E30 M42 Fuel Rail/Injector Removal

[othatseric]

When you guys had the manifold off how much crud build up was there inside it and on the backs of the valves. Planning this job over the winter, car has 130k miles.

When i did mine at 280k km, back of the valves were OK clean, both intake manifolds were pretty gunked up. But it kinda varies depending how well its been maintained in the past.

[roguetoaster]

When I first got my car the valves were clean, but the manifold was very cruddy. Now, between driving it hard and synthetic oil (not sure if this part matters) the intake tract stays fairly clean, although there is some oil film.

[mike.bmw]

When you guys had the manifold off how much crud build up was there inside it and on the backs of the valves. Planning this job over the winter, car has 130k miles.

Lots of crud around the injectors (lower intake manifold) to the point I could barely see the pintles. Lots of crud around the intake ports on the head. The backs of the valves were clean. It took a while to clean up all that crud. It was similar, if not slightly worse than the photos above. I was at 135K miles at the time.

[MouseRat]

Mine is at 140K Miles and it was surprisingly clean. Definitely some oil film build up.

[hamann318is]

First time I took it off, around 60k, it was pretty dirty, crud everywhere - I'm guessing the first owner didn't use synthetic oil. Second time, around 120k, it was cleaner, but still some crud around - nothing some degreaser couldn't clean.

[MouseRat]

All buttoned up and working well!



Only thing is, my inspection light has come on for some reason.

Thanks for the help chaps

[mike.bmw]

All buttoned up and working well!

Only thing is, my inspection light has come on for some reason.

Thanks for the help chaps

Congrats! It looks like you did the 'mess under the intake' bypass as well?

It appears there's a connector unplugged. It's underneath the mass airflow sensor connector in your photo. Probably goes to the connector on the evap canister. That might throw a code and turn on the check engine light.

The actual 'inspection' light could be due to failing batteries on the SI board. Or it could be correctly calculating your time for 'inspection'.

[MouseRat]

Congrats! It looks like you did the 'mess under the intake' bypass as well?

It appears there's a connector unplugged. It's underneath the mass airflow sensor connector in your photo. Probably goes to the connector on the evap canister. That might throw a code and turn on the check engine light.

The actual 'inspection' light could be due to failing batteries on the SI board. Or it could be correctly calculating your time for 'inspection'.

Yep 'mess under the intake' is all done. It was pretty easy actually. Everything makes sense when you're in there!

My car actually doesn't have a charcoal canister. I'm guessing it has been deleted by a previous owner because why else would there be a connector there. Either that or one was never installed because in the UK, cars older than August 1992 don't need to pass any emissions laws.

Inspection light was reset a couple of months ago too. It now has come back with 'INSPECTION' and a little symbol that looks like a clock.

[mike.bmw]

Yep 'mess under the intake' is all done. It was pretty easy actually. Everything makes sense when you're in there!

My car actually doesn't have a charcoal canister. I'm guessing it has been deleted by a previous owner because why else would there be a connector there. Either that or one was never installed because in the UK, cars older than August 1992 don't need to pass any emissions laws.

Inspection light was reset a couple of months ago too. It now has come back with 'INSPECTION' and a little symbol that looks like a clock.

Ok, that's probably what that connector is for.

Did you have the battery disconnected the whole time you performed the work? If so, the SI board batteries may have fully discharged and will need some time to start holding charge again.

My SI board batteries are on their way out. Once I reset the inspection light they will "forget" after about 12 hours and the inspection light comes back on. One of my next projects will be purchasing and installing a refurb'd SI board (with new batteries).

[MouseRat]

Ok, that's probably what that connector is for.

Did you have the battery disconnected the whole time you performed the work? If so, the SI board batteries may have fully discharged and will need some time to start holding charge again.

My SI board batteries are on their way out. Once I reset the inspection light they will "forget" after about 12 hours and the inspection light comes back on. One of my next projects will be purchasing and installing a refurb'd SI board (with new batteries).

Yeah, the negative for the battery was disconnected for a couple of weeks while I waited for parts. So, will the light just go off once the batteries start holding charge again, or do I have to reset it myself?

Cheers for the help man.

[mike.bmw]

Yeah, the negative for the battery was disconnected for a couple of weeks while I waited for parts. So, will the light just go off once the batteries start holding charge again, or do I have to reset it myself?

Cheers for the help man.

You'll have to reset it yourself and hope the SI board batteries start holding charge again. I picked up a tool to do this recently (http://www.peakeresearch.com/fcx3.htm), but you can reset it yourself by connecting pin 7 and pin 19 (ground).

Check out the following links:

http://www.unofficialbmw.com/repair_faqs/sil.html#bat

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_z_1A2lxaP_I/RsEURSkxHAI/AAAAAAAAAEU/PJv7fVmdYIc/s200/reset1.jpg

[MouseRat]

Just driven a short way home from work and it seems like I have a decently sized coolant leak.. not sure where it's coming from. My guess is the hose that bridges where the old throttle body plate used to be.
I need to have a dig..



I've done exactly what the guy in this pic did and just used the hose that was there to bridge the gap. I never thought to check this, but is the nipple on the head the same size as that bit of hose? This might be my leak.

[MouseRat]

I found the leak.

[mike.bmw]

I found the leak.

Hard plastic tube coming out of the block is cracked? What was it?

[MouseRat]

Hard plastic tube coming out of the block is cracked? What was it?

The spare piece of radiator hose I used to connect the hard plastic tube coming out the block to the nipple on the head split where I'd bent it a little bit. I didn't think it would put it under too much stress but clearly it did

The nipple on the hard plastic is a different size to the nip on the head so I grabbed two different size tubes and connected them with some steel tube and hose clamps. It feels nice and tight - no leaks so far