My "new" engine….
 

Hello all. Here is a motor I just picked up to replace the knocking one in my X. The guy said he drove the X into garage and knew the chains were bad, but it ran fine. Just unloaded it and need to figure out a way to de-sludge it. Any suggestions other than total disassembly??? Obviously I am replacing all the TC guides/chains/ gaskets, etc. This is the worse I have ever seen. This is why you change your oil on a regular basis, to avoid this. BTW-$200 for complete engine…..

Yikes.

Sorry I have nothing helpful to offer. Score on the price though.

Is that rust on the cams?

The only way id trust a motor, if the sludge is as bad as you say, is if it were hot tanked and reassembled.

I dont mean to rain on your parade but how do you know that this engine does not have a knock in it like your old engine? The condition of that engine reeks neglect. I sure hope you are lucky with this one. Did you get a chance to see that it runs okay and just verify its timing guides? How many miles are on this engine? $1200 more and you could of have had better piece of mind. Wow:yikes:

He obviously did not see it run. Did you see the rust on the cams?

Yeah true. Really risky. Even the dismantlers will take a running video of an engine before removing from a vehicle. This would have given someone a better piece of mind regarding the condition of the engine. I wouldn't spend a dime on this engine, he needs to get a better donor. Maybe even buy a running craigslist car with the M62 engine and then junk the vehicle.

Comments
 

Thanks for the feedback guys. I need to really consider what I have here. I don't' want to do it twice. The rust on the cams comes off with a finger rub. It happens pretty quick here this time of year. I will put it on the stand and really take a close look tomorrow and find out what is going on. The guy I bought it from seems very honest. Just a little one man shop. He had 2 X's and was trying to make one good one. He seems pretty honest. I am very skeptical and asked lot's of questions. I will pull a main and rod bearing off to check conditions there and that will tell me a lot as well.

Well alright then let the adventure and investigation begin.

Usually when dismantlers have a good running engine, it's sprayed with rust-inhibitor, put in an oil vapor bag and stored in a warehouse.

This thing look like it been left outside and open (valve covers, timing chain cover and intake removed), even the fuel rails and vacuum lines left unsealed/exposed to NE elements can cause issues.

This motor looks shady.

Since you will have it on a stand, why not just disassemble it and see what you brought. You're going to drop the pan any way and the only thing left are the heads. If it was me, I'll just tear it down completely and just rebuild it, but that's just me.

+1 on above.

If you decided to rebuild it, swap heads (after rebuild), fuel injection system, vanos, etc from knocking engine.

Agreed

:iagree:

:iagree:

That is not showing "signs" of neglect - THAT IS NEGLECT!

Either total strip down or forget that one.

Wow. Curious if you can make anything out of that. Is that rust under the valve covers?

That thing looks like it will need some serious labor to just clean up.

I think if you are really going to use it... it must be fully disassembled and hot tanked. Being open to the elements for any length of time almost guarantees it.

Here we go
 

OK, after a productive day of inspection/disassembly I am not going to use the whole engine. Parts, but not the whole thing. It could be salvaged with a good hot tank treatment. I can not believe the amount of and locations of aluminum I found upon tearing this motor apart. That someone drove this car in this condition is astounding to me. The actual journals on the crank, rods, cam journals all look good. Even the bearings look OK. I will let the pictures tell the story on what a $60k dollar car's engine looks like when people don't care about service or can't afford it. I feel these cars are basically inexpensive to purchase now but the maint. costs are still high. I was talking to someone yesterday who had a discussion with a dealer that knows of an X that has over 400K miles on it, but the woman maintains it religiously and has had no problems. At this point, I have located a good short block. I am going to pull mine out and swap the heads and other parts over to new block. I will sell parts of this trashed engine to make money back. And here is a video of the lower pan right after I took it off
OK, after a productive day of inspection/disassembly I am not going to use the whole engine. Parts, but not the whole thing. It could be salvaged with a good hot tank treatment. I can not believe the amount of and locations of aluminum I found upon tearing this motor apart. That someone drove this car in this condition is astounding to me. The actual journals on the crank, rods, cam journals all look good. Even the bearings look OK. I will let the pictures tell the story on what a $60k dollar car's engine looks like when people don't care about service or can't afford it. I feel these cars are basically inexpensive to purchase now but the maint. costs are still high. I was talking to someone yesterday who had a discussion with a dealer that knows of an X that has over 400K miles on it, but the woman maintains it religiously and has had no problems. At this point, I have located a good short block. I am going to pull mine out and swap the heads and other parts over to new block. I will sell parts of this trashed engine to make money back. And here is a video of the lower pan right after I took it off.
OK, after a productive day of inspection/disassembly I am not going to use the whole engine. Parts, but not the whole thing. It could be salvaged with a good hot tank treatment. I can not believe the amount of and locations of aluminum I found upon tearing this motor apart. That someone drove this car in this condition is astounding to me. The actual journals on the crank, rods, cam journals all look good. Even the bearings look OK. I will let the pictures tell the story on what a $60k dollar car's engine looks like when people don't care about service or can't afford it. I feel these cars are basically inexpensive to purchase now but the maint. costs are still high. I was talking to someone yesterday who had a discussion with a dealer that knows of an X that has over 400K miles on it, but the woman maintains it religiously and has had no problems. At this point, I have located a good short block. I am going to pull mine out and swap the heads and other parts over to new block. I will sell parts of this trashed engine to make money back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzGz...m-upload_owner

Sorry for the replication of the written part of that. Don't know how that happened.

Damn. There wasn't even that much shit in my E30s oil pan.

Completely neglected. Well at least you didn't waste thousands of dollars just a few hundred.

:stickpokeOh comon, a lil engine restorer and a hot oil change and you'll be fine....:D

Some of that neglect has to go to BMW, for there 15,000 miles oil change when the X first came out. Wonder how many trans also died due to BMW's lifetime ATF??

I had an old acquaintance who was a salesman for a very large auto dealer here and he was telling me one would be SHOCKED at how many cars they'd take on a trade that had 30K, 50K miles that never had the oil changed. It's crazy.

The 15k mile oil change seems to have worked good (my M62 did the first 100k with that interval and BMW oil).

The 2nd 100k miles has been 60% SII (9k miles, Mobil 1 0w-40 LL-01 spec).

Still running good with over 200k (and OE chain guides).

On topic of the post above.....Prestige MB sold an E class to a young female lawyer in NJ (late '80s), dealer sent her oil change notices every 6 months, never saw the car for over 4 years. One day it came in on a flatbed with over 40k miles (car "stopped" working, her words). Upon inspection, the motor was locked solid (oil in pan was TAR!!!).

This MORON lawyer NEVER changed the oil, wanted the motor replaced by MB no charge, and SUED the dealer when they refused!!!

My 90 quattro was filled with "lifetime trans fluid" back in 1990. 25 years and 300k miles later, does Audi still consider it lifetime? I dont know, and I doubt it was still on the original fluid but what I drained out of that thing did not look like oil.

progress
 

So here is the latest on moving forward with engine replacement. Found another short block that is in good shape. Went in my wagon and picked it up. Sundays activity was removing the existing engine. Not too difficult, just very time consuming. And, in the one picture you can see I have somehow aquired 3 M62 engines!

Wow. You have so much of that front end disassembled why not just pull the rest of the front clip off and the engine could come right out the front? I believe the rad support and front end are all bolted in on these and not riveted...

Nice work either way. Not many here have pulled their engines... and most hope to never have to. I know I certainly haven't, and hope not to. ;)

"Motor Magic" and Marvell Mystery Oil will put the rings back on that one. The sludge, that will take two HOT oil changes.....:wow: