Cold start rattle 2-3 seconds then gone.

[Andratch]

Just trying to catch up on this, but my initial thoughts is siding with Mr R.Collins right now, we've seen many times before of sketchy claims with no data or root cause analysis done, just jumping to conclusions and blaming a part.

Those that can and have provided details often found the root cause to not be the actual bearings themselves rather install error or mistake. Unfortunately this case involves second hand info and only what the shop has shared. Without seeing front and back of all bearings, pictures of the end caps and rod bolts all laid out neatly, it's really only a guessing game. Also since this is an S54 we would have needed to see the state of the oil pump.

There are too many things not shared, that could be covered up or omitted to save the shops reputation, obviously I'm not here to assign blame, just state the different possibilities.

S54 rod bearing replacement procedure has two added complications that S65 don't have.

1. Oil pump needs to be removed and installed correctly
2. mid-cycle rod bolt change

Getting either of those wrong would need to failure.

Then there is the added complication depending on rod bolt chosen, re-using the OEM early rod bolts. OP doesn't mentioned if his 2005 engine had the later style bolts (engine not replaced) and instead new OEM bolts were used. If new OEM bolts were use, I do see him mentioned that the shop thinks they may have used ARP torque spec, which probably isn't repeated 3 times to stretch the bolt like what OEM calls for and uses an angle torque spec which is more complicated and takes more time. Perhaps if the OEM bolts weren't stretched, after a period of time, they loosen, or simply was no longer at the correct spec. (Unless they tracked how much torque it took to remove the oem bolt after, it's hard to know how they can claim it was torqued correctly when checked).

Other potential issues could be oil pump or oil pickup related, which could lead to oil starvation and would cause worn bearings like the condition those BE bearings appear to be in.


Anyway my take away would be that a failure with only this info would be inconclusive and could be manipulated by omission of key facts.


I'm not concerned about BE Bearings having any issue at the moment. I am confident the ones I have installed will not be prone to failure. Until we have more facts, this changes nothing imo.

My takeaway from this whole experience isn't really anything to do with BE. The shop and Bimmerworld will have to figure that out. I have a simpler, more smooth-brained takeaway:

The symptom (the cold start rattle) was caused from an issue around the bottom end 'area.' I can't and won't say for sure if it was the bearings or improper installation...and I'll likely never know. But replacing the bearings and bolts and retorquing has eliminated the noise. If someone experiences a similar noise, they should take a look at their bearings, bolts, and torques and assess from there.

[tdott]

My takeaway from this whole experience isn't really anything to do with BE. The shop and Bimmerworld will have to figure that out. I have a simpler, more smooth-brained takeaway:

The symptom (the cold start rattle) was caused from an issue around the bottom end 'area.' I can't and won't say for sure if it was the bearings or improper installation...and I'll likely never know. But replacing the bearings and bolts and retorquing has eliminated the noise. If someone experiences a similar noise, they should take a look at their bearings, bolts, and torques and assess from there.

Agree'd but there is this herd mentality to cause hysteria and speculation incorrectly blaming the part.

[Will]

Andratch Just wondering how that last used oil analysis turned out. How high were the wear metals?

[Andratch]

Andratch Just wondering how that last used oil analysis turned out. How high were the wear metals?

I forgot to send it out once I got the picture of the gnarly bearings. But with those bearings only being 200 miles old, I think the answer to your question would be "very high."

Agree'd but there is this herd mentality to cause hysteria and speculation incorrectly blaming the part.

Interestingly, the youtube channel "BigTime" (which is a Donut Media spinoff) is doing an E46 M3 CSL-Clone build...they put in BE bearings and ended Part 1 with "uh oh i think we spun a bearing." More to come there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncBH5aF2Ce8

[BRiley]

Andratch Just wondering how that last used oil analysis turned out. How high were the wear metals?

Will, for what it's worth, my BE's looked exactly like Andratch bearings. I had less than 2k miles on them. My UOA from 300 miles before they spun showed 15ppm copper, and 64ppm of lead. That was the first oil change after bearings were done, so we were going to go another 1700 and do another UOA, but I never made it.