[Chrisguilday]

Hey guys, I recently bought a 2011 E93 335i with 112K miles. I’ve put 4K miles on it so far.

I’ve been done some of the common general maintenance myself so far (Suspension, OFHG, motor mounts, etc) and obviously I keep hearing about rod bearing failure.

Is this issue common enough that it warrants proactively having the bearings changed? Or what should I do? Would it be a good idea to take an oil sample and send it off?

If I should get them changed, how expensive are we talking here to do that job?

Any advice? Thanks.

[bmw335ie90]

Originally Posted by Chrisguilday

Hey guys, I recently bought a 2011 E93 335i with 112K miles. I’ve put 4K miles on it so far.

I’ve been done some of the common general maintenance myself so far (Suspension, OFHG, motor mounts, etc) and obviously I keep hearing about rod bearing failure.

Is this issue common enough that it warrants proactively having the bearings changed? Or what should I do? Would it be a good idea to take an oil sample and send it off?

If I should get them changed, how expensive are we talking here to do that job?

Any advice? Thanks.

Here are two threads showing opposite things, one is 165K mile bearings that look fine and the other is 72K mile bearings that do not look fine.

N55 Rod Bearings 165k miles (pic) https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1874335

I'm going to preventatively replace my 72K N55 rod bearings https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1572184

I don't think there is an inherent 'issue' with the rod bearings on n55 (like on the S65/S85) but there are definitely a handful of reports that have shown pre-mature wear or complete failure. You will be hard pressed to find more than 5 examples of documented complete bearing failure on a n55 which tells me its not a widespread problem.

If you have a full service history on your car since it is higher mileage, oil change interval should give you some indication. 10-15k miles oil changes? You might have bearing wear issues. 5-8K mile oil changes probably less likely to have a problem. Did the previous owner let the oil warm up before hammering it? All of these things will contribute to bearing wear.

[Chrisguilday]

Originally Posted by bmw335ie90

Here are two threads showing opposite things, one is 165K mile bearings that look fine and the other is 72K mile bearings that do not look fine.

N55 Rod Bearings 165k miles (pic) https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1874335

I'm going to preventatively replace my 72K N55 rod bearings https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1572184

I don't think there is an inherent 'issue' with the rod bearings on n55 (like on the S65/S85) but there are definitely a handful of reports that have shown pre-mature wear or complete failure. You will be hard pressed to find more than 5 examples of documented complete bearing failure on a n55 which tells me its not a widespread problem.

If you have a full service history on your car since it is higher mileage, oil change interval should give you some indication. 10-15k miles oil changes? You might have bearing wear issues. 5-8K mile oil changes probably less likely to have a problem. Did the previous owner let the oil warm up before hammering it? All of these things will contribute to bearing wear.

Yeah unfortunately I don’t. I ran the carfax and it has some service history and oil change history, but there’s some big gaps missing and I seriously hope that other oil changes were done because if not it means the car went 20k+ miles without an oil change at one point lol.

The car runs and drives perfect and makes no weird noises so far. I guess I’ll do an oil sample and see if that tells me anything.

[EnzoKhan]

Originally Posted by Chrisguilday

Yeah unfortunately I don’t. I ran the carfax and it has some service history and oil change history, but there’s some big gaps missing and I seriously hope that other oil changes were done because if not it means the car went 20k+ miles without an oil change at one point lol.

The car runs and drives perfect and makes no weird noises so far. I guess I’ll do an oil sample and see if that tells me anything.

Do you have any updates? How is your car running? Im saving up to have mine replaced. Was quoted $2000. My oil pan gasket is also leaking. 120k miles.