What did you do to / for your E53 today??

[crystalworks]

Wrong thread, no new work for the poor E53.

[Happy]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

No new work for the poor E53.

Ahhh... I know. I was really hoping to replace my cooling system.

[Effduration]

Updating this... Unfortunately, 6 months and 5,000 miles later, I have discovered a coolant leak in cylinder 6...I am going in again !!

I have been chasing a coolant leak the last week.. I did a pressure test on the cooling system, no luck. I then did a compression test on all cylinders and it passed (ea cyl w/in 10 psi of each other), with spark plugs looking normal. I then put UV dye in the system and still couldn't find it. Today, I swabbed all cylinders with a q-tip taped to a piece of ethernet cable. Cyl 1-5 looked great, and my hopes were high..Then I found it in Cyl 6. The swab was covered in coolant.

Not sure what happened, might be a crack in head I missed, or I might have gouged the head on install, I'll report back if I find something. I also didn't know much about the reconditioned head I bought. I have another one.

Since I believe the block is good, have already time-serted the block, have a different, known-good head, have good access in the 3.0 engine bay, and have done it before, I am going to attempt another head gasket instead of an engine replacement. I'll use an engine hoist for head removal installation with exhaust manifolds attached.

Originally Posted by Effduration

Just finished an in-car head gasket job, This is my third M54 head gasket replacement.

About a month ago, I bought an ‘05 3.0i Silver on black that had overheated.
120k miles but in otherwise good shape with some maintenance done and 20-inch wheels

I have a spare M54 engine ready to go, but since access is so good in a 6cyl X5, and because engine removal requires replacement of front shafts and swapping oil pans, I decided to do the head gasket with engine in car. I used an engine hoist to lift/ reinstall head and exhaust manifolds together. I never even had to put the X5 on jack stands to access the exhaust down-pipe. I do have the dual vanos timing tools and an M54 time-sert kit (#1090)

I disconnected exhaust down-pipe, pulled the head with exhaust manifold, cleaned and time-serted block (taped it first), and installed a refurbished M54 head that I had bought years ago.

I then installed cams and lifters, re-timed engine, rebuilt and installed vanos unit, replaced hard water pipes & OFHG and flushed out the coolant-mixed oil as best I could.

I pressure tested the cooling system before installing the intake manifold
- using a gutted thermostat housing (new tool for me) and with 15 psi from a compressor through a bleeder screw threaded adapter.
- I am GLAD I did because the aftermarket upper water pipe leaked. I had a lightly used OEM water pipe (’16 date code ) and used that. No more leak.
- I was able to do this without plugging in any electrical connectors /battery and before installing intake manifold with new gaskets and CCV.

Before attempting a start, I pulled fuel pump fuse (#47 in glove box), and disconnected all 6 coils to prevent fuel and spark. Then I turned the engine over 8-10 revs to get the oil flowing. I then connected everything back up, primed the fuel supply, and it fired right up and settled into a nice idle. No SES codes !

I did have a 4x4 code, which I was able to clear by turning steering wheel lock to lock.

While the engine sounded good, it did have a minor lifter tick that eventually went away.
I then drove it 20 miles to my house with cluster test #7 unlocked showing exact coolant temp on the cluster. No overheating. Back at the house I replaced the passenger side drive shaft due to a torn CV boot.

I now have the car insured, registered and inspected. I need to solve a rain water leak in the passenger side footwell (likely vapor barrier), fix the hood release cable, remove the silly DVD headrests and replace with stock. I need to do a cooling system as well, but wanted to to wait until it was running. I also want to look at rear brake lines under the plastic cover and replace brake hoses all around.

[crystalworks]

My condolences Effduration. Always a "pit of the stomach" feeling after a repair failure like that. I'm experiencing that a little currently with my wife's 6hp28x transmission.

I don't remember, did you have the head checked by a machine shop before installing? My bacon has been saved a couple of times on BMW engines by the machine shop. One M20 head and another on an M52. M20 had a micro crack and M52 was warped beyond decking.

[Effduration]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

My condolences Effduration. Always a "pit of the stomach" feeling after a repair failure like that. I'm experiencing that a little currently with my wife's 6hp28x transmission.

I don't remember, did you have the head checked by a machine shop before installing? My bacon has been saved a couple of times on BMW engines by the machine shop. One M20 head and another on an M52. M20 had a micro crack and M52 was warped beyond decking.

Yeah, that might have been my problem. Unlike the other three M54 heads I have, all of which have been through the machine shop. This head I bought from a guy who bought it off ebay from a reputable, frequent, seller of m54 heads- I had the Ebay receipt. It had clearly been machined and I did check it for flatness along with a cursory visual check for cracks...

My hope is that I will be able to see the problem when I pull the head, and that the problem is in the head and not the block..At least I know where to look - cyl 6 area.

[tmat1977]

i have a lag in throttle response wondering what it could be ? could it be a need of a computer tune like alpha n tune i seen some bmw owners do regain there Horse power numbers? can i do with pa soft bmw scanner to code it?

[Overboost]

Originally Posted by tmat1977

i have a lag in throttle response wondering what it could be ? could it be a need of a computer tune like alpha n tune i seen some bmw owners do regain there Horse power numbers? can i do with pa soft bmw scanner to code it?

PA Soft 1.4 won't do any DME programming. You might think about a Dinan tune.

[tmat1977]

pa soft do dinan tune?

[Overboost]

Originally Posted by tmat1977

pa soft do dinan tune?

No, as mentioned in the previous post PA Soft will not do any DME programming. Dinan tunes can be done at the dealer and authorized Dinan distributors.

https://www.dinancars.com/products/s...gine-software/

[andrewwynn]

Originally Posted by tmat1977

i have a lag in throttle response wondering what it could be ? could it be a need of a computer tune like alpha n tune i seen some bmw owners do regain there Horse power numbers? can i do with pa soft bmw scanner to code it?

Are you talking about a CHANGE in throttle response or just the normal fly by wire mapping of gas pedal vs thottle plate?

Since I often drive over relatively big things at 0.2mph (think drive up onto a curb), I love the mapping curve that gives me control in the 0 to 3 mph range where a linear map is useless.


If your mapping has changed there is likely a problem either at the pedal sensor or the throttle position sensor.