Why did it fail? S54 TEARDOWN | Engine Autopsy

We teardown this failed S54B32 to find out why it failed. We were quite surprised with what we found.
Check out our website: www.brintechcustoms.com.au/

[@chewybacchus5918]

Just love listening to guys that not only know what they’re talking about theoretically ….but have a wealth of practical knowledge

[@kurtkaster5666]

The mark of a true professional, is when you feel like you could easily tear down an S54 after watching them. They make it look so easy!

[@brady5829]

Amazingly informative and engaging video. Clear camera work and good editing. Keep up the great work!

[@MmeDesgranges]

Another great video, look forward to improved audio and lighting to really get the full benefits of the fantastic content. And how refreshing to hear Aussie voices and a lack of bullshit. Keep it up boys. P.S. Your driver killed the crank with too many RPMs :-)

[@breakmywalletmotorsport]

That engine is really clean inside. Gotta wonder if the bearing on #1 rod had spun before. The journal was ground and polished but not heat treated.

[@mohammadbenattia9102]

great video guys, looking forward to the next episodes, and hoping the sound quality gets better, cheers

[@BrintechCustoms]

Definitely working on it

[@worldsails2000]

My wife still has her '02 Z3 M-Coupe with an S54 that we bought new and was her daily driver for 10 years. She hasn't driven it at all in the last 5 years, so I take it out and run a tank of gas out if it each year. There's something about the sound of that engine at high RPMs that is amazing. No bap. bap. bap backfire crap that a lot of people are programming into their engines, (I'm looking at you WRX and STI people), just a very smooth sound.

[@anpredictable]

Cant stop watching these teardown. Thank you guys!

[@friguy4444]

Thank you for the excellent video! I really enjoyed it. I would like to suggest that the music to voice volumes be balanced a bit more so I don't need to chase it as the voice come in or out and the music isn't really needed for a quality video like this. I don't know if others feel the same about it or had to turn the volume up and down as the switch from talking to music happens but it was fairly extreme for myself. Thank you again for the great content and hard work.

[@pinderwagen]

You mentione only cyl1 had ARP, talked about possible weight difference, then about harmonics causing the crack but never mentioned the weight / ARP again. Just seemed extremely odd.

[@johncoss5604]

Really enjoyed the tear down and the commentary.

[@e92m39]

Great series lads, can't wait for the next

[@billymania11]

Oh man, a mis-matched con-rod on an engine that spins to over 8 thou. Not good. Some committed murder here.

[@dazzamac70]

Great video guys!!! What was the verdict on the difference in the weight between the ARP and OEM Big-End Bearing Cap Bolts?

[@steveallam]

I think Tony's spot on front end crash did the crank in aline with the mismatched con rod bolts great work chaps!!!

[@dermotmcloughlin9609]

Very interesting guys, thanks for sharing with us 👍

[@TURBOTRISTO]

yet another great video

[@Top_g80comp]

That’s a very clean engine

[@christersundin773]

Excellent video! Easily the best engine teardown that I've seen. However, I don't quite understand what the root cause was, so I have a question: Was it the different weight of the con rod assembly for cylinder 1 that caused an imbalance which in turn caused the crack in the crank shaft and the excessive wear of the bearing? Greetings from an S54 owner in Sweden!

[@DirtyD613]

Probably more likely that the engine spun a rod bearing (as they do) which caused cylinder head smacking, leading to snapping the crank. Crank journals dont usually just crack in half. That engine has been opened up before. They probably surfaced the block and head which removed material and caused a tighter clearance to the piston.

[@s4ms0n1t3]

TVRs 4.0 straight 6 in the sagaris took the title off bmw but yeah..still massively impressive engine.

[@benimatyus]

Superb video guys, really nice, I only have one complaint, you might have solved this in newer videos, but in this one the the talking volume is way too low and compared to that the music is way too loud. I don't mind the workshop noise, it's just part of the place. Keep up the good work!

[@michaelrawlings3785]

Wow great video guys makes me not wanna thrash my S54 m3 .. watching this from 🇬🇧 uk

[@IndiansAuto]

Change your rod bearing and keep thrashing

[@friguy4444]

So judging from the Star or "Torx" type of bolts on the Vanos Intake and Exhaust internal Cam gears it looks to me like the Vanos was worked on and at least they replaced those bolts. From what I recall when I did the work on mine those bolts were Allen Key type and not torx but because they are notorious for backing out as the engine is running and then shearing off at the half way point making a terrible sound and a real danger to the engine if a bolt head or part gets into the internals. The place where they say There's damage on the intake Cam area could have happened before they changed those bolts out. But that's only a guess.

[@otlotlenggill4352]

what a lemon of an engine

[@yourealwaysright6770]

What brand is the extendable ratchet Tony uses to turn the engine over? Thanks

[@tonymontana897]

Are you guys in Parramatta, Sydney ?

[@averyc7492]

This s54 looks so much cleaner than mine lol. My m3 was abused before me

[@msnapp169]

Invest in different mics instead of holding and passing around that taser

[@MikeRT4]

Do you have any idea what caused the excessive wear on the rockers? The reason I ask is I have had this happen twice to my S54 now, the second time was in less than 7k miles (11k km). This is with the factory 268/264 cams (CSL). All OEM parts, factory tune (SMG so no way to over-rev the car)? It's also BMW serviced, so has recently switched from the original Castrol TWS oil to the BMW Twin Power Turbo (a Shell oil). Obviously I don't want to have to keep doing this regularly, so have been trying to figure out the cause. BMW GmBH are involved and even they don't seem to be able to suggest any reason. Do you think the same oil starvation issue caused by the crush gauze could be something to check out? Also, regarding the bearing failure, do you not thing the different torque settings of the factory bolt and the ARP could have resulted in an uneven pressure on the bearing causing it to fail? My understanding is that ARP rod bolts are a big no-no on S54 race engines as it is very difficult to get them torqued correctly so that they don't ovalise the bearings (and that is when using a full set, let alone just one LOL)?

[@BrintechCustoms]

When the rockers were replaced were they brand new genuine or were they in used condition. Did you replace the cams after the first time you wore the rocker arms. Were the valve clearances set up correctly? is it a road car or track car? Have you pulled any other parts of the engine down to see if there is any other wear present in the engine oiling system. I have not seen or heard of rocker arms wearing after such short KMs unless there is a problem. Is it all rocker arms? Or just on inlet or just on exhaust? Sorry, a bit hard to tell without seeing the engine and understanding the history. Yes we agree, ARP bolts should not be used on a factory bmw conrod in any engine for the reasons you mentioned.

[@MikeRT4]

@@BrintechCustoms The whole top end was replaced with brand new OEM parts. New rockers, new cams and all relevant hardware. Valve clearances were checked prior to strip down and were all where they should have been (obviously the same issue as your engine where the rockers were excessively worn). It's a road car, occasionally used on track days (on Cup 2s) - at the Nurburgring. The engine has been fully stripped and checked and is currently being put back together with all new OEM parts again, with the instructions from BMW to check the oil pressure once reassembled. Seems to be almost identical wear to your engine. Both cams are being replaced (again). It had a new oil pump fitted at 50k miles. First set of cams (originals) were replaced at 62k, second set went under 7k later. I'll send you pictures on your FB page (edited to say that is now done). I'm more interested in identifying the cause, as I don't want this hassle every 7-12k miles. I forgot to say, this is not just my car - BMW had a spate of CSLs requiring cams (so much so that in 2016 there was an 18 month backorder, as they couldn't keep up with the sudden demand for replacement items).

[@fregyt]

@@MikeRT4 could Be vanos issue

[@hoey3510]

Best thing to do is f..k it off..bmw crap always unreliable and over engineered .. will send you broke

[@JL-dz8sj]

The single forged piston was definitely causing some issues😂

[@soplim8632]

Porsche gt3 has the most powerful naturally aspirated 6 cylinder engine. By no means am I knocking the S54. Since I own an e46 m3 myself.

[@g.g4816]

Next thing do tunes fot this engines like softver... Or like s85/s65 9000 rpm+ somthing like this would be interesting :)

[@g.g4816]

Props to toni

[@peterloveday4313]

Tvr speed six- 4.0 and up to around 405hp with British “reliability”. Very similar engines in design except the tvr is all alloy and a bit lighter

[@hoey3510]

Fragile engines and expensive to fix ..not for the faint hearted..

[@Chitownmud]

Anybody see the snake at 17:22????????

[@ajl0426]

Great videos but the Techno/EDM filler music is as out of place as those ARP rods bolts in this engine.

[@navidmashayekhi7972]

great video. not good sound quality

[@SavageBunny1]

When you rod knock your engine it's like a hammer hitting your crank.

[@matthewnicholas6365]

4.0 flat 6 in the GT3 is more powerful. In 2018 it was making over 500hp That's actually insane when you think about it. It's not just a bit more powerful. For a more accurate view, 107hp per liter for the S54 and 128hp per liter for the GT3 engine

[@loopeyshooter503]

They where referencing straight six! Not flat six or v6.

[@fregyt]

Much newer though, and s54 can make a lot more power than stock with some new intake setups, exhaust reworks and a couple other small bits and pieces. If BMW were to be making GT3 level cars back then , don’t worry, the power would be there 😊. To put in perspective, their GTR engine of the same time , which was a 4.0L v8 made 650-700bhp. Which ABSOLUTELY smokes both the standard m3 and this machine you have listed with power to displacement at 162.5/L. I’m sure some reworking of the s54 to make it a GT3 engine, should BMW have wanted to, could have reached a greater power than it did .

[@matthewnicholas6365]

@fregyt you're talking about a race engine with no requirement to be road legal or even particularly reliable. Standard Vs standard the 2 engines I listed are miles apart. I own an M3 with an S54. It's OK but it's from an era when bragging about peak HP figures was a thing. It gets seen off fairly easily these days by cars that make less peak HP but more low down HP

[@V8Lenny]

​@@matthewnicholas6365what engine makes more torque per liter than S54 ? There are not many.

[@matthewnicholas6365]

@V8Lenny 270lb isn't exactly a lot. 87lb per liter roughly. That's pretty high "per liter" in an NA but most family diesels put more out than that and have done for a decade or more. And the big issue for me is the complexity, unreliability and peaky nature of that engine. You have to wring it's nuts off until it's crying out for mercy to get anything from it. At which point you're probably breaking at least 2 speed limits. That engine belongs in a lightweight track car with better gearing IMO

[@sh5465]

inteesting topic , too shaky camera! getting seasick...

[@unlimitedslip906]

911 GT3 engine, 6 cyl with higher power and HP/L

[@4ndyr0g3r50n]

On the subject of holding the record for the most powerful naturally aspirated straight six I think the TVR 4 litre speed 6 produced more power - 350-400ish

[@cdeprima1209]

I SAID TOO LIGHT OF OIL FOR HIGH RPM DUH!!! JACKASSES! :(

[@patverum9051]

We've been metric since 1974 guys, stop the "thou" nonsense FFS.

[@loopeyshooter503]

Imperial is king when i comes to small tolerances.

[@paul1der]

10w60 is trash

[@chuckh.2227]

Please tone down the ridiculous music

[@IndiansAuto]

Those engines has bearing issues.