Alternator Housing Gasket N62 e53 DIY without photos SORRY
 

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

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

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.

Thank you, Sir Good write up

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yea doing maintenance is better than a new car note. At least you will have space to work on the X with the house.

Hi, instead of taking off diff, can we unbolt the drive shaft between transfer case and the front diff, pop it out 1 inch and turn diff clockwise to expose the bastard bolt?

when you speak of the skid is it the steel plate held by the 6 bolts (4 holding sway bar and 2 on the front subframe?

I'm thinking about doing this because the cold has exacerbated the gasket for me..

and i can't afford a $1200 with baby coming on the way.. plus its due for front air struts ( 1 side is sagging)... maintenance isn't hard.. the timing sucks though lol..

When I say taking off the diff, you just unbolt it from engine, not remove all the way. You do not need to touch the shaft attaching it to transfer case. You still need to remove it from engine just a tad bit. No way to do that, or even tilt it as you say, without unbolting it from engine. Once that is done, and you lift the engine just a bit, the diff stays unbolted resting on the frame, while engine moves up half inch. That gives you enough space to get to that last bastard bolt.

Correct about the skid plate. Belt with 6 bolt and nuts.

Yea same here with timing. Got a 4 year old and a 2 year old. Car maintenance has never been the same after the first baby.

Hi, in step 19, you mentioned "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". Can you please explain why you need to remove axle on the pass side? Also, can I replace engine mounts (pass and driver sides) at this time? Thanks in advance.

You don't need to remove it because you just want to pop it out from the diff. It serves no purpose to remove it. As soon as it's loose, you can go ahead and finish unbolting diff from engine. Yes, replacing engine mounts, especially the drivers side one, would gake no extra effort. You will be able to take it out like throwing a hotdog down a hallway.

The pass side, I don't quite remember how easy it would be, but it is easier than drivers no matter what. I did it few years ago as well. You should have the necessary clearance to get to it with just the skid plate removed. It will take some turning and twisting to get it out of the bay though. So be ready.

Thanks for your responses. I am sorry, my question was not clear. So in step 19, I need to take out 2 shock mount bolts on the passenger side and pop out axle on the passenger side? If so, can you please explain why we have to do that?

I am guessing the question is still not clear. Are you asking why the shock mount bolts come out? That is to let the hub move out enough to be able to pop the axle out. You put tension on the hub las if you are pulling it out, and at the same time give the axle a pop with a prybay. It is much easier to remove the two big bolts from the shock, instead of anything else.

Or is the shock mount part that threw you off. You remove the bolts where the shock attaches to the hub assembly, not the shock mount under the hood. You never have to worry about the shock mount under the hood at all.

Thanks for your explanation. My confusion is you are working on the "driver side" to try to get the alt bracket out, and in step 19 you mention to pop out the axle on the "passenger side". The passenger side is what throws me off. I don't understand why you have to pop out axle on the "passenger side". Does it relates to the diff on driver side?

I get it. Yea it is connected to the diff, which is on the driver side.

The pass side axle, goes through the oil pan, and into the diff. Don't worry, the axle goes through the oil pan in its own cavity. Oil does not come out when you pop it out. You should have your oil drained by this time anyway. You do not want it to drip on you for ever through the hoses that you remove.

Diff will not move out of the way, that half inch that you need if the axle did not get popped out from pass side. You do not need to remove the axle, just pop it from its locked in position.

Makes a lot more sense to me now. A little nervous, but I will give it a try when parts arrive. Thank you so much.

so I literally changed the oil on the x5. is it necessary to remove oil? Is there anyone in Houston area that wants to tackle this with me? =D

I am not sure if you will lose it all. But it was constantly dripping out of the hoses even with oil removed. It's sort of high up, so maybe it won't leak out when you take off the braket, but I personally was due for it anyway.

Feel free to pm me before you start, and I will give you my number for technical support if you want.

When I did it I remove the oil store it and re use it. I use a clean oil pan. Just make shure that the oil pan that you are going to use is clean.

I had Mspec do this for me last year , and they found another oil leak, then the coolant pipe......Hopeful this year will be smooth sailing.

so this is what i'm doing instead of messing with axles

SlickGT1, any suggestions?
http://www.xoutpost.com/980227-post27.html

I don't understand the question.

I don't know how you are supposed to not mess with the axles. That prying of 1/2", is literally going to pull right hand axle out of the diff. So essentially the same, except you need to remove the input shaft. I personally felt it would be easier, and better access to pop the axle from the pass side, after removing the bolts from the strut. If you pry on the diff that 1/2" inch, the axle will still be protruding from the pan, I see that as a pain in the ass waiting to happen. Putting the diff back on, with the axle still on, you need to make sure you install the diff fairly perpendicular to the axle. You do not want to bind that circlip or something. Also, you will need to go around the axle sticking out of the pan to put the diff back on. That area is too tight as is.

If you feel that way is easier. try it. I'm not sure, I only did this once. It sucked.

You are referring to this post correct?
http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...oler-seal.html

Attachment 68862

Attachment 68863
So far i've removed the alternator, skid plates, and driver side wheel wells and fender flares.

Next step i'm going drain the power steering reservoir and move the power steering pump out of the way.

unbolt the driver motor mount. and raise it an inch tomorrow.

You do not need to mess with power steering at all. Leave the lines connected, you have enough room to move the PS pump out of the way once you unbolt it from the bracket.

Great write up!

I try, not hard enough, or there would be pictures, but it was more in a rush to go home in my own car, same day.

I did this repair sometime back and have a few pics of the so called bastard bolt :D
http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-oil-leak.html

Here's one:

Yup, that would be the devil bolt, and the diff right across from it. No where for it to go.

I need to do this.. thanks for the write up

I'm gonna try it without removing the diff. :)
Or am I reading this wrong. Is it actually removed, or just loosened and pushes out of the way.

The diff is loosened and moved out of the way. Sorry for late reply.

i'm in the process of doing this.

my passenger side wheel bearing went bad / drivers side axle tore a boot after my last road trip. i've had the parts to fix this leak for some time. now i have no excuse to not tackle the front end with new parts and fix this leak!

and of course while taking out the alternator one of my radiator hoses popped off a fitting. cooling hoses refresh ordered.

ive got everything disassembled, have to lift the engine up and start working on the diff.

thanks again for this writeup

Not sure how your wheel bearing went bad from a torn boot, but yea sometimes while fixing one thing, another one breaks.

Opposite sides.

Passenger side was getting a creek / pop rotational noise when turning. When I got it all pulled apart looks like the bearing is starting to go, slightly off balance.

Drivers side has a torn boot.

Refreshing the front end. Hopefully won’t have to dive this deep for a while

Anyone know where I can get the rivet tool for the plastic rivets? All the ones I can find are too small for the bmw rivets

This tool did the trick

https://m.harborfreight.com/hand-riv...ets-97757.html

I had this same question when I was doing my running boards a few years ago. OK, it turns out it was like SEVEN years ago. :yikes: I described what I needed to my mechanic friend and said, I dunno what they call those things, but I am looking for one to finish the job so I can drive.

He said, yeah. We have those. We call 'em pliers. :nanana:

I was like, wait, whut? :confused: Sure enough. After a few tries, you can pull on the plastic pin and snug the rivet down to the indention on the pin by hand. Then all you need to do is snap the pin off. I did this for the front and rear wheel wells and finished the job.

My bracket gasket failed last night after a dribbling for some time now, gonna be attempting to tackle this sometime in the next week or so, X5 is down in the mean time

Thanks for the write up!

Luckily mine was performed by the dealer in 2017 by the PO. But for those who have done it, how hard or easy is it to remove the PS pump on the 4.8is? On NEWTIS it seems very simple and too good to be true lol:
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...supply/OMU23nc

Just two bolts/screws holding this thing? I saw a youtube of a PS pump removal on a 4.4i and seemed like a headache due to some inaccessible bolts.

The p/s pump is not the only thing that needs to come off.

Yes I'm aware of that, I'm trying to diagnose a PS noise issue that I'm having and been looking for removal photos/videos/DIYs but the 4.8is pump is different from the regular N62/M62 so I was just asking.

Got it. Then yes its only 2 bolts. 4.8is should be the same as the 4.4 n62. Same engine just diferent interior stuff.

The pump is completely different, servotronic vs non-servotronic but if it just two bolts I guess I'll tackle this myself to replace the pump.

What do you mean. Pliers? Seriously grab the tip, tight against the base of rivet, needle nose pliers, and spin them. The river will snap off when it is maxed out. No need for a special tool.

Trying to be fancy with a special tool!! It’s all good, I figured it out.

+1Edit: Oops.. just saw the dates:

question about the profile gasket between oil pan and diff
 

looking at the diagrams on realoem, it looks like there is a profile gasket between the oil pan and the diff.

my question is in regards to the tapered metal ring listed with the o-ring. #8 on the diagram listed as "assembly ring". is this ring needed for install of the oring?

any comment on installation would be helpful. i've ordered a new gasket and o-ring.

alternator bracket is off the car and reassembly to start in the next few days.

thanks in advance.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=31_0514

Slight thread revival… I’m about to do this on my E53 4.8. Have people found that the diffs leak where they haven’t replaced the profile gaskets and cv/driveshaft diff gaskets? Am I stupidly cutting corners by not changing those seals?

Is there enough access to the gasket between the diff and oil pan in-particular, if I’m just going to move the diff slightly, rather than remove it completely…?

Grateful for anyone’s experience and advice on this.

I have been putting this job off for some time (as you can see from when I first piped-up about it….).

I’ve just found a video of a fella who unbolts the guibo/main drive shaft from the back of the front diff, and then pulls the drive shaft back a touch - and then slides the diff out towards the wheel of the car 5mm or so, to gain access to the bastrd bolt on the alternator bracket (without removing the diff or cv shafts). One of the comments goes further, and states that someone has managed to spin the diff round the cv joint (leaving the cv joints fully inserted into the hubs and the diff - not even removing the wheels….

Anyone here reckon that’ll work? Drive shafts will easily come out of my hubs (as I’ve rebuilt the cv joints and swapped boots a couple of times), but I’d prefer not to pull the shafts out of the diff and then have to worry about seals etc. This method claims no need to raise the engine or anything (I do have an engine beam/support bar - but doing less, is more….).

Other than me clearly wanting to do as little as possible, outside in the pssing rain and cold of the UK, does anyone have any thoughts on whether disconnecting the main drive shaft from the back of the front diff, and then rotating the front diff around the cv joint shafts (and pulling it 5mm or so away from the oil pan) would work, to access the difficult to access/ bastrd bolt on the alternator bracket?

I’m getting an intermittent charge failure light, and the car started to lose power and cylinders. Then died - and then was totally fine the next day... Could just be the voltage regulator, but can’t be helping that the alternator is covered in oil… so I’d better fix this before swapping the alternator, which I think is now urgent.

Many thanks…!