How to replace your coolant pipe, valve covers, timing gaskets and more

Originally Posted by wilson009

Ok I think I figured out the source of Oil in my Intake Manifold.

Both hoses that run from the Valve Covers are regulated by pressure regulator valves. Those hoses both have oil in them. Those hoses run directly into the Intake Manifold right? Since I have my car apart I can't just look lol.

But but following the trail of oil it went from the Valve Cover, pressure regulator valve, down the hoses and into the manifold where it weeped through the cracked Intake Manifold Gasket on to the Block or was quickly burned off.

Keif remember when I was getting those valvetronic error codes with No description? I wonder if that was the problem....Just Bad Pressure Regulator Valves

Anyway I'm sure this is the problem. No bad pistons No bad pistons!




During my waterpump install the small black Hose that attaches on the boot right infront of the mass air flow meter to the Throttle broke of at the base. It started running rough after that. I can't figure out where that hose goes to. Somewhere in the back of the engine and probably unrelated........But maybe.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...68&hg=13&fg=15 parts 4 and 7

Wilson I just replace both of those parts. But mine broke on the boot connector. It did run a little rough and after installing it feels much better. The rubber hose (part # 7 on the link you provided) connects to a metal/aluminum thin pipe that is on the right side of your power steering resevoir. If you look around in that area I'm sure you'll find it easily. I ordered both parts from ECStuning.com (what's cool about these guys is that they're prices are cheaper than RealOEM.com and the dealer). Hope this helps you out. If you can't find that pipe PM me and I'll take a picture and send it to you.

Yup! ...the hoses from both CCV valves run directly into the upper and lower holes on the face of the intake manifold (see here).

While you have everything apart, make sure the hoses going from the secondary air pump to the secondary air non-return valves (under the back of the intake manifold) don't have any cracks (part #1 here).

On your parts 4 and 7...I broke that a while ago, too. Even a small air leak like that after the mass air meter will definitely cause it to run a little rough / stumble, especially near idle (when there isn't much flow past the air meter to begin with).
 

Removing the Alternator Housing

Ok Why remove the alternator housing?
Because one of the brackets sits directly infront of the lower timing case. So To remove the timing lower timing case you remove the alt housing.
However the engine support bracket sit in front of the Alt Housing and is bolted through it on to the Block. Thankyou to Tommie (07841) for figuring this out before hand and the advice.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...73&hg=22&fg=05


Use a front engine support brace on front of car
Remove Top screw of motor mount
Raise the engine about 4-5 inches. This gives you just enough space to get in and start removing bolts
raise motor mount up and stick something under it to keep it out of the way
Remove 4 torx bolts. I had to put heat on 1 to break the grip. Recommend replacing bolts
push bracket to side
Remove last bolt holding alternator housing
Remove assembly and clean
Replace gasket

More alternator Bracket Pics
Replace this Seal. A bad seal here would definitely cause oil dripping/weeping. As there and opening directly into the block.

No clue why its here doesn't' seem to do anything or go anywhere.

Good job Ed.

Fuel Injector RnR

Since my Fuel Injectors were out I took the opportunity to replace the o-rings. Bad o-rings cause leaking gas and fire. My originals weren't too bad but someone may find this of use at some point.


Remove each injector one at a time and replacing before moving to the next one.
unclip leveling clamp
unclip electrical connections
Pull Straight UP
inspect each injector for damage or clogging
Replace upper and lower o-rings
Make sure housing is clean q-tip
Reinsert injector
Lock clip in with Clamp


Clean Electrical connections with Electric Cleaner and reconnect with electric lubricant sealer

Pressure regulator valve replacement

Called Crank Case Vent CCV on as well


Simple replacement

When malfunctioning can allow oil to escape into intake manifold. Causing white smoke.
Members have reported howling noises in engine, rough lean running,hesitation as well. Some years had recalls on this.


Replacement is simple just pop off old ones and snap on new ones in same position. push it down each section till you get 6 clicks.



http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...58&hg=11&fg=15 #13

Crankshaft Hub removal


After pulling the crankshaft bolt

Attach vibration damper to hub with 2-3 screws. Pull Hub straight out.

Pull out crankshaft seal

Lower Timing case removal


Unbolt all timing bolts. Should be 13 but use realoem as reference

Remove 5 bolts connecting oil pan to timing case
then remove 2 more on each side of the oil pan to take pressure off timing cover (0781tb trick)

remove 2 bolts from each side of engine upper block though head gasket to timing cover

see attached pic for bolt locations.

off timing cover from driver side first.

tic tic tic tic

OK heres the reason i decided to go through the trouble of removing the lower timing cover.

After i removed the valve covers i noticed the timing chain was shiny on the top.

This is a sign of the chain hitting the block an grooving it. makes a tic tic sound.

Our chains are guided by sliderails which become brittle over time

Sure enough i found grooves on both sides. one rail was cracked. So i will be replacing these rails. See pics for location of grooves and cracks, couldnt get actual pic of grooves due to cams.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...68&hg=11&fg=25

wilson, how are you doing all of this? How do you know to look for these "extra" things? Are you using the service manual? Can someone tell me how to get it?

Why not just pull the whole engine if you're going that deep? Seems like it would be easier to take it all apart and inspect it?

Originally Posted by Blue Bimmer

wilson, how are you doing all of this? How do you know to look for these "extra" things? Are you using the service manual? Can someone tell me how to get it?

Why not just pull the whole engine if you're going that deep? Seems like it would be easier to take it all apart and inspect it?

I'm just working out of my garage on weekends and evenings. My kids and wife are suffering but I gotta knock this out. My references are the electronic TIS which is an electronic manual, real oem for breakout of parts, google, and I read all the problems on this board and the solutions and get help from the guys on here.

I had a friend who was a mechanic that taught me about the timing chain.

I'm not going any farther than this so an engine pull wasn't needed I have no idea how to do that anyway.

By studying and documenting everything it helps me learn everything so I can get it all back together. One nice thing about BMW is all of the visual resources.

Replacing Driver Side Slide Rails for Timing Chains

--stayed tuned for passenger side, still deep in it.....

When replacing the guide Rails, I noticed BMW offers a kit for this with different part numbers than the originals. This means the product was improved due to issues with the original design guys.....

The new parts are longer and made of more durable metal and material.


Replacing the slides on the Driver wasn't to bad. However BMW has no information on this from what i could find so i went in blind.

Use nail polish to mark your chains to the exact gear notch.
Use zipties to shore put tension on the chain.
Use Clamps and any clamps you have to keep your chains in their original positions.
Loosing the Chain Tensioner Bolt

I replaced the lower slide 1st then the upper slide rail.
Just one or 2 bolts holding each side.
You have to slide the out carefully at the Cylinder Head doesn't give you much room to manipulate the pieces

Both upper and lower slider rails were broken on the tips and the plastic was brittle.
I found more evidence of wear the chain had been hitting the block.

Sliding the new ones in required careful manipulation of consideration of the cylinder head, head gasket and chain.

Last replace the chain tensioner at the top. It has 2 bolts. Lift up the oil spray slightly to removel

Once in tighten your bolts, and chain tensioner.


http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...68&hg=11&fg=25

Wilson,
Where are you buying the parts from?

Thanks,
Jerry

Mostly at the dealership. All the small parts are oem only.some of the parts are shipped from gerrmany. Ive been gettn 20% discount on everthing. No shippng charges either.

Hope you get back to this project after the holidays. This is one thread I enjoy keeping up with.

Jerry

Awesome project, enjoy the holidays if u can, although I never plan on going this deep, I appreciate learning and viewing the pics, much better than looking at a manual.

Yeah I will be starting back up here. Ran into a few issues. I kinked the oil pan gasket when trying to get the timing cover back on. It was just too tight. Had to pull everything thing off and clear off all the silicone. Very frustrating day that was.

I dropped the lower oil pan then removed the screws to lower the upper oil pan so I can now get the lower timing cover on with no issues. Waiting on my friend to come over and help me with the timing first. After that I will start putting it all back together. I'm glad I did this log as its helped me memorize the parts and locations.

In retrospect it probably would be easier to just pull the engine since I got so deep. But I wasn't comfortable with that idea at the time.

Timing Rails Passenger side

The timing rails were clearly improved over the older rails in quality and also longer. It also included a new oil spray nozzle that was longer that the previous. However these length differences created all kinds of space issues for me.



This side was just a pain in the rear. I'll try to describe this so it makes sense. But it is just difficult! Unlike the driver side. These the bolts for the slide rails reside between the engine block and the slide rail. So that leaves you about 2 inches of space. Furthermore you will have limited ability to maneuver the rails laterally because they are blocked by the cylinderhead and head gasket that is sticking precariously out.

It almost seems the cylinder head has to be removed to to this procedure or the chains off completely

My solution to this was to break out the old slide rails. When trying to install the new slide rails I had issues with chain tension preventing the rails from being installed as the bolt between the engine was pushing outwards to much that it would have broken chains.

My solution was to cut the bolts leaving a minimum of 5 threads.

This left me just enough space to squeeze the slide rails into posistion and secure the bolts back into the engine using a wrench that I had cut off at the head so I could fit it in there.

I lost the timing during this mess. I have a friend who thinks he can time it. I'll know tomorrow when we give it a go. Otherwise I'll use the timing kit. But the procedure doesn't seem to difficult.

Lost a lot of days on this. But Glad I found it versus having my timing chain explode in the engine 400 miles from home.

DCS Valve Block Replacement

I had this diagnosed as bad at the dealership earlier. When turning to the left at a certain speed I would hear at distinctive Pop in the lower engine on the passenger side. This is also where the Valve block is located. After pop the Dynamic Stability Control Error would pop up and shut down DSC. I could reproduce the error anytime I wanted by turning to the left and it would reset itself when I shut off the car.

The part at the dealership is $1000 like everything else.

I got lucky and picked up a new one on ebay for $250.

The valve block is nothing more than a heavy piece of aluminum with passageways for the fluids. The fluids are controlled by solenoids in the block. I guess BMW can't isolate which solenoid is malfunctioning so they just replace the entire thing........

To get to the block

Remove the wheel on the passenger side
Remove the access panel to expose the block
Remove some bolts on the under-body protection to give space to get under.


Removal is fairly straightforward.

Use Crows feet to remove each line.
Problems you may run into are the lines being seized up with Rust and needing to be replaced.

Remove the 2 electrical connections.
remove 2 bolts on the bottom holding the block.

Installation requires some care as as the block is aluminum and you don't want to strip the threads from the steel high pressure lines.

I installed the lines on the top of the block first so I could manipulate the block to line up with the lines. They are at a weird angle so it is very difficult to get the threads lined up correctly.

I broke apart the old block to show the components of the block

Pictures of the Lower Timing Cover

For Visual Reference

Those solenoids look quite similar to the VANOS solenoids. Any indication which part was actually causing the valve block trouble? That first lower timing cover picture gives a great view of the weep hole location. Keep up the good work!

Originally Posted by Keif

Those solenoids look quite similar to the VANOS solenoids. Any indication which part was actually causing the valve block trouble? That first lower timing cover picture gives a great view of the weep hole location. Keep up the good work!

I have no clue which part of the block was causing the malfunction. The only way aside from a bench test, would be to reverse engineer... I'm sure turning to the left was putting pressure on one of the lines and a solenoid was failing to operate correctly. Just not sure which one that would be..... Good technical docs on the block would help that process if they exist other than in the German labs. This is definitely an ebay or junkyard replacement over new....

Finally Putting it Back together....

Timing Cover on Last Night and Upper Oil pan and alternator housing tonight.

Slow and tedious but I'm over the hump!

Put in my nonallgerman stock coolant tube and put in extra sealant.

Then moved to the lower timing cover

Timing cover is hard to align with all the metal gaskets and fitting between headgaskets. Its a process I care not to repeat without taking the engine out.

I put sealant around everything. Better safe than sorry.

Put in Crankshaft seal and Bolt

Installed alternator housing with new seal and lil extra sealant and installed motor mount arm. Major pain hardly any room to maneuver tools in there!

Replacing Stabilizer Bar Rubber Mountings

Unlike the gaskets which got hard. These were soft, and pliable. The new ones were much more firm and held their shape. Should help the Stabilzer Bar which ties into the DSC system.