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DIY: N54 Hydraulic Lifter (and Cam Bearing Ledge) replacement
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01-19-2015, 08:32 AM | #1 |
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DIY: N54 Hydraulic Lifter (and Cam Bearing Ledge) replacement
This isn't my video, but it's pretty much what a bad lifter sounds like. Let me preface this by saying that I wouldn't recommend tackling this job unless you're a somewhat seasoned backyard mechanic, or at the very least don't have a tendency to crank on things with a gorilla grip when things don't go as expected. Parts
Tools 6-point/12-point -8mmTorx -T20Misc -Ratchet(s)Optional *Recommended*-Wiha 29206 0.6 Nm (5.3 in-lbs) Easy Torque Handle (Use in conjunction with a Wiha 28582 and flex drive adapter or universal-joint to torque dummy tensioner to factory spec) Disclaimer As always, when you're in backyard mechanic mode, expect to break things. It's like leveling up in an RPG except instead of victory music and bonus stats, you get dread, anger, and great feelings of ambivalence. It's better than it sounds, really. You follow this guide and your car goes snap crackle and pop, I'm not responsible. I've done my share of crying already. You can do your own. Procedure -Remove valve cover. Robc has an excellent in-depth guide here: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=775317 -So. Valve cover's off and you're looking at a slightly less blurry version of this. The fun begins. View post on imgur.com -Remove the radiator fan by first removing the mounting screw on the left side. View post on imgur.com -Remove and set aside the connector and two tubes. View post on imgur.com View post on imgur.com View post on imgur.com -Undo lower chargepipe clip (I forgot how to do this; I have an aftermarket one), and radiator fan clip on the right side. View post on imgur.com -Now you're ready to pull out the fan. If you have an oil cooler it'll need some coaxing, but it'll fit. Trust me, I'm a backyard mechanic. Pay close attention to the tabs at the top of the bumper. As far as I know, their only purpose is to obstruct the radiator fan from coming out smoothly, but I'm also kind of ignorant so I don't really know much. -So now you're looking at something like this, except probably with the oil cooler line still attached. I did this process before I developed the fearlessness that every backyard mechanic should have and removed the line to be safe. I also spilled oil all over my serpentine belt and alternator clutch pulley in the process, which may or may not have lead to it binding. But hey, my ineptitude is your gain. I wrote a DIY on the pulley replacement. Happy endings are the best. View post on imgur.com -Time to lock the motor in the TDC position. Jack up the car, throw some jack stands underneath, and remove the underbelly pan (otherwise known as the void in which dropped screws and tools never return from) of the car. There's about 21 or 23 or eleventy-nine 8mm screws holding it on. Power tools are your best friend here. View post on imgur.com -Get your flywheel locking pin from the timing kit. Hopefully you didn't cheap out on this part. It's a real pain in the ass to both locate the flywheel lockpin receptacle and determine whether or not the pin needs to be modified at the same time. View post on imgur.com -The locking pin goes in the location of number 16 in this diagram. View post on imgur.com -Locate this connector underneath the car. View post on imgur.com -Assuming you're lying with your legs toward the passenger side and your head toward the driver's side, look into the engine bay above the connector. You should see something like this. View post on imgur.com -Reach into that dark scary hole and feel around the corners of the engine block for something thin and rubbery. Yes, like a small penis, you juvenile. What you're looking for is the rubber plug that blocks the receptacle for the locking pin. View post on imgur.com -I had to use a small screwdriver to pull it out. View post on imgur.com -Insert your locking pin into the hole. View post on imgur.com ***DO NOT ROTATE THE CRANKSHAFT COUNTERCLOCKWISE*** -Let's go back up top. Locate the crankshaft pulley at the front of the engine bay. Throw a 22mm socket on a big ratchet and get ready to turn the crankshaft clockwise. View post on imgur.com -Before you turn, take a look at the opening at the front of your bearing ledges. What you're looking for is a QR code on both cams, like this: View post on imgur.com -When both cams show the QR code, you'll be at TDC. The holes on your Vanos plates should be in this orientation: View post on imgur.com -Alternatively, you can remove the spark plug in cylinder 1 and place a screwdriver in it. When it reaches its highest point, you'll be at TDC. -To be safe, use your telescoping mirror to look at the back of the engine, as detailed here: http://workshop-manuals.com/bmw/3_se...n54)/page_339/ -Now go back underneath the car and see if you can press the flywheel locking pin through the flywheel to lock it. You may need to jiggle it a bit. If not... -Find this plastic cover. The center jack point is at the top of the picture for reference. Pop this cover off to reveal the flywheel. View post on imgur.com -Take a look inside and you should see a raised plate with a blue dot (assuming you have the stock flywheel), like so: View post on imgur.com -When the end edge of that specific raised plate is in the center of the peephole, the flywheel hole will be aligned with the locking pin position. If the flywheel is past that point, you'll have to rotate it two full rotations before attempting it again. Trial and error, my friend. Trial and error. View post on imgur.com -When the lock pin is in position, you'll be unable to turn crankshaft. Verify that the engine is at TDC. If so, you're ready to lock the camshafts into position with the locking tool. View post on imgur.com -Now we need to remove the cam chain tensioner, but not before unbolting some stuff to make room, of course. First, unbolt your coolant overflow reservoir and vacuum canister bracket (3 bolts and 1 nut). View post on imgur.com -Removing the right vacuum canister reveals two nuts at the bottom. You know the drill. Set them free. View post on imgur.com -Now you should be looking at a very well-endowed silver nut. That's the cam chain tensioner. View post on imgur.com -Place a paper towel underneath the tensioner nut. A small amount of oil will trickle out once it's loose. If you have a 27mm wrench, it should come off without hassle. If not, you should be able to fit a socket over it using a u-joint and some perseverance. View post on imgur.com -Tensioner out. Give it two slow compressions to drain the oil out. View post on imgur.com -Take your marker and mark the cam chain position for reference. View post on imgur.com -Now you're ready to break those cam bolts loose. 16mm. Do it. Also, discard these bolts. View post on imgur.com -Vanos plates should come off with little resistance. View post on imgur.com -As an added safety measure, you should probably zip tie the cam gear to the cam chain so they don't separate. Or, like me, you can put an immense amount of faith in the marker you used and hope that they don't accidentally get wiped off. Safety is overrated. Sometimes. -Separate the cam gears from the cams. They're held on by friction and may need some coaxing if they're tilted off-axis with respect to the cams. -At this point, you'd normally need a special tool to depress the valve springs to take tension off the cams, but there's a workaround for you cheapasses thanks to bimmertoolrental: You'll be able to tell when there's no pressure on the valves by wiggling their respective rocker arms. If they don't wiggle, then there's tension on the valve spring. -Evidently I forgot to take pictures up to this point. Oops. Now you're ready to unbolt the bearing ledges. I always hear about how delicate these hollow cams are, so I elected to loosen each bolt a half turn at time. Service manual states that you should loosen them outward to inward. 14 bolts on the intake side, 17 (including 2 in the front that hold the cam chain guide) on the exhaust side. The two cams are not interchangeable, so keep track of them. When removing exhaust, start with the two in the front. View post on imgur.com -Intake side out. And drunk, apparently. Apologies. View post on imgur.com -Lifters slide out with the rockers. They're clipped on and separate with little effort. It's good practice to keep track of where they came from so you can put them back where they came. If not, well, that's okay... but you'll bring shame upon your family. Compare your existing lifters with new ones. They should be at full extension and rock solid (aww yeah). If they're mushy, they most likely have a faulty check-valve and should be replaced. If they're solid but shorter than others, then they're probably stuck. Replace those, too. Alternatively (in this case, the smarter choice), you can drain them by sticking the end of a paperclip down the top hole to release the check valve. They should be springy and compressible by hand. If not, they're seized. If you're the meticulous type, you can soak them in some solvent to clean them up a bit. Submerge them in oil and give them a few pumps and they should fill back up. Well... in theory, anyway. That didn't work too well for me so instead I just rotated the crank a few times by hand after everything was bolted up, which worked out better. I tried opening one to clean out but had a hell of a time trying to get it back together without mangling the retaining rings. At $20 a pop, it's probably not worth the effort unless a large number of them have failed. View post on imgur.com -Remove the two metal rings at the end of each camshaft. They unclip pretty easily by hand. Replace them with the new softer, gentler rings. You'll have to stretch them slightly to get them to fit, but they'll shrink back and be flush after a heat cycle or two. -Inspect your bearing ledges for indentations made by the camshaft rings. Here's what mine looked like after 60k. View post on imgur.com -So now you're ready to put things back together. First off, in case you goofed and didn't keep track of which cam goes where, here's a reference: http://workshop-manuals.com/bmw/3_se...n54)/page_341/ A = Exhaust (left side) View post on imgur.com E = Intake (right side) View post on imgur.com -Assembly lube. Hey... if some is good, then more is better right?! Put some on the rockers, too. View post on imgur.com -Install the new bearing ledges and cams. Make sure the QR code on both cams are facing upwards, and lock them down with the cam tool. View post on imgur.com -Make sure the rockers are seated on top of the valve stems. They're magnetically attached so they're pretty easy to knock off. Give them a slight wiggle. Careful when you get to cylinder 6, they fall off pretty easily if you nudge them the wrong way. Ask me how I know. View post on imgur.com -So you're probably pretty spent by now. Your back aches, you may have cried a few manly tears, thrown some wrenches, shouted some profanities, and your neighbors probably think you're some sort of psychopath, so you'll be glad to know that this is where things start to get tense. After threading down the bearing ledge bolts by hand, you'll want to tighten them evenly (criss-cross) or you risk snapping a cam. I did them a quarter turn at a time. Some bolts will give you more resistance than others. An 8mm 12-point wrench works well here since you run no risk of rounding off the torx heads with the force you're exerting. If you start to feel greater-than-normal resistance, move on to the next bolt. When you come back next round they'll be easier to turn. Stay strong, friends. -When you've gotten all the bolts finger-tight, check and make sure the sides of the bearing ledges are flush with each other horizontally (i.e. no sideways protrusions). Tolerances are pretty tight so they should be perfectly aligned since they're new. Torque the bolts to 8 Nm or 71 in-lbs. Follow them up with your angle torque meter with an additional 60 degrees. Mark the torqued bolts with a marker in case you lose your spot, since you can't go back to check existing angle torque. View post on imgur.com -Remove the cam locking tool and torque the previously-obstructed bolts. -Now that your bearing ledges are properly torqued, thread the cam chain guide rail bolts and torque them to 8.5 Nm or 75 in-lbs. View post on imgur.com -Install the cam gear and timing chain back onto the cam. If you were smart and used zip ties, remove them. If you were less smart and didn't, you're still a winner because this is America. Just make sure the marks you made previously match up. -Install Vanos plates and thread the new camshaft collar bolts. Do not tighten them yet. View post on imgur.com -Install the timing chain tensioner tool. The service manual calls for 0.6 Nm or 5.3 in-lb torque against the chain. If you have a tool to do this, you are a god amongst backyard mechanics. For us plebeians, tighten the center rod until you begin to feel resistance, then turn it an additional 15 to 20 degrees. There should be about 2mm of movement when lightly pulling on the chain section between the two cam gears -- positive tension. Try this a few times while checking the tension on the chain to get a feel for it. If you have to tug on it with any amount of force to get it to move, it's too tight. I suppose the surefire way to tell whether the chain is properly tensioned is if the you're driving your car and your hear the engine make a medium-pitched "whirr" sound, it's too tight. Actually, you know what? Just spring for the damn tool and enjoy the endless e-peen flexing rights that come with it. View post on imgur.com -With the dummy tensioner in place, you're ready to lock the cams down. Install the Vanos plate alignment tool. View post on imgur.com -Now torque the bolts to 20 Nm or 15 ft-lbs, and with your angle meter give it an additional 180 degrees. View post on imgur.com -Remove the dummy tensioner, install the new washer onto the factory tensioner, and torque it to 41 ft-lbs. View post on imgur.com View post on imgur.com -Now... Remove the flywheel lock pin. Reinstall the blind plug. -Turn the crankshaft a couple rotations to ensure things are (still) working. No abnormal resistance, noises, explosions, etc. -Home stretch! Reinstall the valve cover plus new gasket and torque to 7.4 ft-lbs or 89 in-lbs. -To torque the fuel lines, use a flare nut socket and position it perpendicular to the wrench handle. Positioning it above this line will result in more torque than indicated, and below it less torque than indicated. Fuel lines to injectors: 24 Nm or 18 ft-lb. View post on imgur.com -Fuel rail line: 30 Nm or 22 ft-lb. View post on imgur.com -Reinstall radiator fan, connectors, etc. -Reinstall strut brace. Use new bolts. Big bolt: 74 ft-lb + 100 degrees. Less-big bolt: 30 ft-lb + 60 degrees. -You're probably pretty tired. Give yourself a hug. Last edited by The Spoon; 03-17-2017 at 12:46 AM.. |
01-20-2015, 06:15 PM | #2 |
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awesome DIY! Thanks so much for this! I will be tackling this job soon and have been looking for a guide. Time to start ordering parts...
How much time would you estimate it took you from start to finish, including throwing wrenches and shedding tears? |
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01-21-2015, 12:35 AM | #3 |
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I'd say if it's your first time through, expect roughly 16 hours if you keep your tools organized; they start stacking up and disappearing. It took a good 18 for me because I spent a good amount of time looking for the blind plug without reference, and the rest of the time figuring out why my lockpin wouldn't slide into the flywheel because of the subpar timing tool set I bought. Good luck! If you run into issues I might be able to help.
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01-30-2015, 04:51 PM | #4 |
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So the noise came back after I replaced the failed lifter. Turns out it was a bad cam chain tensioner. If you're experiencing these symptoms I'd recommend you pick up a mechanic's stethoscope (About $5) and listen to the area around the front of the motor. My "clack clack" noise was most prevalent with the stethoscope directly on the tensioner bolt as well as around the Vanos solenoids. From what I can tell, the OEM unit is made by Febi, but don't quote me on that. I picked up mine for about $35 shipped from Pelican. The unit was virtually the same, except with the BMW etchings filed off. The spring resistance in the new unit was significantly stronger.
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01-30-2015, 10:23 PM | #5 |
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I was about to do this first thing tomorrow. Then I read your post and decided to try swapping out the tensioner bolt and BAM! fixed my noise as well!
Funny thing is, I had the tensioner bolt laying around for the last month, and i kept pushing it off. So, I thank you very much since you saved me 18 hours of my life. Next time your in Orlando, rounds on me! |
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02-01-2015, 05:36 PM | #7 |
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02-28-2015, 09:22 AM | #10 |
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Thank you for the DIY.
Pelican parts lists INA another option for Hydraulic Lifters, is this the OEM for BMW? If so, this is $14 vice $20 on getbmwparts.com. Thoughts?
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02-28-2015, 03:09 PM | #11 | |
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bmaparts.com also brings up the INA part when you punch in the BMW part number, and they're usually pretty good about that stuff from my experience. I guess it's your call on whether or not you feel the savings is worth the potential risk; although the good news is that a failed lifter doesn't immediately cause catastrophic engine failure, so in the event that the replacement isn't up to par you can still remedy it. |
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02-28-2015, 04:49 PM | #12 | |
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Thank you and I agree on the failed lifter can be remedied but I do not plan on disassembling my engine for another 100K. I plan on changing out the eccentric shaft sensor while I am in there also. If you have any other suggestions for preventative maintenance, your guidance would be appreciated. Another question, how is the dummy chain tensioner applied? I assume it is in place of the timing chain tensioner? I am curious if trying to purchase the BMW special tool dummy chain tensioner (11 9 340) would be worth the cost. Thank you for your guidance.
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02-28-2015, 07:01 PM | #13 | |
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I don't believe the N54 has an eccentric shaft sensor. The only preventative maintenance items that really jump out are the bearing ledges -- or rather, the camshaft rectangrings that tear into the bearing ledges -- and maybe swap the PCV valve with a replacement from RB if you're over 50k or so, which is cake. Yes, the dummy tensioner is there in place of the factory spring tensioner to pre-tension the timing chain so there isn't any extra slack when you tighten down the cams. The regular tensioner doesn't provide enough tension for that. Well, it might; I just never tried. On the M-series motors it was possible to disassemble the stock tensioner and add tension using pennies as spacers, but the N54 unit seems to be sealed pretty good. I also updated the optional parts section with the tool to apply the 5.3 in-lbs of torque stated in the service manual if you want that extra peace of mind. If you tighten down the dummy tensioner too much your timing chain will start to make a whirring sound and wear out prematurely. Not good. Last edited by The Spoon; 02-28-2015 at 07:10 PM.. |
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03-01-2015, 11:11 AM | #15 | ||
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I appreciate your professional opinion. Looking over at the DIY for the replacing valve cover, I will probably just order a new valve cover. Per the other valve cover DIY, when you order the valve cover it arrives with the gasket, fasteners, and PCV. However, I am currently verifying and awaiting reply from getbmwparts.com. I will post result of that question once they respond. Cheers!
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05-18-2015, 11:42 PM | #16 | |
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05-19-2015, 01:00 AM | #17 | |
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What do you think of this flexible extension off of amazon would be a viable solution for torqueing?
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05-19-2015, 08:12 PM | #18 |
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Yessir, the dummy tensioner is right. I think I might've gotten the same flex extensions. They were too rigid. I ended up using a u-joint instead. It'll result in some torque loss, but probably not enough to throw things out of whack.
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05-21-2015, 09:15 PM | #19 | |
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11-14-2015, 12:35 PM | #20 |
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Hey Spoon,
I am hearing the same noise from my engine bay and I would like to replace my timing belt tensioner bolt to see if it will rectify the issue. So if I was going to only replace the tensioner bolt, it is simply as unbolting the old one, put in and torque the new one? Thanks |
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11-14-2015, 01:11 PM | #21 | |
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11-16-2015, 09:15 PM | #22 | |
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