Camshaft issue! help!

[grantlacey11]

Hey guys,

took my valve cover off today to paint it, and while i was looking around i noticed that my front intake cam bearing was totally toast! all the metal is munged and does not look good.







a couple questions:

how bad is this problem? do i just need a new camshaft?

if it is just that, do any of you guys have one, or know where i could get one for cheap?

if the problem is worse, how bad is it?

thanks!

-Grant

[slo325i]

Well sorry to break this to ya but you're gonna need a new head. Because obviously you're not getting oil under that cam bearing site. THere's a blockage somewhere in that head and there's really no way to clear that one oil journal.

Sorry man. I've been there before.

[dashboardmonkey]

WOW

That sucks man.

Good luck on getting your head replaced.

[grantlacey11]

new head?!?! theres no way i could blast some air to the blocked oil path? how much would a head cost at an auto recycler? MAN THIS SUCKS.

how dangerous is it to drive around town?

[Hick]

no way to fix, the lower race for the camshaft is the head.

not dangerous to drive, but it will eventually fail and harm more parts... bend valves on the intake side.

If anything, i know gazellebeigem3 has a head, pm him.

[homegrone30]

Is it an I or an E cause I might just have a head I can sell you.

[nando]

I would just drive it until it explodes, and then put in an S50. :p

[grantlacey11]

Is it an I or an E cause I might just have a head I can sell you.

i have an m42!!

and,

i like the s50 idea...i just dont know how in my budget it is though!

[whterice]

thats what happened to mine yay but i also have a broken intake rocker.............now i know why the previous owner sold this car. thanx since i know your on this board

[whterice]

is there a way to prevent this sort of thing? i dont want it to happen to my next head

[Spinning Tires]

Too bad BMW heads dont have cam bearings. You can get the head fixed but im sure a used one is way cheaper. Theres only 2 things i can think of that caused this. No oil pressure in the motor. Or a clogged port to the front journal. The fronts always wear out first cause they have the timing chain ripping down on them. Make sure you have oil pressure or it will happen to the new head.

[bmwpower]

If it's an M42, you just need a new cam carrier.

...and if it's an M42, pop your lower oil pan now and check the oil pan bolts. Bet your pump is sucking air.

[grantlacey11]

If it's an M42, you just need a new cam carrier.

...and if it's an M42, pop your lower oil pan now and check the oil pan bolts. Bet your pump is sucking air.

so there is a part that sits underneath the camshaft and above the head that it spins on? aka the cam carrier?

even if i replace the "cam carrier" wont there still be the problem of no oil being pumped there?

possible trial: (let me know the feasability) replace the cam and the "cam carrier" and see if the problem happens again?

as for the oil pan, i knocked a hole in it sometime last week, a pretty decent hole, had her welded up fine, but there were metal chunks in the bottome of the pan,.. im pretty sure they were from the hole in the pan...but there is plenty of oil in there now....comments? concerns?

[grantlacey11]

Too bad BMW heads dont have cam bearings. You can get the head fixed but im sure a used one is way cheaper. Theres only 2 things i can think of that caused this. No oil pressure in the motor. Or a clogged port to the front journal. The fronts always wear out first cause they have the timing chain ripping down on them. Make sure you have oil pressure or it will happen to the new head.

there is definitly oil pressure....what are some of the ways i could "unclog" the head?

[Hick]

If it's an M42, you just need a new cam carrier....

ohhhhhhh yeah. think i would remember this with two complete m42s taken apart in my garage