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Thread: Valve cover gasket replacement gone bad

  1. #1
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    Valve cover gasket replacement gone bad

    2002 BMW 325i I watch a bunch of DIY videos and attempted to put on a new valve cover, with all new spark plugs, and ignition coils. Once I got it all put back together and started the car, it made grinding / gravelling noise when I turned the key. Immediately I turned it back off, the car never fully started. When I tried to turn it on again the key turns but nothing happened at all. I have only owned this car 3 months and it's my first BMW. Where should I start to look for what could have gone wrong?

  2. #2
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    I'm sorry to hear about your mishap... I think it would be helpful to both you and and those trying to help you if you provided a few more details about what happened. Is your battery dead? I can't think of anything else that would cause "nothing at all" to happen when you turn the key. I'd put a multimeter on the battery just to check and make sure it is fully charged. I'm not sure what could cause the "grinding/graveling noise" though, unless you dropped something in the valve train (lets not think about this possibility until you've checked the simpler things). Also, I wouldn't keep trying to turn it over until I found the issue. Hope this helps.
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  3. #3
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    Check the battery voltage as suggested. Did it crank or just click? Were you missing anything (nuts, bolts or tools) during reassembly? This could be serious or minor.

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  4. #4
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    Here is the full back story to the car. When I first got the car it would sometimes sputter and die and the engine codes were reading 02 Sensor and System Lean Codes. Occassionally it would stop fuel supply and shut down the car. So I replaced all 4 02 Sensors. Then the purge valve had to be replaced, next the oil level sensor went. After getting all that done I was still having problems occassionally with it misfires and I knew there was an oil leak. I decided to change the plugs and ignition coils next with the suspicision that I would have to change the valve cover gasket as well. I found oil in the spark plug wells. I went cheap and ordered the parts from Amazon. I left the coils and plugs out while I ordered and waited on all the parts, including the valve cover gasket to arrive. I used Pelican Parts website and 50's Kid youtube videos as a guide to take it all apart and put it back together. I did drop a grommet at the very start of the project when removing one of the first bolts off the valve cover. It fell straight down and I'm sure onto the plastic cover on the bottom of the car, as nothing was open at that point for it to fall into the engine. After reassembling everything, on the first attempt to start the car, as I went to turn the key over instead of the normal crank it make a terrible gravelly / grinding noise. Instantly I turned it back off, the car did not actually start on the attempt, I just moved the key back to off. I checked under the hood, no oil spray, no slipped/broken belt or any other obvious issues. I didn't know where to start or what made the sound so I attempted to crank it again to see if I could figure anything out. When I turn the key to the on position I can hear the fuel pump engage. When you turn the car to crank it, nothing happens. It's as if the battery is dead, but the lights and everything are working just fine.

  5. #5
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    The starter may have just died on that attempt to start the engine. The gravelly noise could have been the gear for the starter failing to engage the flywheel and just scraping across the face of it on it's last actuation.
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  6. #6
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  7. #7
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    UPDATE Battery voltage was fine. Someone told me that ignition coils have to have a gap, similar to spark plugs. They suggested since I bought off brand coils from Amazon I should try reinstalling old coils. After switching those out, it will crank but not fire up. I checked voltage again and it was fine, connected it to a charger on "start" mode and tried starting it. Still won't fire up. Voltage dropped on crank so I'm thinking switching the starter will be next. Any other ideas on!what it could be? I am a novice and it seems accessing the starter will be difficult (taking apart many pieces). How risky is it for a person new to working on cars to switch starter on this?

  8. #8
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    If it cranks it's not the starter.

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  10. #10
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    Not sure if this helps but here a link to how it sounds when I try to start it. I hear the fuel pump when I turn the key to the on position and this is how the crank sounds....

  11. #11
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    The ones on the ignition coil bolts? Yes.

  12. #12
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    Starter is working. Do you have any codes? Never leave the spark plugs out of the engine. If it rained and you had the cabin filter housing off with the plugs out there is probably water inside the cylinders. Unless it was inside a garage.

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  13. #13
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    No codes. So is water in the cylinders fixable?

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shan1canes View Post
    No codes. So is water in the cylinders fixable?
    I would think any water would have been spit out the exhaust after cranking.

    Your issue with the grinding noise could very well have been the coils. I don't know about gaping them, but I've seen something similar where a slight delay in iginition timing caused some crazy bad sounds. Wish I could remember what was off, but the info you were given was legit. It can cause something like that. My money is on low quality in the Amazon coils.

    However, several weird things here. You went from nothing happening to it cranking again with the old coils. Unless this computer is smarter than I think it is, it should crank even with no coils. Swapping coils shouldn't have changed that. It doesn't make much sense it just started cranking again out of the blue.

    My next step would be to recheck every connection again, make sure everything is plugged in good. My fear is that while moving stuff to do the work something came loose or broke. Maybe something inside a wire that you can't see? Hope not.

    If your original noise WAS related to the coils then you were getting gas and spark then. The noise would have been from sparking at the wrong time in the compression stroke. Think nasty wicked knock.

    So that would mean the no start at this point is something that happened when you put the old ones back in. Retrace your steps.

    One thing I'd try is unhook the battery for a while. See if it resets something in the computer. Maybe it went into failsafe or a protect mode. Couldn't hurt.

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    Last edited by 951Dreams; 06-21-2018 at 05:38 AM.
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  15. #15
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    NEWEST UPDATE:
    After some research and talk to some people, I took the coils and plugs out and tried cranking it repeatedly. I was told this would remove water from the cylinders. While I had the plugs out I sprayed a little starter fluid on each, blowing off the excess, and then put back in the new spark plugs (note: these are cheap, from Amazon plugs, but they are suppose to be Bosch brand, and they do have the branding on them). I replaced the old coils again back into the car. As soon as I was snugging up the bolt on the last coil, with the key in my pocket, all the windows and sunroof opened completely with no one in the car. I closed them all up and tried starting the car. It cranked but wouldn't start. I pushed the gas and it fired up and then died immediately. I tried to crank again and nothing but the fuel pump engaging and the starter clicking happened. I'm guessing the starter fluid had something to do with it. I will try disconnecting the batter as suggested and see if that helps. I already threw out the old plugs so I can't put those back in. If unplugging the battery (and making sure it's still charged after all this cranking) doesn't work, would a logical next step be buying another new set of plugs from a reputable store and try those? Thanks for everyone who has helped out thus far and for any future input in advance. Also I was just remembering that we torqued the VCG to 6 ft / lb and I have read elsewhere other numbers. Is it possible for the no start to be caused by not having those tight enough?
    Last edited by Shan1canes; 06-22-2018 at 02:09 PM. Reason: forgot to add info about torque in first post

  16. #16
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    OK so I had no idea that holding the unlock button would cause all the windows to open, so I guess I have solved that part of it for myself! About to go disconnect the battery finally and I will let you guys know if that fixes it!

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shan1canes View Post
    NEWEST UPDATE:
    After some research and talk to some people, I took the coils and plugs out and tried cranking it repeatedly. I was told this would remove water from the cylinders. While I had the plugs out I sprayed a little starter fluid on each, blowing off the excess, and then put back in the new spark plugs (note: these are cheap, from Amazon plugs, but they are suppose to be Bosch brand, and they do have the branding on them). I replaced the old coils again back into the car. As soon as I was snugging up the bolt on the last coil, with the key in my pocket, all the windows and sunroof opened completely with no one in the car. I closed them all up and tried starting the car. It cranked but wouldn't start. I pushed the gas and it fired up and then died immediately. I tried to crank again and nothing but the fuel pump engaging and the starter clicking happened. I'm guessing the starter fluid had something to do with it. I will try disconnecting the batter as suggested and see if that helps. I already threw out the old plugs so I can't put those back in. If unplugging the battery (and making sure it's still charged after all this cranking) doesn't work, would a logical next step be buying another new set of plugs from a reputable store and try those? Thanks for everyone who has helped out thus far and for any future input in advance. Also I was just remembering that we torqued the VCG to 6 ft / lb and I have read elsewhere other numbers. Is it possible for the no start to be caused by not having those tight enough?
    I doubt your issue is related to incorrect torquing of the valve cover. I also think that 6ft/lbs is probably fine. Since you said the car fired (briefly) on the starter fluid, it means that you have spark and compression--both good things. Because of this, I think you can eliminate coils or plugs as a possible cause of your issue. I would look into your fuel source IMO. You said you can hear the fuel pump, so it is unlikely that a bad pump is your issue (I would think that with low pressure the car would still sputter at least). I am interested to hear your results from disconnecting the battery.

    In the video, it sounds like your engine is turning over very quickly. This leads me to believe that you might have "cylinder-wash," which can happen when these cars are started briefly and shut down due to fuel in the cylinders. Basically, the fuel washes away the thin oil coating around the rings and causes a loss of compression (or decrease). If the battery-unplug doesn't change anything, I'd try putting about two table spoons of oil into the combustion chambers (plugs removed). Then, WITH THE PLUGS STILL OUT, remove the fuel pump fuse and crank if a few times. Best if you can crank it by hand a few times. You will want to put some paper towels/rags over the plug holes as the oil will probably fly out. You can then plug the fuel pump fuse in again and see if it will start. Make sure that as much of the oil is out as possible before putting the spark plugs back in, as too much oil in the combustion chamber could potentially result in a hydrolock. Turning the engine over with the starter and the plugs removed will make the oil fly out. I'm not sure that this is your issue, as it wouldn't account for the time when the car wouldn't turn over at all, but it is worth a shot. Do you have any codes? It would be worth checking. Hope this helps.

    Edit: I just realized that my original statement about compression not being the issue contradicts my suggestion about the cylinder-wash, but I meant that the engine had enough compression to fire briefly.
    Last edited by lucas999; 06-22-2018 at 11:54 PM.
    Check out my car blog here: exhaustfumes.blog
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  18. #18
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    Just my opinion mind you, but I don't think some starter fluid sprayed on the plugs then wiped off would have been enough to get it to start briefly. That stuff evaporates fast. The biggest clue for me here was the "I pressed on the accelerator and it started for a moment". You also said you cranked it for a bit before it tried to start. Cranking moves more than a bit of air, any starter fluid would have been blown out by then I think.

    My .02 cents is that you have a vacuum leak. What I've noticed on these Motronic systems is a depressed gas pedal will allow the computer to overcome a vacuum leak briefly. Without the gas pressed, when you have a big vacuum leak, there is just way more air than the computer is expecting and it's not adding enough fuel to start or run. But when you press the gas, it sometimes gets the mix close enough to start. Normally you can get it to kinda run while pressing the gas, and it dies as soon as you let off. But yours might be an extreme case.

    At this point I'd suspect some vacuum hose is loose, missing, or something isn't sealing between the MAF and intake ports at the heads. If it was me, I'd double check then triple check everything I touched or could have knocked loose. Looking for anything that could be letting in air past the MAF.

    I'd also double check all my wires and connections. I have no idea if these are anything like our 7s, but there are two wires on the 7, that are right next to each other at the throttle body, and BMW in their extreme wisdom made them identical. They are inches apart, and can be plugged into either port. But yeah, if you get them backwards things don't work so well. And it happens pretty often.

    Just saying it's worth it to retrace all your steps and make sure everything is plugged in, nothing is loose, and there are no air leaks.





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    2001 740iL "Silver Beauty"
    1986 Porsche 951 "Silver Bullet"
    1987 Porsche 944 NA Auto (rebuilding for my son's first car)
    https://home.doonze.net/filepage.php <- BMW/Porsche doc's and files, work in progress

  19. #19
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    you are gonna have to start over with the basics here. the engine cranking (physically rotating when the starter is activated) has nothing to do with the spark plugs, coils, valve cover gasket or anything attached up there. you can remove all that and the starter will still engage and rotate the motor.

    you said the spark plugs are amazon ones, did you compare them to the orginal ones, same length style ect?

    you need 4 things for an engine to run, air, fuel, spark, compression. (that is basic principles)

    1. check all faults in vehicle and write them down and clear them or run test plan for them

    2. check fuel pressure, I have seen pumps go bad and make a noise but not pump anything, also i have seen e46 in particular get to 1/4 tank and be empty

    3. check basic compression of all cylinders, if you dont know how to do this look it up on you tube or have someone do it.

    4. recheck all the work that YOU! did to the vehicle.

    5. just a thought, but unplug the MAF sensor next to air box and see if vehicle starts, have seen this before also.


    the way that motor sounds cranking makes me thing you have a compression issue or no fuel pressure.


    you can speculate all you want but until you do some basic diagnostics on it you will waste alot of money trust me as a mechanic on these I would love getting the tow ins that people threw hundreds of dollars at only to be a simple fix.
    Level 1 Certified BMW tech.

  20. #20
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    Thank you everyone for all your help! We took all the plugs out, cranked it to get the water out, replaced the plugs (again) with NKG ones, jumped it and it blew white and black out the tail pipe. Started up after that but didn't sound right so I started checking MAF and all vacuum lines found when I moved the O2 sensors changing the VCG I must have pulled it apart (one behind the engine). Getting ready to go replace that bad line and get it running right again. Thanks again everyone.

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