Remove front clip and pull motor?

[TriX5]

Originally Posted by thesalboy

Man, reviving threads from March 2020 feels awful. But I gotta ask how things are...?

No problem, I had started the thread in 2015.... :-)

The E53 is running very well, we use it as a runabout, the kids use it a couple of times a week. In the meantime I have been working to get all the fault codes on my E70 worked out, pretty much done with that now.

On the E53 I installed the BlueBus for the kids to stream audio. I purchased and installed an OEM microphone. The next step is to find some pins for the TCU plug so that I can use the BlueBus for Handsfree calls.

I had a leak on the modded headlights and decided to take them out and mod them some more. Will take me yet a while longer to complete.

The tank breather valve I got off Amazon was supposedly OEM (I no longer believe that it was), and it increasingly gave me codes for a short circuit (as opposed to the original which was giving me open circuit codes). I grew tired of it and ordered a Vemo branded one from FCPEUro. Fortunately, this has eliminated the issue all together. Lesson learned. :-(

Now the code 33 is back with implausible limit value on Bank 1 Vanos each time the motor is cold started. Once it is running the Vanos live values are right around zero but it fails and gives me a CEL each time it is cold started. So, I am going to adjust the reluctor plate a bit more and if that doesn't work I will have to go back to square-one and do the full timing sequence. I found a website in Germany that contains some interesting pointers on what typically goes wrong when trying to do the timing as a one person job. Should be done by two people as keeping the cams in place and torquing the sprockets at the same time leads to slight inaccuracy which turns up as a code 33/34. I have a friend on standby to help me if I decide to go whole hog.

I have still have one screeching sound on revving up, I had eliminated the worst screeching by replacing the two tensioner pulleys but I think the last one is the power steering pump. Also, still have a minor coolant leak, one of the hoses to the radiator I think.

Yesterday took the forward splash guard off and today pulled the washer tank and the airbox out. In the next 24 hours I should know how this will pan out. Over the next few weeks I hope to iron out all the kinks.