Fixin' the fourty

Rilot

Rilot

Rilot

Don
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
23,569
Location
Wargrave, UK
A slight missfire at tickover indicated an issue with the 540i. It could have been one of the following:

Air leak in vacuum hoses
Bad MAF
Dodgy coil pack
Oil in the spark plug wells

Or a combination of those.

To prove it wasn't an air leak or the MAF I disconnected the MAF at idle and the missfire was still there. So, coils or oil in the plug wells.
I knew the rocker gaskets had failed from when I changed my sparkies last weekend so that was an obvious one to try first.

New gasket set and off I went

Removing anciliary components:
3557202789_6171c7a0ab_o.jpg


Not a good sign. Oil all over the coil pack:
3557202971_2400f33966_o.jpg


Yup. Oil shouldn't be there:
3558015786_8556f6b340_o.jpg


Removing the pollen filter ducting:
3558017086_555e8215aa_o.jpg


Removing airbox:
3558020626_abef46b1b4_o.jpg


Gently tap rocker cover to release gasket seal:
3557209089_b810400978_o.jpg


Off comes the drivers side cover:
3557209469_6f965c2a4e_o.jpg


Pretty clean in there:
3558022546_5dc18bcd37_o.jpg


New gasket fitted:
3557213389_a091218172_o.jpg


Other side was a bit harder. Fuel lines and all sorts of junk in the way:
3558028796_d7fc246588_o.jpg


Getting it off. Easy. Getting it back on. Hard:
3557216635_7c24d3a32b_o.jpg


On:
3558031640_d333b750c7_o.jpg


After that was done. I decided to swap out the rear discs. Check out that scorring and corrosion where the handbrake shoes go:
3558038996_831742d6fd_o.jpg


Those caliper bolts were a bit of an arse:
3557227005_48ba7fb6c4_o.jpg


So, new gaskets on both rocker boxes. 2 new rear disks.
Took about 4 hours with plenty of tab breaks.

The best news though. Missfire is gone.
 
Good stuff. It's such a good feeling when you manage to DIY fix something successfully. Even more so on an expensive Beemer. :)
 
Oh yeah. I forgot to add that the cam lobes and valve shims were in utterly superb condition. No pitting or scoring at all. You really wouldn't know that the engine had done 150,000 miles.
 
Nice to hear you've got it sorted :)

When theres something a-miss, do you shudder a little and grab on to your wallet? What are repairs like, costly? :)
 
4 hours don't know how much a bmw garage would have charged probably more than i earn in a week, anyway nice job saved money.

Btw between the first pic and last where did you hit your head or is it just dirt makes on the forehead
 
jlss said:
Btw between the first pic and last where did you hit your head or is it just dirt makes on the forehead
Click to expand...

He was using his head as a failsafe on the wheelarch in case the jack failed. Probably.
 
jlss said:
4 hours don't know how much a bmw garage would have charged probably more than i earn in a week, anyway nice job saved money.
Click to expand...

Bank on around £100-£125/hr

I don't expect the book repair time for those jobs would be 4hrs though.
 
Sanchez said:
By the way, didn't you used to present Gamesmaster? :D
Click to expand...

LOL!

Loving the oily head there. I changed the PCV breather kit on the 9-% a month back and the catch tank was in such a swear worthly place. Great feeling once it's all back together and you can have a nice soak on the bath knowing its all right again and saved some labor pennies.
 
Good work. I've been doing girly car jobs today trying to polish my corroded exhaust tip and cleaning/feeding some seriously cracked cream leather.
 
Next set of jobs will be:

Dampers and springs at the front
Change gearbox and diff fluid
Fix intensive windscreen wash system (new pump)
Fix rear screen wash (No idea. Pump runs but no water comes out)
Have a go at fixing the missing pixels on the dash display
Address some of the small rust patches
 
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