Mrs Fb’s 650i...regret may be strong with this one!

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Hmmmm so it appears Mrs Fb is way more shrewd than I give her credit for !!!


Knowing full well I now have the parts in hand to do the alternator bracket she’s just piped up with “oh I saw it’s sunny tomorrow so though we could go for a nice 6 mile dog walk through the woods”. Caught off guard i quickly spluttered I had car stuff to do. Rather sh7t in my hands and clap than get dragged round fields for 6 miles listening to a group of daft cows talking st for hours on end !

Well played Mrs Fb, well played

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Start the clock... I’m going in !

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2 hours in and stopped for a cuppa.... it’s sufficiently cold enough that I can hear my balls rattling around like a pair of marbles in a potato sack !!

Everything is removed apart from actual alt bracket which is another few more bolts and off.

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That’s bracket off, block cleaned up , bracket and alternator cleaned and now starting to refit. I lost an hour of pisisng about as my car has an additional oil cooler and the pipes bolt to alternator bracket and are in the way of undoing engine mount bolts. Bracket for oil cooler pipes was a stupid 3.5mm with zero clearance. Got there in the end.... time to crack on now !

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And stop the clock !

Just a quick cuppa then fill coolant and hope for the best !!!

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Well it’s done.... book time is 10-12 hours, I did it in 6 from running to running, add another 1.5 hours for refitting engine covers, degreasing all under trays and refitting, tidying up and putting tools away. I did have a breakdown come in from work as I was packing away. Very elderly vulnerable chaps heating had failed and he phoned our emergency number in tears. Packed up tools and went and got him sorted. Just back in now.

The job isn’t the worst over done if I’m honest, fair bit too remove and nothing overly tricky. Mine did in fact have the oil cooler so I’m glad I bought both gasket options as real OEM and BMW state mine in non oil cooler version ! I probably lost an hour or so struggling with oil cooler pipes as they are ridged pipes and are under massive tension when fitted to the alternator bracket ! I couldn’t see if I had missed a fixing which you can’t get near to physically see, so when they were REALLY hard to pry out I was going gently and keep searching for what was holding it in.

I didn’t need to remove rad, fan or slam panel etc like most guides show. All I needed to remove was engine covers, intake & airbox, under trays, NSF wheel, the spaghetti of coolant hoses , aux belt, alternator, pas pump gets loosened and swung down out the way, oil cooler hoses, NS engine mount and finally alternator bracket!

You can see why it’s hard to spot leaks when buying one of these !


Engine covers, intake and most coolant hoses removed. More hoses to come off, but you can see where the alternator lives hidden down there somewhere!


You can see the alternator bracket now, and the oil cooler pipes coming out of it. These are mega stiff to remove as they are under a twisting tension in there. Engine mount bracket still needed to come off in this pic


Old gasket so hard and brittle it broke into about 10-15 prices removing it. Also sits flush if not lower than the bracket!



New one sits a little more proud


Dunno if old gasket was leaking or not, can’t really tell




Didn’t take many progress pics but everything was drowned in brake cleaner, or washed in petrol bath so engine is nice and shiny and all parts are clean.

The weather was brutal and in all honesty it was a it ambitious doing it today, buts it’s done now. Temps were around 5 degrees but the wind was quite strong and flippen freezing!!!! I do actually have a double drive way and a heated garage , however the garage queens live in there so only option was outside my house. I’m the last house on the end of a road and neighbours are sound, plus I never make a mess or noise so no one ever minds. I did her Touareg starter motor in the same place earlier this year. VW state it can’t be done without removing engine, 9 hours on axle stands and it was done


As for the oil leak... yes it seems fixed. Before you could see it running down the block after 2min on tick over. Left her car running for half an hour while packing up and it remained bone dry

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B'stard Child said:

Result - and you are bloody right about the temps - I was dodging rain and sleet trying to fix one of mine on the drive......

It’s certainly no fun this time of year ! Reason I wanted to get stuck in so soon was this gasket feeds the oil cooler, they can fail spectacularly sometimes and dump all engine oil in a matter of seconds... sometimes it’s crank gone too. Rather not risk it

d_a_n1979 said:

Superb job

If I could buy you a pint I would...

Merry Christmas

Cheers mate, had a nice Chinese takeaway and a bloody hot bath lol !

Have a merry Christmas everyone, hope your cars all behave lol.

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Enut said:

Congratulations on sorting it out. I'm slightly envious of anyone that can spend that long working on a car, not just because you're knowledgeable enough to do it but also that you can, I know that my back siezes up after about 10 minutes leaning over a car!

You have a couple of cracking cars there. I've always liked the 6 Series, far from being dated I think they are a lot better looking than the more modern BMWs.

I’m 45 now and I definitely pay for it after a day under the car !!! 5 years ago I could do an all weekender on a big build, now 6 hours does me for about 3 days afterwards .

The 6 series is like a fine wine, just gets better and better with age. The bangle butt was strange but it grows on you for sure. This 15 year old beast will hold itself against a lot of modern stuff.

Took it for a test drive quick to make sure coolant was bled and oil leaks sorted, ended up having a little hoon with a chap in a heavily modded RX8. It was nice as he was the respectful type who didn’t sit 3 inches off your arse and just hung back and played when I played. Quick flash of the hazards and we went our own ways

Court_S said:

Good job getting that sorted; Christmas Eve was Baltic. Took the lad out on our bikes and it was a bit fresh!

Yea, that was a LOT colder than I had bargained on. Body was ok but bald head and hands were taking strain. By the end of it I couldn’t feel my fingers to thread bolts in and hand tighten stuff. Just been for a hoon and jacked car back up for final check, block bone dry, under trays clean and coolant level correct. Happy crimbo Mrs Fb, your steed is back on duty

Some more pics of the car to remind me what it looks like as I’m way to familiar with the under view


M



One day when it’s been running long enough I might even get round to putting some nice tyre gel on the MPS4’s !

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ritch said:

@ Mr FB - given the work you have done recently, and your experience of both the 630i and 650i - if you were to buy one today - which one would you go for and why?

For me personally, it would be the 630i. That N52 is a cracking engine and the car certainly feels a lot swifter than the hp would suggest. If you are looking for a nice car to drive that’s about as reliable as any 10+ year old car could be, look no further.

The 650i is epic, I mean it really really goes well. The other day I joined the motorway to exit the next junction around 2 miles later. I joined motorway and made progress to pass a couple of HGV’s and MLM’s before getting ready to move left. I noticed I was passing cars at a fair pace and glanced down to see the speedo was indicating 120, That’s km per hour naturally ! I would have never ever said we were going that fast and most certainly hadn’t put any effort into achieving anywhere near that pace either.

The above comes at a cost though, one that can really put a damper on things. Mrs Fb’s car has now covered 600 miles in our ownership and has had several faults including 2 breakdowns , and that’s coming from a car that’s had most common issues done and owned by an enthusiast!

After 200 miles the top rad hose fractured and blew off. This was repaired with new clamp and fresh coolant.

Around 50 miles later it broke down on motorway having lost all coolant. Expansion tank had failed . New tank was £120 from BMW plus coolant.

After 400 miles we got oil dripping on floor under car. This is the famed alternator gasket. £10 in bits and 7-10 hours upside down.

So far we are another 200 miles into it and running like clockwork, my mind however is never at ease and it’s always a case of what’s going to go wrong next. They simply have too many usual suspects. The 630i has a few common leaks too but none and anywhere near the labour or expense to repair compared to the N62.

I’ve done 1200 miles in my 630i and not required anything apart from fuel. Everything else I’ve done has been cleaning/tidying or preventative.

So to summarise, if you can afford to fix the car, or have it off the road at times, or enjoy spannering for hours on end.... get the 650i . If you want to jump in and press start without any worries, get the 630i

Ps, a cracking spec low mileage black 630i may hit the market at some point , bit more than the tat on flee bay, but a well sorted one at £7250 I believe

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Court_S said:

You’re definitely going to part with it? Any idea what will replace it yet?

Nothing for me at the moment. I run a heating business so am either in my van, or if we go out as a family I jump in Mrs Fb’s Touareg, or now her 650. I have my bikes in the a garage as my toys and really don’t have the need or use for my own car. I’ve done 1200 miles max since buying my 630i and it’s currently not turned wheel for 3 weeks at least .

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Macron said:

Do you have an RR thread for your 30?

Link in OP on page 1

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alec.e said:

While very annoying, those failure points could happen to any 6 Series- apart from the oil leak.

For balance, my 650i never saw a garage during my ownership bar MOT- probably the most trouble free car I have owned!

Hope from now on, you will have a good experience

Absolutely, the issues we have had an generic issues that could occur to any E63 model. However the 645/650 have specific and expensive faults particular to them like the £1000 valve stem seals, £400 coolant stent, £1200 rocker cover and timing cover gaskets £300-500 alternator bracket gasket etc.

Being on 2 E63/64 groups it’s absolute fact 90% of issues posted relate to the V8’s rather than the 630. They are not a bad car if you go in with your eyes wide open and are 100% aware of what you could be in for.

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ritch said:

Thanks FB. Been reading your RR thread today and perusing the classifieds

Which variant have you decided on for now ?

Also here are some of the less important common issues to look for when viewing one of these

Cracked front wings (plastic and crack in the corner near door and along the tops)
Corroded doors (Check lower section of doors for bubbling/corrosion)
Bubbled shadowline window trim and mirror bases
Misting headlamps
Perished indicator rubber seals between headlamps
Ticking lifters
Blocked drains leading to damp footwell carpets
Perished pano roof rubber (sides of rubber splits )
Water in reverse lights ( bumper off job to remove and dry out)

The above issues are body issues and therefore apply to all models and variants . Each engine the has its own check list.

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Sooooooo...
























fking Amazon drivers and their stty leaking Transits


Thankfully the 650 is still behaving itself and appears leak and trouble free.. for now. I had to attend an oil spill cleanup for work and as Mrs Fb is my boss, she decided to meet us all on site to discuss options. When leaving I thought I would follow her back home and enjoy the sweet low grumble of the V8. What did I sound like you ask ? fk all, absolutely fk all... I’ve heard kittens fart louder than her car !! I didn’t expect some chav spec noises but thought I would at least hear something , that will soon be resolved as I’ve just booked it in with my local chaps for centre silencer delete. Don’t want loud as I have elderly neighbours and I’m generally not a tt.

Another nothing I noticed following her was the rear has a decent stance with a reasonable amount of negative camber, however the wheels sit far too much into the arches and need pulling out. Some 20mm spacers just been ordered too.

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Thanks for the comments all, yea seeing that oil slick next to the 650 gave me a heart attack, thankfully a quick browse on the CCTV shows no oil slick, shonky old transit drop off Amazon parcel and then nice oil slick

Anyways today Mrs Fb is a happy lady, one of her first complaints was the exhaust was waaay to quiet. So today the 650 was treated to some ‘essential’ works



Removed the front silencers


And had new pipes made instead


Result is a good few decibels louder but not stupidly loud at all. I could JUST hear her car when following her back from zorst shop. I think it’s the right balance between knowing it’s a V8, an not being a tt.

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Not much to report apart from insurance is due shortly. We just added this to my 630’s policy when we bought it. Pleasantly surprised with £270 a year fully comp including mods and both of us having a non fault claim (same poxy accident but she was driving and it was my policy , so we BOTH have to declare )

As car has been behaving it got treated to its second wash since buying it... and wait for it , even got some tyre gel this time

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SturdyHSV said:

Glad you've released some more of the V8 burble. I crossed the 'being a tt' line so you're doing well to tread it

Good news it's been treating you kindly too, careful though, if it finds out you're posting pictures of its undersides online, it'll kick off...!

Yes it sounds just right to me. These have quite a big cold start ‘bark’ so it already startles people

Undercarriage pics can be frowned upon sometimes... especially if they don’t know you took them

Anyways Mrs Fb’s newest thing is she’s now learning to ride a motorbike, being her as she is, she’s learning on a 500 twin rather than chicken chaser, I guess that’s another thing she’ll beat me at ! She already went from never riding one in her life to doing figures of 8’s and changing gears up to 3rd after just 45min of learning. I’m sure she was dude in former life !

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B'stard Child said:

Good going - was she the only girl with a bunch of brothers - might explain it?

Nope, she only has a sister... but she hates woman so would much rather be at a dyno day or karting with the boys than being dragged around a shopping centre with moody bhes

Edited by fastbikes76 on Wednesday 24th February 10:16

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Oilchange said:

Glad you’re enjoying your V8, normally I am the biggest cynic regarding German metal but in this instance it looks very much to me like sabotage!

Don’t think there was anything sinister with the expansion bottle, that little indentation looks possibly like an errant stone or something hit it.

d_a_n1979 said:

I've always loved black cars; never will I own one again though. My OCD cannot cope

But your E63 does suit it so well

Would you ever think of changing the alloys to a brighter colour; or going down the likes of the Apex or BBS route?

I live black cars, all my cars and bikes are black. I also HATE black cars

They look so good clean, but that’s about long enough to take a pic and then the magic is gone !

Current plans are to swap wheels from my car onto hers before I sell it. She laid claims to them the day after we bought her car, just kit got round to swapping yet. Mine are Cades Apollo 19’s in a gun metal’ish colour. Still dark, but not as bland as black wheels !

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Soooooo, curse of the 650 raises its head, again.

Couple of weeks back Mrs Fb tells me she had a bulb warning for left dipped beam not working. I drove the car a few days later and indeed the usual BMW bong and error for left dipped beam comes up. I ordered a pair of Osram Xenarc night breakers and set about replacing them. It was at his point I started the car to turn steering full lock so I could access inspection covers and noted after it flashed up with the left dipped beam failure, it followed with right dipped beam failure.... bugger !

Anyways I replaced both bulbs as I had already blown £100 on them but still have no dipped beams. I cant see how both igniters or both ballasts failed at the same time so now I have to try work out what’s going on. So currently it’s a daytime only usage until i suss the issue.