Hi All,
Looking for a little guidance (and hopefully reassurance!!!) in regards to risk of shell bearing failure with the S54 engine.
I've picked up on a few references made by others recently on cars for sale where there has been a concern that the shell bearings may not have been changed (low mileage cars in particular). Off the back of this I've done the usual trawling around the internet on various forums and it seems the issue was mainly with early E46 M3's, possibly due to higher rev limit, but there where some occurrences on Z3M's. I picked up that the recommended oil was changed over to the 10W60 type to reduce the risk, but also that the occurrences may be attributed to specific engine build dates. I've found loads of useful info, but nothing definitive.
I've checked my cars history and it does not appear the shell bearings have been changed. The car has low mileage at just under 23k and has very little use (sunny summer days only), I still do an annual oil change, plus I do not hit the red line continuously, always wait for oil up to temp etc. The car is the last of the line in terms of right hand drives so could assume its mid 2002 engine build, but believe the theory around build dates goes into 2003, so there is still a risk.
The question is should I take the risk (hopefully minimal) and run the car as is, or take the hit and get them changed (costly!), or is there a way of checking if there is an issue?
Thanks All.
Looking for a little guidance (and hopefully reassurance!!!) in regards to risk of shell bearing failure with the S54 engine.
I've picked up on a few references made by others recently on cars for sale where there has been a concern that the shell bearings may not have been changed (low mileage cars in particular). Off the back of this I've done the usual trawling around the internet on various forums and it seems the issue was mainly with early E46 M3's, possibly due to higher rev limit, but there where some occurrences on Z3M's. I picked up that the recommended oil was changed over to the 10W60 type to reduce the risk, but also that the occurrences may be attributed to specific engine build dates. I've found loads of useful info, but nothing definitive.
I've checked my cars history and it does not appear the shell bearings have been changed. The car has low mileage at just under 23k and has very little use (sunny summer days only), I still do an annual oil change, plus I do not hit the red line continuously, always wait for oil up to temp etc. The car is the last of the line in terms of right hand drives so could assume its mid 2002 engine build, but believe the theory around build dates goes into 2003, so there is still a risk.
The question is should I take the risk (hopefully minimal) and run the car as is, or take the hit and get them changed (costly!), or is there a way of checking if there is an issue?
Thanks All.
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