Replacing head or engine 2012 3.0L

[Siggy]

It all started over 6 months ago with a bad #6 injector. It had the infamous issue where the whole pocket with the plugs and injectors had filled up with water for years. I’ve only had the car a few years so I had no idea that was an issue.

I bought the fuel injector removal tube and the result was it broke the head of the injector off.

I borrowed a 15 lb slide hammer with vise grips on the end and we slammed it for 30 minutes. Zero movement.

I fabricated a couple coupling nuts welded to some flat bar on its edge and tapped a hole in the side to crush and grip the injector tube. Two 3/8” bolts used as Jack bolts. Nope. Not moving.

Took it to an automotive machine shop and they said they would get it out. Called today, guy said he’s got one more thing to try but everything has failed and he wasn’t optimistic.

So I’m at a crossroads. The car has 205,000 miles but is in excellent shape, otherwise. Local Indy says $4000 or more to remove the head because the engine has to come out. I’m not too keen on dropping $4-5,000 on a car that’s worth $6,000.

That gives me a couple options. Do it myself. If I do that, I’m thinking about either replacing the head or replacing the engine. People say you have to pull the engine to get the head off but I’m questioning that stance. It that true? Any chance you can get to the necessarily lower bolts from underneath? It looks like it’s just lower exhaust manifold and turbo related bolts?

Second option, if I have to pull the engine is just replace the engine with a lower mileage engine. I assume there’s a lot to that, things like all the injector flow rates need to be gathered and updated in the DME. I’m guessing it’s more than just the injectors that are like that. Is swapping the engine worth doing or is it a giant pain to get all the electronics accepting the different engine?

I’m hoping I can just take the head off and replace it. That would be the best case for me.

All the electronics are already off, the intake is off. Seems like taking the exhaust manifold off and the timing chain and it’s just about ready to come off?

[andrewwynn]

N55 or n52?

It's not a terrible job to pull the motor. I've got a buddy in Canada swapped an n55 from a 4xx into e70 2013 i think.

He was able to move the AC aside so didn't have to vent/refill.

It took him a few weekends solo to do the swap.

Look for a YouTube video somebody pulling the head on N55 in place.

[Siggy]

It's a N55 motor. If I had to swap the motor, is it an "easy" swap, or are there a lot more issues linked to the DME system, like the injector flow rates, etc that are going to bite me in the butt at start up?

Of course that brings another point into play. The engine and transmission have 205,000 miles on them, so popping in a 90,000 mile motor and hooking it to the 205,000 mile transmission might not be the smartest thing either, maybe forcing me to put a newer motor and transmission in.

I think I'd like to try and get the head off and replace that in the car, if possible. That's the easiest, but now having ever taken an overhead cam head off, the thought of it is concerning because of getting it all timed back up right, but I assume there's just a procedure to go through and then that'll be all set.

I haven't found a video on pulling the head in the car yet, but I'll work on my searching a little more today.

[andrewwynn]

The transmission is pretty solid. It should get the standard mechatronics refurbish. You probably notice like mine, it's a little lagging on the initial grab. I spool up my rpm to 1200 slowly to get the initial bite and then it behaves.

My buddy that did the swap had to exchange oil pan and i think the engine harness. He must have kept his DME. (No coding involved).

[Siggy]

Is the real pain just the lower exhaust manifold bolts or is there something else that's really rough to get to with the engine in?

[andrewwynn]

If somebody did it I'd be very confident it's on YouTube. Search similar models like x3 and x6 that have the same engine.

[Siggy]

Haven't found anything so far. Only thing I found was a link to an old forum post where a guy asked about doing it and several people told him let a pro do it, and he posted back later that he completed it and all was good, without any real information.

[Siggy]

The "good" news, I suppose, is I don't have to rush through this and I have plenty of time to research it.

I need a little help understanding something. On all the videos I can find, they use that tool to lock in the cams. I don't see any point in that since I'll be putting another head, already assembled, on it. My question is what's the process for taking a head that's in an unknown position and getting it timed to the right place?

Things to consider while I'm there? Go ahead and replace the valvetronic motor? The timing chain guide?

[andrewwynn]

The timing of the cams can be random. The tools can go from random to set properly.


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