Metallic Particles in Engine Oil - BMW S52

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I think some perspective is in order.

This is a 20 yr old M3 which has been and continues to be one of the most common BMW to find on the track for oh,,the last 15 years. The dealer is probably correct in that this is the best S52 they've seen but that doesn't mean much. From the photos it doesn't look like it was used as a track car. I would visit some BMW forums to get an opinion by people who've owned this vehicle for a long time. Maybe BMWCCA.
 
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Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
I think some perspective is in order.

This is a 20 yr old M3 which has been and continues to be one of the most common BMW to find on the track for oh,,the last 15 years. The dealer is probably correct in that this is the best S52 they've seen but that doesn't mean much. From the photos it doesn't look like it was used as a track car. I would visit some BMW forums to get an opinion by people who've owned this vehicle for a long time. Maybe BMWCCA.



UPDATED:



The text within the auction suggests this was a track car (new paint, new rims, headline, transmission swap from AT to manual). I think that's your answer.
 
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Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
I think some perspective is in order.

This is a 20 yr old M3 which has been and continues to be one of the most common BMW to find on the track for oh,,the last 15 years. The dealer is probably correct in that this is the best S52 they've seen but that doesn't mean much. From the photos it doesn't look like it was used as a track car. I would visit some BMW forums to get an opinion by people who've owned this vehicle for a long time. Maybe BMWCCA.



UPDATED:



The text within the auction suggests this was a track car (new paint, new rims, headline, transmission swap from AT to manual). I think that's your answer.


Yes, to provide even more perspective, the commenters on the auction found this listing of the same VIN a number of years ago: http://www.2040-cars.com/BMW/M3/1998-bmw-m3-base-sedan-4-door-3-2l-supercharged--53468/

So the car was obviously owned at some point by an "enthusiast" of something other than reliability. I was just hoping it would have more than 1000 miles of life left before pulling the engine, especially given the shop's confidence in the car. I have also discovered structural damage which they should have been aware of (camber is off by over 2 degrees, side to side in the front) which was also not disclosed.
 
Originally Posted by Zipway
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
I think some perspective is in order.

This is a 20 yr old M3 which has been and continues to be one of the most common BMW to find on the track for oh,,the last 15 years. The dealer is probably correct in that this is the best S52 they've seen but that doesn't mean much. From the photos it doesn't look like it was used as a track car. I would visit some BMW forums to get an opinion by people who've owned this vehicle for a long time. Maybe BMWCCA.



UPDATED:



The text within the auction suggests this was a track car (new paint, new rims, headline, transmission swap from AT to manual). I think that's your answer.


Yes, to provide even more perspective, the commenters on the auction found this listing of the same VIN a number of years ago: http://www.2040-cars.com/BMW/M3/1998-bmw-m3-base-sedan-4-door-3-2l-supercharged--53468/

So the car was obviously owned at some point by an "enthusiast" of something other than reliability. I was just hoping it would have more than 1000 miles of life left before pulling the engine, especially given the shop's confidence in the car. I have also discovered structural damage which they should have been aware of (camber is off by over 2 degrees, side to side in the front) which was also not disclosed.


Yikes! So she's been driven hard and put away wet. Definitely a project!
 
Originally Posted by Zipway
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
Originally Posted by BMWTurboDzl
I think some perspective is in order.

This is a 20 yr old M3 which has been and continues to be one of the most common BMW to find on the track for oh,,the last 15 years. The dealer is probably correct in that this is the best S52 they've seen but that doesn't mean much. From the photos it doesn't look like it was used as a track car. I would visit some BMW forums to get an opinion by people who've owned this vehicle for a long time. Maybe BMWCCA.



UPDATED:



The text within the auction suggests this was a track car (new paint, new rims, headline, transmission swap from AT to manual). I think that's your answer.


Yes, to provide even more perspective, the commenters on the auction found this listing of the same VIN a number of years ago: http://www.2040-cars.com/BMW/M3/1998-bmw-m3-base-sedan-4-door-3-2l-supercharged--53468/

So the car was obviously owned at some point by an "enthusiast" of something other than reliability. I was just hoping it would have more than 1000 miles of life left before pulling the engine, especially given the shop's confidence in the car. I have also discovered structural damage which they should have been aware of (camber is off by over 2 degrees, side to side in the front) which was also not disclosed.


Yikes, I see a nitrous bottle in the old ad! Oh man, there's not much you can do about it now but try to make lemonade.
 
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The description did state something about side pillar damage and rear damage. Interesting that the Carfax said no accident history.

The description also mentioned that a alignment had been done.

A pound of salt on any of this. Still, should be a interesting project car.
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
The description did state something about side pillar damage and rear damage. Interesting that the Carfax said no accident history.

The description also mentioned that a alignment had been done.

A pound of salt on any of this. Still, should be a interesting project car.


Carfax only shows reported accidents.
 
Originally Posted by Farnsworth
What was the oil filter doing during all this, clogged and in bypass?


I wondered the same myself. I saved the filter for evidence and posterity. It doesn't look "clogged" but I'm not sure what a metalically clogged filter would look like. There did seem to be more metal in the filter housing than there was in the drained oil, so perhaps it was doing its job and what's in the picture is the metal that fell out of the filter during removal.

In response to the other question, I'll have to test the magneticness of the particles once I get home. I do know that they seem to settle, as after a day of the oil sitting I had to stir the bucket for them to be visible again.
 
Originally Posted by jeepman3071
Originally Posted by PimTac
The description did state something about side pillar damage and rear damage. Interesting that the Carfax said no accident history.

The description also mentioned that a alignment had been done.

A pound of salt on any of this. Still, should be a interesting project car.


Carfax only shows reported accidents.


Yes, the fact that they did an alignment and didn't mention "by the way, the non-adjustable camber is -0.9deg on the right and -2.7deg on the left..." leads me to question their intentions.

I even found in the service records "both front strut mounts are for Left side, replaced with correct" - it seems the previous owner knew what was up, as using swapped strut mounts adds -2deg camber to each side. Swapping just one would mean bringing this car back into alignment, which is the state it was in before the shop received it.
 
Sorry to hear OP.

As many in the market have noticed, now that these cars are harder to find in nice shape, their values are going up.
Many are being patched together with a "good enough" approach and sold as premium condition cars (I have high suspicions of many of the cars on BAT have odometer rollbacks etc.).

Hopefully things turn out OK and you are able to save it without too much headache.
 
Originally Posted by Lolvoguy
Sorry to hear OP.

As many in the market have noticed, now that these cars are harder to find in nice shape, their values are going up.
Many are being patched together with a "good enough" approach and sold as premium condition cars (I have high suspicions of many of the cars on BAT have odometer rollbacks etc.).

Hopefully things turn out OK and you are able to save it without too much headache.


This seems to be the case. I've seen "pay now or pay later" repeated about these cars, and I now see I could've just put the extra $5k in to buy one that's actually in good shape (though who knows even with the ones that seem good).

This afternoon I stopped by the shop and talked to the manager. After some record searching he discovered that sure enough, they didn't change the oil (or any other fluids) in the year the shop was working on the car: a pretty big oversight, in my mind. He agreed that they certainly would've seen it if they did the change, but "I don't know what to tell you."

It sounds like they want to cooperate to make it right, so that's good. I sent them the oil report and they're "going to show it to their BMW engine expert on Monday." They also commented on the lack of alignment disclosure saying that they don't do alignments in their shop, so they just sent it off and got it aligned - the other shop didn't comment on the camber mismatch.


And as far as spec/approvals on the oil, this is my first oil change with the car so it is unknown what was in it before. I replaced it with Rotella T6 5w40 for now, but I imagine that won't be lasting long before the engine needs to be torn apart, anyway.
 
Dang that sucks.
frown.gif


Doesn't sound like there is much you can do, besides fix whatever is wrong with the engine before it grenades and costs even more money to replace. Agreed that it's a pretty big oversight to not even change the oil in a car they were "working on" for a year. Makes me wonder what "work" they even did...
 
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