Red Oil Pressure Light comes on when idling (right after rod bearing replacement)

[sapote]

Just reached out to them and they said they ran a mechanical pressure gauge on the oil filter housing and everything was within spec before I took delivery a few days ago.

Ask them what was the measured pressure at operating temperature and idling. You should do it yourself.

[oceansize]

Just reached out to them and they said they ran a mechanical pressure gauge on the oil filter housing and everything was within spec before I took delivery a few days ago. I'm gonna do some more digging on the other forums as it doesn't look like anyone on here has had a similar issue.

https://forums.m3cutters.co.uk/threads/s54-oil-pressure-issue-no-end.232636/

Very similar to yours. See post 9 for what the issue ultimately was.

[MTiz]

If you are paying the bill....

Just reached out to them and they said they ran a mechanical pressure gauge on the oil filter housing and everything was within spec before I took delivery a few days ago. I'm gonna do some more digging on the other forums as it doesn't look like anyone on here has had a similar issue.

[jbfrancis3]

What is Gennady's take on the issue?

[George Hill]

As far as a manual oil pressure test, I literally asked them to do this but they immediately began blaming the extra clearance bearings as the culprit. I am 110% getting that done next.

If you are paying the bill....

[MTiz]

Damn, sucks that you had to pay for this twice and the issue hasn't gone away (hey, at least you got welcomed to the spendy part of m ownership). You mentioned a thorough inspection of the oil pump, but did you have the pickup tube o-ring replaced?

If yes, then maybe this is a sensor issue? I would suggest actually measuring oil pressure with a good old gauge before throwing any more money/parts at the car.

Yes, we actually replaced the pickup tube o-ring. I wasn't going to as I didn't think it was very important, but my indy strongly recommended it.

Honestly, this should have been done before the 2nd-rod bearing job.

A new oil pressure sensor was put on after the first job as a diagnosis and the issue didn't go away. As far as a manual oil pressure test, I literally asked them to do this but they immediately began blaming the extra clearance bearings as the culprit. I am 110% getting that done next.

[George Hill]

I would suggest actually measuring oil pressure with a good old gauge before throwing any more money/parts at the car.

Honestly, this should have been done before the 2nd rod bearing job.

[heinzboehmer]

Damn, sucks that you had to pay for this twice and the issue hasn't gone away (hey, at least you got welcomed to the spendy part of m ownership). You mentioned a thorough inspection of the oil pump, but did you have the pickup tube o-ring replaced?

If yes, then maybe this is a sensor issue? I would suggest actually measuring oil pressure with a good old gauge before throwing any more money/parts at the car.

[MTiz]

Uploaded a video for reference

[MTiz]

Figured I'd go ahead and update this thread. Got the car back on Saturday after paying for rod bearings a second time (proper clearance ACL bearings), and all the associated gaskets. Shoutout to FCP Euro for getting me all the parts within two days. My Indy thoroughly inspected my oil pump and it looked mint according to him. Put about 120 miles on the car that day, and the next morning (yesterday) the low-pressure light came on after the car fully warmed up.

Same symptoms as before, only comes on at idle. Not sure what to do at this point.

[liam821]

The F22 has essentially the same stroke and redline as s54.
The F20 with shorter stroke sees higher acceleration loads due to rpm^2 factor.
F20/22 and S54 make about same power per cylinder.
F20/22 bearing are 1mm smaller diameter but 3.4mm wider and thus 20% more projected area.

So they are fairly comparable yet they came up with fairly different designs.

note that BMW reduced bearing area from S50B30euro-->S50B32-->S54B32 obviously chasing less friction.
IMO the trend for narrower but slightly larger diameter rod bearings hasn't worked well for them as that's what they did with the S65/S85 as it has bigger problems than s54 and the loading is measurably lower on S65/85 due to the small stroke

obviously other factors at play to like actual delivery of oil to the bearing not just the loads

I've said it once, I'll say it again. The s54 is a Honda F22c with two more cylinders. They're extremely similar in power per cyl/bore/stroke. Props to Honda, it's a simple extremely reliable engine that makes great power. I used to own a Honda S2000 and that car was dead crazy reliable.

[Icecream]

Meanwhile I'm seeing how real the M tax is. King Rod Bearing Set Honda S2000 2000-2009 – Import Image Racing

We've all been had lol: ACL Rod Bearing Set 48mm Journal Bearing WRX 2002-2014 / STI 2004-2020 – Import Image Racing

[sapote]

The point was that pavlo said we are lucky to get 100k miles out of the bearings given the piston speed.

As digger pointed, the F20C has a higher piston speed. Mine dynoed at 371 rwhp at 9200 rpms on an Aus Dynamics ... it went 200k miles with factory bearings.

I currently have a supercharged F22c S2000 that has the rev limiter set at 8600 rpms, also dynoed at 39x rwhp and has 110k miles. Factory bearings.

Not saying BMW got it right or not ... but the being lucky statement I am not sure about.

Honda bearings material maybe quite different than BMW in addition to having wider bearing. The journals finish roughness could be the key too.

[R1pilot]

The point was that pavlo said we are lucky to get 100k miles out of the bearings given the piston speed.

As digger pointed, the F20C has a higher piston speed. Mine dynoed at 371 rwhp at 9200 rpms on an Aus Dynamics ... it went 200k miles with factory bearings.

I currently have a supercharged F22c S2000 that has the rev limiter set at 8600 rpms, also dynoed at 39x rwhp and has 110k miles. Factory bearings.

Not saying BMW got it right or not ... but the being lucky statement I am not sure about.

[Icecream]

The F22 has essentially the same stroke and redline as s54.
The F20 with shorter stroke sees higher acceleration loads due to rpm^2 factor.
F20/22 and S54 make about same power per cylinder.
F20/22 bearing are 1mm smaller diameter but 3.4mm wider and thus 20% more projected area.

So they are fairly comparable yet they came up with fairly different designs.

note that BMW reduced bearing area from S50B30euro-->S50B32-->S54B32 obviously chasing less friction.
IMO the trend for narrower but slightly larger diameter rod bearings hasn't worked well for them as that's what they did with the S65/S85 as it has bigger problems than s54 and the loading is measurably lower on S65/85 due to the small stroke

obviously other factors at play to like actual delivery of oil to the bearing not just the loads

hmm, yeah those are good points. There are just too many variables and objectives for anyone to say its poor design by BMW imo. Like I said, mine went 190k before spinning a bearing and I drive the car hard, that just cant be bad engineering and i dont think its fair to say that it is no matter which way you look at it. Its a remarkable achievement by the engineers actually.

I would go so far as to say any early failure is extremely rare in reality or if it is common it is more likely due to operator error and not warming the oil up properly despite what they say. To many (especially first owners) they see the tach lights off and its foot to floor. Speculation of course but it seems more likely, most people are not into oil temps as much as us haha.