To pull the engine, or not?

[Joey Link]

That's the question of the day. For those of you who don't know, it's a 1989 325iC. I'm doing a ton of maintenance such as the timing belt, water pump, front engine seals, center support bearing, guibo/flex disk, rear tranny seals, valve adjustment, and more. Some of these things aren't too big of a deal, but I have four main reasons for questioning whether it'd just be easier to pull the engine and transmission, do the work outside of the car, then put them back in.

Reason #4, the engine is coated in oil. I'd love to clean it up before I replace all the gaskets and seals (I'm replacing the gaskets and seals either way).

Reason #3, I have what I believe are most of the accessories, belts, and hoses already off. I'm changing all the coolant hoses, including the one that goes from the firewall to the thermostat housing and the reservoir.

Reason #2, I wanted to pull the intake manifold, before I knew what a bitch it was. I didn't do my research and figured it'd be as simple as removing the bolts, not knowing about the tube from hell. If I knew then what I knew now, I wouldn't have begun to remove it, but now that I've cracked the seal I know I need to replace those gaskets before I put it back on (which is obviously going to require removal). Talk about not worth the work, just to paint it!

Reason #1,



Upon getting the car on jackstands, it began to leak oil from between the bellhousing and the engine. I slid this glass jar under it (it was within arms reach) and within two hours, that's how much oil drained out. I checked the engine oil and the dipstick showed the oil level was fine, but I'm still not sure if it's leaking from the engine or tranny. I'm going to have to pull the tranny either way to fix the leak, so I'm going to replace all the seals on the back of the engine and the front of the tranny.

I have access to a hoist, it wouldn't be a problem. I just want to make this whole project as painless as possible. What do you guys think?

Here are some other pics:

[MikeE30325i]

i would take the engine out, makes it easy as pie to do the maintenance.

just make sure you dont mess up the cam/crank relationship... lol. fixing that shit is fun.

[Mike325]

Oh, man. Pull that mofo. You will clean up so much stuff and it will be faster and easier to do so. You are almost at the removal stage anyways so. Just pull the wiring harness through the firewall and you are ready to go pretty much.

[Joey Link]

just make sure you dont mess up the cam/crank relationship... lol. fixing that shit is fun.

Yeah I bet, I'm good so far in that regard. Funny thing, I told my dad I pulled the timing belt and he got worried that I didn't find TDC before I pulled it.

Him: "You didn't pull the belt yet, did you?"
Me: "Yeah, why?"
Him: "Oh no Joe, that's not good."
Me: "Why?"
Him: "You need to make sure the engine is at top dead center before you pull the belt or you're"
*I interrupt* "What's top dead center?"
Him: "Top dead center is when"
*I interrupt again* "Dad, I'm just joking."
Him: "Oh ok, good."

It was pretty hilarious cause after each thing he said I could hear the concern building in his voice.

[Joey Link]

Oh, man. Pull that mofo. You will clean up so much stuff and it will be faster and easier to do so. You are almost at the removal stage anyways so. Just pull the wiring harness through the firewall and you are ready to go pretty much.

Pull the wiring harness through the firewall?

[MikeE30325i]

Lol, i helped in a garage late at night with lining the cam at tdc, and then finding out where 60 degrees was for the crank. must have taken off that crank pulley at least 10 times that night. lol

fun shit none-the-less

[Mike325]

Pull the wiring harness through the firewall?

Yep. Remove the DME and then you can pull the big plug through the firewall. You remove the engine without taking the engine's wiring harness off the engine. You just remove the harness from the car.

[MikeE30325i]

Yep. Remove the DME and then you can pull the big plug through the firewall. You remove the engine without taking the engine's wiring harness off the engine. You just remove the harness from the car.

fudging genius.

[nando]

the tube is really not a big deal. use zip ties to compress the spring when you put it back in, get the tube seated in the manifold and cut the ties. done. replace the o-rings so you don't cause a vacuum leak.

also, undoing the wires is NOT hard. shit, there's what, 5 sensors? I wouldn't wanna mess with the DME/firewall when you can just uplug everything (and you're going to unplug most of it anyway).

[Mike325]

the tube is really not a big deal. use zip ties to compress the spring when you put it back in, get the tube seated in the manifold and cut the ties. done. replace the o-rings so you don't cause a vacuum leak.

also, undoing the wires is NOT hard. shit, there's what, 5 sensors? I wouldn't wanna mess with the DME/firewall when you can just uplug everything (and you're going to unplug most of it anyway).

Takes half a second to removed it through the firewall.

[Jscotty]

Go ahead and pull that thing man.. It will probably take a half a day to get it out and almost another day to get it back in. That alone will be worth the hassle you save of busting your knuckles in the tight spots and hurting your back from bending over. Even the cost of a hoist and engine stand will be well worth the piece of mind of knowing that everything is done correctly because you will be able to clearly see everything you need to see and you will be able to properly torque all of the bolts because you will have the right leverage.

[MikeE30325i]

Go ahead and pull that thing man.. It will probably take a half a day to get it out and almost another day to get it back in. That alone will be worth the hassle you save of busting your knuckles in the tight spots and hurting your back from bending over. Even the cost of a hoist and engine stand will be well worth the piece of mind of knowing that everything is done correctly because you will be able to clearly see everything you need to see and you will be able to properly torque all of the bolts because you will have the right leverage.

jscotty, i dont know if it will take that long to take out or put in. if you know what you are doing, you can get it out in about 3 hours. and back in in about the same time.

[StereoInstaller1]

Lol, i helped in a garage late at night with lining the cam at tdc, and then finding out where 60 degrees was for the crank. must have taken off that crank pulley at least 10 times that night. lol

fun shit none-the-less

What the hell for? The cam goes on the cam timing mark, the crank on its mark...done.

The cam mark is on the head, there is a notch just below the waterpump, obviously right above the crank. Not needed to put the crank pulley on at all, in fact, it makes it more difficult.

Joey, pull that shit right on out of there. I did Kims car without pulling the block, and now I wish I had.

Luke

[MikeE30325i]

What the hell for? The cam goes on the cam timing mark, the crank on its mark...done.

The cam mark is on the head, there is a notch just below the waterpump, obviously right above the crank. Not needed to put the crank pulley on at all, in fact, it makes it more difficult.

Luke

Well when we put the timing belt on the grooves werent lining up right and it had more slack, so we were making sure we had it right. better to take time and do it right the first time, rather than doing it again later.

[euroshark]

Before Luke beat me to it, I was gonna say that lining up the cam and the crank is not hard on an M10, M20, M30 etc... Try doing it on an Alfa V6! Doh!!

Definitely pull that motor dude, thats the easiest way to do a really thorough job sealing and cleaning the motor... I am planning on doing this to my 6er this summer while the rest of the car is being painted.