Open Road

Ran across this video and noticed a rod lying on the road after this guy was drifting.

Now what caused this to happen? Didn't seem like the engine was over-revving. Did he shift when he shouldn't have? Little puzzled, what do you all think? (not that I would do this anyway but curious as I thought maybe some tires and possibly a clutch would be sacrificed but never an engine!)

IIRC the E92 M3 is “known” to have soft rod bearings.

The guys at RSR Nurburg explained this to me as the reason they retired their E92s from ‘ring duty at 80k-ish km and retained a couple for “tour” duty only.

Otherwise, don’t know: video wouldn’t load for me :(

One I took on a tour:

Probably the result of multiple abuses.

worf wrote: ↑Sun Jun 27, 2021 2:28 pm IIRC the E92 M3 is “known” to have soft rod bearings.

The guys at RSR Nurburg explained this to me as the reason they retired their E92s from ‘ring duty at 80k-ish km and retained a couple for “tour” duty only.

Otherwise, don’t know: video wouldn’t load for me :(

One I took on a tour:

It's a Facebook video and doesn't require logging in so surprised you couldn't see it.

I guess that would explain it since doing donuts in a parking lot probably causes some stress on the engine.

Good looking car, just had a douche owner who blew it up!

Not many engines are meant to be used full throttle for long periods of time, especially bouncing off the rev limiter.

It would be a fun comparison to take a brand new 911 and a brand new M3 and bounce them both off of the rev limiter until the engines explode. I'm going to assume the 911 would last longer, but who knows.

There are LOTS of them on the track!

AKSteve wrote: ↑Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:34 am It would be a fun comparison to take a brand new 911 and a brand new M3 and bounce them both off of the rev limiter until the engines explode. I'm going to assume the 911 would last longer, but who knows.

Not if you read the 997 forum on rennlist. Our 997's are so fragile that merely taking them out in the rain can be perilous to the car. People ask questions about whether they can be tracked in a DE, and worry about destroying the car if they do so (novice level too, I might add). We are told to never let them idle, but upon starting, jump in and quickly drive off like a LeMans racer in the 70's (hence, the reason for the key on the left side of the steering column). We are told that if we don't, the bores will score and the engine will become toast. And oh, by the way, don't let the revs exceed 3K until everything is up to temp and hot, which takes at least 20 minutes (longer than the typical commute).

so, if some are to be believed, the 911 doesn't stand a chance. I am not of that camp, BTW.

Play stupid games, win some toast!

Come on man, use the right tool for the job.

linderpat wrote: ↑Mon Sep 20, 2021 10:05 am

AKSteve wrote: ↑Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:34 am It would be a fun comparison to take a brand new 911 and a brand new M3 and bounce them both off of the rev limiter until the engines explode. I'm going to assume the 911 would last longer, but who knows.

Not if you read the 997 forum on rennlist. Our 997's are so fragile that merely taking them out in the rain can be perilous to the car. People ask questions about whether they can be tracked in a DE, and worry about destroying the car if they do so (novice level too, I might add). We are told to never let them idle, but upon starting, jump in and quickly drive off like a LeMans racer in the 70's (hence, the reason for the key on the left side of the steering column). We are told that if we don't, the bores will score and the engine will become toast. And oh, by the way, don't let the revs exceed 3K until everything is up to temp and hot, which takes at least 20 minutes (longer than the typical commute).

so, if some are to be believed, the 911 doesn't stand a chance. I am not of that camp, BTW.

Try the 996 board too, some believe if you look at an M96 with a frown it'll get angry and blow up on you!

linderpat wrote: ↑Mon Sep 20, 2021 10:05 am

AKSteve wrote: ↑Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:34 am It would be a fun comparison to take a brand new 911 and a brand new M3 and bounce them both off of the rev limiter until the engines explode. I'm going to assume the 911 would last longer, but who knows.

Not if you read the 997 forum on rennlist. Our 997's are so fragile that merely taking them out in the rain can be perilous to the car. People ask questions about whether they can be tracked in a DE, and worry about destroying the car if they do so (novice level too, I might add). We are told to never let them idle, but upon starting, jump in and quickly drive off like a LeMans racer in the 70's (hence, the reason for the key on the left side of the steering column). We are told that if we don't, the bores will score and the engine will become toast. And oh, by the way, don't let the revs exceed 3K until everything is up to temp and hot, which takes at least 20 minutes (longer than the typical commute).

so, if some are to be believed, the 911 doesn't stand a chance. I am not of that camp, BTW.

So true, lol. I bought a used manual 997S with a few dreaded and deadly "over-revs" stored in the computer. The seller practically gave it away because the RL and 6-speed hive-minds declared it worthless because it hit 7.4K a couple of times for 3 milliseconds with a 7.3K redline.
I drove that car hard, including track days at Laguna Seca where I used the throttle like a toggle switch and happily shifted at redline for hours per day. That car was 100% reliable for many years and I bet it's still going strong.

By far the most likely scenario here is that he spun a(n already worn) rod bearing after over-revving a cold engine. The S65 and S85 engines are well known to have extremely tight RB tolerances and they're about the only thing that kills these engines. It's assumed that BMW knew this because the E9x M3 and E60 M5 that have these engines come with a variable redline--around 6500 for a cold start and as the engine warms up the redline slowly increases to 8400.

These engines are amazing and among the last of the 'affordable' high-revving NA V8s but are not the best engine to abuse like in the video.

Also, just like the well known 996/7 IMS issues, many people downplay the risk until it happens to them. Ask me how I know. :)

rev limiters usually work in 2 ways. ignition cut or fuel cut. both can cause detonation, so if you bounce off the rev limiter like there is no tomorrow, that engine will have less life than others that didn't.