DIY: Starter removal 96 Z3 in mins

[mnguyen84]

When I removed my starter the first time, it took hours. This guide will offer a non-professional alternative to removing the starter from a 1996 BMW Z3 1.9L without having to remove things like airbox, throttle body, fuel rail, intake manifold, and others. This procedure was done standing with the hood open. This shortcut doesn't work on 6 cylinders, not that i know of, where you just have to take off the intake manifold. D:

Tools recommended:


Torx E-socket E-14 (actual size is E-12, but I had problems getting to socket to seat all the way.)
Short Ratchet (refer to R1 and R2 in photo. I prefer R2 because it gave me more leverage/power)

These tools were purchased from Walmart and Harbor Freight. Maybe $20 total, the torx socket came in a kit for $15

Nuts and Bolts sizes
I encountered the following: 8mm, 10mm, 13mm, and e12/14

Step 1
Disconnect battery. I removed the positive.

Step 2
Remove oil dipstick housing/guide. Take off the 10mm nut. Wiggle the housing loose with the dip stick still inside and pull it upwards slowly. Cover the hole so junk don't fall in the oil.

Step 3


Locate the starter and the 2 bolts (e-torx). Remove them. They are hard to break open as the threads may have been sealed with locking glue. While an E-12 socket fits, I had better success with an an E-14 because it didn't slip, and I dont have an E-13 socket if it even exist.

Step 4

Remove the wires to the starter. I did this by first removing the 10 mm nut labeled B1. Then wiggle the starter free from everything. Turn the starter to where the other nuts are facing you. You should be able to remove B2 (8mm) and B3 (13mm) now.



edit: The B1 nut may have been 10mm or 11mm. Not sure why I labeled it as 8mm. sorry....

[IgotBMW]

Subscribed. Awesome. Thanks for sharing!!

[astigracing]

Subscribed. Thanks. This will help a lot.

[BlackjackM]

Nice write up!

[cyberman]

FYI: R2 in the Post #1 is called an Indexable Head Ratchet and currently available at Harbor Freight:

FYI'.jpg

I'll keep updating this as the job progresses. There is a little more detail that could be useful to others down the line.

Today, I removed the starter and it took me two hours. I used E12 socket on the bolts, but the issue is that the bolt heads are so close to the bell housing, the only way to seat them fully and still wrench it is to stick about 1/2 of the 3/8" drive into the socket. The housing is tapered, and I wished I had a tiny extension. I tried various ratchet wrenches including both mention by the OP, but the size of the wrench head made it difficult to get everything seated (socket on head and wrench drive in socket). Finally I dug out an ordinary flex head wrench and it had a slightly smaller head, just enough to get some of the drive into the socket.

Note: I think the whole job would be easier if you remove the DISA valve (3 bolts once the dipstick is removed).

Note: Plan on wasting some time (a good 20 minute struggle in my case) wiggling the starter off the alignment pin. The pin is halfway between the two big mounting bolts. I hit the starter with a mallet to break it loose and then wiggled while slightly prying just adjacent the pin. Perhaps 'prying' isn't quite the best description. I stuck the screwdriver in the gap once a big enough gap appeared and then wiggled against the screwdriver tip, using it as a leverage point. Much happiness when it finally broke free.

Note: The inside starter nut is 8mm, the outside is 10mm and the big middle one is 13mm. To get the big one lose, I used a plan old open-end/box-end wrench after unsuccessfully trying several ratchet wrenches. That big on holds you up from rotating the starter much, contrary to the OP's notes.

As an aside, I checked the numbers on the starter and discovered it was made in 2000 (so not original to the car) and it looked like it was 21 years old. But the big hold-down bolts looked almost new. My guess is the dealer or a PO got a junkyard pick just to sell it. Also, funny that little starter is used in much bigger engines, so I expect the new one will spin it like a top and last a long time. The hard thing about no history on a car is you never know what abuse it took. Perhaps a PO had some issue that made it hard to start and cranked the heck out of it, maybe for a long time. They say 30 seconds is a good limit so as not to overheat it, then wait. But I know that, you know that, but the average joe has no clue.

I'll finish this in a few days after receiving my new starter and getting it installed. I never checked if the ignition switch was sending a signal, but if that was the problem, I'll bypass it with a push-button starter button.

Edit: Next Day

Finished the job in about 1.25 hours. The engine lit up immediately and repeatedly as I ran some errands.

Conclusions: I checked the TIS and it says nothing about having to remove the intake manifolds. The procedure essentially paralleled the one described here. I think the confusion is that on the 6-cylinder models it is a much harder job and probably does require a lot more removal of components.

I did find it helped a lot to remove the DISA (three bolts and an electrical connection underneath). I could not get the large (main) power connection (2 wires) connected until I got the starter attached although the other two were easy enough. I despair only that there is no way to get a torque wrench properly on the two main bolts. On my errands, I picked up a breaker bar with a rotating head and am hopeful it will allow full insertion into the E12 socket and a decent tightening.

Edit: Afterthought

Since I'm worried about the mounting bolts improperly torqued, I'll take a tip from the great and mighty Randy Forbes and mark them with paint pen so I can keep an eye on them. I did pick up a rotating head breaker bar and that may help get a little more torque on them.

[gibman]

Hi everyone! Amateur mechanic here. Just wanted to thank you all for the write-ups and pictures. I got a starter from O'Rileys Auto parts for $108. I also got a package of the star bolts (torx) for about $12. The guide pin in the top was a little rusty so the old starter had to be "convinced" off, a little careful wiggling and slight prying with a screw driver. It's really easy to do, but took me about 4 hours as my back was hurting, and my hands are large. Very little room and did most of it blind as you can't easily see the 8, 10 and 13 bolts for the wires. The starter on mine ('97 Z3 1.9l) was a little odd in that it had nuts on the end of the star bolts. The starter enclosure was thinner and there were no threads in the two holes the star bolts were in.

Just wanted to thank you all!

[cyberman]

The starter on mine ('97 Z3 1.9l) was a little odd in that it had nuts on the end of the star bolts. The starter enclosure was thinner and there were no threads in the two holes the star bolts were in.

My 96 was the same way, no threads in the bell housing. I wish there were as it would have been easier. I think later on there may have been a design change on that, but could be wrong.

I was quicker than you, probably since I'd removed those wires as part of the cooling system rebuild and knew what I was dealing with. Maybe next time I'm in there I'll build a connector into the harness so I don't have to deal with those three separate wires.