What did you do to your F10, F11 or F07 today?

[F10-65]

On our way home from Italy.  Lorry loos just near Ulm.

[skyjawa]

@Phil_530d That sounds reasonable, thanks for the reply 🙂

Edited September 2, 2023 by skyjawa

[Andrew]

I checked my nuts today.

I recently examined a good friends nuts recently and was shocked at their  condition. This is going to be a problem come rear wheel bearing replacement time.

Given that their BMW is only slightly older than mine I wanted to check my nuts.

 

Thankfully mine aren’t as bad and I can still get a socket to bite on to them. 
 

So I gave them a spray with some cream, I mean grease…. So I can hopefully get them undone should I need in to do a rear wheel bearing.

 

 

 

 

 

[Andrew]

7 hours ago, Phil_530d said:

Just over £500. I would have had a go myself as I DIYd the springs and dampers on my old E90 335i a few years back. But having read @Andrew's write up of the job confirming that it's tricky to do properly without a lift as you need to get a lot of torque into the bottom bolt (I think) and get the alignment of the top mounts right, I decided to let an expert do it properly. 

The E90 platform is much easier than the F10 as it has separate springs and shocks so no need to worry about strut mount alignments. 
 

If you have the yoke type spring compressors it’s much easier to get the strut/top mount alignment correct all you need is a spirit level.

You are spot on, lower strut bolt is 250Nm with the car/suspension at ride height which really warrants a four poster ramp.

Although, hopefully my post can help a determined diyer.  But I originally did this job with nowt more than a trolley Jack and three threaded rod type compressors! 
 

 

[Steve84N]

Who would you use for a bottom end rebuild...? 

My engine is seriously unwell, I have small particles of steel in my oil. Usually means it's the bearing backing material and/or crankshaft etc. Sat stationary at 2krpm it grumbles and vibrates. Under load in 6th it grumbles and thumps through the car. I've now stopped driving it but a noise I thought could have been a bad bearing elsewhere meant I should have stopped sooner in hindsight. 

I suspect the solitary thrust bearing is the culprit. The serious vibration is only under heavy load and it hasn't spun a bearing and seized in hundreds if not thousands of miles since I noticed a sound. Being a manual there's more stress axially on the crankshaft but only one of the main bearings has a thrust surface. 

Some places are saying it's definitely a full rebuild as swarf could have gone anywhere. Others are saying I might be able to just rebuild the main and conrod bearings. It's the difference between a very expensive bill and a seriously expensive one. 

PMP Cars in Coventry are the ones who reckoned I could focus on just the bottom end, might need a new crankshaft. Prestige German Engines said full rebuild. Williams Performance and Mr Vanos never answer the phone and haven't replied to my email. An engine builder near me called Maynard Engines is coming back with some options, which include the possibility of a swap with a remanufactured N55. 

[duncan-uk]

Where are you? When my M3 crapped itself CPC in amersham (Phil Crouch) sorted it.

[Steve84N]

In Gloucestershire so Amersham isn't crazy. Wherever I go it'll need recovery to avoid further damage. 

[Shakeel.j]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

I checked my nuts today.

I recently examined a good friends nuts recently and was shocked at their  condition. This is going to be a problem come rear wheel bearing replacement time.

Given that their BMW is only slightly older than mine I wanted to check my nuts.

 

Thankfully mine aren’t as bad and I can still get a socket to bite on to them. 
 

So I gave them a spray with some cream, I mean grease…. So I can hopefully get them undone should I need in to do a rear wheel bearing.

 

 

 

 

 

Is there a way to prevent this? My CLK had caps over the hub

I took a picture of mine earlier this year, and it was just as bad. Surely this is a problem for the F10/F11 9years old and rusting🙄

What did you use to clean them up?

[Shakeel.j]

1 hour ago, Steve84N said:

Who would you use for a bottom end rebuild...? 

My engine is seriously unwell, I have small particles of steel in my oil. Usually means it's the bearing backing material and/or crankshaft etc. Sat stationary at 2krpm it grumbles and vibrates. Under load in 6th it grumbles and thumps through the car. I've now stopped driving it but a noise I thought could have been a bad bearing elsewhere meant I should have stopped sooner in hindsight. 

I suspect the solitary thrust bearing is the culprit. The serious vibration is only under heavy load and it hasn't spun a bearing and seized in hundreds if not thousands of miles since I noticed a sound. Being a manual there's more stress axially on the crankshaft but only one of the main bearings has a thrust surface. 

Some places are saying it's definitely a full rebuild as swarf could have gone anywhere. Others are saying I might be able to just rebuild the main and conrod bearings. It's the difference between a very expensive bill and a seriously expensive one. 

PMP Cars in Coventry are the ones who reckoned I could focus on just the bottom end, might need a new crankshaft. Prestige German Engines said full rebuild. Williams Performance and Mr Vanos never answer the phone and haven't replied to my email. An engine builder near me called Maynard Engines is coming back with some options, which include the possibility of a swap with a remanufactured N55. 

It's so unfortunate this happened. I hope that it can be sorted without breaking the bank. I suppose a positive can be it didn't happen while you were abroad. 

[Andrew]

17 minutes ago, Shakeel.j said:

Is there a way to prevent this?

What did you use to clean them up?

This 

until I can replace the nuts with new ones. It’s just a protective layer. 

[Andrew]

1 hour ago, Steve84N said:

Who would you use for a bottom end rebuild...? 

My engine is seriously unwell, I have small particles of steel in my oil. Usually means it's the bearing backing material and/or crankshaft etc. Sat stationary at 2krpm it grumbles and vibrates. Under load in 6th it grumbles and thumps through the car. I've now stopped driving it but a noise I thought could have been a bad bearing elsewhere meant I should have stopped sooner in hindsight. 

Did you do an oil change today and on seeing the metal, confirmed your suspicions? 

Metal bits in the oil, I’d be dismantling everything to check for scored/marked bearing/journals on the cams, oil pump and valve tronic shafts. Turbo bearings potentially compromised. Vanos units clogged. 
 

Is there any fault code’s present which may indicate issues with some of the other components. 
 

Take the rocker cover off to see if there are any particles in there, might give you an idea if it has contaminated everything. 

[Steve84N]

I took the filter out, figured there wasn't much point wasting a load of new oil. 

You're right of course, it could have done damage all over. I'll try and read the codes tomorrow but it didn't log anything big enough to throw a CEL. 

I think my safest option is a swap for a remanufactured engine, if there's one available. The cost of a complete tear down I've been told to expect £10-12k from one place. 

[duncan-uk]

Ouch, i know the pain - i'd had my e36 M3 maybe two weeks, took it to yorkshire and enjoyed it on the M45, if you know, you know.

Started misfiring...

Pulled in and found the plug had broken up, by coincidence i had a service kit in boot (because new car, you want a baseline) got all bits out, replaced plugs and started gingerly. All was good. 1 mile, fine, 5 miles fine, 10, 20, 50, 100... all good

By 150 i was happy, ragged the car over the North Yorkshire moors, had an uneventual journey home - 300+ miles had passed.

Next day i took a trip to Sainsburys to warm it up for an oil change and starts rattling like an M10 with a shagged cam...

Not good, Phil was the M3 go to guy but as a cynic i drip fed the information - he got to the nub in 3 questions.

Seems the spark plug tip had not bounced around and out the exhaust but stayed in the cyclinder...

Long story short a big bill, some ARP bottom end bolts, a valve shim set up and a used piston i had a very fit and healthy S50B32

I was lucky the head and bore were unmarked.

Same car after the big bill decided to throw a fan blade through the recent rad that had been fitted and then fracture the downpipe. I was very angry at it for a while BUT once sorted it was a cracking car.

Speak to Phil.

 

[duncan-uk]

Two of my three favourite cars (i have owned) in that picture!

[Steve84N]

@duncan-ukthat M3 is gorgeous!

I'll give him a call, sounds like the man for the job. Doing some more searching it seems there are remanufactured engines around. I guess it shouldn't cost me too much more to get mine out and opened to see if it's worth rebuilding as much of that labour you'd do anyway to swap it out. 

[duncan-uk]

He also sorted a diff weep on my Z4M and the valve shims.

He's a decent guy.

[Steve84N]

Spoke to CPC just now. They are going to give me a price for a remanufactured engine swap. Then I can view that as worst case scenario. If they pull mine out and it's rebuildable for less I could still do that. 

[Phil_530d]

Not done yet, but interior door handle on drivers side of my F10 has decided to evolve into a sticky mess so ordered a new plastic handle that also surrounds the electric window switches and mirror control. 

Cue 'F10 door card removal' search on YT...

Hopefully fairly straightforward. 

Oh and tried to find out what's broken on my daughter's French car (C1) but that's a second order priority 😉

[HandyAndy]

Well yesterday actually, but close enough...

MoT passed without advisories once more...

Popped in to Jardine BMW to enquire about the recalls BMW say are on my F11... turns out they both cover the EGR problem... the 100 code meaning investigate, but the 600 code means replace, thus trumping the 100.

Despite me pointing out I'm only in the country for another 48hrs the lad tried to book the car in for work in 2 weeks' time 🫣.... I swear kids thesedays just don't listen.

I'll get the recall work done once I'm back in Germany.... always good fun watching their techniker get in the wrong side. 

For the EGR cooler change last time they gave me a brand new 3 overnight.... wonder what I get this time? 🤔

So the recall history will be: EGR check - passed... EGR cooler change - completed.... EGR change - TBC

Edited September 5, 2023 by HandyAndy

[skyjawa]

22 hours ago, Phil_530d said:

Not done yet, but interior door handle on drivers side of my F10 has decided to evolve into a sticky mess so ordered a new plastic handle that also surrounds the electric window switches and mirror control. 

Cue 'F10 door card removal' search on YT...

Hopefully fairly straightforward. 

Oh and tried to find out what's broken on my daughter's French car (C1) but that's a second order priority 😉

Yeah fronts are a piece of cake, just follow the guides and you’ll be fine, I took mine off using the same guides to replace the speakers

[Steve84N]

@duncan-ukthanks for the CPC recommendation, of all the people I've spoken to they've been the most responsive and helpful. I spoke to Phil for over half an hour today and it'll be going there next week.

My options came down to the following:

- Bottom end only rebuild, might cost around £3-4k. Could still have damage elsewhere and leaves the rest of the engine 100k miles and 12yrs old. A way to get it running perhaps if I was selling. 

- Full strip & rebuild, might cost £8-12k, might be less. Lots of unknown with this approach and the costs rack up fast when you factor in up to 60-70hrs labour plus any parts needed and the labour to remove/refit. 

- CPC have unique access to new engines from BMW as a registered specialist. They can get me a new engine from cam cover down to oil pan for £7.3k. BMW want almost £16k for this sold directly to me. Then move over all my ancillaries and consider replacing a few other bits like injectors and the auxiliary oil cooler (contaminated). 17.5hrs labour to do the engine swap and it gets done in a few days. £9.2k drive in/out plus anything else I refresh whilst I'm at it. I managed to arrange recovery 100 miles from home to CPC using my breakdown cover, only a £25 excess for cars over 10yrs old. 

I'm too deep into the car to ditch it so hopefully this extends its life enough to make it worth it. 

In our experience, the BMW exchange engines appear brand new. Obviously we haven’t taken one apart to find out, everything visible looksn to be new and unused. In essence , the engine comprises sump up to camshaft cover and everything between. Some engine come with spark plugs even. External parts, for example, injectors, electric water pumps are not included, however any electrical part that it’s removal would expose an internal ( oil or crankcase ) usually comes fitted . The reason the engine is cheaper than Sytner can supply is because BMW are actively supporting keeping some of the older cars on the road by subsidising the pricing on major components. , i.e. engines and transmissions. Components that are made inhouse by BMW - engines and final drives for example, can be discounted more, than, say, the transmission which is supplied by ZF. I think the engine for your car is 40% off.

The discount applied here is not available to main dealers but only to certain registered independent specialists of which CPC are one.  

Because of the popularity of the M135i , tuning etc, N55 engines now command daft second hand prices as badly or overtuned engines are failing and generating a healthy demand in the used market. If the car is a keeper for you, I would wholeheartedly recommend the BMW exchange engine option.

[Andrew]

Great response from your man Phil @duncan-uk. 
 

 

Edited September 9, 2023 by Andrew
Found what I was looking for

[Steve84N]

Seeing as I'm going to be without my car for a little while it seemed like a good opportunity to take out the rear seat backs so I can recolour them Silverstone. 

As is always the way there's something that makes it harder than it should be. This time it was the metal bracket you see in the middle, only accessible by removing the boot floor and tray. 

[Andrew]

Investigated some fault codes that came up after a failed restart when using stop/start

 

[F10-65]

Gents

I'm after replacing the front thrust/control (Lemfoder/Autodoc) arms but where is the best place/price to get the required bolts?

These are the ones on Autodoc...
https://www.autodoc.co.uk/lemforder/9664045

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/lemforder/9664048

I seem to remember the bolt through the bushing had a plain shank and just a small thread at the end but the ones i can find all are threaded all the way down.

Are these OK?

Thanks