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Precisely 350 ft·lb.

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I engineered this tool to hold the crank hub so I could tighten with no force on the locking pin which I destroyed attempting to remove the Jesus bolt.

(This was m62tu which has a much different locking pin arrangement and/or shit tons more torque on the JB).

Using the pulley system meant I only had to pull with 30-40# to achieve 350 ft·lb which is less than with my torque multiplier which is one of the most badass tools ever.

To remove; Impact all the way if you can fit it in. Tightening: impossible to beat the torque multiplier but the pulley and scale is a very hard to beat combo.

lots of news. mostly bad.

first, if you haven't seen this in person, here is what a shattered cam looks like.

https://i.postimg.cc/fWYmNhZv/2021-07-13-11-33-11.png

and this is what a donor car at the junkyard looks like! i got seriously lucky. i only needed the intake but the exhaust cam was perfect so i got that one too. 2004 530i that somebody had obviously taken decent care of. These cams were in WAY better condition than mine. Set me back about a day and took a LOT of energy. Long story but it was damn near impossible to get that intake cam installed. Not sure why it was so difficult. Caps just wouldn't got down far enough.

https://i.postimg.cc/hP6BbNzH/2021-07-13-11-35-53.png


So then I reinstalled the vanos and timed it with the tool. BTW, i would suggest the 50skid video for that. The G.A.S. instructions are WAY overkill. It's a lot simpler than they make it sound and i think your chances for error go UP as you drown on STEP 58.

after that i did the valve cover and bolted the exhaust back up and then the manifold, injectors, etc.

Anyway, the big moment. pulled the fuel pump fuse. cranked it for oil pressure. no metal clanking so that's a good sign. put fuse 47 back and next thing you know she purrs to life...and a massive screeching from what must be a bad power steering pump that's done with getting drenched in coolant and P/S fluid. I guess that was it. either or the alternator. not sure what else could make that horrid noise (which goes away after driving a bit).

here's where the bad part starts.

1) this morning i saw that it's leaking oil directly from the head gasket on the front right corner.

2) it's eating coolant. same problem it went into the shop for. after you drive it and let it cool, the top radiator hose gets sucked flat.

3) i am pretty sure there is steam coming out of the exhaust.

I think i am about done with it unfortunately. This morning i jump in my nearly new 2005 Xer to head to work (which i skipped yesterday to work on the cyl head project) and it starts, chokes and stalls. that's some pretty impressive luck, eh?! Bound to be the CCV. It's at 100k and I have been putting it off.

I am sorry to hear all this...This is pretty unusual.

Coolant left over in the exhaust from previous overheat could be causing smoke. I would confirm you are getting coolant in cylinders by swabbing cylinders one morning after running the day before.

Oil leaking from head gasket at front right (passenger side) corner? That is pretty unusual. First off the oil is not under pressure in that area...that area has gravity oil drains to bring oil back to the pan. There are only the M8 skinny bolts in the corners...but they are of different lengths (left and right) did you use the right one? Any chance it stripped?

And you did the proper head bolt torque? 30 ft-lbs then a 90 degree and another 90 degree in proper order?

There are some bolt on parts in that neighborhood that need a good look for possible oil leaks.. Timing chain tensioner, Cam position sensor, Vanos Solenoid and valve cover gasket slipped a bit in the re-install and forgetting to put gasket sealer in the half round neighborhood where it dips down at the end of the cams could all be possible.
Also., I talked to a race engine builder at one of our local auto parts stores, a place where they really know their stuff. He said to use block sealer in the coolant and drain and refill coolant after a couple hundred miles. He builds 10K rpm motors and knows his stuff.

you mean like "Stop leak" ? :yikes: No Way..

I liked everything else you said.

After doing timing chain guides we had a hell of a leak right where you describe: turned out to be the crush washer on the tensioner. Hope you find out it's similar.

My car with no significant coolant leak but apparently a tiny one (add a cup every couple weeks) has sucked the upper hose flat just when a little low. I must have had some air in the system didn't do a very complete "burp" which I did recently and haven't seen the flat hose in a while

Definitely torqued the head to spec. And I have a witness, lol! Everything held fine. Nothing stripped. Now, i didn't use a Torque angle gauge but i was pretty damn precise with my 90's.

When I say front right, I should clarify. I mean on the driver's side and the first full size head bolt on Cylinder 1. I'll check it again to make sure it's not the vanos or something but it seemed pretty clearly that first head bolt.

did you have any coolant on the ground ?

I agree with all this, especially the "sorry to hear this" part

To add a couple of ideas:

On the oil leak - could it be coming from the valve cover (cylinder head cover)? I think I might have had an initial minor leak, that was easily fixed, left some residual oil that made a little smoke. No big deal, but was a little concerning.

EDIT - now I see yours is on the driver's side. There are a lot of other things that could be leaking oil in that area. VANOS, valve cover, oil filter housing.

The coolant is probably the main thing I'd target right now. I think the theory is that you have some sort of seal failure between cooling and combustion - maybe HG, maybe crack, maybe head bolt torquing issue.

Your symptoms are (I'm filling in here): losing coolant, no overflow at the expansion tank (that would happen if exceeding 2 bar), radiator hose suctioned flat the next day, possible water vapor in the exhaust. The fact that you're NOT overflowing at the expansion tank is good, maybe indicating a less serious issue.

If that is true, then @Effduration's suggestion to "swab" the cylinders would be a good, direct test. Remove spark plugs, and poke a paper towel on a stick or something through there, and see if you get any coolant on it. In the testing I did before my HG work, to confirm my HG leakage issue (warped head, in my case), I actually pressurized the cooling system with the engine cold, waited a couple of hours and did that swab test to easily confirm coolant in the cylinders.

BTW, the reason the hoses are sucked flat is that the air that was in there to begin with (air gap at the top of the expansion tank) somehow mixed with water vapor and leaked out during driving when the coolant was hot and pressurized. Then once it cooled down, the water vapor condensed back to water, but the air has gone, so you've got a pretty good vacuum, sucking the hoses flat.

But your leak could be somewhere else. I had a minor but annoying leak due to low quality o-rings on the new water pipes that go into the head. The leak is buried so deep (under the intake manifold, behind the oil filter housing, etc.) that it may be hard to see. But the coolant will vanish, and some level of cool-down suction will result, even without a serious problem.

Correct. It's got to be one of those things. Unfortunately, those are all deal breakers save the head bolt torquing which is PRETTY much a deal breaker. i do have a spare set of head bolts but i have used 98% of my allotted time for this project.

is it possible there is on obstruction in the system somewhere? Namely, the expansion tank? could that cause these symptoms?