I originally forwarded that post to the list, because it had some good information, but not because I believed the author's time estimate.
It's definitely more than a two hour job.
I think my shop was paid 6.5 hours by the warranty company for the labor when my car was repaired, so at least to me, the 6 hour estimate seems quite reasonable.
[COLOR="Navy"]Carl Hansen[/COLOR]
The following posts state that the R&R of the intake manifold is two hours.
Why is my dealer saying it will take 6.5 hours? With regard to my bad 48km engine I received some advise from two other BMW dealers.
One said that I need to replace the plugs every 24km and the other said that the plugs should be replaced at inspection II or every 60km.
I need to do an inspection II as the plugs were not replaced at inspection I when the mileage was 28km.
Also, I was told to do a sniffer test to determine if the car runs lean.
I need to check the coils as one may be bad from sitting for 9 months.
After that it is time to change the intake manifold and trust the techs who say there is a vacuum leak and they are 90 percent certain it is the manifold.
They aren't paying the 1000 dollar bill! I also was informed that the dealer needs to phone the head office to determine the correct plugs, as the wrong ones are in the parts file.
[COLOR="Navy"]David Frame III [/COLOR]
The valve cover leak that wasn't: I purchased the car with a massive oil leak on the right front of the engine.
During pre-purchase inspection I assumed the leak to be the valve cover.
The oil was burning off on the exhaust manifold heat shield.
I immediately took the car home and removed and replaced the valve cover gasket.
Assuming that my leak was repaired I headed out of town.
Upon reaching my destination, I noticed that I had lost about 1/4 quart of oil due to the same leak.
I again assumed my repair was faulty and redid my repair at my destination (dad's workshop).
No go.still had massive leak.
I gave up and took the car to a trusted independent BMW only mechanic.
He reported a leaking valve cover gasket.
I told him good luck.
He kept the car 4 days and reported that the inner valve cover was protruding higher than the head/outer cover.
He filed the excess metal away and reassembled.
No luck, still leaked the same.
He said come get the car.
He was not going to work/loss money on this problem anymore (he did not charge me).
Now I was determined to find the leak.
I removed the distributor cover, turned the intake boot straight up, removed washer bottles and anything else I could to get a better look at the suspected leak area.
I then thoroughly cleaned the entire front of the engine.
I then started the engine and watched until I could see any oil leaking.
Whoa! The leak was coming from the joint between the outer top and bottom timing chain covers.
Big as Dallas! The gasket was virtually gone.
I could stick the tip of a screwdriver into the gap.
I now know why I bought the car so cheap ($6K, 92K miles).
To replace this gasket means remove intakes, valve covers, timing cover, chain/cam sprockets.
whew! My solution was to clean the joint/gap with lacquer thinner and "inject" a high temp RTV type sealant/gasket maker.
IT WORKED and has not leaked a drop since.
I also got vacuum on my crankcase after this repair.
The moral: The fan was blowing the oil onto the exhaust heat shield which made it appear that the valve cover was leaking on first impression.
It fooled me (twice) and my hotshot mechanic (when I give up).
He was very embarrassed on hearing the news.
Sorry for being so long winded.
OK, here is the info on R&R'Ìng the intake manifolds.
I will assume nothing and take you through the process step by step (I may inadvertently leave something out).
Removal:
1.Remove beauty cover.
2.Remove beauty cover brackets.
3.Remove mounting brackets for CPS's from front of engine.Remove brackets from connectors.
4.Disconnect injector electrical connectors from injectors.
5.Disconnect electrical connectors from DK motors.Remove intake boots, etc.
6.Unbolt and lift wire trough from top of engine.Move to side (no need to remove coolant reservoir).
7.Unbolt fuel rails, disconnect appropriate fuel lines (caution: fuel under pressure).Remove fuel rails complete with injectors.No need to remove injectors from rail, now you only need to replace 12 o-rings.
8.Now you need the following tools for unbolting the manifolds: 1/4" drive 10mm shallow socket.Universal joint.12" extension.Magnetic nut/bolt retriever.
9.Using the socket set-up to access the difficult to see/reach nuts.When the nuts disengaged from the threads, place the magnet on the nut and remove the socket.This will prevent you from dropping the nut in the black hole of the engine V.I also suggest that pieces of paper towel are placed in the injector holes.
10.After all 12 bolts are removed, unbolt the supports from the plenum side of the manifold.Remove the manifold leaving the expensive rubber block gasket in place on the head.No need to remove the DK assemblies.Re-assembly:
1.Clean intake sealing surface and rubber block surface.
2.Using Hylomar (sp?) or equivalent, apply thin layer to intake manifold sealing surface.
3.Reverse removal processes.
4.HERE IS MY TRICK/METHOD FOR STARTING THE NUTS ON THE SECOND MANIFOLD.
Using paper shop rag/towel of suitable thickness, wedge the nut in the socket so it won't fall out when lining it up on the manifold studs.
Start the nuts and tighten in stages evenly on all 12 nuts.
It takes me about two hours to do all steps (R&R) from start to finish not counting spark plug changing, clean-up of parts, etc.
I hope I did not leave anything important out.
Remember there is no need to replace the intake gaskets unless the rubber insert is displaced and distorted beyond help.
The Hylomar will seal the intake better than new gaskets alone.
Do not use too much...you do not want to introduce excess into the combustion chamber.
