F10 530d: Cleaning up the 17” Cromodora alloys...

Thought I would give the 17 inch Cromodora alloys a quick clean while the tyres were off for replacement. I can't imagine they have been cleaned inside the rim in the car's entire 170,000 miles. I jet-washed them, gave them a liberal coating of Autosmart Ali-Shine (it's basically 'wheel acid') and jet-washed them again, thats it. You can see they have had a bit of a hard life, but I have to say for that mileage they haven't come up half bad!

 

Bought an F10 530d!!

Guess there's only so much one can do to the E60, so I splurged on a 12-plate F10. Loving it. Still got the E60 though for now...

Look at them kidney grilles.

Got the 17" 10-spokes, all with brand new run-flats. The ride is sublime, but may throw on the 18" 7-spokes from the E60, or may even go for 19' Ms... time will tell.

Love the super-bright rear lights and the tail-pipe. If that blasted DPF has one silver lining, it's them pipes.

E46: CCV + Intake Re-con.

Following on from this post - E46: Inlet full of oil! Re-con time. - where I discovered the intake-manifold was full of oil, I decided to give the entire thing a good clean out. The sensors, actuator and throttle-body were removed and given a good rinse with brake-cleaner. There was still oil pooling in the manifold, so I just kept on squirting brake-cleaner down the ports and turning the manifold round to run it all back to the main plenum. The Vanos [or Valvetec, whatever] seemed to benefit the most from this as the tubes were full of oil and sticking a bit. They now slide up and down freely and hopefully the electronic-actuator will still work now its clean.

The CCV sits below the inlet-manifold in a plastic-housing, along with the main wiring-loom box. Separately it looks like the diagram. These are known as 'vortex' type breathers, as crankcase pressure is relieved from the head via tube [3] and oil is separated in a spiral and runs down tube [4] back to the sump. The air-pressure is then vented via a diaphragm through tube [2] into the throttle-body, which provides a constant vacuum that keeps the engine as a suitable idle. When the vortex is clogged with oil and rust, pressure builds up in tube [3] and backs up into the head, down into the crankcase and forces oil and air back up tube [4]. This then pushes the diaphragm back and allows the oil up tube [2] into the inlet-manifold. This is clear in my case by the wiring-connectors to the other end of tube [2] and the diff.-pressure sensor being filled up with oil past the metal prongs.

Stripped, the CCV looks like this. The diaphragm housing was completely jammed solid with oily crud, which had leaked round the whole housing. The spiral oil-seperator was clogged with oily rust, which took a lot of getting out. All items were soaked in brake-cleaner and left in the parts-basin at work, then the oil-seperator was blown through with 200psi from the airline. Eventually I got quite a lot of air-flow through the vortex and the diaphragm-housing was squeaky clean, so I threw it back together and refitted the CCV and manifold. I've saved £45 on the part and this quick-fix should work for enough time at least for me to rule the CCV out if the problem persists. If it goes and comes back, £45 is not a lot to spend and I will be glad to do so if it cures the low idle problem!

E60: Engine Rebuild 3 - Camshafts + Re-Timing - ghetto style...

When it came to re-timing the engine I realised that the crank could still no longer be turned by hand in order to get the engine to TDC [top-dead-centre], so the cams would need resetting to the same position they were in when the chain was removed. Rather than begin lengthy calculations based on piston-height in the block, I just copied the camshaft positions from the photos I took when taking the engine apart. Naturally I'd rather get the engine to TDC and have a proper look at the cam positions, but for now it's running great and I couldn't say timing was too far out or it wouldn't even start.

You do not need any gazillion £ special tools for this and, provided you've only had the head off and not removed the chain completely, then the lower tensioner will keep the chain in place on the bottom cog-wheel and there is no need to remove the radiator / belt / pulleys etc.

You will need:

• T30 Torx socket.
• T50 Torx socket.
• E14 double-hex socket.
• Accurate smaller torque-wrench.
• Mole grips / vise-grips.
• Large adjustable-spanner.

1. Drop the valve-guides and rockers into the head. It's best they go back into the same ports as they were removed from, even if it's a different head.

2. Oil the camshaft-bearings and drop in the camshafts, E = inlet, A = Auspuff / exhaust [not E for exhaust!].

3. Oil the cap-caps and drop them on in the correct positions numbered 1-7 from front to back.

4. Screw the camshaft-bolts down so there is no play in the caps, but not tight, then tighten them to the correct torque in half-turns only from the middle outwards. Torque is 10nm for M6, 15nm for M7 and 20nm for M8. Most if not all 03-09 330d / 530d etc. should have M7 bolts installed.

5. Use a large adjustable spanner to rotate the exhaust camshaft [A] to the correct position, using the section near the front where the shaft is cut into a hex shape, and apply mole grips to the camshaft so that they are lying flat to the head at the correct cam position, holding the shaft in position.

6. Install the exhaust-camshaft gearwheel, along with the vac-pump sprocket and do up to the correct torque of 30nm and 50 degrees. Try to get the sprocket into as close a position as possible to where the vac-pump was when it was removed.

7. Using the large adjustable-spanner, rotate the inlet-camshaft [E] into the desired position and either get someone to hold it in place for a minute, or apply a second set of mole-grips.

8. Refit the tensioning-rail into the chain. [The left-hand one looking from front.]

9. Roll the chain back onto the top cog-wheel and refit the inlet-gearwheel / cog-wheel / chain to the inlet-camshaft, tightening it to the correct torque of 30nm and 50 degrees. The exhaust-camshaft should now be holding the inlet camshaft in position.

10. Refit the guide-rail to the chain. [Right-hand one looking from front.]

11. Remove the pin holding the chain-tensioner [from this guide] and refit the plug.

12. Release the mole-grips holding the camshafts and you are ready to go!

E60: Engine Rebuild 2 - Mashed up piston re-grind - ghetto style...

Bits of swirl-flap doing the skinhead moon stomp inside your cylinder is not good. It batters the top of the combustion-chamber in the head and the piston-crown good style, though in most cases won't score the cylinder-wall bad enough to need honing or re-lining. I went and swapped in a re-con cylinder-head as mine needed too much work, but the piston was a bit more of a head-wreck.

Firstly it's quite difficult to find spurious or 2nd-hand single pistons. There are plenty of other pistons on eBay, so I guess it's just waiting for an M57N to come up, otherwise it's over to BMW themselves who will charge about £250 for the part. It doesn't just double the cost of the job, but doubles the work too - the plastic and metal under-trays need to come off, along with cross-members and engine-mounts, the gearbox needs supporting, then the sump comes off and the big-end shells, finally the piston is knocked out of the top of the block with a hammer and block of wood.

I was working on gravel and moving the car onto ramps was out of the question, so in the end I went cowboy style and reground the damaged piston-crown while it was still in the block. Using a die-grinder I leant into the cylinder and remove as much of the sharp metal protrusions as possible, getting it pretty flat for the most part, but the worst bits are at least rounded into small bumps, rather than spikes that could break off and do more damage. I can't imagine combustion is as good as before, but as long as it compresses then I doubt any difference will be noticeable.

PIston 4, second from bottom, took a few valve strikes, worse on the exhaust side and needed a little bit of grinding left and right. At the top of the piston in the pic it seems a few bits of swirl flap did some damage, however the lower side is totally clear. I seriously doubt any performance will be lost on this cylinder.

Piston 6 took the brunt of the swirl-flap and was entirely covered in sharp peaks. The top and bottom faces came flat again with a few hours spent grinding, but the left and right really needed some work. About 5 hours spent in total leaning right into the engine and holding a steady hand and still its like the surface of the moon, but better than all that work to remove the piston and all 6 cylinders appear to firing great after 50 miles.

E60: Engine Rebuild 1

This was complicated, but a totally realistic DIY job if you have the time. It is a lot easier than it has to be by 3 factors:

1. No need to remove the front-bumper, radiator, aux. belt and pulleys as chain is not replaced.
2. No need to fully retime as lower tensioner keeps chain on lower cog even though upper-cog is removed, pump chain is separate.
3. Obtaining a 17mm allen-key type socket to undo a front-plug and access the chain-tensioner. This is actually the only 'special tool' you need.

Hand-ground pistons and block get a final clean before new gasket is put on.

Recon head from a twin-turbo X6 diesel mates up with new Febi head-bolts and crazy torquing sequence.

Once the front plug (where the allen-key is sticking out under the belt) is removed with a 17mm male-hex (allen-key type) socket, the tensioner can be accessed. A 10mm nut below the tensioner is released to free oil-pressure, then the plunger can be pushed all the way back and a pin inserted to hold it in place - the 3mm allen-key in the picture worked for me. The oil-pressure nut is retightened after the chain is back on and the tensioner released.

Unable to turn the engine, camshafts had to be positioned by eye based on photos of before the chain was removed.

Nice dollop of fresh oil on the rockers / guides / bearings and caps.

Rocker-cover is the most involved part of the job as all the injectors / fuel pipes plumb into it.

E60 Engine Rebuild: New Cylinder Head from an X6 and other bits.

Went down to see my head on Thursday, the guys at Birkenhead Engines say it needs 2 new seats pressing in and 4 new valves, plus all the grind-work. The valve-seats on the exhaust side are pretty gouged, so I opted for the replacement head for £225 after all so I could get stuck in to the job this weekend. It's from an X6 apparently, the engine-code sticker says M57NTUE2, so it's from a twin-turbo of some sort and less than 5 years old, which is nice. It bolted straight on and, although it has definitely had a skim done, the bloke assured me it would take a 1-hole gasket.

£200 for the head and £25 to have my glow-plugs / sensors switched over and to have one of my cam-caps machines to match this head as one had gone missing. I gave them all 14 of my cam-caps and they found the best match before checking my original camshafts were aligned. Birkenhead Engines FTW.

M57NTUE2 means its a 'Twin-Power' engine model and was built since 2009.

Skimmed face was apparently done 'very lightly' so as not to hit the Stellite valve-seats and still takes a 1-hole head-gasket I am thoroughly assured.

New trim pieces for M-Sport bumper + painting!

As my bumper didn't come with the cover-caps or hinges, I had to source them separately. I got the headlight-washer hinges directly from BMW Parts [Williams, Liverpool] and they were only £2.70 each inc. VAT. BMW are good for clips and random bits, but trim pieces are a bit more expensive, especially if you have them painted in your colour-code.

I turned to eBay, but was surprised to find used pieces are thin on the ground and no silver ones coming up. New, the headlight-washer caps start at £16 each and go up, plus delivery, so a pair of genuine ones for £30 delivered actually seemed reasonable. These came from MM Autos [eBay ID: adrian5882745], the same place in Wrexham I got the bumper, but I checked and the silver caps from mine are long sold! The tow-hook caps start at £25 for a new one and again no used ones in silver, so I recommend buying from a seller on eBay Germany called bmdoubleyou24. A new genuine one in primer is £18 delivered and only took 5 days to arrive so was worth the saving.

£70 worth of plastic. Headlight-washer caps, hinges and tow-hook cap, only the essentials.

Finally, I bought a can of Titansilver (or Titanium Silver, same paint-code) spray from Halfords, along with a fresh can of clear-lacquer, £6.49 each. After giving the caps about six coats of both, I gave them a good rub with T-cut so they look OE, though I have a feeling they will look a lot shinier than the bumper. I will have to get polishing and sort those scratches...

M-Sport Bumper Total Cost:
Bumper - £200
Hinges - £5.40
Washer-caps - £30
Tow-hook Cap - £18.11
Paint/lacquer - £12.98
TOTAL - £266.49

Pre-primed ABS-plastic is a piece of cake to paint and was going great...

...until it rained and spotted the lacquer...

...so needed a bit of flatting back...

...and repainting, followed by a quick blast with rubbing-compound.

New 'M-Paket' hinges do indeed need the corner of the bumper pulling out to fit, they can't be done from outside.

E60: Fitting M-Sport Front Bumper

1. Bumper Removal:

1.1 Remove the bolt holding either corner of the bumper, just inside the wheel-arch, using a 10mm wrench. The edges of the bumper inside the wing should be free to pull out of join.

1.2 Remove the screws holding the wheel-arch liner to the front bumper using an 8mm socket. *If you are replacing your arch-liners then remove them entirely.

1.3 Remove the two screws from the lower centre of the bumper, using a T25-Torx socket, located just under the lip below each corner of the licence-plate.

1.4 Remove the two screws from the lower centre of the bumper using a T25-Torx socket, located inside each spotlight-grille recess.

1.5 Remove the five screws holding the upper-centre of the bumper along the top edge of the grille/slam panel using a T30-Torx socket.

1.6 The bumper should be free to move, so wiggle it forward and gently rest the front-centre on the ground.

1.7 Unplug the wiring to the spotlights and four parking-sensors (PDC).

1.8 Unfasten the wiring from the hooks along the inside edge of the bumper.

2. Preparing M-Sport Bumper:

2.1 Swap over the spotlight bulb-holders. They are removed by rotating a quarter-turn anti-clockwise.

2.2 Swap over the four parking-sensors (PDC). Remove them by pulling them out from the back while gently pressing from the outer side. They should fit the lugs on all E60 bumpers, regardless of year.

2.3 Ensure the grilles, headlight-washer hinges and springs are fitted to the bumper as they cannot be fitted once it is on.

2.4 On the car, remove the wiring from the foam-polystyrene blocks and remove the blocks from the car.

2.5 Fit the 'M-Paket' foam-polystyrene blocks to the car and re-insert the wiring to them, or if you do not have compatible foam blocks and are leaving them off, find a suitable route for the wiring over the top of the grille / air-ducts.

2.6 If you do not have 'M-Paket' brake-air-ducts on your bumper, then swap the existing ones left to right and flip them upside down to clear the M-Sport grille-recesses. 

3. Fitting M-Sport Bumper:

3.1 Place the M-Sport bumper in front of the car and reinsert the PDC/spotlight wiring to the hooks along the inside edge of the bumper.

3.2 Reconnect the wiring-plugs to each parking-sensor (PDC) and spotlight.

3.3 Lift the bumper up to the car, so the front-undertray slides above the deeper M-Sport lip and put one screw loosely into the centre hole on the top of the grille.

3.4 Hook each corner of the bumper round into the slot in the wheel-arch and replace the 10mm screws, but not tighten fully.

3.5 Find a suitable placement for the bumper, where the shut lines at either side of the headlight are as equal as possible. Do this one side at a time and fully tighten the 10mm screws.

3.6 *If you have the adapter-brackets on your bumper then fasten these to the two centre screw-holes from step 1.3.

3.7 Loosely replace the remaining four screws along the top of the grille / slam-panel, find a suitable placement for the grille panel where it does not disturb the shut-lines at the headlight corners and fully tighten the top screws using a T30-Torx socket.

3.8 Fit the M-Paket wheel-arch liners and fasten them to the bumper using the 8mm screws, or if you are keeping the SE ones, measure where the outer edge of the liner fouls the M-Sport bumper and cut a sliver off. One of the 8mm screw holes should still line up and hold the cut liner in place.

3.9 Replace the weather-strip trim to the top grille-panel.

3.10 Check the headlight-washers are clearing their apertures and refit the cover-caps.

E60 M-Sport Bumper Retrofit: '08 LCI to '04 SE

I have mentioned hankering after an M-Sport or M5 style front-bumper for my 530d, but they are expensive. A new spurious one will cost about £230, the same price as a damaged genuine one and either of these require painting. A mint one already painted in Titansilver, complete with grilles, parking-sensors and trim will run £400. I've been looking for a few months and this week spotted an undamaged '08 front bumper for £250 with new spot-lamps and grilles, but no sensors or trim. Best of all it was in Wrexham, less than 30 miles away, so when I emailed the seller offering £200 cash on collection and he accepted, I realised that I was now bound to the idea. I got the bumper on in 2 hours, but a lot of bits had to be removed to do it and before I start modifying them to fit I'm sat on a fence between bothering at all, or just going back to stock - I can still get £200 for this M-bumper all day long.

Before you consider doing the retrofit to an SE, I must mention that even if the M-Sport bumper is fully-loaded with trim and bits, you will still need to buy a heap of extra parts to make it fit properly. If you don't, stock parts that get in the way will either have to be binned or modified to fit...

Things that DO fit:

• Wing and top-grille mounting points.
• Spot-lamp bulb-holders.
• Parking-sensors (PDC).
• Grille-top weather-strip.

Things that do NOT fit:

• Headlight-washer caps.
• Headlight-washer cap hinges.
• Tow-eye cover cap.
• All 4 lower-grille mounting points.
• Left + right brake air-duct.
• Under-tray left + right corners.
• Front wheel-arch liners.
• Bumper shock-absorbers (foam-polystyrene blocks).

Assuming your bumper comes bare, you will need these essentials:

H/Light Washer Hinge (Lever) Left [51117896601] (22 in below pic)

H/Light Washer Hinge (Lever) Right [51117896602]

H/Light Washer Cap Left [51117897211] (21 in below pic)

H/Light Washer Cap Right [51117897212]

Tow-eye Cover Cap [51117897210] (9 in below pic)

You can get away with leaving the bumper unbolted in the lower-centre, or easily fab-up some custom brackets, but if you want to buy them then you will need:

Holding Strap [51111973721] (10 in below pic)

2x Adapter Bracket [51117896611] (33 in below pic)

The foam-polystyrene bumper 'shock-absorbers' can be cut to fit or just left off, but if you want them they are:

Shock-absorber Left [51117896589]

Shock-absorber Right [51117896590]

The plastic wheel-arch liners only need a sliver cutting off to make them fit, but if you really want to replace them:

Front Wheel-arch Liner/Cover Left [51717896605]
Front Wheel-arch Liner/Cover Right [51717896606]

The diagram above with all parts can be seen on this page of RealOEM.com.