Alternator Housing Gasket N62 e53 DIY without photos SORRY

[SlickGT1]

Went to my friends shop, shameless plug,
OMG Motorworks in Farmingdale Long Island. He is an E30 specialist, and has never done this job before, so we planned on wrenching on my car together.


Let me say upfront, I did not take any pics. We were mostly always covered in oil, or some crap from the Exxon Valdez oil spill coming from the alternator housing bracket. If I am ever in the area, and have a chance to get some pics I will. We also wanted to finish in one day, did not know what to expect, or how long this would take. So pics were out of the question.

Next, this job was long. It took us nearly 8h to do. 2 of us. We are both very mechanically inclined. My friend obviously owns a shop, so the array of tools was pretty good. I also brought half my toolbox with me just in case. Wasn't necessary.

Had we knows the full procedure, the job would have gone faster. We had to figure out a few things.

Part diagrams and shit you should buy.
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...38#11427520214

BUY 11421702917 2pc O Ring for oil cooler connections at alternator housing.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...42#12317507808

BUY Gasket 1PC 12317507808

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...21#33411133785

BUY AT LEAST ONE AXLE NUT HERE. Collar nut M27X1,5 2 33411133785 $10.86

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=51_4723

BUY AT LEAST 8, NUMBER 8 Expanding rivet X 51717002953 $0.78

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...diagId=17_0293

Buy 2 of number 3, O-ring 13,4X1,78 4 17222245358 $1.18

The parts above is what you absolutely must have to get this done. As in bare minimum.

Optional parts while you are there. I did the sway bar bushings. I recommend it for all.
33107505601 2 Axle shaft seal
31511213527 1 o ring for support bracket
31511213527 1 o ring for shaft seal between diff and oil pan
11137506632 1 assembly ring for shaft seal, between diff and oil pan
31507527999 1 Profile gasket between diff and oil pan
11427511161 1 filter kit
31351097021 2 Sway bar bushings

The filter kid is the OE oil filter. I decided to change my oil while at it, so that is why it is there.

Take shit apart.

1. Disconnect the negative from the battery. Leave rear hatch open, bottom and top. Hatch top being open, makes the car think it is in service mode. Yea I didn't know this before either. Also open windows, just in case you brain fart and lock the rear with battery disconnected.
3. Take off the wheels.
4. Drain the oil, the oil lines will leak oil all over you all the time. Drain it right away, and save some aggravation.
5. Remove fan. This is super easy on the 4.8is. Two locking tabs on top, two electric connectors, take the hoses off the clips and pull it up.
6. Remove alternator belt. You get a big torx socket, T55, put it in the tensioner and turn clockwise.
7. Remove alternator. This is done from the top. Two bolts, I think 13mm, one long, one short. Long on the bottom. Pull alternator forward. The electrical wire holder thingie will click and come out of place. Unplug one sensor cable, and a 13mm nut for the main power cable. Pull forward more, spin alternator, whatever you want, but it will come out easy going up.
8. Take out all the plastic liner on the drivers side wheel well. This one is a bitch. Pop all the rivets from the fender flares, take out all the 8mm screws.
9. Take off the bottom plastic between bumper and skid plate. Take of skid plate too.
10. Inner wheel well lining, the one behind the shock, you need to remove the brake line to get this off. You can cut it, to slip it off, and if you do it right, it should hide behind the outer liner. Or you can just move it out of the way, and leave it attached to caliper. If you cut it, or remove the brake line, we found it best to come out towards the front of the car. You will need to bleed brakes if you remove the line, so plan on that too.
11. Take off driver axle nut. Harbor freight 1/2" impact makes quick work of this, even without unbending the locking tabs.
12. Remove calipers from both sides on the front, via the slide pins. You will be tilting the hub assembly to get the axles out, you do not want to pull on any brake lines. Secure them somewhere up high, so they aren't in the way.
13. Disconnect sensors going to the hub.
14. Take out the shock mount bolts 22mm nut and bolt. The hub can now be tilted down. This will give you enough space to pull axle out completely. Leave hub alone now, it won't fall.
15. I am not sure if you can pop the axle out from just the diff on the drivers side and move it away with enough room to work out the diff bolts. The axle removed, it was clearly obvious that this should be done. We were able to get at the top forward diff bolt with a 16mm box end. The axle removed, you can also easily get to the top engine mount nut. You need to remove this nut. With axle in place, that area will not let you get your hand to the drivers engine mount. Pop axle out with pry bar.
16. Remove drivers engine mount top nut.
17. Lift the engine 1/2" on drivers side. Use a block of wood and a jack, we had a an adjustable support, we used that. You are lifting it just a little bit.
18. You can now get to the rear diff bolt, and actually manage to unscrew it all the way, you will not be able to remove this bolt due to frame being in the way. You can easily get to this bolt from the rear of the diff. No trick here.
19. All 4 diff bolts removed, you can now go to the pass side, and take out the 2 shock mount bolts. Tilt the hub assembly out, and use a pry bar to pop axle out of upper oil pan. You do not need to remove this, just pop it out of the diff.
20. The engine is still lifted up 1/2". The diff will now be able to get moved half inch down. This half inch, gives you the space needed to remove the bottom alternator housing bracket bolt. Without this, you cannot remove this bolt. (This is the the only bolt you cannot get too with diff in place. We dub this bolt the BASTARD bolt.
21. Remove 13mm bolt from hoses going into the cooler. Pop them out. Replace O-rings as necessary. I missed these seals when ordering parts, so I was super happy we were in a shop, and parts can be delivered every hour.
22. Now remove the two, 6mm allen bolts holding the regulator looking thing to the alternator bracket. There are 2 more O-rings here. Replace those too.
23. Unbolt the power steering pump. Move it out of the way. There is 1 bolt and 1 nut holding this thing on.
24. There are 3 long bolts going through the alternator bracket into the block from the front side. I forget the sizes. But you should note where they go through. Those holes, have adjustable tension sleeves. When you get it off, you need to screw those sleeves in flush to the bracket. Once bracket is installed back on the car, you unscrew those sleeves to put tension against the block.
25. Your alternator bracket is now off the car. Get lunch beer, smoke whatever.
26. In my case, that gasket was so hard that we could not even pry that shit out of the housing. We used a razor blade, and carefully slit it in a few spots. Then broke it up into pieces. It felt like hard plastic. I don't know why BMW can't get these things right.
27. ASSEMBLE IN REVERSE ORDER. Assembly notes below.

28. So you need to get to the axles back in. After you bolt the diff back to the block, leave it a little loose. Pass side axle, set it in place. Grab one shock mount bolt, and attach hub to shock via the bottom hole. Lift up the hub as much as you can, and give it a solid push. In my case, it went in without much fuss.
29. You are putting axle back in on drivers side, and you need to pull it through the hub. This is where a new axle nut is super beneficial. Get the axle into the hub as much as you can. Attach one shock bolt to help keep axle steady. Thread axle nut on backwards. It will thread on a bit. Now grab some big vice grip, and grab that axle nut. Now, get a pry bar, and slip it through the open vice grip jaws and against the hub ring. Pry out. The vice grips may disconnect from the nut, but the axle will pull through enough to be able to put the axle nut on the proper way.

If anyone has questions, just reply here, and I will assist.

I also installed new sway bar bushings, and wow, what a huge difference. My car has 92k miles now, I am guessing this was due. They were only a tad softer than the replacements, but made a huge difference.

All in all, I can see why the book time for this job is over 8h. It is also 8h only if you know what the order is, and do not have to stand there thinking about stuff in the way. I am sure this can be done much faster the second time around. Now my friend knows how to do this, and is willing to accept customers for this job. https://www.facebook.com/OMGmotorworks

[blackbeast]

Pictures or not this is a lot of good information, thank you for taking the time to write all that up!

[SlickGT1]

Thanks. This would be the best writeup I have ever seen for this process. If I had something like this going in, I would have been a lot less nervous. Still working on a part list and might even get some web pics to screw around with.

[Emory39]

Thank you, Sir Good write up

[SlickGT1]

My pleasure. I still didn't get to put the part numbers together, that are absolutely necessary to do this. Since you are already there part numbers, you know. I need to remember tomorrow.

[525iT_Feen]

Just drove the X5 to Tampa and back and it thankfully held itself together for the trip but decided to disintegrate upon arrival. Alternator bracket seal gave out and I sprung a coolant leak that isn't leaking out under the car .

Gonna be an expensive start to 2016 as I have zero time to attack any of this myself and its 10 degrees outside. I guess I'm grateful for good friends but this one will still hurt. This write up is perfect! My friend that is doing it hasn't done one in quiet some time so I can forward this on.

[Ricky Bobby]

Denis thats a great writeup for the 4.8iS guys - my 2016 is going to consist of many age related repairs I fear, but it needs to be done, thankfully this isn't one of them in my case.

[SlickGT1]

Originally Posted by 525iT_Feen

Just drove the X5 to Tampa and back and it thankfully held itself together for the trip but decided to disintegrate upon arrival. Alternator bracket seal gave out and I sprung a coolant leak that isn't leaking out under the car .

Gonna be an expensive start to 2016 as I have zero time to attack any of this myself and its 10 degrees outside. I guess I'm grateful for good friends but this one will still hurt. This write up is perfect! My friend that is doing it hasn't done one in quiet some time so I can forward this on.

I updated the part list above.

The cold seems to really make that gasket let go. First time it dropped below 60F, car parked outside, it leaked, a lot. I was stunned, and realized enough is enough. If you were closer, I would say go to my friend, I am sure daily rate is better than the $750 - $1000 other bmw specific places charge. But it will be easier with this write-up. It really was that long because we really had to figure things out.

[SlickGT1]

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

Denis thats a great writeup for the 4.8iS guys - my 2016 is going to consist of many age related repairs I fear, but it needs to be done, thankfully this isn't one of them in my case.

Haha, yea this one is a bitch, sort of. Reflecting back at it, it really isn't all that bad, just time consuming. It's what we get for keeping old BMWs on the road. I don't mind. Never had a car that needed so much lovin, but wouldn't have it any other way. Nothing feels better. At least that is out of the way for another 80k miles.

[525iT_Feen]

Originally Posted by SlickGT1

I updated the part list above.

The cold seems to really make that gasket let go. First time it dropped below 60F, car parked outside, it leaked, a lot. I was stunned, and realized enough is enough. If you were closer, I would say go to my friend, I am sure daily rate is better than the $750 - $1000 other bmw specific places charge. But it will be easier with this write-up. It really was that long because we really had to figure things out.

I won't pay anywhere near that but I definitely will owe some favors. I think the switch from 45 degrees to 85 for a week back to 10 degrees definitely did the trick. Thankfully the coolant leak was only the upper radiator hose and the truck is already apart. Its been an expensive few months but this officially makes everything except valve seals complete on my iS.

Contemplating selling it again (house purchase is 100% happening this year so cutting out such an expense would be nice0 I just can't think of a solid enough replacement. Especially now that all has been done.