Oh no another intake camshaft bearing damaged,,,,this job all started with a check engine light on a N55 and faults eccentric motor ,,,after replacement we had more problems and new faults,,,we had intake camshaft and turbo boost issue,,,,the car ran just fine no limp mode and plenty of turbo boost.
So we tore the valve cover off again and rechecked everything,,,checked the timing was perfect,,,,so we decided to take off the intake camshaft bearings and this is what we found was bearing caps damaged causing the intake camshaft to bind.
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bmwtechnician 
That looks bad 😦 Do you know what is responsible for the lack of lubrication?
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No we never did figure it out,,,,the customer had his regular oil changes done.
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So did the burn spot on the second bearing cap(from the bottom of second picture) caused the problem? That seems to be a very small blemish, or is the damage somewhere else in the picture? I guess at high rpm any imperfection can be big problem, right?
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I know that pictures not the best,,,,but all those camshaft bearing were pretty messed up.,,,,I think the cause was all of them binding the camshaft
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Andreas, how many miles on this engine?
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62k
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N55 turbo supposedly is rock solid, unless oil change was not done on schedule? In this regard, my guess is the LL01FE 0w30 can be a good option for cold start protection even for N55.
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Yes,,,,BMW will be switching over to 0-30w and 0-20w on all their cars
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Hi Andreas! I very much appreciate your blog! Question: If BMW is going to 0W30 oil for the N20 too, would Castrol’s LL-01 0W40 be a good choice too? It’s what I use in my E46 with a M52TU and that car loves it. It’s nearly 20 years old and shows zero oil consumption with 10,000 mile change intervals. I am thinking that the N20 in my F30 may benefit from a 0W40 as it is thinner at startup and a thicker oil when running hot which may alleviate stress on the timing chain and oil chain components.
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Yes they are going to 0-30w on N20,,,,,you can try 0-40w
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Awesome blog! I was wondering if you have seen similar issue on the s63 engine with 75k miles. My engine is making horrific knocking/grinding sound and has the following codes: 002A7F, 002A82, 002A9D – bank 2 vanos solenoids, 002AC4 – low fuel pressure and 00E207 – which could not be explained. I am suspecting a leaked injector due to hard starting rought idle and fuel smell and maybe bent rod or bearing on the crankshaft but so far the engine has not been opened. Thank you!
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No we haven’t had a problems with camshaft bearings on that engine,,,,it’s hard to say what the knocking and grinding noise is,,,,but I would first look into the low fuel pressure issue,,,possible bad injectors,,,,if you can remove the spark plugs and see if they are fuel soaked that will be your problem,,,,the vanos solenoid faults could be a vanos solenoid or the vanos unit itself which could be your knocking or grinding noise,,,,the vanos unit do make a noise when going bad.
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Thank you for the advise! I am trying to get the dealer to look into the spark plugs and injectors. Do you know of cases in which Index 11 injectors have started leaking, I know the current revisions is 12, and there is a new Injector that is recommended for the S63 with different material content to resist the heat? I fear that the leaked injector has caused hydrolock and then the rod bearings or the a rod itself has given way. Also leaking fuel into the oil is probably not very good for lubrication.
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Yes I have seen index 11 and index 12 fuel injector go bad,,,,I just did some last week.
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So may I ask what the remedy is for this, I have this problem on my car as well and it’s been sitting for months because I was told the cylinder head needs to be replaced. Don’t have 6300 bucks for a new one not 4k for the labor to get it done and my warranty didn’t cover it
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Sorry the only remedy is to replace the cylinder head,,,,there was no warranty on this car also,,,,the customer had to pay for the repairs,,,I don’t know why this problem happens ,,,lack of oil,,cheap oil filters or over due oil service?
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Would it not be an option to put another camshaft in it? I literally drove thus car for like less than 8 months, and I’m wanting to kust trade it in i have had the car for only a year now and this was discovered in may.
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You can put another camshaft in,,,but you still have bad camshaft bearing that will damage the new camshaft again.,,,,if you are going to do it you should replace the head and camshaft at the same time.
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I’m worried about getting another cam shaft with that much wear because I feel like there may be damage to the entire engine.
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I wouldn’t worry about it,,,,when we removed the cylinder head on are engine the piston rings still looked good.,,,the tolerance on the camshaft and the cylinder head are so tight that could be the problem.
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Is this the cause of some of these engines locking up?
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Yes this is the cause of some of these engines lock-in up
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Are you in Canada? I had my car fixed for the same problem around the same date at BMW QC lol
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No,,,,sorry I’m in California,,,,,lol
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Wow! I love I6 engines but after reading this it makes me want to go for a japanese V8 SUV for my next SUV replacing the 2005 X3. Even if fuel consumption sucks it will be more reliable than the N55.
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The N55 is pretty reliable,,,,what we are seeing the ones with this problem are going past the oil change requirements and using cheap oil and filters,,,,the down fall on any engine now is oil services
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Do you think the absence of doing the prime procedure after oil service may be contributing to this failure ?
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Do you think a lack of oil prime process after OFL can be the contributor to this damage ?
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No it’s not the lack of oil prime,,,this happens when you go way past the oil service due time and also using a cheap oil filter and oil,,,,all the one we have seen customer is over due 10k miles and the oil filter is coming apart
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Is it possible to change the bearings without removing the intake cam?
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The answer is no,,,,because if the camshaft bearing journals are bad you have to replace the whole cylinder head,,,because they don’t have bearing for camshaft the cylinder head is machined perfectly for the camshaft to sit inside journal.
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What type of oil should one use for N55 engine if its over 100k miles I meant if one does not get it from dealer
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Synthetic 0-30
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The manual says 5w-30 synthetic so if one uses 0w-30 what brand do you recommend ?
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We are using Castrol
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Hi, What was the fit for the bearings? Did you install a new cylinder head?
Thanks
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Fix**
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Yes a new cylinder head
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sorry but could someone tell me how and where to ask about other subj; thanks in adv.
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You can post in any section you would like.
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Do you know what the camshaft journals to cylinder head clearance for oil should be. I disassembled my cam and it is scored along with the journal caps, Head side is fine, must be from the spring tension pushing cam. I want to replace cap and clean up bearing caps, but will measure bore and camshaft to see clearance. looking to see what my oil clearance should be,
Thanks
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I believe the caps come with the new cylinder head and are bored to the correct size with the head,,,,what I have seen some people do is take like 320 or 600 sandpaper and lightly sand it to clean it up.
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Hey 2013 X5 n55 at 40k the dealer replace the rod bearing,now at 97k I’m hearing a little putting from the rear cylinder?
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You might have the same problem again
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Was wondering if this could contribute to an “101F01 – Air Mass plausibility, calculated air mass in intake implausible” fault code causing a rough idle and occasional stalling whilst starting up? Was chasing down the 101F01 code, tore the valve cover off to check timing and had a look at my cam journals to find a similar case to the one you posted.
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I don’t think that would cause the fault,,, you did say a whistle start up that could be a valve cover issue which would cause a lean mixture and could cause rough idle
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Hello! I’m going thru this now with a newly acquired 335 xi n55 2011. We have the 28A0 fault. Like others we have checked everything in the diagnostic tree and I am at the point where I will pull the valve cover myself to inspect the intake cam and head. Could you kindly tell me what the procedure for removing the intake cam would be do I need special tools for this or only the reassembly and timing? I have seen someone using zap straps to stabilize the springs. I know I can pull the bearing caps and inspect cam and bearing cap however how do I determine if head damage has occurred? Any info would be appreciated.
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Yes you do need special tools and I don’t recommend zip ties to hold the spring,,,,you can take one bearing cap at a time off and inspect and the reinstall the cap and go to the next one without causing any damage
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Ok so I’ve pulled the valves cover and this is what I’ve found after removing each bearing cap. Clearly I have scoring under each one 1-4 are slightly worse then 5-6. How can I see if the head is scored ? Remove the intake cam?
https://ibb.co/X8hFvpD
https://ibb.co/j54XHbp
https://ibb.co/hR44ZcV
https://ibb.co/vVTpTth
https://ibb.co/MkmW7nk
https://ibb.co/89bbrdt
https://ibb.co/n6ncnBw
https://ibb.co/7RN7yk3
https://ibb.co/z4XWZsW
https://ibb.co/X2jVs97
https://ibb.co/7bYMHfQ
https://ibb.co/jH8BGbh
https://ibb.co/8c1Y1sK
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Yes you have to remove the intake cam
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Ok so I decided to replace the valve cover with a new one today only to find two new codes! I started the car to a rough idle and limp mode. I’m getting the P054B and P052B camshaft position timing over retarded bank 1. I’m not sure why I’d get this from only a valve cover change. Can you think of what might cause such an error? Could it be one of the connection incorrectly connected or perhaps an adaptation I need to do? I tried clearing the codes and restarting numerous times to no avail..
Thanks
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Are you sure the bearing cap were installed correctly
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All good just dirty vanos solenoids, cleaned and reinstalled all good now.
Thanks
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Great, thanks for the reply! Would one need to remove the cam entirely to inspect the head side? I see one of your earlier posters indicated his head journal was in good shape. If so would one just sand the caps and camshaft bearings or replace with new intake cam and bearing caps? I’m trying to do the inspection portion of this work myself and if need be have the vehicle towed to the shop for cam replacement, I might find no scoring and it will end up being a simple valve cover install. Thanks
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Yes you would have to remove the intake cam to inspect the head side,,,but if the one side of the the bearing journal is good then the head side should be ok
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Could you please tell me what the torque specification for the bearing cap bolts on the intake cam should be on the N55? Thanks
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