[schpenxel]

This thread is for the removal/rebuild/installation of my engine. The title to my previous thread was about a head gasket, which was no longer really the case

I will go back and add the early pictures and more detail to this thread later. Below are all the ones from last weekend and this weekend.

--------------------------

Alright, ENGINE IS OUT!

Here are pics from the day--will go back and add text later. Overall, I can't feel any real wear on the cylinders of the old engine (fingernail doesn't catch at the top), but the thing is leaking from every seal there is. Oil pan, timing cover, alternator seal, rear main seal, rear coolant cover, you name it, they are all leaking. Anyways.. here are pictures

On the way to the parents house with the engine.. dog came with me


Getting "new" engine out of the truck. That was a chore as there wasn't much room to back the truck in


Another of the same






well, there she is


Here's how I left it last time..


Here's how I left it


Pulled alternator out


Not sure




Shot from underneath


Trying to figure out what to do about those transmission oil lines--ended up removing them from transmission and leaving the connected to the engine


Another--AC compressor unbolted


A lot of sensors unhooked, wires hanging everywhere




Torque converter to flex plate bolts






And finally a visible one


Plug that covers access to torque converter bolts


Torque conv. bolts + crankshaft sensor






I dread putting all those wires back










Thought I was ready to pull it out.. then found one more bellhousing bolt

 

[schpenxel]

Wires all zip tied out of the way..








That looks like fun


D'oh. Look at all that carbon on the one in the middle!




























About ready to come out












Coming.. exhaust manifold kept getting stuck






Ta-da!

 

[schpenxel]

Almost


Totally free now..




Tight squeeze for the exhaust manifold






First inspection---rear coolant cover has leaked at least a little at some point














Oil pan and alternator bracket leaking




Doesn't look bad compared to a lot of engines out there


Oil pan gasket leaking


Really leaking


Here are a bunch of pictures of the exhaust ports on the drivers side






Piston #1


#2 (cracked)






#3


#4

 

[schpenxel]

Engine by without an engine




Pulled the flex plate--rear main seal had a drop of oil at the bottom. Not sure if it's really leaking or just a drop accumulated somehow












more of the exhaust ports, same side






































Hadn't noticed this before.. obviously has had quite a bit of coolant leak at some point








Water pump was about brand new, so I pulled it off to go on the "new" engine




Oil pan

 

[schpenxel]

There she is



Got everything cleaned up


Had to move the old engine out to a covered space where the new one is, lawn mower did the trick


Not a great work space but better than nothing


I ended up spinning it 180* so it was right beside the other engine, then covering both with a drop sheet of plastic that painters use then put weights around the perimeter of it to hold it down. Should do the trick. I need to go buy another engine stand and some bolts long enough to use to mount it on the stand--I'm not sure the engine stand I have is big enough to not tip over with one of these engines on it but guess we'll see

 

[schpenxel]

Alright, weekly smorgasbord of pictures..

-------------------------

New engine stand, harbor freight


Plate mounted--I later realized the bottom two bolt holes are actually part of the upper oil pan so I had to move them in order to take the pan off












On the stand!


Repeat for the new engine..




Time to tear this one down






Front cover/VANOS










Installed timing tools to see how the timing looked. Not far off




Supposed to be 0.5mm or less gap

 

[schpenxel]

"Adjusters" removed






Removing mechatronics/intake cam as one unit










Off. Less scary than I thought it'd be


The things BMW engineers come up with.. geez

 

[schpenxel]

Removing head bolts--loosened them small amounts at a time in cross pattern--want to not mess the heads up





Head off






Look at the carbon at the bottom of the cylinder..


Same on this one


Real bad on this one, ew










Here's the coolant crossover pipe from the inside (looking through from where water pump normally is)








Now time for the bottom




Lower oil pan off. Good job coolant in making a milkshake








Lots of pieces of plastic, I believe it's from when I used an impact to remove the valve cover bolts.. so yeah, don't do that












Upper oil pan removed to expose oil pump

 

[schpenxel]

Oil pump is ran off a chain connected to the same place as the cam chains



Oil pump bolts are also main bearing cap bolts


rod/piston




Main bearing and cap.. looks pretty good to me. Wonder if the sratches in there are from when it was ran with this milkshake like oil




Slick as can be in person, looks kind of scratched in pictures












Crankshaft, main bearing journal


Looks rough but it also was as slick as can be












Rod bearing/cap




Has one scratch towards the center but is smooth otherwise
















One of the timing chain tensioners or guides. I was trying to see if they've ever been replaced

 

[schpenxel]

And both engines put up / covered. I taped the cover down after this picture





I couldn't finish taking it apart because I couldn't get the crank bolt off, which means I couldn't get the front timing cover off.

Until next week....

 

[UltimateDriving]

Wow very good thread, worth being a sticky.
I wonder how you remember where every wire, harness, hose goes . . . :yikes:

Random questions: (If you dont mind answering them )
How many miles on engine?
What was your OCI?
What oil you used? (Brand and weight)
Whats your driving style and daily commute distance?
Mostly City, Highway or Mix?

 

[07 E63650i]

Schpenxel, why do you not have your own BMW independent repair shop? Just kidding!

Seriously, good job on the progress so far. And just to make sure that I read things right, you bought replacement N62, correct?

What caused your original motor to die?


Sent from BimmerApp mobile app

 

[A B Able Truck]

Can you pull a couple of valve springs (intake & exhaust) and post close up photos while seals are still on stems?

So the alignment tool is not machined correctly (.5mm or less gap)?

 

[schpenxel]

Wow very good thread, worth being a sticky.
I wonder how you remember where every wire, harness, hose goes . . . :yikes:

Random questions: (If you dont mind answering them )
How many miles on engine?
What was your OCI?
What oil you used? (Brand and weight)
Whats your driving style and daily commute distance?
Mostly City, Highway or Mix?

Usually I find there's only one way it all fits back together.. so that helps with all the wires/hoses. I am going to pull the wiring harness off of the car altogether and install it on the engine prior to putting the engine back in, so hopefully that helps. I am very worried about missing one connection under the engine somewhere that I didn't notice until the job was almost done and well, that'd be bad

To answer your questions:
-207K miles
-I changed it ever 7000 to 7500 miles. I am the third owner. First owner changed it with BMW's recommendation. Second owner changed it more often than me
-I used Castrol and Mobil1 european blend, can't remember the weight. It was the BMW recommended ones
-I drive it pretty easy usually. Daily commute ~50 miles each way, mostly highway, some stop and go before getting to the interstate

Schpenxel, why do you not have your own BMW independent repair shop? Just kidding!

Seriously, good job on the progress so far. And just to make sure that I read things right, you bought replacement N62, correct?

What caused your original motor to die?

I have seriously thought about opening one.. but my "real" career has been going really well lately, so hard to leave behind the money I'm making at the moment.

If for some reason that went downhill, I'd probably give it a shot..

As far as why--I'll add that to the original post at some point but here is the short version:

Basically, my secondary air ports were clogged and was causing a service engine line, so I wanted to fix them. Some people have successfully put a solvent down into the system and blown it out with compressed air to break up enough of the carbon build up so that air can flow again.

Unfortunately, when I did this, after I started the car again I had steam rolling out of the tail pipe and water mixed in with the oil, which I thought (hoped) was a head gasket. After removing the passenger side head, I found cylinder #2 had a small crack in it

I still haven't figured out exactly what happened, but the only explanation I have came up with is the cleaning process broke loose so much carbon and got into the combustion chamber, and then when the piston came up it had no where to go. It sounds far fetched, but I haven't been able to come up with anything else. The cylinders had a ton of carbon in a few of them, like enough to scoop out with a spoon.. so maybe it's not as far fetched as it seemed at first

 

[schpenxel]

Can you pull a couple of valve springs (intake & exhaust) and post close up photos while seals are still on stems?

So the alignment tool is not machined correctly (.5mm or less gap)?

Will do on the seals. May be the weekend before I work on it again though

The tool is machined correctly, the timing is just slightly off, probably just from the chain stretching a little over time. I would imagine the actual amount it's off is very minimal in the end

I have seen someone else do the same "test" over on one of the X5 forums and theirs was MUCH further off and they said the engine ran just fine

 

[svre46]

Wow. Not many of us would go to the lengths you have. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

[schpenxel]

Wow. Not many of us would go to the lengths you have. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Yeah, I'm crazy. And cheap. And really don't want to see this car sold in pieces... lol

 

[bimmerfan52]

Given some of the old parts piled in your Dad's garage I take it this is far from your first rodeo. You must have grown up working on cars. The experience shows.

 

[schpenxel]

Given some of the old parts piled in your Dad's garage I take it this is far from your first rodeo. You must have grown up working on cars. The experience shows.

Thanks--yeah, been working on something or another since I could walk, mainly because if it was broke and you couldn't fix it, then well, it stayed broke until you could, lol

There's a 68 Mustang back there somewhere, that's what most of those parts you can see are for

I've owned a few fun cars--supercharged Camaro, twin turbo 3000GT, corvette, etc. The latter two had plenty of problems for sure

 

[dolfan13]

Watching!!