Cylinder leakdown higher after engine rebuild?

[Anri]

I think a time or two…

Come on use logic, you have some idea of how it works I see it,
you are not complete blind.

I am trying to help you understand the idea.

When I rebuild an S54 to a customer with OEM or aftermarket parts
I provide 2 years unlimited miles warranty, including a track use.
"Not in a competition race use to fight for podium as the engine will
be prepped in absolute diff way which will not be emission friendly
at all"

Regards,
Anri

[Chanman1029]

Come on use logic, you have some idea of how it works I see it,
you are not complete blind.

I am trying to help you understand the idea.

When I rebuild an S54 to a customer with OEM or aftermarket parts
I provide 2 years unlimited miles warranty, including a track use.
"Not in a competition race use to fight for podium as the engine will
be prepped in absolute diff way which will not be emission friendly
at all"

Regards,
Anri

this isn’t by any means a race engine. It’s a street car, to be perfectly honest, the only reason I chose to buy $1200 CP pistons was because oem rings were $800, so financially it would be silly not to buy new pistons.

[WestBankM4]

yeah he I dont think there was ever a time when I felt like he was being nice or supportive. He too answered alot of my dumb questions, and made recommendations, but that was about it. He was seemed agitated the whole time I was talking to him when dropping off my motor, never smiled one single time, just a RBF. I asked him if he could also send in my valve cover and oil pan to get cleaned with my block and head, and his response was, “it’ll cost extra”. I wasnt too bothered, and I said yeah thats fine. I wasn’t expecting it to be free so we moved on.

once I was about to pay, I asked if I could get a shirt and a coffee mug that were on display behind the counter, and he said “they’re not free”. Like dude, I’m not asking for you to give me free stuff, stop being a damn jerk. That one really grinded my gears a bit, but I just let it go.

I’ll never recommend Lang to anyone

Wow that's a terrible experience and to be honest, Ive experienced it at other places too. The worst part is you sound like me, willing to pay whatever the cost is to make sure the work is done right, you're already at a "reputable" shop and you don't sound like the kind of tire kicker he probably has had to deal with in the past.

If it wasn't Lang I'm sure you would have walked out after the first or even second encounter, that's just poor customer service. Sorry you're going through this but keep in mind, your cars running, engine appears to be tight, hold off until your next oil change but even the Blackstone Reports can be deceiving.

[Chanman1029]

Wow that's a terrible experience and to be honest, Ive experienced it at other places too. The worst part is you sound like me, willing to pay whatever the cost is to make sure the work is done right, you're already at a "reputable" shop and you don't sound like the kind of tire kicker he probably has had to deal with in the past.

If it wasn't Lang I'm sure you would have walked out after the first or even second encounter, that's just poor customer service. Sorry you're going through this but keep in mind, your cars running, engine appears to be tight, hold off until your next oil change but even the Blackstone Reports can be deceiving.

You hit the nail on the head. Even when I lived in Georgia when I was just a high schooler with my 325i, I remember getting involved in forums and constantly seeing Lang racing in the discussion, and how great he was. Fast forward 5 years, and I felt lucky to find myself stationed just shy of 2 hours away from him. You’re exactly right when you said the part about walking out. I bit my tongue and didn’t get frustrated at his behavior, because I felt like if anyone was going to do a good job, it was forsure him, and I didn’t want to cause any problems with someone who is getting ready to perform delicate work on my engine.

My current plan is to drive the car more often, hope that metal content starts to decline, and that oil consumption doesn’t become an issue. My biggest concern is the pitting corrosion in Cyl 5. That scares me tbh. Idk how moisture would have gotten in there. My oil reports show no water or antifreeze in the oil. The car does sit for 1-2 months at times, and doesn’t get started, but I don’t think that would cause any fuel separation issues or whatever. But who knows, maybe that was the cause.

[Slideways]

You hit the nail on the head. Even when I lived in Georgia when I was just a high schooler with my 325i, I remember getting involved in forums and constantly seeing Lang racing in the discussion, and how great he was. Fast forward 5 years, and I felt lucky to find myself stationed just shy of 2 hours away from him. You’re exactly right when you said the part about walking out. I bit my tongue and didn’t get frustrated at his behavior, because I felt like if anyone was going to do a good job, it was forsure him, and I didn’t want to cause any problems with someone who is getting ready to perform delicate work on my engine.

My current plan is to drive the car more often, hope that metal content starts to decline, and that oil consumption doesn’t become an issue. My biggest concern is the pitting corrosion in Cyl 5. That scares me tbh. Idk how moisture would have gotten in there. My oil reports show no water or antifreeze in the oil. The car does sit for 1-2 months at times, and doesn’t get started, but I don’t think that would cause any fuel separation issues or whatever. But who knows, maybe that was the cause.

Unless every inch of the cylinder wall and any exposed metal for that matter is covered in WD-40, it will start to corrode. Before letting uncoated metal parts sit for days or months, it is best to coat them in something that will keep moisture away. That spot looks like staining more than corrosion/heavy pitting. Possibly corrosion was just starting. I'd keep an eye on the vertical scoring marks though.

[Chanman1029]

Unless every inch of the cylinder wall and any exposed metal for that matter is covered in WD-40, it will start to corrode. Before letting uncoated metal parts sit for days or months, it is best to coat them in something that will keep moisture away. That spot looks like staining more than corrosion/heavy pitting. Possibly corrosion was just starting. I'd keep an eye on the vertical scoring marks though.

Wouldn’t there be a ever so thin layer of oil in the cylinder walls anyways? Just hard for me to imagine how that got there. But as ive learned, corrosion is a constantly occurring process, you cant stop it, only prevent spread.

[Slideways]

Wouldn’t there be a ever so thin layer of oil in the cylinder walls anyways? Just hard for me to imagine how that got there. But as ive learned, corrosion is a constantly occurring process, you cant stop it, only prevent spread.

Usually, a machine shop will coat it in an oil like WD-40 to keep it from corroding. But, because it was assembled, some of that coating could have been wiped or was not reapplied after assembly. During assembly, they will use some engine oil to get the pistons in the bores.

[Chanman1029]

Usually, a machine shop will coat it in an oil like WD-40 to keep it from corroding. But, because it was assembled, some of that coating could have been wiped or was not reapplied after assembly. During assembly, they will use some engine oil to get the pistons in the bores.

Well in that case, it stayed covered with wrap until I was ready to mate the block and head. I made sure to be careful with it. I only had it in the garage for about a month before I had it all put back together.

[bigjae46]

this isn’t by any means a race engine. It’s a street car, to be perfectly honest, the only reason I chose to buy $1200 CP pistons was because oem rings were $800, so financially it would be silly not to buy new pistons.

You can get Grant piston rings for about $150.

[Chanman1029]

You can get Grant piston rings for about $150.

Very true, I actually tried, but this went down beginning of 2021 and covid was affecting supply of everything. I searched and couldn’t find anyone with them

[tlow98]

You can get Grant piston rings for about $150.

I also looked for these and couldn’t get them. I went with NPR for stock sizing. Good reviews on them, and I hope to experience the same!

[bigjae46]

Very true, I actually tried, but this went down beginning of 2021 and covid was affecting supply of everything. I searched and couldn’t find anyone with them

It’s been awhile but I’m a silent distributor of grant rings. I’ve sold a couple of sets mostly to help someone who was buying parts from the 7 broken S54s I once had.

[Slideways]

It’s been awhile but I’m a silent distributor of grant rings. I’ve sold a couple of sets mostly to help someone who was buying parts from the 7 broken S54s I once had.

7?! Please explain lol. You changing out an engine every track event

[Arith2]

Why don't we circle back to why the oil light came on... I'm already against wasting money on a pointless oil analysis. They're misleading almost always and clearing don't understand how oil pressure works. Previous oil burning could've just been slightly failing piston rings. That will certainly not cause a low oil pressure. Low oil pressure will cause scoring on cylinders though. If you're not consuming oil, then the scoring is more visual rather than damaging. All engines have some scoring which is fine. I went to reread the original and I'm not sure why an oil analysis company telling you piston rings are causing low oil pressure didn't raise a red flag immediately. That 15W-50 may have been a no go, especially if it hasn't happened since going back to BMW 10W-60.

I would definitely check oil pressure and make sure it isn't low. Let me get you some specs on that because stock specs will apply in this case.

[Chanman1029]

Why don't we circle back to why the oil light came on... I'm already against wasting money on a pointless oil analysis. They're misleading almost always and clearing don't understand how oil pressure works. Previous oil burning could've just been slightly failing piston rings. That will certainly not cause a low oil pressure. Low oil pressure will cause scoring on cylinders though. If you're not consuming oil, then the scoring is more visual rather than damaging. All engines have some scoring which is fine. I went to reread the original and I'm not sure why an oil analysis company telling you piston rings are causing low oil pressure didn't raise a red flag immediately. That 15W-50 may have been a no go, especially if it hasn't happened since going back to BMW 10W-60.

I would definitely check oil pressure and make sure it isn't low. Let me get you some specs on that because stock specs will apply in this case.

I have a digital oil pressure gauge, can confirm oil pressure was satisfactory when oil light came on. I believe that the filter being clogged from visible glitter (metal) in the oil that this was possibly slowing down oil draining to the pan, just enough to trigger the light, which I believe once on, stays on until the car is off.

My initial concern was when the metal contents doubled from my first oil interval, which was mineral oil, but this was langs recommendation