative maintenance, the shop screwed it up, and his motor blew. It's been a nightmare for him ever since, and has reinforced the idea to me that if ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Matt@EuroJerks]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Made me lol.

Also, I'm not now nor ever buying the line about the rod bearings on the S54 being "maintenance" items. It was shitty design plain and simple, and nowhere in the owner's manual or anything else with "BMW" on it does it say to change the damned things every 50k miles.

I love my Z4M to death, but nearly every time I drive it I still have that thought in the back of my head "Was that a knock?". Mine has 75k miles on it now, and I'm rolling the dice. There are tons of examples of S54s with well over 120k miles on the stock bearings. I also don't pound the crap out of my car, don't track it, and always allow the oil to heat up before I go over 3k RPMs. A nice Z4M owner here on the forums last year changed his bearings out of preventative maintenance, the shop screwed it up, and his motor blew. It's been a nightmare for him ever since, and has reinforced the idea to me that if ain't broke, don't fix it.

This is my train of thought also.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Made me lol.

Also, I'm not now nor ever buying the line about the rod bearings on the S54 being "maintenance" items. It was shitty design plain and simple, and nowhere in the owner's manual or anything else with "BMW" on it does it say to change the damned things every 50k miles.

It's not what bmw says, its what specialists say. In europe at least, where theres a lot of experience with this line of engines as we also had the s50 since the early 90's that is pretty much akin to the s54.
Changing out the rodbearings is about $300-400 in parts and about a day's labor, so say $1200 in total (dont know what's an acceptable rate for an indie us mechanic but I think $100/hour is fair). So doing that every 50k miles, that totals the service costs for that at less than 2,5ct/mile.
I think thats an acceptable amount for an 100hp/liter NA engine (and a healty 114Nm/liter at under 5k revs) that came to market in '99 (or if looked at the s50 in '95). unless you're very cheap ofcourse but then a BMW M is never a good choice because BMW M parts are expensive in general.
If you wanted something to rival that kind of NA specific output at the time from another brand, you'd have to settle with ferrari to put it into perspective. You think those engines are more reliable and cheaper to maintain at those mileages?

[Maynard]

Should have labeled it "BMWs are not good cars if you are stupid, negligent, or broke" This article is an extended version of 'sour grapes' turned into click bait - i.e. "those cool looking BMW's are really pieces of crap, you aren't missing out". I agree with those who find many examples of his inexperience, or just a willingness to say stupid shit to make a point (the 'sealed cooling system' caught my eye too - made me imagine it had no way to add coolant, or inaccessible like a rear diff for oil). And also lacking any valid comparison to other brands - MANY other manufacturers with more blatant and inexcusable failures and recalls (especially for pedestrian transport vehicles - I think you should expect some finicky high maintenance on a 100+hp/liter sports car, but not on a grocery-getter).

[pz619]

It's click bait. Most of Tavarish's columns are. Especially the whole don't buy that bland camry, instead get this exotic car that for some reason depreciated to 10% of it's original value. What can go wrong? While I disagree with virtually everything he writes, I find the articles entertaining.

It's all about perspective. For example, my S2000 has had more engine related issues than any of my BMWs. I wouldn't go around saying "Honda engines are gigantic pieces of shit", but from my perspective BMW has been more reliable than Honda.

[och]

He is right. My 2005 745 pretty much fell apart with about 60k, my 2012 x5 with 27k miles already had about $30k worth of repair (all under warranty).

I love bimmers but I'll never own one again, only lease.

[turboawd]

guy is right. bmw makes some great performing engines, but the reliability is horrible. stay away from their v8's.

[roastbeef]

they also post about the "s65 masterpiece." some confused fools on there. just click bait.

http://jalopnik.com/this-is-how-bmw-...-m3-1791112839

[IS3andME]

Originally Posted by SD ///M4

It's Jalopnik. The anti-BMW sentiment runs strong there. And basically, anyone can submit anything they want. A fertile ground for wannabe writers.

You can always submit your comments on how many times that BMW has won Ward's "Best Engines" awards but I doubt that that would sway the writer one bit.

Tavarish is the "why buy a new Camry when you can buy this used M3 with 180k miles for the same price?" That being said, he used to working on vehicles. He will undertake jobs that I would think many of you would throw in the towel. Like literally, this dude ain't scared of any suspension, engine, etc job.

And Jalopnik is not anti-BMW, they are very much BMW enthusiasts...one of contributors is the Bill Caswell, the guy who had the $500 e30 and entered a rally, and now has built a rally based E30 monster. The thing is, they don't drink the BMW fanboi Kool-Aid.

[Redd]

This guy hates BMW so much, he went out and bought a low miles 2013 E92 M3 in 2016 and did a glowing 40 minutes YouTube review on it.

Now, less than a year later, he wants to sell it cos he just hates BMW that much.

[UPSROD]

And now it is for sale!

[e36power]

Meanwhile, my wife's 14 year old E46 (which we have owned since 3 miles on the odometer) has had a total of zero engine issues. The only thing touched on the engine is the oil inside it.

If you buy an M car and drive it like an M car you are going to have issues to deal with (or any other car you drive hard). You should expect that. As my co-worker says, if you can't afford the jet fuel, don't buy the jet.

[bimmer456]

Originally Posted by SD ///M4

It's Jalopnik. The anti-BMW sentiment runs strong there. And basically, anyone can submit anything they want. A fertile ground for wannabe writers.

You can always submit your comments on how many times that BMW has won Ward's "Best Engines" awards but I doubt that that would sway the writer one bit.

This reminds me of Motor Trend and their American Muscle Car bias. Apparently the Camaro is superior to the Nissan GTR and just about everything else and can go faster around a race track with their biased company employed professional driver. This despite being rear wheel drive vs All Wheel Drive and being slower according to everyone else.

[bimmer456]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

For the same reason that automatic gearbox oil is 'lifetime'.
Not everything is in the service schedule.
I consider a waterpump also as a maintenace item



They are easy to change. If you think its difficult, then your knowledge is not up to par.

But regarding to one of the factual misinterpretations he makes in his column, just to prove my point or at least show what I mean, he says:
.
This is written in regard of the s54 engine (specificly in an e46 m3).
He bases this upon a thread that shows how to overhaul the cooling system in the e46 m3. Because over time things can start to leak (like a leaking waterpump or thermostat gasket). Fine. That is pretty much something that can happen on all cars.
But then he says that it ensures catastropic failure because coolant would shoot out and the engine would therefore overheat (headgasket failure etc bla bla bla).
Ok then, lets assume there is a coolant leak and deduct what will happen. Coolant is leaking out of the system. What happens is that the coolant level in the coolant reservoir will drop. The first result of this is that the coolant level sensor will cause a warning light on the dashboard. The engine then can only overheat if that warninglight is ignored. This means that if that scenarion would take place with the engine overheating and headgasket blown etc. that would be a drivers error.
He doesnt say anything about that. Why? Lack of knowledge, doesnt he know about that sensor/warninglight? (what that light means is explained in the owners manual) or did he just want to attract readers by setting a specific mood?
This makes it a badly written piece.

Even Toyota says their transmissions have lifetime oil, not just a BMW thing.

[IS3andME]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

This reminds me of Motor Trend and their American Muscle Car bias. Apparently the Camaro is superior to the Nissan GTR and just about everything else and can go faster around a race track with their biased company employed professional driver. This despite being rear wheel drive vs All Wheel Drive and being slower according to everyone else.

Actually, this is only recently. Motor Trend, Road and track, Car and Driver, Automobile Magazine have always had the M3 and the 3 series on their top 10 lists. In fact, they have been accused of being biased towards BMW.

Now, it seems that the Domestics have caught up, and it seems that at the same time, many of BMW enthusiasts are bemoaning that BMW has lost it's shine and that "M" stands for marketing. Coincidence? Is there some homegrown bias at play, yes. Just like with the Germans, but you can't deny that the domestics have stepped it up.

And let's not forget that Randy Pobst drove for Porsche and also raced BMWs and one of the reviers has an e30 wagon. And that Camaro that you mentioned? It was no ordinary Camaro, it was a Z/28 (you failed to mention that). And on another track, the GT-R probably would have won. The Camaro was never a Muscle car to begin with, it was pony "sporty" car to go up against the Mustang...and now, both have been more focused on sport, and aimed at the (Germans) M4.