After watching some videos on the downstream O2 sensor replacements, i figured since I'm close enough to the transmission, I'll do a drain and fill since I don't know the state of the oil inside. After some research, I decided to go with Redline MT-LV. With all the parts that I ordered now having arrived and taking up precious floor space in boxes at home, I set out to get to work. First was to take care of the O2 sensors that briefly gave me a code. A friend of mine has a quickjack, and I shared a short review of that in a different post somewhere. That thing is great. Changing the downstream O2 sensors was actually not too bad. It probably helped that I blasted penetrating fluid on them a couple days before doing the actual work. Because of the tight quarters, sensor sockets didn't end up working super well. Good thing I managed to get it cracked using an adjustable wrench and a deadblow mallet. On to the MT fluid.
Crack loose the fill plug first, just in case the oil is dumped from the drain plug and the fill plug can't be removed. No problem. Drained all the oil, and now it's time to reinstall the drain plug. What's the spec? 35Nm. No problem, set the digital torque wrench to 35Nm and away we go. 15...20... 25... 30... crack. The fuck?
https://i.imgur.com/FQ0XF4O.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/jSmCaYx.jpeg
This little bitch decided to nope out of the job, and it's a Saturday. Great. I call BJ BMW and of course it's not in stock. And in typical fashion, it's aluminum, so the parts guy recommends I replace both drain and fill plugs on service. I ask him how much the plugs are... $30 a plug? This car is death by a thousand cuts. And stupid BMW has a dealer price and online price, so if I want it for $25 a plug, I have to place the order online even if it's a pick-up order at BJ BMW. Thankfully the parts guy took pity on me, saved me the hassle, and gave me the online price over the phone. I guess I'm going to hog my friend's garage space for the next few days while it's got no oil in the transmission. The rest of the job goes fine - plugs go back in, and most DIY videos just hand tight the plugs, and I wasn't going to play chicken with these plugs anymore, so hand tighten and we're back in business.
While I was under the car, I noticed more oil from what I suspect is likely the VCG. I already ordered a replacement valve cover because it's plastic and everyone says you have to replace the whole thing and not just the gasket. Now I have to decide which to do first. VCG or suspension. I elected to ask for help for my suspension replacement from a friend, and we knocked out all 4 corners in a day. A very long day. The first strut was so hard to remove because it was stuck on that I had to make a run to Princess Auto to pick up a small bottle jack to separate it. Bavarian Motor Works ain't got nothing on redneck engineering. The first strut took the most time, then the rest was just getting through it. Not much to write about.
https://i.imgur.com/2KhKGnP.jpeg
Final boss for this year... the valve cover. I watched the FCP DIY video a bunch and paid attention to the valvetronic motor steps, and finally get to work. I figured while I was there, I'll do the upstream O2 sensors too, and spark plugs cuz they were on closeout from RockAuto. I'm getting a bit more used to working on this car, so disassembling everything was not too bad. Here's the car with the valve cover off, and O2 sensors replaced.
https://i.imgur.com/1g8W8Ob.jpeg
Installing everything back was a whole 'nother story. I'm already trying to be more careful with this car, but shit still went bad. As I'm hand tightening this back corner bolt on the VC, it gets stuck half way. I swear it looked straight from where I was on the passenger side of the car. I walk around to the driver side and I can clearly see an angle. Shit. I cross threaded this little shit.
https://i.imgur.com/RduFZ3A.jpeg
Tap anyone? I went to the same friend that helped with the suspension replacements since he's got most of the tools as an ex-auto mechanic to borrow a tap, but no way the world was going to make it easy on me. This bolt was M7x1 and his taps goes M6 to M8 because fuck me. At this point I'm stressing because I know this head is made of soft aluminum shit and the bolts were steel. I was seeing others had similar or worse problems with this job and needing to helicoil. My mind was spiraling. Thankfully, my friend came through and helped find a M7x1 tap, came over, ran it through to fix the threads and stuck around to get all the bolts started. He's probably tired of cleaning up my shit at this point, but is just too nice to say so. We're in the clear, right?
Ya right. I followed the valvetronic motor reinstallation steps from FCP, and also tried a different video's method (of just pushing against the spring and not using the worm gear to pull in the motor), and both methods left me with a mis-aligned bolt hole for the bottom of the motor.
https://i.imgur.com/72BdDBn.jpeg
Fucking hell. Aluminum bracket and steel bolt again. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. (or was it "you can't get fooled again" - Bush). I don't try to just power it on, take my time trying over and over and over again to get this to line up. No go. It just wouldn't line up. I even tried asking the BMW mechanic that did the oil pan gasket for me for advice, and his instructions and tips had the same result. I cannot convey the state of agony that I'm in at this point. I had no cards left in my hand, but then the universe sent me a roofer that I chatted with that happened to be a mechanic as well, and he suggested I just loosen the bolt on the bracket first to get the bolt in, before re-tightening the bracket bolts.
https://i.imgur.com/Rfy364p.jpeg
You mean those ones that say "DO NOT OPEN"? Fuck it, let's go. In reality, I took them off the old VC first to see what the fuss was, and didn't see anything special. It was just holding down another bracket, and I couldn't see a reason why I shouldn't. Thankfully I had the security bits to work these bolts. I asked the BMW mechanic and he says he's never had to do this, has no torque spec for me for retightening, and good luck. YOLO! It worked. So what if the sun had set already. I've now got my second wind. Let's goooo. It's 11pm now by the time the car is back together. Moment of truth - I go throught the valvetronic motor re-learn procedure of turning the ignition to the second position and waiting. Did it thrice for good measure. Started the car and the car was alive again. Thankfully the DIY videos warned me of the smoke from the engine bay as a result of the oil that drips on the exhaust manifold during this job, so I wasn't caught by surprise.
Took the car for a quick rip around the block, and these Bilsteins with the Eibachs are great. I was worried it was going to be too stiff, but because my front struts were
completely toast when I replaced them, these ended up being more comfortable. Less body roll and it rides great.
I'm going to try and just enjoy the car for the rest of the summer... Enjoy it while I can before I attack the maintenance list next year. Already, I have the water pump, diff fluid, and power reservoir leak on next year's list.
