Zzyzx85's '03 High Mileage Driver

[zzyzx85]

Forgot about this again.

Back in July, I pulled off the CSL intake and swapped back to the stock DME for smog. Afterwards, I got a P0128 code and it didn't go away on its own so I decided to change out the thermostat, since I had one on hand.

I pulled off the thermostat housing and to my shock, found thermostat parts 🤣

It looks like the bent tab in the thermostat snapped off (hopefully it is inside the radiator) and the rest of the thermostat disassembled itself. The stamp on it says "01 15" so I'm guessing it's made in 2015. I'm guessing 10 years was a bit too much.

While I was in there, I installed a few of the high temp o-rings from WOLFN8TR's kit.

It was a bit of a bitch but I got all the readiness monitors to go "ready" and it passed smog with flying colors, 2 months late 🤣(I already paid my registration so I'm not technically "late")

Now to put it all back to CSL again lol. The things we do to enjoy our cars in California 🙄.

[zzyzx85]

Track day at Streets of Willow. 1:29.xx isn't flying but it was a nice day at the track. More traffic than I anticipated but I'm still learning the car. I'm not brave enough to drive it without the DSC on "track mode".

[zzyzx85]

After almost 6 years, I finally installed the passenger side Recaro Speed. I really haven't been motivated to install it but now that I have a daily, I feel more at ease about more complicated installs.

I bought an extra occupancy sensor mat to install. it was pretty easy to slip in between the foam and the support mesh underneath the seat.

[zzyzx85]

Going to do a valve adjustment just to see if it makes a difference. It's been a while so maybe i'll give that a shot before I go in to camshaft surgery.

Picked up a new Interstate H7 AGM battery. I got tired of having to jump the car every Monday morning. i think the extreme heat and cold in the high desert ruins batteries. I got just over 2 years out of the current battery.

[EthanolTurbo]

Seeing the pitting and wear, and the tapping, maybe it's time to change out my cams and followers. Pretty sure a follower went flat after my last track day.

Yeah it's time. I just changed mine at 239k miles and one of the followers was flat as hell. No more tapping now.

[zzyzx85]

Seeing the pitting and wear, and the tapping, maybe it's time to change out my cams and followers. Pretty sure a follower went flat after my last track day.

[Tbonem3]

My least favorite part of having an aftermarket strut brace. Will have to remove it just to apply the bmw motorsport decal, myself.

[zzyzx85]

Finally installed the (pricey) badge on the engine cover.



I'm leaning towards leaving off the Karbonius cf strut brace as the 3 piece OE brace is much more convenient for working under the hood.

I've been thinking of either cleaning/dressing up the current bar or buying a fresh new one.

[zzyzx85]

Oh yeah, forgot I had these too

Bought them during the Black Friday sale, while waiting in the Madrid airport for our flight back from Spain. I jokingly asked if I could pick them up on the way (they were actually a 5.5 hours drive away from Madrid).

[zzyzx85]

Just before Christmas, I sent the (presumed OE) first set of injectors out to RC Fuel Injection for cleaning and flow testing. Got back from vacation to find the package of freshly cleaned and flow tested injectors waiting for me like a late Christmas present.

I was also waiting to see how bad the injectors were lol.

Seeing that injector 4 was nearly 100cc lower than spec, I wasn't disappointed lol. That was amazing. I'm betting these were the OE that came with the car, so about ~260k miles on them.

[zzyzx85]

I don't know...with low lead count and high copper and trending higher iron, it may be time for a rod bearing job? You may have already gone through the lead layer (thus low lead count) and working past the copper layer (high copper count) and even into the steel shell (high iron count)? When was the last rod bearing changed? That would be my conclusion.

Rod bearings were changed out about 80k miles ago at around 200k.

Yeah copper is usually attributed to rod bearings. Doesn't really mean much without a clear trend though.

I'm leaning towards looking for a trend before I make any moves. The weird thing was there was always copper in the oil samples I've given. The first sample was after I bought the car. The second sample was after I changed out the rod bearings.

[heinzboehmer]

Yeah copper is usually attributed to rod bearings. Doesn't really mean much without a clear trend though.

[Xmetal]

I don't know...with low lead count and high copper and trending higher iron, it may be time for a rod bearing job? You may have already gone through the lead layer (thus low lead count) and working past the copper layer (high copper count) and even into the steel shell (high iron count)? When was the last rod bearing changed? That would be my conclusion.

[zzyzx85]

I got my UOA back from Blackstone the other day. It reads kind of scary but their interpretation is accurate on how I'm driving the car harder nowadays. Not sure where the brass/copper is from (valve guides?) But I think the iron is from the camshaft wear I noticed.

[zzyzx85]

Inching closer to 280k.

Recently did an oil change. I think there's about 7500 miles on it, including a track day.

Sent off a sample to Blackstone so I'm curious to see how it is.