Dammit! Finally, after this long wait to get my stuff, the kit showed up. These guides were advertised as OEM part numbers, yet I received Febi parts. Everything else is IWIS, Reinz and INA. Now I don’t know if I want to go together with these parts or force them to refund for an OEM set. I even spent along the $400 range for the “not Chinese” kit that quoted good aftermarket or OEM manufactures and the OEM guides.
Thanks! I have been getting some mixed reviews on them from mostly what I see as hearsay or “a guy I knew”, but for aftermarket manufacturers, they seem the best. A couple people say theirs are still going strong after 50K. It was just a lot of work...and waiting. She still is an old car...screw it, they’re probably going in tomorrow. Got my reversible torque wrench in today too. My others will click in reverse, but it’s just a guess if they’re accurate. This is guaranteed +/- 2%.
I wonder if anyone has tried to confirm who actually makes the guides for BMW. It's possible that Febi or one of the others makes them and sells the same part under their own name as well. It's definitely the case with some other parts (some even just have the BMW logos ground off).
How many miles does he have on his? I told the seller that I’d need to think about whether I’m willing to wait for another set. And that I was about to break something. I have a house and deck to paint and these 3 weeks waiting on parts is killing me. I really don’t want to wait any longer.
If you're going as far as making new plastic for the guide, why not just figure out what it would take to convert to an M60-style idler gear setup?
I'd install the Febi guide and call it a day. I say that because I ordered this FCP kit and it came with Febi and it is currently installed.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...-11311741777-1
It’s alive! So far so good minus a few hiccups. I have read many threads about the VANO bolts coming loose. I did mine per spec and have not had an issue. It’s only been run a few time on the stands though. May this have something to do with which bank you tighten first? If you were to do bank 1 first, all of the slack would be between the 2 sprockets and not the tensioner. I did bank 2 then 1. A video of a guy having issues and I saw he did bank 1 first.
The first start was smokey and rough. It would not clear up. Second start and the motor locked up before it started. I feared the worse. No check engine light though. I cranked by hand and it would not turn with the force I was willing to risk putting on it. Pulled all of the plugs and #4 was aromatic with fuel. Cranked past the point of stoppage and it was full of fuel. Tapped and reseated that injector. Second start, same story. It was stuck open. I stole an injector off of the other car and did a quick rebuild on the fly. Luckily they sent an extra filter basket and seals with the kit. Installed surgically and bam! She runs great. Absolutely smooth and quiet after one stuck lifter freed up.
Happy to report that there’s no knocking. No smoke from the exhaust. Only one issue though. If I rev it, the header on the right side of the car smoked. I don’t know if I pushed oil from a filling mess or if it came from the valve cover. I felt the side and got a little oil on my finger, but I don’t know if it was residual or new. I did notice one cover did not sit flat on the bench. I don’t remember which one and was hoping a bolt would flex it in place. I may try an extra washer trick on the rear lower corner nut over the grommet like David C (? I think) did on his intake manifold.
I have ordered both Febi and genuine BMW guides from FCP. They are not the same. I'm not saying Febi is any worse, but there was a clear difference in the ending section, circled with red here (Febi shown):
guide.png
On the genuine BMW there is a bit of slack between the two plastic pieces, maybe 2-3mm. On the Febi the pieces are glued(?) tightly together, no movement of the end piece at all.
I have no idea if that makes any difference or not, but decided to put in the genuine one. They are definitely not the same.
It's almost as if the BMW guide was putting additional tension on the chain, like a spring. I dont really have a better photo than this:
guide2.jpg
Last edited by georgebest; 06-10-2019 at 07:58 PM.
74DBCF77-7D40-4E09-A33B-02FE1B32D33C.jpg159E001E-8917-4559-ADBD-6F6330FAFD91.jpg
- - - Updated - - -
4th start after the debacle and the lifter noise cleared.
https://youtu.be/M3O33E-1d98
Last edited by capnmoench; 06-11-2019 at 12:16 AM.
I only broke 3 hose fittings, lost my battery jump post screws and one injector clip I still have not given up on. I was just in a hurry to get it running so I quit looking for it. I heard it hear the ground. The battery jump post screw holes we so corroded they stripped. Minor cracked tray fastener hole under the headlight. All in all, not as much as I’m used to having break on a project like this having so many plastic parts. My only issue is the oil leak. I will look into that tonight in the dark with a flashlight and mirror. Much easier to see.
Oil leak fixed itself. Drove it to work. Went smooth. Tried to drive at lunch and when I got to a parking lot, it was running rough. Turned it off and hardly got it restarted. Had to pump the gas pedal. No check engine light except when accelerating it flashes like a misfire. I didn’t bring my scanner. If I loosen the oil cap it smooths out and idle increases. Thoughts? Afraid I might not make it home. Crappy CCV?
Ok, seems I’m running rich. Really rich. I left for a bit at lunch time. I was feeling cocky, so I gave it some pedal around a corner. That’s when this all started. Then it ran rough. Parked and it was shaking. Then it was hard to start and tried to lock up like it was flooded. It appears to be when the engine is warm. Couple of suggestions I gathered were to check the inlet temp sensor. Since it’s happening warm. Only code I have gotten was for a cylinder 4 misfire. The CEL was only flashing from a start until it finally stuck on. I still drove it home 20 miles. Risky, I know like if something had slipped, but I took the chance. It was smokey all of the way into the freeway and I burned like 1/8 of a tank in a short drive. Now it’s really hard to start and I have to give it throttle to get it going. Swapped with a good MAF, but same issue. Swapped #4 coil with #3 same issue, but no codes. I will know better tomorrow when I try and start it cold.
This is the same thing it was doing initially on stands before. I thought it was resolved. It has been intermittent though. The morning I got it running before work, I only had a short time to run it. I ran it that night after work, and it seemed excessively smokey, but I thought it might just be humid. Nope, it was trying to tell me something was wrong. It’s so rich it burns the nostrils and eyes standing at the back of the car. The other suggestions I saw were all vacuum related. It’s just odd on how it was good on the way to work, it was good all last night driving in my driveway and idling while burping the coolant for quite awhile. Now when I was accelerating, it’s noticeably rough and shakes up to speed. Lugging is the worst, but up in the 2K rpm range, I can drive, it’s just vibrating pretty bad under acceleration.
Have you checked for fault codes? Is the CEL on?
Yeah, like I said, it was only for a misfire on #4. Doesn’t tell me much.
Ok, trying cold, it runs smoother, but still took a 2nd or 3rd attempt to start. It didn’t take any pressing of the accelerator. It had been doing this with the smoke intermittently, and the first time I thought it was just residual burning off, the second, I thought it was the leaky injector, 3rd was at night and I thought it was all in my head. Celebratory beverages may have been involved the 3rd time. Now it’s consistent. Lots of smoke. Video here:
https://youtu.be/R-1P7b6eJY8
Another odd thing is that I see all of these posts that say their car runs worse with the dipstick pulled or the oil cap off, but that’s when mine smooths up.
I sprayed light oil on all of the vacuum connections. I saw no change. I thought maybe it improved once where the tube that goes into the manifold was sprayed back at the boot where it transitions to harder line at the back of the engine. I added a clamp there, but nope, no change. Also found a crack in the hose to the booster but it was after the clamp. Disconnected and plugged the valve there. No change. Tied to blow and suck the line that goes to the FPR from the intake. No change.
I'd question the MAF sensor based on your symptoms. It almost sounds like it's reading more air than you're actually pulling in and running rich as a result (and failing to correct properly based on O2 sensor feedback). That would explain adding a vacuum leak making it better. Could also be a bad FPR.
Thanks. I will look into it. I have a lot of suction at the oil cap though. I’m really leaning towards a shitty aftermarket CCV being at fault. I tried a good MAF from the other car with no change. Unplugged, it still runs the same with a bit more lope, but still the smoke.
Got to digging. Just a little bit this late. The intake is full of oil and fuel. I cleaned it out thoroughly prior to reassembly. I am still leaning towards the CCV. I watched old videos of pulling off the oil cap when listening to chain noise and I certainly didn’t have this much suction. Too much suction and I’m pulling oil out. The fuel thing has me confused though. The FPR is limited by an increased suction from what I read. Trying to do 1 for 1 on jusrt the CCVV without removing the manifold is some work. I may order and wait for the new part. Hate to do it again to replace the part again from the donor car.
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