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Please help!!! Changed oil and YIKES!!

2K views 17 replies 12 participants last post by  irianjim 
#1 ·
Changed the oil in my 2006 325i E90 BMW. There were metal shavings and three small silver balls and/or ball bearings in the drain pan. They looked similar to bb's but bigger. What does this mean?? I'm scared to drive my car for fear of damaging the engine!! Any help or advice would greatly appreciated!!!!
T
 
#2 ·
It means you need the engine carefully inspected. I don't even know of any bearing that has ball bearing that small. The pieces of metal are probably the bearing housing that broke off and allowed the bearing to to drop into the pan.
Maybe someone that is way more familar with the internals of that engine can pitch in...
 
#6 ·
Man, that sucks. I have no idea about the problem but I do know that the only thing that is supposed to come out is dirty oil. I wouldn't attempt to even start the engine if it were mine. I'd call either the dealer or your indy first thing Monday morning and probably have it towed there after I talked with them. The price of a tow is a whole lot less than a new engine.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
 
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Did your engine make odd noises before the oil change?

.
 
#9 ·
If it was mine, there is no way that I would drive it. It's a time bomb waiting to go off.

Step 1. Bring the pieces to your dealer. Talk to the best mechanics in the shop and see if anyone can figure out where the bearings are from.

Step 2. If they were unable to tell you, start exploring realoem.com and see if you can figure it out.

Step 3. The engine has to come apart to find and replace the bad bearing. This is expensive, but if you wait until the bearing totally fails, it will be even more expensive.

Sorry to give you the bad news, but it looks like your car is going to be out of service for a week or two.

Frederic
 
#11 ·
Are you sure they weren't in the drain pan to begin with? How did your car drive prior to the oil change? I mean, if a bearing inside the engine broke apart, wouldn't you know it and hear it?
 
#13 ·
I just got a great idea how I can prank my cousin. He is a very reputable BMW indie here in the Atlanta area. I just need to go buy a couple of cheap ball bearings and put my hammer to them, and then stop by his shop. :rofl:
 
#14 ·
I agree with the thought this stuff may have been in the pan before you drained the oil into it. Most bearings inside an engine (main, conrod, cam) are some version of journal bearings not ball bearings. If pieces of those bearings big enough to notice came out you would have known you had a problem before the oil change.
 
#15 ·
I agree with the thought this stuff may have been in the pan before you drained the oil into it. Most bearings inside an engine (main, conrod, cam) are some version of journal bearings not ball bearings. If pieces of those bearings big enough to notice came out you would have known you had a problem before the oil change.
I thought this as well. There are little roller bearings in roller valve lifters and roller cam followers but if one of those had failed you would sure as hell know it by the loud clicking or grinding that the missing bearings would cause. And they wouldn't be little balls. They would be little rollers. I'm not sure if the Double VANOS valve actuators use any kind of roller or ball bearings, since I have never had my engine apart, but I doubt it. DSX or calwaterboy could probably answer that question.

I forgot to tighten the cam retaining bolt on a 4.2 liter Ford V6 truck engine I was rebuilding and on initial start up the cam slipped backwards causing the cam lobes to smash all of the rollers on the bottom of the roller lifters.

That was a REAL bad day.:cry:

My oil pan was full of little roller bearings, but the cam had seized in the block so the little bits and pieces in the oil pan were hardly the first symptom of my boneheaded mistake.
 
#17 ·
I first wondered if it is the bearing for the oil pump (about the only thing in the pan that has bearings, I believe.) If not that, it's something in the head - Valvetronic actuator - that dropped down through the oil returns.

If it were a Porsche 986/987 engine, I'd know exactly and tow the car for a rebuild. Certainly the car should not be started; going to be pricey - valve cover and pan both have to come off IMO.
 
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