Originally Posted by ErikM3
The now famous cyl #6 rod bearing starvation issue. This was extremely well covered up in late 01 however. My car was picked up and "covered" on the flat bed for its trip to the dealer. Upon arrival it was quickly whisked away so no one would see it. I was going approx 5 MPh in a parking lot when she blew. New engine installed and it did a F1 style flame out at speed the second time at 80 MPH.
Do you live in Europe ? how did your S54 throw out 343 HP ?
I used to live in Europe. I am Swiss and I married my gf (she is American, born and raised in the Boston area) and she absolutely wanted to live near her parents (sad story is that since we got here in MA, her father died of cancer and her mother relocated to Florida !), so I agreed for us to move to the US to make her happier than she was in Europe. And here I am...
But I spent most of my life in Switzerland, excepted for various periods of time when I worked in other countries (including the USA, worked in NYC for a couple of years in the mid 90s).
So basically all my cars were European models (started with a Seat Ibiza GLX 1.5i, then an Opel Kadett GSI16v, Toyota Celica 4wd Turbo 16v, Ford Sierra Cosworth 4wd and two BMW M3s. Most of these cars probably mean nothing to the average American driver...I am sure they are quite unknown...)...and the last two of them, as I wrote in parenthesis, where BMW M3's...I bought my first one in 1997 when I came back from NYC and it was a Tekno-Violett (at least that's the name of the color in the Swiss M3 color palette brochure) M3 Coupe with a 6sp and the 3.2L 321 hp (if I remember well, in those times the M3 for the USA had only 240 hp, am I right ?). Then in January 2001 I had an orrendous crash due to black ice and I completely totalled that M3.
When I got out of the hospital, one of the first thing I did, it was to go back to the BMW dealership for another M3 and I got a Silver w/Cinnamon-colored leather (actually I didn't choose it myself...the waiting period for a new M3 was over a year at that time, but the dealership owner was a buddy of mine and he had ordered this M3 to keep it in the showroom and he graciously agreed on letting me have it the day it arrived, which was a couple of weeks after I payed him a visit.), 6sp as well. And it had 343 hp right out of the box.
Of all cars I had, I only had one modded: it was a Ford Sierra Cosworth 4wd, which I owned before the M3s and I had it brought from 220 to 270 hp (which is not bad for a 2 liter 4 cyl...) and I also had a better exhaust put in and a sporty gearbox that it would go from neutral to gear fully in, in less than an inch of travel of the lever itself.
But as I said, my M3's never gave me any problem AT ALL. TOTALLY troublefree...
Erik, I am not sure about the "cyl#6 rod bearing starvation issue", could you please explain it a bit for me ? Thanks !
