BimmerFest BMW Forum banner

Dropping the engine out of a 2012 X3...

35K views 130 replies 24 participants last post by  sodigito 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey everyone! How goes it!?

Thanks to working at a body shop this happens every now and then... We had a 2012 BMW X3 get towed in about a month or so with a really hard hit in the front. So hard that the frame rails need to be fixed. The engine needs to come out to have enough room cut and weld etc. I'm pretty well versed in Honda's, Acura's, Toyota's, and Lexus' but never really messed with BMW's. Never really liked the Euro engineering. But I figured i'll give this a shot at work. I'm one of the Mechanics at the body shop. So here goes! Here's what has been done so far!

BTW ANY ONE WHO CAN HELP OR HAS POINTERS PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!

SORRY FOR SOME OF THE CRAPPY CELL PHONE PICTURES!!!

1. Here's the X3 shortly after they tore it down for the estimate.









2. We needed to get into the front of the car a little more so we started to take the hood and cowl off, powered down the car and got some of the harness in the engine out of the way. Also removed the air box. BTW the cowl comes apart in about 5 different places. :thumbdwn:









3. Now that we had gotten this far it was time to evacuate the Air Conditioning system and get the X3 ready to move over to the body shop where the frame rack is. I was wondering how the heck we were going to move this thing sense it the paddle PRNDL all electric... How do we get it into Neutral? :mad: Well after a lot of Google searches and calls to the local BMW dealer I finally figured out how to put the trans into Neutral!
1. Remove trans shield (Cloth one in the middle)
2. There's an allen head bolt on the drivers side of the trans you must turn till it stops.
3. Pictures below



-The allen bolt you need to tighten is the one to the left (strait across to the left) of the "90" written on drive shaft.


4. The interior got rocked too with many of the air bags going off inside. Requiring the dash, center console, and seats to be removed. The dash will be replaced a log with the headliner.





5. I'm trying to stay organized with the build/rebuild having bolts and parts like crazy!







That's the furthest i've gotten on the X3 for now. We will be moving it to the body shop in the next couple days to get it on the frame rack! I'll have more pictures as soon as we get to move it! Thanks for reading!! :thumbup:
 
See less See more
15
#3 ·
Have a look at the production videos of the X3 on YouTube.

There are 21 bolts that hold the drivetrain to the body. This includes the entire drivetrain... engine, transmission and rear end.

You might get away with about 15 bolts if you disconnect the driveshaft.
 
#4 · (Edited)
poker838 Yes it did! Air bags have some force behind them! The charge to push the air bag out is equal to the force of a shot gun... pretty crazy!!

lbjgh Thanks so much! I'll have to check that out A$AP!!
 
#6 ·
mibmwx3 The evaporator has some dirt on it. No mold, the X3 still has the new car smell to it. But mold does tend to smell like Band aids. If you have that problem get it checked ASAP because your Air Conditioning drip tube could be dripping into the interior (if that's where you're smelling it).
 
#8 · (Edited)
UPDATE 11.29.2012

Today we will be moving the X3 to the body shop. I finally got a good picture of the Frame Rail that's kinked/bent for you guys to see. and a few misc. pictures too.

Here's the driver's side frame rail that's kinked/bent.






Here's the passenger side frame rail.



This is going back a little bit to the transmission stuff. This helped me a lot to find the allen head. I Googled "ga8hp automatic transmission" and searched under Images and found a 3D parts image of the Safety Lever to get the transmission into Neutral. Here it is.



I'll post pictures a little later once we move the X3 (F25) to the body shop and get it on the frame rack.

Thanks again for reading and the help!!
 
#10 ·
UncleJ We were a little surprised that this didn't total too. We've got a few thousand dollars left until it totals though... Hopefully we don't get too far into it and find a wiring harness was torn or something.

mibmwx3 Have you tried an O-Zone machine to rid of the smell?? I've used one of those machines to rid of the cigarette smell in a used car that I had and worked amazingly! I really suggest looking into it if the want to rid of the smell.
 
#11 ·
Wow, we hav an amazing piece of machinery. I wonder if its told it will get parted out, I would love to get my hands on a sport stereing wheel.
 
#12 ·
pmacd55 I wish i could help you out on that but it's not the shop's car... =( It's a customer of our's. I love the interior of this thing the baseball glove leather is beautiful!
 
#13 ·
I originally ordered mine with that color but chickened out after a few days thinking it would be too orange. Is that blood stains on the air bag ? Hope the occupants made out ok.
 
#15 ·
pmacd55 No blood on the air bags. The red you see it the red "S" printed on the air bag.

02420X3 Nothing went off in the head rests they're fine. The head liner though will be replaced due to the side curtain air bags.

We still have yet to move the X3 to the body shop. We're rather busy here and haven't had time to do so. Updates soon!... I hope. :yikes:
 
#16 · (Edited)
UPDATE: 11.30.12 Today we will be moving the X3 next door! We finally have some time to move it! Hopefully today after lunch we will get her moved!! Thanks again to all of you who are reading and helping!! The BMW family is a lot nicer and more helpful than the Honda family! haha
 
#17 ·
TK your a tropper, for fixing this vehicle.

Not to be a jerk, but WHY THE HELL DID THE INSURANCE COMPANY (could be mistaken for an independent repair) NOT TOTAL THIS VEHICLE?
 
#18 ·
I was thinking the same thing. I would certainly not want to get this one back -- in spite of the excellent repair that I am sure it would get -- it just has too much damage for me. It may have something with avoiding a "salvage title" but that's just a guess. In any case the diminished value would be serious indeed!:mad:
 
#19 · (Edited)
It has more to do with the math equation the insurance companies use to calculate total loss than whether or not a car SHOULD be totaled. When I explain it you will see it is less likely a new car will be totaled and more likely an older car will be.

Determination of value of vehicle at loss:

Nada guide value
+
Replacement car taxes and registration
+
Salvage value
=
Value of loss

Calculation of total loss

Formula above * 70% (range as low as 50% and as high as 80% depends on insurance company)

Example:

Nada value = $38,000
Registration/taxes = $5,500
Salvage value = $4,000

Loss value = $47,500

To total repairs have to exceed $33,250 for car to be declared a total loss. Very high hurdle rate. This of course is not the case if you have a replace new vehicle with new vehicle rider on your insurance policy...frankly quite rare.

If they exceed $33,250 you will be issued a check for $47,500 to proceed to your nearest dealer for a new car.
 
#20 ·
Makes sense, of course the further they get into the repair -- the more damage they may well find -- so then the threshold may rise. Assuming of course that this is a one car accident and there is not another "at fault" driver -- with accompanying "loss of use, diminished value, pain and suffering (if any) additions to the milieu.:tsk:
 
#21 ·
NoI4plz I'm not the one fixing the car a couple different people at the shop are. I'm just the shop mechanic and was assigned to drop the motor. Why we are fixing it blows us away too! Trust me we really didn't want to.. lol

x3brian You got that in the bag sir! that exactly how it works. We are still a few grand away from totaling it.
 
#22 · (Edited)
UPDATE 12.03.12

Well we finally got the d@mn thing moved Friday afternoon! Pushed it over to the body shop and got it set up on the frame rack. One of our body tech's came in on Saturday and pulled the frame back out strait.








Here's the frame after it was pulled.

Here's Before:



Here's after:





The Drivers side frame rail that was kinked was straitened out. Still needs sectioned.

Before:



After:





Now that everything is pulled its time to drop the engine finally. I'll be starting on that tmrw when our frame tech get back to work. He's going to help me pull the motor. I''l have some "step by step" pictures for you guys as the day goes on! Hope you guys enjoy reading!! Thanks again for all your help and input!!
 
#23 ·
Great photos! Amazing amound of "stuff" crammed in there. No wonder it costs so much to maintain these things.:rofl: Seeing the rest of the car -- it looks like only the front end was damaged, yet all the side bags went off too. Unless of course there was damage to the off side that is not shown. Thanks again, very interesting series.:thumbup:
 
#24 ·
UncleJ Thanks! I'm trying to keep you guys as filled in as possible!! This is for sure one of the most advanced cars i've ever worked on! I used to work at Lexus and they're very advanced! This BMW blows them away!!
 
#25 · (Edited)
Update 12.04.12:

Ok here we go! We got the X3 off the frame rack today and backed into the spot where we will be pulling the motor. We started taking the Radiator support out. A long with Radiator, Condenser, Inter-cooler, and fan assm. We found the Inter-cooler was damaged and so is one of the turbo couplings. Then I got the engine harnesses disconnected all the way, so now all the wiring is disconnected. One thing i found with the wiring harness on the drivers side is there is a vacuum line in with the harness! I'm guessing it is to monitor the amount of boost the turbo is putting out. We also unbolted the steering linkage at the top by the brake booster so we can drop all that at once. So enough of my blah blah blah B.S. haha here's some pictures!

Here you can see the BIG difference with the frame pulled strait again.



Here's the start of the tear down.



Damaged Inter-Cooler.







Got the Radiator support out.







Air Conditioning was disconnected and taped off so it will not get contaminated.







Removed the wiring harness.



Our spread of broken parts haha.



We should be getting the motor out tomorrow afternoon or Thursday some time! So far this build is going pretty smoothly! Just very time consuming! Thanks again everyone for reading and helping! I really like hearing all you input so keep it coming!! Thanks again!!
 
#26 ·
UncleJ By the way to fill you in on the Air Bags. The force from the hit from the passenger side towards the front caused the air bags to go off. They detect the force of the impact and with the more force and from what side the car gets hit predicts the air bags go off. Does that makes sense? That was kind of wordy on my part lol.
 
#27 · (Edited)
I've been doing this out side of work. This is my side business... I'm not sure if you guys are into Honda's much but here's what I do for a second job. This is my love and passion. My buddy and I own a company together that does wire tucks on Honda engine bays. Here's what we've been doing the past couple weekends...

Before: (95 Honda Civic Hatch back with a dual cam motor in it)



After: (Still in the works) We've relocated all wires and fuse box and battery. Installed a Vtec head on it also known as LS Vtec. But that our other project! I just love sharing car stuff with car guys!



Thanks again everyone!! Keep the input coming! Hope your all enjoying the rebuild!!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top