PranK

My engine has only an oil pressure switch from factory and I've installed an after market sensor that will alert me to pressure loss (https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/484431-my-bmw-335i/page/3/) . These engines can definitely feel long left/right handers which is why I added this sensor. There are no other symptoms at all. No strange noises (in fact after the turbos were replaced the mechanic made a note of how sweet the engine was running), no smoke, no glitter in the filter, nada. I'm just a stress head with car issues, I hate there being anything at all wrong with my cars, even if its basic. I just immediately get anxious and start thinking about catastrophic failure.

I'm reading that lead is likely from bearings. Can these be caught before it's too late or is it doomed already?

I forgot to mention also that he cut the filter open and saw no glitter at all in there. Yep, I'l give him a call shortly. Fingers crossed!

So, I wish I'd done an oil analysis before changing my turbos because my analysis shows elevated (53 ppm) levels of lead. I don't have an analysis before this, so there is no trend. I'll do another change and analysis in 5k to establish a trend but I'm curious about whether this is just a sign of a steady decline? I have no knocks and oil pressure seems ok. Is this something my engine can recover from or is it on borrowed time? My mechanic did add some additive for stem seals in the last oil change which would be in this analysis. I'm not sure if that would affect anything. Also, the oil in this analysis is the first oil change I did with the car so I have no idea how long it had been since the previous one. I was given a service history but I don't fully trust these. I know we don't have heaps of info and I'm kinda freaking out a bit, maybe prematurely.

Its even cooler now. What a job!

Perfect, thanks.

@sycotix can you please make sure you *cant* PM? There should be a restriction on you PM'ing until you hit 15 posts (your next one) - it will just help me ensure this is working as it is a new anti-spam restriction we introduced only a week ago or so.

Note in @soviet_merlin's post above "Fully qualified and fully insured." - this insurance is what should cover you.

Surely you have a fair claim with CarInspect. Try reaching out to Dept Fair Trading or similar if CI are no help. I would assume you'd have channels available here.

Damn thats cool.

Oh shit man. I'm so sorry! What failed in the roadworthy and structurals? Maybe it's not a lost cause?

Gotta love free horsepower! I'm sure we used to have a free horsepower thread but I cant find it now...

Hi Andy and welcome! Got any pics of the customers cars you're talking about?

Money pump was done recently. So, it must be that.

So I'm not a genius? Is that what you're saying? What else would change in volume based on climbing or descending ?

So the X5 has recently started making a whirring noise in the front. Volume of the noise is related to road speed, not revs. We just discovered today that it goes away when going up a hill and is back when on the flat or going down a hill. That makes me think it could be bearings as there would be less weight on the front when climbing. Does that sound sane? We will take it in for an opinion from my BMW guy on Thursday but in the meantime just trying to work it out. We did try to load up each front side at 70ish kph by doing a bit of a slalom. I did hear that you can isolate each wheel this way but we heard no difference from each side. I'm just hoping its the bearings and not the front diff or something else. Not after what I just spent on the E90!

Welcome Alex!

its hard to tell in the pics just how far it is turned. Let us know how you go.

This is what I was thinking.

Looks to me like going over the top would be better but that would require some custom lines. How often is the wheel turned that far? I think @GTSBoy's suggestion of adding a sleeve and letting it rub seems like a valid option?

Again, it looks great! Its funny, when I bought my Gtst I had 30 min drive straight home (around 5pm) and then straight to bed as I had to drive to the snow around 3am the next morning. So, much like you, I got a very decent "first" drive to familiarise myself and just enjoy it on some good roads. In my GTR I drove it to Lismore once and I had to put some cushions on the seat. Like you I'm a bigger guy and the stock GTR seats killed me on long(er) drives.

Next purchase will be an LSD Conversion kit I think. Looks pretty easy to DIY if I can find somebody to chop 4mm off my drive shafts.

Thanks for that. I think it might be the bulb cover at the back but these fricken lights are so hard to get any access to without removing the wheel liner / splash guard inside the wheel well and accessing them from the well ... which means removing the damn wheel again.

Picked the car up on Saturday and its beautiful! I do feel that even just knowing its fixed makes everything feel better. Did a cold start on Sunday and got the tiniest bit of rattle which upset me a bit but it was really hard to hear and made me think it could be something else that has previously gone unnoticed due to the volume of the rattly turbos. I went for a drive and then loaded my tune which caused a LOT of rattle previously and it was silent. The car drove so nicely and now I have a 400HP tune with the front mount which is nice. In terms of engine mods I think I'm done but I also know myself. Then I fit the $500 rims I got. These are the same as my track wheels because I love them and I dont need to swap spacers when changing them. They're absolutely mint and have 275/35 rear and 245/40 front. The fronts do rub the splash guard and I had to lift the front 5mm to fit them (the track fronts are 245/35). I really need to work out whats wrong with my drivers headlight. It just keeps filling with water and it killed a 6 month old $150 OSRAM xenon bulb - hopefully I dont need a new light, they're fricken expo.

Dont get me started on the N54 injectors