F*cked Up S50 Cam

[ykarabala]

Driving my freshly rebuilt S50 about 70 miles before I experienced power loss and it shut off leaving me stranded on the freeway. Pulled the valve cover and intake cam cover off and noticed that the intake cam had no oil! Timing was also off by a few degrees. Everything was installed properly and torqued to proper values. In addition, E7 cap had a crack right down the middle and both the cam and cap had very severe, deep, wavy grooves. It’s done for.

1. How did this happen? Why was I not getting oil? How can I test that there is oil getting on the cam? Was thinking of pulling fuel pump fuse and cranking but not sure if that’s a smart way to check.

2. Cam upgrade to the M54 one? Good idea? Do I just need to shorten the gear by 5mm and all good? Or do I also need the ledge with lifters? Can’t find a solid answer online. I don’t want to source out s50/52 cams because they’re expensive.

Any input is appreciated as always, thanks!

[pazi88]

The cam trays can be installed wrong way around and in that case there is no lubrication to the cam.

M54 cam is downgrade compared to the s50 cam and the s50 cams are not that expensive even as new from bmw.

[ykarabala]

The cam trays can be installed wrong way around and in that case there is no lubrication to the cam.

I got my hands on another s50 head w cams. How can I test to make sure im getting oil? Don't want to go through this again..

So you're saying that I might have had the tray installed backwards as in flip it 180 degrees?

[pazi88]

I got my hands on another s50 head w cams. How can I test to make sure im getting oil? Don't want to go through this again..

So you're saying that I might have had the tray installed backwards as in flip it 180 degrees?

No i mean that the exhaust cam tray can go to intake side and vice versa. Causing loss of oil pressure to the cam. But if that is not the case, I would take the head off, because there is probably blocked oil passage somewhere.

[ykarabala]

No they’re in their proper place. E for intake tray and A for exhaust tray. Upon further inspection, all of the caps on the intake side had very severe wear so oil must not be getting to it. I can’t imagine a blocked passage because the head was resurfaced and cleaned and the block was also hot tanked. Would it be possible that the oil pump nut backed off?

[pazi88]

No they’re in their proper place. E for intake tray and A for exhaust tray. Upon further inspection, all of the caps on the intake side had very severe wear so oil must not be getting to it. I can’t imagine a blocked passage because the head was resurfaced and cleaned and the block was also hot tanked. Would it be possible that the oil pump nut backed off?

Yes the caps. But the trays don't have markings itself. And there wouldn't be oil anywhere if oil pump pump nut would be loose. And no oil pressure at all. Which is bit unclear if you had oil pressure or not.

[ykarabala]

The trays are stamped “E” and “A” on their sides as well as the caps E1-E7 and A1-A7. Should I install new cams, pull the spark plugs out, and then crank car to test oil pressure with a gauge?

[Dj Buttchug]

OP consider the condition of your engine as a whole. See all that sludge in between cam lobes 3 and 4. This engine is smoked. It wasn't taken care of and now the top end is severely damaged because of no oil or lack of clean oil.

If this was my engine it would be a complete tear down in order to "not have to deal with this again"

If you decide to half ass it and install new top end parts you'll likely have bottom end issues (and or) oil delivery problems soon after its back together.

[e30davie]

He said it was freshly rebuilt though.

[Dj Buttchug]

He said it was freshly rebuilt though.

Define "rebuilt" OP

Refurbished engines should not have heavy amounts of sludge anywhere. Leads me to believe it hasn't been rebuilt.

[ykarabala]

Brand new piston rings, main bearings, rod bearings, bolts, all gaskets. Head resurfaced 3/1000 of an inch and the block was cleaned and hot tanked. That black “sludge” is the grease that was recommended to me for use on all bearings so I applied it to the cam lobes, bearing surfaces, etc. Was driving it home to do an oil change but yea..

Should I install new cams, pull the spark plugs out, and then crank car to test oil pressure with a gauge?

[Dj Buttchug]

yikes. what a cluster. Cranking oil pressure is so close to zero its pretty much zero so cranking the car isn't going to get you a good test. It would need to be idling I would think.

[pazi88]

yikes. what a cluster. Cranking oil pressure is so close to zero its pretty much zero so cranking the car isn't going to get you a good test. It would need to be idling I would think.

Not really. If you crank the car without plugs for little while it will build up quite good oil pressure if everything is ok.

BTW are the oil squirters installed under the main bearing shells? Can't see from the picture. Forgetting to install those is most common reason for oil pressure problems after rebuilt. Looking at the top end pic more than just a glance, it looks very dry everywhere for engine that has just run recently. Not only the intake cam.

[ykarabala]

Shit, that’s something I forgot as I rebuilt it a while ago so I’m not sure if the oil squirters were already in there. So I’m guessing I gotta tear it down again huh Unless there's a way to find out that they are installed?

As far as the intake cam pic, it was taken a few days after the car stopped running if that makes a difference.

Should I try the cranking method or do I start tearing it apart?

If oil squirters were not installed, wouldn’t I have experienced a problem much sooner than 100 miles?

[ykarabala]

Update: checked for oil pressure, not getting any as I was cranking and no oil was being pumped to the head. Pulled the oil pan. Besides the nasty oil, everything seemed ok and the oil pump nut was still intact (will throw loctite). Removed a main bearing cap and it was good, no scoring. I did notice a little slack on the chain that runs the oil pump. I really thought that nut was gonna be backed off, but I guess not.