Originally posted by 0-60motorsports
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I originally didn't want an E90 M3 for the same reason. I've come to believe these engines are fine.
The rod bearing thing is way, way overblown. The original leaded bearings were the ones with the problems; the updated non-leaded bearings BMW started installing in 2010-ish (when auto-start-stop came in) had some failures very early on but seem to have been fine for many years at this point. They discolor superficially but don't fail barring complete idiocy.
TA failure is a thing, but rare. I'm coming up on 170k; one of my TAs was replaced by the previous owner and now has >100k miles on it, and the other is original.
People talk about crank bearings occasionally. But when you dig into the histories of engines with those failures, it seems like every time you find the engine has been messed with internally...
No turbos and no DI, so that's a ton less inherent headache. Also no crank hub nonsense.
People seem to want to make something of the VANOS hub covers now but... IDK, maybe don't jam screwdrivers into that area when doing VCGs or whatever.
Everything else is just normal stuff. Give it good fuel, change the oil / filters/ spark plugs on time, don't use crap parts, mod with care, keep an eye on the primary O2 sensors, sometimes a gasket leaks.
Not saying this engine is Toyota-level reliable, but plenty of S65s have taken a lot of abuse and been fine, are still tracking with deep 6-digit mileage, etc. When they're treated reasonably and not messed with, they seem about as bulletproof as genuine performance engines get.
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