E46 325i Destroyed oil pan, How to proceed

[yinzerinmass]

The pic below shows the aftermath of hitting a brick in the road. I was able to get off the road and shut the car down while oil was still pouring out of the pan. What concerns me a little is the proximity of the damage to the pickup tube.

I've found a salvage pan and cleaned it up thoroughly, looks to be acceptable.
New Gasket
Im comfortable with the process of dropping the front subframe to remove and install the oil pan

My independent BMW mechanic advised me to replace the rod bearings while I have it opened up. I will use OEM bearings and stocks bolts
-this portion of the job i will be in some uncharted territory. Over the years of owning the car I've accumulated the tools and I think the know how to pull it off

Upon reassembly/refill i was going to pull the fuel pump relay and plugs to prime the oil pump

Am I missing anything, considerations? Any surprises awaiting?

Thanks in advance
Dave

IMG_1157.jpg

[MauiM3Mania]

Ouch! I'd be concerned about the pump and pickup as well.

New rod bolts are torque to yield type, as I recall. Dig into this link for torque values, etc.

Good luck.

[dworthy]

The question would be how many miles?

Also how long was the motor ran after the oil pan was punched?

The only engine that I know of that has bearing issues is the S-54 and S-65 that you would need to replace them every 100k-150k miles.

[MarcoZandrini]

I’m with dworthy on this. I’m betting (with your money!) that you were able to shut the engine down before damage occurred. Why? The M54 sump has a capacity of 7 quarts of oil (8 in the ix). That’s a lot of oil. Besides, if the rod bearing are shot then there’s other damage to be fixed.

[yinzerinmass]

Its a 2003 325i, 178,000 miles. It sees some autocross use, but is up on its maintenance. I've been doing 5k oil changes the 4 years I have owned it.

I thought the same thing about the rod bearings. I asked the guy for advice, that's what he suggested to do. I didn't want to be a jerk and debate a professional I asked for some free advice. (I'm usually a paying customer, but this "accident" is hot on the heels of installing a randy forbes subframe kit and suspersprint exhaust on my M roadster, so I'm trying to tackle what I can on my own)

It ran for about 30 seconds after hitting the rock, not under load, but coasting from speed to a safe pull off point. I was pretty shook up but i think the oil pressure light came on just as soon as I stopped and turned it off. Oil was still pouring out of the pan. Wasn't knocking yet. I understand all this is speculation at this point. After this repair is there any testing that I should do?

[jclausen]

In all of my years dealing with BMW's, I have yet to replace any rod bearings in the e46 m3 or e60 m5. And I have not had any engine failures. So we never do them. I know there is a lot of comments on the internet about this. I had a customer buy a e30 m3 and the first thing he wanted to do is replace the pistons because of ring land failure. I told him to relax again Internet comments, I have never had an bmw engine blow up now that I think about it. A few engines got dinged by over revs but that was the drivers fault. I have a customer with an e39 m5 260,000 engine has never been opened

[dworthy]

I for one would leave the bearing alone. Of course free advice is just that, so as a professional I understand. It just much easier to do while you have everything off, but one thing to look at is the oil pump nut, for that is a known problem on the M-54 motors, mostly on the B30's, but I have heard of 1 or 2 B25's coming loose from auto-X or on a track rat.

[White94RX]

I wouldn't waste my time replacing the bearings in an M54.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[ross1]

Doesn't sound like you were ever starved for oil so unless very high miles I'd also leave the bearings alone.
Good luck, this could have been a lot worse.

[yinzerinmass]

Thanks for all the responses. Based on the consensus here I will hold off on the bearings, there doesn't seem to be a compelling argument for it. I will keep you posted on how I make out.

[yinzerinmass]

Ok, I got everything put back together and it seems to be running great. I had some Lemforder motor mounts that I had been meaning to put in so I did those too, the old ones were probably original and fell apart on removal. I also safety wired the oil pump nut. Based on the advice here, I didn't end up doing the bearings. Primed the oil pump and took it for a ride. Putting this car back in service feels great, I was scared I'd be taking on some payments for the first time in a few years.

Really the hardest part of the job for me was bringing the subframe back up to the body and bolting it in place by myself, it was always off a little so it was up and down on the jack and using a config of jackstands to help. And who can forget how fun it is to install the dipstick o-ring. I guess another good tip I found from reading several posts is to use a couple small zip ties to hold the gasket in place while you are working to get the pan in position. Two on either side helped me to not mess up the RTV while I loosely threaded some bolts in before cutting the zip ties.

Thanks again for the pro level advice here.

[dworthy]

Well you found one of the better forums IMO.

Also, thank-you for coming back to close out the thread for this is important for anybody else who is doing a search on this subject.

[bmwdirtracer]

RTV ? Zip ties?

[yinzerinmass]

I put a spot of Ultra Black at the splits in the block surface at the timing cover and rear main seal. I was afraid i would smear it all over if the bolt holes in the pan gasket weren't lined up perfectly and had to readjust it. So I I used a couple of small zip ties to hold it in place while i really loosely threaded a couple of bolts in, leaving enough room to and cut the zip tie and slide it out without disturbing the gasket. First time doing this job so I don't have the coordination down yet to whip it back in place in 15 minutes.

I imagine you are picturing me with a paint brush smearing shmooo on everything imaginable and bolting it all back together with huge zip ties smashed between the surfaces?