THE M3 IS GETTING THE ANRI BUILD TREATMENT - Blown headgasket to build thread

[ChapterM3]

Well, there we have it. I want to give a shout-out to the previous owners for clearly taking care of the head gasket and apparent coolant in the cylinder which I never knew about or experienced before. Thank goodness I stopped driving it in time to not cause more damage, wow, this is incredible. Thank you for the update Anri looking forward to more as more unfolds - I read your posts like 5 times to make sure I got it all correct haha, thank goodness the block is OK! 🙌

[Anri]

Luckily this seems like a pretty easy fix. Clean it up, new head gasket, good to go?

Do you use any sort of copper sealant or special process on the new gasket, or install it as it comes?

Cobra,

Your question has very tall answer.

The genuine Original head gasket has coating
around the important areas, coolant passages,
oil return, bore.

S54 multi layer gasket design relays heavily on that coating.

Cast iron block with the combination of aluminum head it
never works right in thermal expansion when the engine
warms up from stone cold! never ever. Aluminum on Aluminum
works much better (don't get depressed for the beloved S54
there is a solution!)

The massive temperature changes throughout the life
span with the combination of running hot makes the cases
move a lot resulting the coating to shred! when the coating
shreds around the oil return, water passages, the liquids leak
thru immediately regardless of the stamp/design to work as a spring
during contractions around the critical areas.

S54 carried the oil return galleys design from M20 on the
exhaust side. On most S54s the exhaust side is sweat. (At
present I have 3 S62s and all 3 the gasket sweats in
that area) Also the head bolts are too far away from the area
and the support is weaker and when the parts warp little its
over...oil starts to leak from there combined with shredded
coating.

Note in the picture Jonathans head gasket was leaking from
1 all the way to 6 on the exhaust side. Look at the head gasket
coating is shredded and no longer supporting sealing conditions.
One may think that this is left over from previous leaking valve cover
gasket but its not..

The copper spray after few heat cycles do turn into a rock solid
layer. it does work well with other gaskets.

Spraying Copper on the S54 gasket you are basically destroying
the function of the coating.

Please understand I am not saying the copper spray it will not work
but understanding the design of the parts and how it works I do not
use copper spray on factory design gasket. On other brand gaskets
is the only way to seal is via Cooper spray but again not on S54 design

Enjoy the pics.

Regards,
Anri

[cobra]

We are lucky to have a guy like Anri here on the forum willing to share his knowledge and document everything so well!

Based on what you're saying - a big contributor to the headgasket wearing out would be the number of heat cycles and the temperature range. So - a daily driven car in a cold environment will see more relative movement and higher number of cycles than one used in a more mild environment or for longer trips?

I'm always blown away by how close the cylinders are on this engine. Amazing that it even works in the first place.

[Will]

Thanks for adding such good content, Anri. I love following these threads and learning along the way.

[Anri]

Based on what you're saying - a big contributor to the headgasket wearing out would be the number of heat cycles and the temperature range

Running the engine hot with late fan clutch engagement is the biggest contributor
for the head gasket failure.

[Anri]

Prepped the pistons for Moly coating. Pistons
are checked and all in factory spec.

Note the factory lines on the skirt are like New...

Regards
Anri

[bmwfnatic]

S54 multi layer gasket design relays heavily on that coating.

Cast iron block with the combination of aluminum head it
never works right in thermal expansion when the engine
warms up from stone cold! never ever. Aluminum on Aluminum
works much better (don't get depressed for the beloved S54
there is a solution!)

I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what would that solution be? An aftermarket gasket? Please enlighten us all

[cobra]

I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what would that solution be? An aftermarket gasket? Please enlighten us all

Billet CNC machined aluminum block

[robgill]

Prepped the pistons for Moly coating. Pistons
are checked and all in factory spec.

Note the factory lines on the skirt are like New...

Regards
Anri

Hey Arni, great work and thanks for sharing. How did you clean the pistons? Vapor Blasting?

-Rob

[Anri]

I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what would that solution be? An aftermarket gasket? Please enlighten us all

I am thinking to open a different post on this subject.

Regards
Anri

[Anri]

Billet CNC machined aluminum block

Cobra,

Don't get too excited about Billet Alu blocks..
Billet blocks are great but they carry their own issues
I can't see it with S54 given the fact we are after every
single CC on the S54.

Read the BMW PDF Bulletin carefully when they say the
block remained cast iron..

Regards,
Anri

[Anri]

Hey Arni, great work and thanks for sharing. How did you clean the pistons? Vapor Blasting?

-Rob

Correct, its Vapor blasted. I do offer this service.

[Anri]

Pistons are all coated with Moly dry film
so do the ACL bearings.

Moving forward.

Regards,
Anri

[0-60motorsports]

Pistons are all coated with Moly dry film
so do the ACL bearings.

Moving forward.

Regards,
Anri

Wow they look new.

[maupineda]

Pistons are all coated with Moly dry film
so do the ACL bearings.

Moving forward.

Regards,
Anri

Hi ANRI, in your experience, is there an actual benefit to coat the bearings? I was thinking something like yours, or micro blue. Would you offer this service? I have a RB set for my car.