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Thanks as always! Spoke with my buddy at the gym yesterday as well, and he also suggested that I note the orientation of the driveshaft and the flex disk (relative to each other) to ensure they line up when putting it all back together. I'll probably use a piece of tape with a line. He also suggested possibly buying new bolts when putting it back together since as you noted, they're lock bolts and having them work their way out could be a very bad thing!
Funny, on the transmission, I was wondering whether the detente were for P-R-N-D etc, or if they were all of the individual gears themselves. Appreciate the rationale behind it, easy way to check whether I'm in neutral or not - if it spins, I'm there!
Will give it all a go this weekend and report back. I'll probably try it without removing the support at first. Thanks again!
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Marking the orientation of d-shaft is a good idea. colored nail polish or some other more permanent marker would work well.Originally Posted by BimmerDad17
For some reason, I was unable to remove just the front drive shaft connection, and had to remove the whole driveshaft front and back. This may have been because i did not loosen the engine mounts first, which might have allowed some play in the drive-line and allowed the room to remove just the front connection.
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Don't worry too much about the flex disk orientation. It's not balanced with the driveshaft. If you leave one side attached, you can't get it wrong. If you replace it, pay attention to the arrows molded into the disk -- they should point to the flange that arm is bolted to. Double check by nothing that the thick part of the joint carries the forward direction torque, and thin part is mostly used in reverse.
The driveshaft bolts and nuts are nominally supposed to be replaced. Long ago I did that, including buying spares because I sometimes needed to immediately take it apart ("doh! forgot the heat shield"). Then I learned that the no shop replaces bolts, and it clicked why the dealer parts department often didn't have my order in stock.
The reason for suggesting replacement is that BMW doesn't want the liability for reusing parts that might lead to disaster. And they want to minimize the chance a service guy will skip something important. Under-car bolts might lead a rough life. Road salt and gravel can leave them heavily rusted. Shops often just use an impact wrench set to max to install big bolts, But if the bolts are in good condition, I'll reuse them. Often I'll even re-use the nuts, with thread locking compound. It's much better than using off-spec bolts and nuts from the local store. (Remember, it's easier to stamp '10.9' on a bolt than to use better steel and harden it.
Many of the nuts have locking features, typically crimped ends or the outer end distorted to an oval. These are less effective when reused, so you probably want to use the right locking compound. Other fasteners have pre-applied compound. You might need fresh liquid compound when reused.
Oh, and never substitute 'nylock' nuts. They don't work when hot.
The transmission still has a cable and shift detents because it evolved from mechanical control. It should actually work just from the shift cable, without computer control, although it won't use most of the gears.
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Hey all - sorry I haven't been on in a while! Before I forget, Merry Christmas! Bet you all were wondering if I gave up. Not quite yet! Progress has been really slow, in addition to some troubles, life and weather have gotten in the way. So to catch you up...
Driveshaft bolts have been giving me fits. I tried them, they wouldn't budge. Tried spraying WD-40. Wouldn't budge. Bought PB Blaster and tried that. Wouldn't budge. Debated about buying or renting an impact wrench (which in hindsight, I'm not sure how well that would work since these bolts are coated?). In any event, tried renting from HD. The guy there said he worked on cars, and not to bother with their rental because it wouldn't be strong enough. But he suggested I buy a breaker bar as well as a pipe to fit over it to get even more leverage. That FINALLY got them to budge. My buddy at work suggested Kroil Oil. But he also pointed out I needed to be careful so as to not over-torque the bolt and shear it off. So I've been using the Kroil Oil and breaker bar on one bolt in particular, a little at a time. The other bolt that's exposed has loosened enough that I'm not too worried about that one - I can at least use the socket wrench on that. But the bolt that's giving me trouble is still on there good - I can just barely work it with the breaker bar, but it takes a lot of effort, and I'm not a small guy. So still a little worried about over-torquing it, but working a little at a time. And now that it's started, making slow but steady progress.
So astute readers out there might be thinking, "other *one*? There are three of them, right?" Well, yes, but not yet for me. The driveshaft hasn't been turning. I tried moving the transmission position, but the driveshaft still doesn't turn. Couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong - one of those has to be neutral, right? But honestly since I couldn't get the two bolts I could see to budge, it didn't make much difference at this point if I couldn't see the third! Mentioned that to my buddy at work, and he mentioned having the parking brake on could be the problem (which I've had on as extra protection against rolling - yes, I have chucks under the tires too, but...). So yesterday I took the parking brake off and tried it again - with the two I can see started I thought it made sense to finally get working on that third one, too. But still no dice. Couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, until at some point overnight, it hits me. The transmission / driveshaft connection is closer to the front of the car, so I've been jacking up the front to do the transmission work and to disconnect the driveshaft bolts. Rear tires are on the ground. Didn't occur to me that (a) it's a rear wheel drive car and (b) as a rear wheel drive car, even if the transmission is in neutral, that just disconnects the driveshaft from the engine, not the driveshaft from the rear wheels! At least, it didn't occur to me until 3AM this morning!
So in any event, there's the update! I'm off this week, and the boys are off from school, so hoping to make a little more progress. Will try jacking up the rear today and hopefully that will make the difference with moving the driveshaft. And thinking I'll keep the parking brake on *except* when I'm trying to turn the driveshaft. Slow and steady - at least that lesson's learned, right?! Hopefully others can learn from my experiences. Though yeah, that's pretty much a "duh!" one, but in my defense I wasn't really thinking about it too much since I could barely budge the two I could see.
Ah, well - thanks again for sticking with me, guys! Once again, Merry Christmas all.
This one's been long enough, but at some point I'll tell you about the trouble with the hood. Haven't focused on that one since I'm under the car, but at some point I'll have to figure that out...
(Ok, I'll spoil the surprise - put it in service mode by taking out bolts, then later closed the hood, now I can't get it open again, because it's pushed slightly forward and I can't reach the stupid lever in the grille to unlock it. Will work on that later! Maybe a coat hanger in my future?)
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Keep at it man. When I did my (1st) engine swap recently I had the car up on jack stands ( as high as I could get it) at all four corners for the duration..about 3 weeks..Came in handy for removing exhaust, refilling transmission, rear brake pads and rotors, etc.
A battery powered impact wrench would really be a good tool purchase for this project. I bought both 1/2 and 3/8 drive at Lowes and am very glad I did.
I found it just as easy to remove the hood as put it in the service position, and needed to when I installed engine and trans together (I took them out separately). Then again, I think you said you are outside on this project and want to keep hood on car. I outlined the hinge on the underside with a marker to help with re-alignment. While you're at it, lubricate the hood latch mechanism. Mine was dry and would not fully extend.
Good luck
Member
The driveshaft bolts are in an awkward position, but they have never given me a major problem. Sometimes using the ring end of a wrench, with the other end propped against the car, lets you use a larger ratchet with both hands.
Keep in mind that they are self-locking nuts. They won't spin freely until they are almost off. You'll need to keep pulling hard with a ratchet rather than remove them by hand.
BTW, Nylock nuts are never used in potentially hot areas -- these nuts have either a crimped ring or deformed-oval section at the outer end.
I wouldn't be too concerned about breaking these bolts. They are inexpensive to replace, very strong, and you wouldn't want to reuse one that you could actually break by hand. They are critical, so you should replace any that aren't in good condition anyway.
You can separate the driveshaft on either side of the flex disk. Try the other three if there is a stubborn or rounded-off fastener.
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Hmmm... Definitely giving me trouble. So I did as I said above, jacked up the back this time, was able to turn the driveshaft and get at the third one. But the new angle made me realize - these are through bolts with nuts on the back. As I was turning one today, I realized the nut in the back is just spinning. I can't access that with the transmission support in the way. I took a picture of the ones I'm turning - this is correct, right? I think I may have to take the transmission support off to access the nuts to hold them in place.
IMG_1559.jpg
Member
Yes. Like the connection at the transmission, you need to hold the back of the bolt with an open-end box wrench.
If you haven’t already I would spend some time on youtube watching BMW engine swap videos on 5 series and 3 series (similar). They go over all this and more. Ovalbore and 50’s kid are worthwhile youtube posters.
Member
Yes. Like the connection at the transmission, you need to hold the back of the bolt with an open-end box wrench.
If you havenÂ’t already I would spend some time on youtube watching BMW engine swap videos on 5 series and 3 series (similar). They go over all this and more. Ovalbore and 50Â’s kid are worthwhile youtube posters.
Member
Thanks. I've definitely watched a few videos, but it's hard to tell what's where in a lot of those. Djb's advice on here has been invaluable. I'll check out the couple you mention, though!
Member
Hey guys! So, weather was finally above 40 again, so we got back out there.
As discussed, we needed to remove the transmission support in order to access the back of the driveshaft to hold the nuts. The transmission support had a few 13 mm bolts holding it in. There were also some smaller nuts which I did not remove at this stage. Don’t forget, it’s a *support*, so when you take it off, the whole thing will drop (thankfully, the driveshaft was still connected!). I used a jack stand to help support it.
I didn’t have to remove the support entirely at this stage, just needed a little leeway to get the crescent side of a compound wrench in there. After that, taking the bolts out wasn’t a problem.
Before removing the driveshaft bolts, I partially reinserted a few of the transmission support bolts to hold it up. I then was able to remove the driveshaft bolts entirely. NOTE that there were washers both between the bolt itself and the flange, as well as between the flange and the transmission.
Ok - have some more reading to do to prep for the next steps! Thanks all for following along!
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On my car and with my tools I'm able to remove the driveshaft bolts with the transmission support in place, but it's a close thing. A 1/2" ratchet head runs into the expanded part of the driveshaft putting the socket slightly askew. A 3/8" breaker bar is a better fit to break the bolt loose, but isn't convenient to use when removing the bolt against the drag of the lock nut.
What's your next step?
Having No Trouble Here
BMW CCA Member
Was wondering if this project had died on the vine. Good luck, be careful with stuff unbolted and hanging around under the car man, that's the dangerous stuff.
To be pedantic, you mean "open-end" side of a "combination" wrench.
Combination wrenches have an open-end and a box-end.
Crescent (actually is a brand, but yes its like "Kleenex") usually is used to indicate a crappy adjustable thing (think we've been through that before wif you, no?).
Compound wrenches are a heavy-plumbing-pipe thing.
2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)
Former:
1985 MB Euro graymarket 300SL
1995.5 Audi S6 Avant (utility/winter billetturbobattlewagen)
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Duly noted, geargrinder! I’ll get it by the time I’m done with all this.
djb2 - I’ve been putzing around so long on the driveshaft bolts, not sure! Boys are at a school event today, so figuring out what to do tomorrow. I referred back to your other post / guide, here’s what you have next under the car:
“Remove the engine splash panel by turning the fasteners a quarter turn with the #3 screwdriver (a #2 will work in a pinch). Drain the radiator and replace the plug. Draining the engine oil will be easier once the engine is out, but don’t unseat the dipstick with the engine tilted.
Unscrew the clamps for the power steering hose 'U' loop (10mm) and the small coolant hose support at the power steering pump (10mm).
Remove the ground strap adjacent to the A/C compressor. Either end will do. It goes from the body to the engine mount arm. (13mm) It can be removed as the engine is coming out if access is blocked by the brake air duct on some bumper styles, but it's easy to forget.”
As geargrinder previously noted, I started up top and disconnected the radiator without draining it - your order would have been much easier!
I’m assuming the other items listed above shouldn’t be too difficult to do. Depending on when I finish up those, I may switch to up top again. Tougher part will probably be locating everything (for me, anyway!). Googled some basic info on those, so I have an idea what the ac compressor and power steering pump both look like and where to find them.
Oh, and I found another fun “issue” to deal with: I put the hood into service mode early on to have easier access up top (and honestly, at the time still a good way to get my feet wet and ease into everything!). Then I later shut it, of course. Well, it closed slightly askew (I didn’t realize I should re-latch everything before closing it again!). So now it’s off just enough that I can no longer reach the hood latch release through the grille. Plan is to try and use a coat hanger to reach in there and pull the release. Fun stuff!
Any suggestions before I head out there tomorrow are welcome - thanks again everyone!
Member
The A/C compressor and P/S pump are the lowest two belt driven parts. They stay on the car. The P/S pump is light enough that you can use a bungee cord, but the compressor is heavy enough to need wire or a strap.
The ground strap is a heavy cable with brown insulation on the passenger side. It's easy to spot from under the car, but the ends are somewhat awkward to reach. Unbolt whichever end is easiest at the time.
The power steering cooling loop is also quite obvious from under the car. It's a pointless-looking loop of hose. You don't really need to unfasten the 'U' loop, but it's only one bolt and makes pushing the hoses out of the way easier.
Member
Ok - so got just about all of the under-car work done, and did a little up top, as well.
The u-strap was pretty obvious and easy to find. The ground strap was a little harder to locate. It’s near the front of the car on the passenger side, just behind the front air duct. I’ll try and post a picture of it to help others. It was a little tricky to get the wrench on it to get it started, but once started it came off rather quickly.
I couldn’t seem to figure out what was meant by the “power steering hose support”. That’s the last thing I still need to remove under the car, from the description in the other post.
Thankfully, opening the hood was easy enough using a clothes hanger to pull the latch. We took the cover off the engine. Next step is pulling off the cables.
I think I’m going to seek out some more videos to watch (I’ll start with effduration’s suggestions) and go from there. Thanks again, all!
Member
Assuming this works, it’s the “brown” ground strap.
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Hey guys! So for the record, things have been slow going (duh!). Instead of trying to push a teenager, I figured I'd let time catch up with him and soon enough he'd have the bug to get this done. He's got his license now, so all he needs is a working car!
In that regard, I think I've got it just about all disconnected. The top work hasn't been too bad. Toughest part for me all along has been figuring out which part is what. We've got the ECU disconnected, power steering, a/c, transmission connection to the radiator disconnected, etc. We still need to finish one more item underneath (removing one of the power steering hoses). Then next weekend we're taking a trip back to Harbor Freight and picking up an engine lift, and trying to remove it! We'll see how that goes. I'll try and capture some video of the big moment.
Thanks again for all the help, everyone!
Member
Ok - moving along slowly as ever, folks! Picked up the engine lift and put that together. But since then, kids had finals, we went on vacation, etc. I planned on trying to pull it out this weekend, but our ac fan died and I spent way too long fixing that instead.
Funny, I’ve found that for working on the car I spend an hour or so watching videos on how to do the next step(s) for every 5-10 minutes I spend working. Went the same with the ac. Once I finally figured out what I needed to do, it was a cinch to actually do it.
Even today - disconnected the ac compressor on the car, as well (should be fully disconnected now!). Spent close to an hour watching videos (and I’m counting the time spent *finding* the right video to watch) figuring out where the ac compressor is and what it looks like, which are the right bolts to take it off, etc. Once we found that, it was a 2-minute job to actually take off two of the three bolts that hold it on (and per djb’s write-up, we’ll get the last one as we’re actually pulling the engine out of the car).
Anyway, we’re going to spend some time tomorrow watching a few videos on how to remove the engine. In particular, I’m curious about where to attach what between the engine and the lift / load leveler. Saw one video where one connection point is the front-center of the engine. And saw another with someone below the car needing to push the transmission forward from underneath in order to get the right angle for it all to come out.
In any event, if anyone’s still following this, any advice you have with regard to the final step of actually removing the engine would be greatly appreciated! Thanks again, all!
Member
check out all e46 engine swap-related youtube videos from "ovalbore" very helpful .
You can leave the trans in the car, and remove just the engine, but taking trans out with engine and separating is much easier.
If you take the trans and engine together, you really need a load balancer (borrow one?) which will attach to your cherry picker style engine hoist. the load balancer will angle the engine trans combo forward and backward.
this is how I strapped my engine/auto trans for re-installation (removal would be same) - I used the cheap harbor freight ratchet straps.
One strap around the transmission and up to the back end of balancer - this is a little fiddly as space is tight.
One strap from front of engine (eyelet near thermostat on top) to front end of balancer
one strap around exhaust manifold (or engine mount bracket on block) to front of balancer - this keeps engine from rolling toward exhaust.
keep plenty of wind up capacity (you will understand when you look at it) in ratchet straps to allow you to tighten/adjust as you lift.
I took the hood off (mark hinges with a sharpie for re-alignment) and left the front assembly of the car ON. if you have already removed the front of the car, you can leave the hood on. Removing the hood is easy.
Member
I don't see any reason to remove the hood. The vertical service position (held in place with M6 bolts) gives plenty of room with none of the risks of removal (damage while moving, damage while storing, realignment).
The rear lifting eye is easy to reach on the e39, once you know it's only a bit hidden behind the manifold. I used a bolt through the chain, which was more than strong enough. I can imagine that it's more difficult to reach on the e46.
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Thanks guys! Started trying the removal this morning, and realized we still had a few parts to finish up. In particular, the ECU was still connected. Sadly, like much, not that difficult but took MUCH longer than it should have to take off the simple little fuse boxes. Pushed the little button and it wouldn’t move, and I kept thinking I was missing something, but really I just needed to be a little firmer with it. There’s one other part I need to pull off (picture below).
It’s been tricky trying to maneuver with the tranny still on. Wondering about taking off the entire radiator. I’m thinking the trouble saved in removal and reinstallation, and reinstalling the radiator fan and shroud, will be worth the trouble of taking that off. Thoughts?
Re-membered?
I would definitely suggest removing the front core support - It's like 8 bolts, lightweight, and provides much greater access to the radiator/AC condenser/power steering cooler/trans cooler.
Nate J.
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This is the piece I need to take off - detach the clip or is there an easier way?
Member
There is more than one way to do this...But I certainly had the radiator out of the car.
i kept the front on (core support, AC condenser, Headlights, and bumper). I took the hood off, but you can try it with the hood in the most vertical service position (remove hood struts and put a long bolt thru holes on the hood hinges as you raise the hood.
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