MotorMouth93's 2003 540i/6 Quasi-Restoration Build Thread

[JimLev]

What year engine did the distribution unit come off of, the one that had scratches in it?
The revised ones have a Teflon coating.

[MotorMouth93]

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[JimLev]

Mobil 1 0w40 is good, I've been using it for the last 8+ years.
I like that testo graph, I'll have to download it.

[MotorMouth93]

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[MotorMouth93]

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[dannyzabolotny]

Well, my alternator decided to seize up. What’s the best replacement option? I’m thinking rebuilt Bosch from Rockauto for $300.

That's probably your best bet, unless you can find somebody parting out a 540i/740i/X5 with an already rebuilt alternator for less money... that's what I've been doing since all of my parts cars happen to already have rebuilt alternators.

[geargrinder]

Bosch rebuild from anywhere yeah. Unless you want to try the rebuild process. There's some trick to finding the VR, but IIRC it is available from trade sources, even if its hard to find retail.
Gotta get the bearing and that bearing holder thingy.

Want a good laugh? Dealer price on just the VR looks to be $525 now.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...or-12311713491

Thats a hundo more than they want for the actual rebuilt alternator. That's a pretty good illustration of how determined they are to fork us old car guys out of the picture. "Basic" BMW VR's are otherwise a totally reasonable $30.

[MotorMouth93]

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[mattmar1]

ive had very good luck with HEPU water pumps, reasonably priced, i do believe that theyre OEM for VOLVO. stainless impellers.

[MotorMouth93]

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[MotorMouth93]

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[computiNATEor]

I had the dreaded "check coolant level" message come up in the cluster again a few days ago. I rented a pressure tester from Autozone (literally brand new, the lady had to cut the manufacturer seal on the box) and it's showing very slow leakage, if I pump it up to 20psi it'll show 19psi 15 minutes later. I couldn't find any evidence of leaks anywhere, no drips from the back of the motor so the block plate seems to be fine, coolant manifold looks good, heater hoses look fine, radiator hoses look fine, no leakage from the valley pan, radiator seems fine, no drips on the front of the motor around the water pump, nothing by the alternator, and I got out my chemical tester to check for exhaust gasses in the cooling system and to my great relief it came back fine too. At his point all I have left to check is the HVAC stuff in the cabin, whats the best way to check the heater core for leakage? I pulled the kick panel on the driver side and I can't see anything from there.

Remove the lines that go to it and pressure test it by itself.

[geargrinder]

Before you go too crazy with the heater core... If your leak is slow & tiny from the stuff at the very top of the rad: exp tank, bleed screw, cross-over-tube, cross-over-tube-nipple... then it could be leaking air and not coolant in that test.

And that is stuff is much easier to check out than the heater core. Heater cores are not notorious problems in these cars, although, knock on lots of wood with the age at this point lets hope we're not turning the page to the era of the heater core replacement job...

Have you had the shroud off to see if there's signs of leaked coolant under the top though? Other sneaky leakies are the actual rad drain plug itself (BTDT). You just had the alternator out, are you sure that's all sealed up again (both the O-ring and the hose?) The O-ring is pretty idiot proof, not a common problem, but just tossing it out there. There's also a funny little fitting on the back of the alternator that only gets used on automatics for the heat exchanger. A manual car has it capped off with a funky little snap-on dude... not known to leak but you could shine a light back up in there and check.

[MotorMouth93]

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[philly98540]

Sorry to hear you may be in for the worst... Put it on pressure test again, and look into the cylinders via the spark plug holes with a USB procto camera.

[geargrinder]

The alternator appears to be sealed up tight, no evidence of leaks around it. I forgot about the cap on the back of the alternator though so I'll go back and check that, I would have expected it to drip when pressurized though. I spent about half an hour on RealOEM trying to find the part number for it when I was working on the new engine but couldn't find anything...I could find it in diagrams but it was never actually listed.

You're right its a flaw in the catalog. USA manuals should show it but they have it deleted. Here it is (not that you need it it seems but just FYI...)

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/show...67#11531436850

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This whole mess is embarrassing. I feel like I have to be monumentally screwing up somewhere for this car to be this terrible, but I've never had any issues with any of the other cars I've worked on.

I've said it before: Friends don't let friends drive M62TU's.

Do you have an inspection cam MM?

Might pull the plugs and look inside. Even the tiniest water in the bores will leave stuff crazy clean and shiny.
Sometimes you can tell from just a super clean sparkplug... Although better to be able to peek down there.

[MotorMouth93]

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[geargrinder]

Yeah I don't hear of that rear plate being that much of a problem honestly but why not have a look. If you bore-peek and see plenty of nice dirty carbon that'll be a nice surprise and maybe things aren't as dire as you fear...

[JimLev]

When you did the pressure test it's best to do it when the engine is cold. If it's hot it will start to cool down which will lower the pressure.
Your heater core pipes are visible by removing the panel under the dash and then pulling off the side carpeted panel to the right of the gas pedal. There is one Phillips screw on the front you have to remove, then slide the panel to the rear.

[MotorMouth93]

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[geargrinder]

John I doubt that plug is the issue, they usually are good for life, but what the hell right? Would be super awesome if just ended up being a "stuck bleed" event. It is true for perfect bleeding you should set heater to max and let it heat up fully for a while... To be truthful I never bother getting too fussy on that because only once have I ever drained so much coolant out that I got air up in there I think (timing chain job when whole block was drained...) Much more often you're just partial-draining coolant in front of the motor... But in this case easily that could be it. Lets all hope!

[MotorMouth93]

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[MotorMouth93]

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[philly98540]

I did the same seat repair a few years ago. Used the zip ties as well. Great improvement. Seat feels almost brand new after! Clamp job looks good on the cables.

[computiNATEor]

I did the same seat repair a few years ago. Used the zip ties as well. Great improvement. Seat feels almost brand new after! Clamp job looks good on the cables.

Yeah, the fuel hose/clamp method seems like the best way to fix the issue.

I'd love to do a Blackvue system in my car, but with front and rear cameras. More hassle to install, but good for protection.