2013 BMW 125i 6 on the floor (N52)

[Court_S]

B'stard Child said:

Bit of a highs and lows day

I'll cover it later when I have sorted out the pictures but meantime I came home to this



Parcel from Latvia - Excellent

Normally I'd be out into the garage - get it unwrapped - spark up the angry grinder and lets see whats inside

Except I can't walk more than 5 feet right now..........

That’s a pisser. What’s up?

[B'stard Child]

Court_S said:

That’s a pisser. What’s up?

I iz idiot - story below........................

Well I needed to do an oil and filter change on this one - it was serviced just before I bought it and I've done 8,000 miles since purchase (Aug 2019)

Normally I do an oil change every 6000 miles or after a year (whichever comes first) as I don't do a lot of miles (with a filter change on every other change because it doesn't see a lot of work) so I'm a bit overdue but with all the Rona issues and just not going anywhere it wasn't worrying me - I'd bought the Oil and 2 BMW filters and they were sitting waiting for me.

Will paged me on the local Norfolk Mountain Rescue "Bat Phone" for assistance.

Background - his son has a 1 series (4 pot petrol) and it had a bit of a rattly camchain - apparently in the USA there was a recall done for a less than perfect spring tensioner - replaced with a new design stronger spring etc and he'd got one of the new design ones - removed the old one and was having difficulty fitting it. He felt it was clearly him being all thumbs and I'd have it in a jiffy and as a result the car that was currently sitting with a very sloppy chain and no tensioner would be mobile again.

Here is the old and new



So BMW increased spring tension - but also moved the thread up further to make engagement possible against the increased spring tension.

Looks like an easy job - Of course I can help but when we've done it can I borrow your pit for an Oil and Filter change and can you reset the service interval with your wizardry after that was my reply

So this morning I went over and the battle commenced

I can only say I am looking forward to doing the oil pump pick up seal on an Insignia now because that will be an easy job compared to the bloody tensioner

If you look at the two again you will spot how BMW in moving the thread closer to the end to increase engagement with the threads in the head had created another issue - the unthreaded section no longer acts as a guide to thread engagement.

The other issue was the close proximity of several hard and soft water lines and heat shielding

In a nutshell with a shape steel thread going into an aluminium casting it was bloody easy to cross thread it............

I had a look at the threads in the timing cover using a mirror and they didn't look happy - figured we need to clean them up

Obviously neither of us had the correct tap so we needed to make a tap so I did - cut off the sprung loaded part so we didn't have to fight with the resistance





The old tensioner clearly wasn't going back in now but the makeshift tool did the job - cleaned up the threads a treat and after a few runs with grease to capture the rubbish in the grooves it could be wound in an out by hand

Now the second issue

Socket clearance



With a full size socket and a ratchet the distance meant fouling water pipes - we needed a more compact arrangement

Hello Angry Grinder (Again)



One shortened socket

And with that the new tensioner got inserted and wound in to fully home (65 NM finished it off)

The chain still seemed very Alice to me - will confirmed it was no better than it was before - clearly some oil pressure assistance was required so fire in the hole (cross fingers time)

It started fine and then after a minutes run time we shut down and checked the chain tension - tight as a drum so winner (I'd still be nervous about cold starts after a long period because I bet the oil pressure bleeds off but Will can check that before in next gets a cold start.)

So now the 1 series could be moved out of the way of the garage, the car over the pit (TR8) can come out - pit boards removed and the 125i can get it's oil changed.

Now it's quite a long pit and Will and I are similar heights so I really like working in there - it's got lights and power sockets and everything but it's been made for 6 feet tall people to be able to wander round without worrying about banging their heads.

The 125i is quite a small car so doesn't cover the whole of the pit

So when I walked round the front of the car apparently I disappeared (Will's words not mine)

Yep I descended the pit without using the ladder.....................

Experience is what you get when you don't want it....................

[B'stard Child]

So I'd better crack on with the oil change

OBC was saying oil was at maximum

BMW say 6.5 Litre capacity so crack the filler cap - drop the oil and while it's draining get the filter out

The cap came off on it's own - normally I expect it to come out with the filter

But no the filter was still in the housing

It didn't want to separate from the stub so I cut it off - not sure about anyone else but it doesn't look very happy







Neither was the stubby bit it sits on as it exploded and shed itself in pieces across the garage floor

Quick call to several local BMW dealers - none had parts in stock so ordered it from my local dealer

Meantime I had a car over Will's pit which was currently immobile (Again - yes this has happened before for 6 mths once)

So we had a hunt around for the parts - We had a three parts a skeleton on which the oil filter sits - a spring and a cradle with locking fingers that were missing and a hole in the middle that was bigger than the spring - it appears we were one piece missing.

Will looked on his tool box and there is was oiled up - we had some fun and games putting it back together as it seems that nothing was locking together properly due to plastic fatigue but eventually we got there.

New filter in the housing (new O rings both ends)

New crush washer on the sump plug and 6 litres of oil went in

OBC says engine full

So we measured what came out - exactly 6 litres - winner

Then Will reset the oil service and brake fluid settings and I could go home (I'll do the brake fluid as soon as my foot allows it)

Foot felt fine on the throttle - not so much on the brakes so now it's feet up for the rest of today

[Court_S]

Seen your post on BabyBMW. Ouch.

Much sympathy from the boss?

[noone986s]

Sorry about the injury.

Fantastic car. I am really interested in the spec of your steel wheels. They are 17" I saw from previous posts, but are they the ET34 ones from an E90?

Or are they from another BMW model? Thanks

[B'stard Child]

Court_S said:

Seen your post on BabyBMW. Ouch.

It's made a few people laugh - gotta see the funny side of this sort of thing

Court_S said:

Much sympathy from the boss?

Zero - can you have less than zero???

I am the worst patient in the world - I never take pain killers - pain is the bodies way of saying stop it - stop it now

Now resorting to other medication of the red Australian variety

[B'stard Child]

noone986s said:

Sorry about the injury.

Fantastic car. I am really interested in the spec of your steel wheels. They are 17" I saw from previous posts, but are they the ET34 ones from an E90?

Or are they from another BMW model? Thanks

I bought them from BFlemming a PH'r on here - I can't remember the post where he specified exactly what they are from but I'll see if I can find it - it was either a "winter tyres" thread or a "how dirty is your car" thread I think

[Court_S]

B'stard Child said:

Now resorting to other medication of the red Australian variety

The best sort!

[bolidemichael]

B'stard Child said:

noone986s said:

Sorry about the injury.

Fantastic car. I am really interested in the spec of your steel wheels. They are 17" I saw from previous posts, but are they the ET34 ones from an E90?

Or are they from another BMW model? Thanks

I bought them from BFlemming a PH'r on here - I can't remember the post where he specified exactly what they are from but I'll see if I can find it - it was either a "winter tyres" thread or a "how dirty is your car" thread I think

iirc it was the winter tyre thread. Have you damaged the ligaments in your ankles?

[Mr Tidy]

B'stard Child said:

It didn't want to separate from the stub so I cut it off - not sure about anyone else but it doesn't look very happy

From what I have read an oil filter like that doesn't seem unusual on N52 engines.

But I'm sorry to hear of your mishap, although I do find Shiraz is a very effective pain-killer!

[B'stard Child]

bolidemichael said:

iirc it was the winter tyre thread. Have you damaged the ligaments in your ankles?

Thank you that helps - no idea on what I’ve damaged on my right foot - I’m working on the assumption it’s a sprain as It can bear my weight and whilst I have albeit limited movement it’s probably just needs time and rest

[B'stard Child]

Mr Tidy said:

From what I have read an oil filter like that doesn't seem unusual on N52 engines.

But I'm sorry to hear of your mishap, although I do find Shiraz is a very effective pain-killer!

On the oil filter - i shall in future change both oil and oil filter every 6000 miles or year (whichever comes first)

On the oooops moment it isn’t my first stupid moment and unlikely to be my last and yes Shiraz helped a lot till 2am when it wanted to leave

[B'stard Child]

B'stard Child said:

The chain still seemed very Alice to me - will confirmed it was no better than it was before - clearly some oil pressure assistance was required so fire in the hole (cross fingers time)

It started fine and then after a minutes run time we shut down and checked the chain tension - tight as a drum so winner (I'd still be nervous about cold starts after a long period because I bet the oil pressure bleeds off but Will can check that before in next gets a cold start.)

Just to bring this to a close - Will has confirmed to me today that after no use overnight the chain tension is good before a cold start (before it would be slacker than a slack thing) so looks like the modified tensioner is doing it's job

[stevesingo]

B'stard Child said:

Just to bring this to a close - Will has confirmed to me today that after no use overnight the chain tension is good before a cold start (before it would be slacker than a slack thing) so looks like the modified tensioner is doing it's job

And your foot?

And head given the choice of analgesia?

[B'stard Child]

stevesingo said:

B'stard Child said:

Just to bring this to a close - Will has confirmed to me today that after no use overnight the chain tension is good before a cold start (before it would be slacker than a slack thing) so looks like the modified tensioner is doing it's job

And your foot?

Thanks for asking - I can just about hobble around on it - stairs are OK provided I lead with the correct foot - it'll get better - the bruising is coming out got some nice shades of purple/blue (bit like carbon black)

stevesingo said:

And head given the choice of analgesia?

hahahaha - head is always fine - it's been a long time since I've had a hangover - lockdowns don't help

[JakeT]

I'd say it's a good attempt at 'daft sod of the year award' but I have fallen down a pit before too.

As you've alluded to, I'd also change the filter every oil change. People fall foul of the internal bits coming out too. Good thing you noticed. If you run the engines without that bit there's a nasty noise, unfiltered oil going around the engine, and the VANOS bits don't like it too leading to poor performance.

[B'stard Child]

JakeT said:

I'd say it's a good attempt at 'daft sod of the year award' but I have fallen down a pit before too.

I've used it loads of times and never done that before but I'm glad I'm not alone

JakeT said:

As you've alluded to, I'd also change the filter every oil change. People fall foul of the internal bits coming out too. Good thing you noticed. If you run the engines without that bit there's a nasty noise, unfiltered oil going around the engine, and the VANOS bits don't like it too leading to poor performance.

I was glad to get it assembled together so at least I didn't leave a car that couldn't move over Will's pit.

New part available to collect tonight at my local BMW dealer so provided I can still hobble around I'll swap it out and then I'll be less concerned about it falling apart and dropping bits of plastic into the sump - got another filter to collect because I don't like not having one on the shelf

[B'stard Child]

While I was working on the car at the weekend I did see that I may have a small valve cover leak

A bit of googling found me PCV separator replacement on you tube (nestled in the inlet manifold) and they recommended replacing the unit and all the hoses as they go brittle with age so I stuck a request in for a few parts to my local dealer

Inlet manifold seal set £24.38
Cam cover gasket set (inc Spark plug well seals) £34.88
Angled Connector £55.26
Vent Hose £36.48

However he came back with a comment "There doesn’t appear to be a separate PCV listed, although there is something that is described as an ‘angled connector’ which fits into the inlet manifold and judging by the price is possibly a valve of some sort."

So I did a bit more googling - seems the PCV valve is in the cam cover and not avaliable as a separate item so I asked for a cost for that

£342.71 to you sir....................

Ouch

So I googled so more



Anyone done this task with an aftermarket replacement PCV valve into an OE Cam Cover??

[Levin]

JakeT said:

BMW TIS online normally has measurements to get the badge in the proper location if you fancy another go, too.

Not seeking to hijack the thread on what must be commended as a lovely car, but how would I go about accessing TIS? There are a few websites claiming to be the real deal but I'm suspicious of every one of them as they're asking for payment.

[helix402]

B'stard Child said:

While I was working on the car at the weekend I did see that I may have a small valve cover leak

A bit of googling found me PCV separator replacement on you tube (nestled in the inlet manifold) and they recommended replacing the unit and all the hoses as they go brittle with age so I stuck a request in for a few parts to my local dealer

Inlet manifold seal set £24.38
Cam cover gasket set (inc Spark plug well seals) £34.88
Angled Connector £55.26
Vent Hose £36.48

However he came back with a comment "There doesn’t appear to be a separate PCV listed, although there is something that is described as an ‘angled connector’ which fits into the inlet manifold and judging by the price is possibly a valve of some sort."

So I did a bit more googling - seems the PCV valve is in the cam cover and not avaliable as a separate item so I asked for a cost for that

£342.71 to you sir....................

Ouch

So I googled so more



Anyone done this task with an aftermarket replacement PCV valve into an OE Cam Cover??

I would only change the cam cover gasket if that’s all that’s faulty. I’ve done a cam cover gasket on an N52 (2007) with over 200k and all the pipes you mention were fine.