I received an e-mail this morning in regards to a TSB ( Service Information B11 02 03 ) for our new used Long-Term M3, and to all M cars with early-- produced between October, 2001 and February, 2002-- S54 engines. The oil-pump and connecting rod bearings need to be replaced or, as was so delicately put in the message, the car could "puke its bottom end out."
Some sleuthing from an eager staff member (SubyTrojan) with connections at BMW, confirmed that our M3 was one of 4,000 cars involved, and was repaired in the summer of 2004, just over a year after the introduction of said TSB. The mileage was 23,361. We don't know if the car exhibited the tell-tale knocking that precedes puking.
With that out of the way, we're free and clear to continue driving this car the way BMW intended.
(Closed course, pro driver, amateur camera operator)
Mike Magrath, Vehicle Testing Assistant
With that out of the way, we're free and clear to continue driving this car the way BMW intended.
(Closed course, pro driver, amateur camera operator)
Mike Magrath, Vehicle Testing Assistant
joefrompa says:
11:44 AM, 01/ 9/08
Hey Mike,
I'm kind of interested in how you purchased this car. Do you not have the car's repair records (a somewhat important part of purchasing a used M-vehicle, with it's more intensive maintenance requirements than non-M BMW products)?
Glad to see it's getting italian tune-ups on a regular basis :)
No carbon build-up here folks! Move it along.
Joe
desmolicious says:
02:14 PM, 01/ 9/08
it woulda been nice if that photo showed the rev counter too..
greenpony says:
02:15 PM, 01/ 9/08
I don't see anything of the tach needle, so you must have been north of 4500 rpm. That's what I like to see in a car like this.
boxermike says:
02:41 PM, 01/ 9/08
Rev counter was just below 6,000. I have a picture from just before that (and 5mph faster) which was too blurry to blog. Maybe I'll post that one up in the comments.
thebigal says:
03:19 PM, 01/ 9/08
so what gear were you in? What's the redline then? That seems high - even for 100 MPH especially if you want to go faster. But if you have a lot more RPM left than maybe this is normal?
sellis16 says:
04:07 PM, 01/ 9/08
Some sleuthing from an eager staff member (SubyTrojan) with connections at BMW, [NO COMMA] confirmed that our M3 was one of 4,000 cars involved, [NO COMMA] and was repaired in the summer of 2004
SubyTrojan says:
04:58 PM, 01/ 9/08
Hi, Mr./Ms. Grammar Nazi. j/k
If you wanted to be really picky about it, you could've asked if the information came from a BMW dealership or BMW of North America. For those who are curious, I used to work at one of the former.
sellis16 says:
06:05 PM, 01/ 9/08
SubyTrojan,
Uh, ok. I was only addressing lack of punctuational skill.
SubyTrojan says:
06:23 PM, 01/ 9/08
Hence the "j/k." :o) No worries!
estreka says:
07:40 PM, 01/ 9/08
^ Sentence fragement ;-D
I really feel moved to reiterate the keen choice Edmunds made in buying this car.
joefrompa says:
07:21 AM, 01/10/08
thebigal,
I believe the top speed of this car is around ~170mph. It has 6 forward gears. The redline is 8000 rpms, IIRC.
For solid acceleration, I imagine Edmunds was in 4th gear at 6000 rpms doing 100mph...As this means the car does 16mph per 1000 rpms in 4th gear, then the car could probably hit ~132mph in 4th gear. This seems a little high, but makes sense considering 5th is probably the final gear for acceleration at these speeds, and 6th is more overdrive.
Joe
joefrompa says:
07:22 AM, 01/10/08
Also, for comparative purposes, my 06 Civic SI with only 2.0 liters of displacement and 6 tightly spaced forward gears and an 8000 rpm redline does 8000 rpms at 100mph in 4th gear. Obviously my car does not intend to hit a 170mph max speed :)
Joe
stingray454 says:
09:25 AM, 01/10/08
I remember the self exploding E46 M3 engine fiasco. I used to be up on the whole situation reading owner's message boards etc. It's good that your car has had the TSB repair done. However, last I heard as of about a year ago, some owners were still experiencing grenading engines even after the TSB repair was done. So I'm not sure if the TSB actually fixed the problem. It'll be interesting to see if the engine holds together during its time with Edmunds. The good news is BMW extended the warranty on these engines to 100k miles because of this problem and to preserve resale value, so if it does puke its bottom end out, you should be covered for a new motor under warranty.
SubyTrojan says:
11:49 AM, 01/10/08
Not quite, stingray454.
BMW of North America extended the engine warranty to 6 years/100,000 miles, whichever comes first. The original retail date of the LT E46 M3 was in mid-December 2001. Add six years to that and you have...:drumroll:...last month! :(
bennetpullen says:
12:24 PM, 01/10/08
One sucky thing about the problem with the early S54s is that the warranty extensions and such were never extended to the M-Coupes with that engine. Those 600 or so owners are on their own with the engine grenade problem.
stingray454 says:
01:12 PM, 01/10/08
Oh - didn't know about the 6 year limitation!
Well, are you feeling lucky? Well, are ya? ;)
desmolicious says:
02:48 PM, 01/10/08
No true bennettpullen. I had an M Coupe with the 315hp S54 motor and received the warranty extension notice from BMW.
SubyTrojan says:
04:33 PM, 01/10/08
bennetpullen, this thread on bimmerfest.org may be helpful.
http://bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72435
It may not load properly the first time you go to it. Refresh the page until it does. :o)