I BLEW MY E46 BMW MOTOR. And why you should check your oil pump nut if you track
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TechTranscript
00:00Hey guys, emergency video.
00:08I blew the engine in my BMW E46.
00:11Some of you might have found that on the social media and I swapped in a ... Actually, I'm
00:14not going to ruin it for you.
00:15I want you to watch the Road to Time Attack series, but I'm currently tearing down my
00:18engine for fun because people that helped me with the engine swap wanted to have a couple
00:23of souvenirs.
00:24I've got some pistons that I'm going to give them.
00:26What I wanted to talk to you today about was the oil pump nut because in the 325, the M54B25,
00:34there shouldn't be much of an oil pump nut issue.
00:37The oil pump is in the sump underneath the front of the engine below the crank.
00:42It pulls oil from the sump and distributes it around the engine.
00:46What happens very often in 330 motors is that the oil pump nut can actually come loose.
00:51If it comes loose, it pops off and the oil pump doesn't work and you lose oil pressure
00:55and the engine's done.
00:56It happens very quickly.
00:59This is usually only a problem in the 330 just because of something to do with harmonic
01:02vibrations at high RPMs if you're using it on the track, hanging around in the red line
01:06for a while, it can happen.
01:10I just pulled my ... This is an M54B25.
01:12I just pulled my oil pump out and here is the oil pump nut.
01:20It was on here and it was finger tight.
01:24It was sitting like this and I could just back it off like that.
01:28It was completely loose.
01:30That's terrifying.
01:32If I didn't have a destroyed engine, I would have destroyed the engine a little bit later
01:38anyway.
01:39Here it is right now.
01:40I'm not going to tell you the whole story about what happened there because I want you
01:43to watch the Road to Time Attack series because it's fun and I'm having a lot of fun making
01:48it.
01:49I hope you guys are enjoying it, those of you that have been watching it.
01:51Just currently tearing this down.
01:53I don't want to give you guys any more hints.
01:54Watch Road to Time Attack episode one, two, and three, which are out right now.
01:58Episode four will have what happened to this engine in that episode.
02:04That's going to be a pretty exciting one.
02:05The one after that is going to be super dramatic as we swap a new engine in.
02:11Big warning for those of you who track your BMWs.
02:14If with the M54 engine, apparently, even with the 2.5, the oil pump nut comes loose.
02:20This is not something you can check without dropping the oil pan, but if you do drop the
02:25oil pan, for whatever reason, check that pump.
02:28I think BimionDuck, no, Turner Motorsports maybe has a kit which basically takes this
02:37nut and you lock tight it and it has a little wire that holds it to the sprocket that goes
02:43right there so that it can't fall off, which is probably a good idea to do.
02:47If you're ever lowering the subframe for any reason, drop the oil pan and fix that,
02:52especially if you track your car.
02:53Even if you don't, honestly, do it.
02:55I tracked this motor quite a lot, yes, but I spent the majority of its life just being
03:00a family car.
03:02That's pretty scary.
03:03As soon as I backed up that oil pump nut, I was like, oh man, this engine was about
03:06to die anyway.
03:07It was completely loose.
03:08It would have been like, I don't know, who knows?
03:09It could have been 10 more track days.
03:10It could have been one more track day before it actually started to fall off and I'd lost
03:13oil pressure.
03:14But I can tell you what I am going to do is I am going to install an oil pressure gauge
03:18in my new engine because that's terrifying and I don't want that to happen to my brand
03:24new engine.
03:25So, long story short, check your oil pump nut if you track your car, number one.
03:30Number two, watch the Road to Time Attack series and I will see you guys later.