Chocolate Engines

Chocolate Engines

Chocolate Engines

3rd August 2018

It seems to me that far too many performance cars have seriously weak engines. I've just received an email from a BMW Specialist I occasionally use and they are reporting S65 V8 big end bearings going at 70,000 miles.

By the looks of the posts online it does seem like oil starvation is the issue - or more likely oil degredation and film strength breakdown through long service intervals. Really, in any performance engine oil should be changed at a maximum of 6000 mile intervals, if you value your engine.

However there are also indications that these S65 engines have a design flaw. I can think of others - the Porsche engines M96/M97 with their IMS bearing and liner issues. Mercedes V6 with chocolate timing gears. The VW diesels with their friction drive oil pump weakness. Another chocolate special.  BMW N47 timing chain issue. VW Turbo/Super charged 1.4.

Can you see a connection here? It's no coincidence that the German ADAC F4 Championship are continuing to use the FIAT Abarth 1.4 Turbo engine, developed organically from a 1980 design this engine is bombproof.

So is it the case the continuously developiing new engines leads to reliability issues and that the best design is an old one that has evolved?

ADAC F4 USING 1.4 ABARTH ENGINES - Italian engines are the best?