New member intro E92 M3

[BurntSoup 10]

Hi All,

Have just found this forum, thought I'd join and say hello.

Had my 2008 M3 manual (UK model), for just over a year now. It's my daily drive and I'm very glad to have picked it up. I collected in Christchurch and drove up to Auckland last Dec through Kaikoura (awesome roads), easy car to live with and enjoy it every time I drive it.

After a year I'm getting around 14L/100km, mostly motorway driving. Gets more thirsty when booted but I didn't get it for the fuel economy

I'm now up to around 153km on the clock and I'm looking at replacing the rod end bearings as preventative maintenance. (Will probably post on this elsewhere for some input).

Obligatory pics attached. (Nurb sticker will probably go once I do the bearings and move on to cosmetic stuff -paint touch up, mags tidied etc.)

 

cheers

 

[Olaf 3342]

Welcome, Mathew.  Nice ride!  Good idea re the rod bearings as preventative maintenance.

Be worth your while subscribing to the Auckland room - there's plenty of events on, regular cars and coffee meets etc.

[Michael. 2313]

Very nice! 

I really consider bearing service part of long term maintenance on these M cars, like doing a clutch. Not an often thing but required eventually! 

[BurntSoup 10]

Cheers guys,

Thanks Olaf have sub'd to the Auckland room. Would be nice to meet a few community members.

Yeah Michael, I think after seeing some nasty photos and reading too many internet opinions it will give me piece of mind to do the work. Have spoken to BM workshop already and they sound reasonably confident (perhaps more-so than CC BMW in Takapuna). I saw aja540i mention doing this on his S85 last year at Turners but could not get hold of them this week.

[TermiPeteNZ 1319]

Welcome Mathew … nice M3 I'm planning to do my rod bearings later this year.

[BurntSoup 10]

Thank you! -A couple extra for you to do than me it seems! Do you think you will use BMW parts or a 3rd party like BE for the bearings?

[Jun 233]

Cool M3! Welcome to the Rod bearings Replacement club ?

[9000Redline 0]

Hi guys,

sorry to thread hijack but I'm in the market for an e90/92 M3 but been holding off for not knowing who can swap bearings in NZ.

Have inquired with Winger in Wellington (where I'm based) and they said they've never replaced bearnings, and I got the feeling they would not feel comfortable doing that kind of preventative work. 

So, having found this thread, I'm reading BM workshop in Auckland can do the work. I've heard good things before about BM. Can anybody confirm BM have done this on a S65 engine with success? What kind of price range are we talking for replacement? less than 10k, or more?

Thanks everybody.

I did try to use the search function to find this information but never got any hits returned. Hoping to find some help to finally get into the M3 I've been lusting for for yeras! (I've driven many but none excited me as much as the v8 one)

Cheers!

[qube 3570]

there is a thread on here somewhere, look for "m5 bearing" and it should come up.

same kind of job anyway

[9000Redline 0]

1 hour ago, qube said:

there is a thread on here somewhere, look for "m5 bearing" and it should come up.

same kind of job anyway

Thank you. Found several leads. Was searching for 'm3' and 'm3 bearing' and somehow it did not find anything. Perhaps because I wasn't logged in when I searched? Anyhow, thanks for the tip!

[TermiPeteNZ 1319]

10 hours ago, 9000Redline said:

Have inquired with Winger in Wellington (where I'm based) and they said they've never replaced bearnings, and I got the feeling they would not feel comfortable doing that kind of preventative work. 

So, having found this thread, I'm reading BM workshop in Auckland can do the work. I've heard good things before about BM. Can anybody confirm BM have done this on a S65 engine with success? What kind of price range are we talking for replacement? less than 10k, or more?

Hey Matt - I've got an E60 M5 with 143KMs on it here in Welly and I'm planning to do the same thing - but haven't started making enquiries yet … let me know if you get any positive responses.

[9000Redline 0]

This is the most recent thread I found regarding replacing rod bearings. 

Thread says both BM Workshop as well as Taylor automotive can take care of this. I haven't made inquiries yet as I don't have a car yet but good to know it has been done in NZ with success

 

 

[BurntSoup 10]

Hey guys, posted an update in the other thread. The work can definitely be done here but decide if you want genuine parts or aftermarket first as it seems some places have a policy of not using non genuine BMW parts or customer supplied parts.

9000Redline, regardless of this I've loved the car for the year+ I've had it. The workshops seem to agree they are reasonably reliable. Aside from this the main other things you might look out for could be:

• Throttle body actuators: -seems these will go at some point, distance varied greatly 80k-200k.. when they do the consensus is replace both to save on overall labour. If the work has been done already that's great. I believe you can still drive in 'limp mode' when one goes so at least you can get home/to workshop. I'm also told they are readily available in NZ so you hopefully don't have to wait a couple of weeks to get the part in.
• DSC Pump: Mine went. Got the message to 'drive conservatively' on the display until fixed ?. Got it rebuilt and it's going fine after 8months.
• Thermostat sensor: Might not happen but if this goes I've read the engine will over-cool and run below temperature inefficiently. Relatively cheap part, bit of labour to replace it.
• Gearbox/drivetrain: I don't think this is M3 specific. At some point I'll post about this separately once I've tried fixing this. A DSC E92 M3 car I test drove made a soft metallic 'clink' noise when the car transfers momentum from forward to aft or aft to forward. My manual does it too so seems unrelated to transmission. Seems not be a major issue, I've found some info with a reference to a BMW service alert. seems the fix is to use a specific grease between the drive shaft and gearbox.
• Vent tabs: Also not M3 specific but f* me they seem like a dumb design and are prone to snapping off. don't think this is a cheap/easy fix. still looking into this.

Others who are more mechanically minded and or technical will probably have more to add. Regardless, I'm happy with mine.

[M3AN 4016]

2 hours ago, BurntSoup said:

...

• DSC Pump: Mine went. Got the message to 'drive conservatively' on the display until fixed ?.

...

lol indeed - 15s 1/4's instead of 13's please sir.

??????