Isn't most of the maintenance at the beginning of a BMW car life is covered under the BMW maintenance program? If it is poor maintenance then it is BMW that caused the poor maintenance.

IF the previous owners actually used the program like they were supposed to.

Today was engine removal day! To make things as simple as possible, I prefer to remove as many components as necessary to get full access to the areas I'm working in. For this job, I chose to remove the entire front end.

It was a pretty straightforward engine removal. After the front end was off, I could access the power steering pump mounting bolts and A/C compressor bolts. Both of those items stayed behind in the car. The most challenging part was maneuvering around the front transfer case. It protrudes widely to the driver's side of the car, so far that it interferes with the steering column. The only way to remove the engine is to first remove the transfer case. Unfortunately, the transfer case won't come out unless the subframe is also removed/lowered. And the only way to drop the subframe is to support the engine from above. :roll eyes:

So the order of operations was something like this:
-Raise engine from above using chains
-Remove driver's side engine mount entirely
-Remove single nut on passenger's side engine mount
-Remove 4x power steering bolts/nuts to free P/S rack
-Remove 6x subframe bolts
-Remove 4x transfer case bolts and sneak the transfer case out of the car

I found this video to be really great information on how to remove the front bumper panel without damaging anything: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANdhbR3S4D0

[Popcorn out]

Next batch should be the money shots....

;)

Forgot to mention something important. Ever the detectives, the first thing we did once the engine was out of the car was to drain the oil. I didn't measure it exactly, but I can tell you at least 5 quarts came out. My catch bin almost overflowed. Unless oil was added after the fact, this engine certainly did not starve.

Tonight I pulled off the wiring harnesses, exhaust, water pump, turbo, and valve cover (in that order). I found a good deal of sludge around the springs for the VANOS system. It makes me think this car had a poor maintenance history.

For now I'm stalled because a special tool is required to pull out the fuel injectors. I'll be out of town the next few days and will resume this weekend once I've got the injector tooling figured out.

Normal for a direct injected engine. This is nothing compared to Audis of this era. There's no fuel to wash the back side of the valve.

For the injectors, you need this kit

Fuel Injector Puller Removal and Installation Tool Kit

AGA has some cool tools...the video in that link is interesting.

Although give the engine is out and apart, there are probably cheaper methods that dont 'solve' the problem of limited access like that AGA item does. Basically anything that threads onto the end, and 2 minutes with a wirefeed welder and youve got it. Pry, lever or slide/slammer (ie old dent puller)


and LOL at 'the sludge is strong in this one'