All in - pulling the 4.6 engine and trans to fix oil leaks once and for all

[J.Belknap]

Originally Posted by romeokc10

Excellent thread Stunt, since you've got the engine and tranny removed, why not swap in a Corvette LS engine, it'll be way more reliable and less maintenance intensive than anything BMW could come up with. Nothing like a good ole push rod V8, and it'll have more displacement and the aftermaket power add-ons are limitless, nothing much out there for a 4.6 engine.

If you took the time and energy you've spent pissing and moaning on the forums about your 200,000 mile old timing chain guides breaking and fixed your damn truck, you'd have fixed your damn truck. Go fix your damn truck.

edit: Sorry to interrupt stunt

[Dannyell]

Congrats and keep up the good work.

You have an excellent playground over there Take your time !

[stunt]

Originally Posted by J.Belknap

You're getting a new crank snout yes?

Crank snout? Are you referring to the crankshaft hub held on with the "Jesus" bolt that the balancer attaches to?

If so, what would be the reasoning behind replacing that piece?

[kesslerbmw]

Originally Posted by J.Belknap

No. Plastic ages while being heat cycled and gets brittle and will fall apart no matter what. Don't spread bad information.

Stunt. You're getting a new crank snout yes?

Was trying to have a discussion, not spread bad information. If you would have quoted the whole post you can have re-read what I said instead of taking only part of what I said.

There are motors well over 200k miles with original guides, and there's 100k mile motors that need guides... I'd like to figure out what makes them last longer, or way longer. What's the issue with that?

Why is it that M62's are the only ones with timing chain guide issues? These motors are the ONLY ones. I've had M/S50 style engines of all variants and displacements, with all types of miles, and I've had super high mileage M60's that have never had a single issue. Even cars I've tracked, and have been run through the ringer... Not a single issue with a timing chain guide. If your theory was 100% correct we'd be tearing down 3.0 X5's, and every BMW engine produced to put timing chain guides in. I'm trying to look at the issue deeper than saying... ohh, its plastic and it broke, there is more to it.

We know its a bad design, but what makes those 200k plus mile motors keep going on original guides to this day... Is it that they replaced the tensioner every 80k miles? Is it their oil type, and service intervals?

I've had my fair share of BMW's, and plan to continue to enjoy them, but it would be nice to figure out some type of plan that would keep from having to tear the guides out every other time the car is ready for an Inspection II.


Stunt- I've used the flywheel locking tool to remove the crank bolt a few times, works well in the car. I made my own tool to bolt to the crank when I've had a motor on a stand, but I don't have a flywheel on the motor while its on the stand either. I wouldn't suggest a sledge though, using a breaker bar, and the handle off of a floor jack has always worked well for me. The constant steady force will be easier on things that jolts of energy.

Badass tractor btw

[J.Belknap]

Originally Posted by stunt

Crank snout? Are you referring to the crankshaft hub held on with the "Jesus" bolt that the balancer attaches to?

Yes.

Originally Posted by stunt

If so, what would be the reasoning behind replacing that piece?

If the threads are chewed up. It happens sometimes.

Originally Posted by kesslerbmw

There are motors well over 200k miles with original guides, and there's 100k mile motors that need guides... I'd like to figure out what makes them last longer, or way longer. What's the issue with that?

Different owners driving distances per heat cycle. Different ages. Different environments. I think it's great that you haven't experienced the failure on other motors. In my experience, almost all of the M62 cars that get guides repaired, the tensioner is just fine. Can a bad tensioner wreck stuff? Absolutely. But it's not a prerequisite to guide failure.

[bcredliner]

Originally Posted by romeokc10

Excellent thread Stunt, since you've got the engine and tranny removed, why not swap in a Corvette LS engine, it'll be way more reliable and less maintenance intensive than anything BMW could come up with. Nothing like a good ole push rod V8, and it'll have more displacement and the aftermaket power add-ons are limitless, nothing much out there for a 4.6 engine.

There is a time and place for everything----congratulations are due! You have made a historic discovery finding there actually is an exception to the rule.

[JCL]

stunt:

Excellent thread and documentation. Really enjoying it.

With your use of Evans waterless coolant, are you running higher engine temperatures?

Side note, but every time I see the shots of the lift chains wrapped over the pallet forks without a tie chain back to the headache rack I think of it all slipping off the end of the pallet forks. Be safe.

[SlickGT1]

Got damn Stunt I am so jealous of your playground, it isn't even funny. Even though I have an N62, it is threads like this that seem to distract me.

Keep at it, you are doing a good job.

Are you replacing the guides? I would, you went this far, it would be a sin not to do them.

[stunt]

A few tools/parts showed up today. Amazingly, the stuff I ordered online Saturday night from Beisan Systems was delivered by the mailman along with my ODBC cable and software from Romania. I'll probably need a helping hand when the times come to use it.



Speaking of tools, I decided to pick up a 1/4" drive torque wrench since my current ones (3/8" and 1/2" drive) don't go down to the values needed for putting a lot of the covers back on the 4.6.

I like Snap On and have been using these for the last 10 years.



The 3/8" has a usable range of 20 to 100 lb/ft and the 1/2" from 100 to 250 lb/ft. Neither has ever been calibrated, but then I have never dropped them or abused them, so I suspect they are still pretty close.



Looking at Snap On's current offerings in 1/4", they have a 10 to 50 in/lb and a 40 to 200 in/lb in the click type, and a 24 to 240 in/lb in their TECHWRENCH digital series. I found a brand new one of those on eBay for almost half price, so I went with that.



I worked a little on the gasket surfaces this afternoon. Man those old upper timing cover gaskets are so hard and brittle that they break off in chunks. I'll do a similar test on the timing chain guides, but I agree with the consensus here that I should just go ahead and replace them all.



I try to keep all the pieces neatly organized for re-assembly. Whenever possible, I put the fasteners back where they were prior to removing something, and in cases where that is not possible, I arrange them so that I can easily tell where they go.



Finally, we had quite a but of snow last night, so here's an external shot of the shop since you guys have only seen the inside up until now. Oh, and that's the old cracked radiator you see leaning against the wall next to the rear door.

[x5Alpine]

RomeoCK10.....no one wants to put American garbage in place of a BMW motor. I'm seriously so sick of you trolling these threads. Go over to the Toyota forums where you belong.