New 525iT owner! need help with misfire!

[itsbrokeagain]

What's to say you can't hang the AC compressor off to the side the enginebay, still sealed and then swap motors? Then just bolt it up to the B30 block. And your alternator should drop right on, right?

[s14brent]

What's to say you can't hang the AC compressor off to the side the enginebay, still sealed and then swap motors? Then just bolt it up to the B30 block. And your alternator should drop right on, right?

freon was already recycled. and it's coming out with the motor as soon as i have the time to do it.

[Mike WW]

Not exactly how I'd do it, but not too far off, great info, and great thread!!! It's still low mileage and runs well, so I doubt I'll be doing it to my 525it but I'd sure love to. It just needs more ummph. To me, for the touring, 2.8 was almost enough, 2.5 clearly not enough but I suspect 3.0 would put a smile to my face!

[s14brent]

I finally moved the wagon into the garage last night and started draining the fluids. I started taking things off to transfer over to the donor motor, like coil packs, cam position sensor, and a few pieces off the intake manifold. As I started to remove the intake accessories, I spotted a glob of orange RTV which apparently the previous owner thought could mend a broken hose....



Started to label the harness



more of the m54b30 intake manifold put together. I ended up ordering a new line/valve that goes from bottom of the intake manifold to brake booster. The hose on mine was in super bad shape.




fuel injectors added onto the rail. Injectors were cleaned, new baskets and o-rings and test flowed by MEPEH/BMWstone.


I left it like this last night, the plan is to try to remove the engine by end of week. (just due to limited time)



I'm going to feel so much better when this motor is out and there are no more hidden surprises like that RTV bomb!!

[geargrinder]

Lookin great Brent. Nice clean work. Bet that RTV job wasn't helping that motor! Wonder if a lean condition could have been related to the bad cyl.

[Mach540]

Did we determine the cause of the engine failure yet? I'm assuming you looked at the intake valve, and we have to wait till the engine is out to see the exhaust valve.

[Poolman]

Used the orange stuff to seal up the CCV valve and stop an air leak. Running lean will cause a problem for sure, if it isn't fixed .

- - - Updated - - -

Used the orange stuff to seal up the CCV valve and stop an air leak. Running lean will cause a problem for sure, if it isn't fixed .

[s14brent]

Lookin great Brent. Nice clean work. Bet that RTV job wasn't helping that motor! Wonder if a lean condition could have been related to the bad cyl.

thanks! good riddance! It probably did since the previous owner seemed to not want to do any maintenance on the vehicle. The coolant was brown, the oil was black, and the trans fluid was a dark brown as well and the oil filter was separating. I'll change the diff fluid and brake flush before it's ready to hit the road.

Did we determine the cause of the engine failure yet? I'm assuming you looked at the intake valve, and we have to wait till the engine is out to see the exhaust valve.

Took a quick look and the intake valve is fine. leak down test showed leakage on cyl 4 exhaust stroke. I can't wait to see the exhaust side, oh and i think the ccv separated when i lifted the manifold. so technically, the rtv was doing the job...i guess

Used the orange stuff to seal up the CCV valve and stop an air leak. Running lean will cause a problem for sure, if it isn't fixed .

yeah...sucks the previous owner didn't take care of this car!! I can't wait to have it up and running!

[s14brent]

Going to pull the m54b25 out hopefully tomorrow morning. I installed the alternator and ac compressor onto the b30.



I removed the exhaust and driveshaft earlier. Ended up chopping up the exhaust into pieces.



going to delete the resonator here for some 2.5" stainless I had laying around from my e36 m3



I get to practice stainless welding now that I have my tig welder setup for back purge.



Not sure what I want to do with the muffler yet...not a huge fan of the tip on there

[s14brent]

started this morning pulling the m54b25 out with a friend.



After the trans was out I decided now would be a good time to swap out these ABS brake lines



Took the trans to get pressure washed - sprayed it down with purple power degreaser first. Looks like I'll be changing out the input and output shaft seals on this trans. Also will be doing a new rear main seal and pilot bearing on the motor side.





I got lucky and the clutch looks to be recently replaced. (LUK)



refreshing the shifter assembly



turns out i need to order another set of teflon shifter bushings...oops



hopefully more next week! sort of waiting on a ton of parts!

[Mike WW]

Don't forget a selector shaft seal. Since the 70's it's been by far the most leak prone seal on BMW transmissions.

[s14brent]

Don't forget a selector shaft seal. Since the 70's it's been by far the most leak prone seal on BMW transmissions.

Yup! I'm actually replacing the zf trans on my e30 (s52 swapped) and i'll be doing the same "refresh" on that one. I don't think I'm going to do the shifter detents on the wagon though, looks like bmw raised the price almost 50% on those kits/pieces within the last year!!

[Mach540]

How is this thing attached to the car??
I could not figure it out when I tried replacing it when I did my SSK.

Untitled.jpg

[s14brent]

How is this thing attached to the car??
I could not figure it out when I tried replacing it when I did my SSK.

not my picture, and obviously for a different car, but same mounting design - you just push it into place

[geargrinder]

Yep. Jam it in the hole (TWSS).

[s14brent]

so my m54b25 didn't have the spacer that goes between the motor and trans, ended up ordering one off ebay for a good price (really helped save time trying to pull one from the junkyard). It came in today, had a bit of surface rust on it - hit it with a wire wheel and threw it on. Flywheel was thrown on, blue loctite used and torqued to spec, then the pressure plate got all new bolts and torqued to spec (PO used 3 different length bolts - wtf) Both the clutch/flywheel (sachs/luk) are being reused. They were probably replaced when the PO did the 5spd swap. Clutch disk has a ton of life and didn't have the usual uneven wear. I had the clutch alignment tool from my s52, and used that to line everything up before torquing to spec. After flywheel was torqued, I used the flywheel stopper and torqued the crank down to 250 ft/lb's (as much as my torque wrench is able to go, I've read 250-300 is where you want it).



I did order a new throw-out bearing and the metal clutch fork pivot that is listed under 540i. (still waiting on those and the front input shaft seal for the trans).

new selector rod shaft seal and rod joint. Should be nice with the e60 545i shifter....also ordered another pair of delrin shifter bushings.




I had a guy who makes 5lug caliper adapters for e30's (ig: @e30adapters) machine me a DSSR



one of the many hoses replaced (this one goes from brake booster to under the intake manifold.



replaced rear main seal, and pilot bearing (not fully seated)



replaced the output shaft seal and cleaned up the flange



and waiting for the input shaft seal here



removed the pioneer head unit that was held together with tape and soldered in a new stereo harness for my nakamichi cd400 from my e36 m3. also got a new dash kit for the headunit that has a small pocket vs the other one it came with. The dash kit is a POS and i had to modify it with a dremel to fit the faceplate trim



So besides waiting on a few parts, I'm not sure if i mentioned the exhaust was welded directly to the header flanges, started to cut them all off and grind it down today.

check out those PO booger welds!



and after some cutting and grinding it looks like this before throwing onto a belt sander



Hoping to be able to throw the motor and trans back in the car next week!

[geargrinder]

Did you be sure to re-set the SAC mechanism on the clutch? Looks to me no? No too late if motor isn't in?

[s14brent]

Did you be sure to re-set the SAC mechanism on the clutch? Looks to me no? No too late if motor isn't in?

good catch! thanks man! Indeed I did not....looks like I'll need to look at the different tool kits offered

[geargrinder]

good catch! thanks man! Indeed I did not....looks like I'll need to look at the different tool kits offered

I live to serve, brother!

google up yerselfs some "bmw self adjusting clutch reset gear puller" action and see the hack-around method using a 3-jaw puller. its a pretty arcane tool to buy, and the puller method works reasonably fine.
here's one example...
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=629140

other write-ups i've seen vary the 'shims' used to jam the SAC in place, I did one using golf tees for instance... once you jam it up you can take the puller off... as long as your shims can be pulled out smoothly afterwards.

[s14brent]

input shaft seal came in, also installed the OEM steel pivot and a new sachs TOB (not shown).



My oval shifter bushings from garagistic arrived. They are a different design than the ones previously ordered from them. I had to put the inner bushings on a belt sander to fit in the given space correctly. The outer ones are thicker, i'll have to mock this up on the trans to make sure I won't have to deal with fitment issues under the car.



I bought the self-adjusting clutch tool kit from 8milelake. seemed like the best bang for the buck, but none of the alignment tool fit so I had to take the smallest one and throw it on the belt sander until it could fit into the pilot bearing.



and the tool in use:



will mate the engine and trans on my next day off - right now i'm waiting on the headers - ended up cutting off the flanges, but waiting for new ones to arrive and I need to probably refill argon.

[s14brent]

had some time yesterday to throw on the transmission. filled up with Redline MTF.



Quick question, the m54b30 is from an 04' 330i, is there any specific sensors I need to swap from my 02' 525i m54b25?

[geargrinder]

had some time yesterday to throw on the transmission. filled up with Redline MTF.

FWIW... Theoretically it should be an ATF, and the Redline product would be D4 which a zillion bimmerheads run in their ATF-spec'd trannies. MTL is supposed to be not so great in cooler weather. I know Turner used to run D4 in everything, then at one point supposedly reverted to the OE BMW juice. In the Getrags I have I think D4 in one car and RP Syncromax in the other. The RP seems best in cold weather but some say it should be changed more freq. Prob time for a change soon now that I think of it.

[s14brent]

FWIW... Theoretically it should be an ATF, and the Redline product would be D4 which a zillion bimmerheads run in their ATF-spec'd trannies. MTL is supposed to be not so great in cooler weather. I know Turner used to run D4 in everything, then at one point supposedly reverted to the OE BMW juice. In the Getrags I have I think D4 in one car and RP Syncromax in the other. The RP seems best in cold weather but some say it should be changed more freq. Prob time for a change soon now that I think of it.

I run d4 in my e36 m3, but that trans has the atf specific sticker. This has the yellow mtf sticker, and have heard MTL works fine. (I used redline mtl, wrote mtf earlier...same same!) Also, i live in vegas...no such thing as cool/cold weather here..maybe for a month tops!

[StephenVA]

Love this epic tale of resurrection!

[s14brent]

Love this epic tale of resurrection!

Thanks! I plan on doing suspension refresh sort of like on your thread after the car is smogged & registered. Do you want to sell that CTA 8692 tool by any chance?