tools for taking off engine cover etc..

[Jamee]

Hi all,

Stuck in work at the mo, so was wondering if you can help, I intend having tomorrow off work to change the air filter, pollen filter, and new vortex oil breather upgrade and also clean out the EGR.
Going shopping after work for the tools if I havent got them at home, so could someone tell me what tools will I need, is torx drivers only.

Thanks Jamee.

[X5Sport]

If the engine cover is in two parts then torx are fine, but if it's like mine (a single piece) was then you'll also need a small number of spanners/sockets (10mm up to 13mm or 15mm I think) with long reach to get the aircon inlet tray out of the way.  It's the back of the engine cover that is the issue.  Front comes off no prob, but the back can be a cast iron PITA without the right tools.  I bought a set of flexible ratchet spanners from Halfrauds to get at the last bolt in the back left corner down the back of the engine!!  It's obstructed by part of the wiper motor tray and that has to come out, or at least be unbolted partly and then 'moved' to let you get at the final bolt.  The others are very straightforward - but not that one (cue much swearing).

This thread will help.  I added pics at Post #46 showing where everything you need to get at is, but the whole thread has loads of tips and tricks in it.

What are you trying to get at?

R

[Jamee]

Mines a Dec 2002 model and I think it is one piece so alot of swearing I envisage. Got a link to the spanner by any chance?

[X5Sport]

Spanner.  Not you, the set I bought....

My wife very kindly bought me this Socket set when it was on 50% discount and it has all the right Torx bits included.

I really ought to service her E46 when I can find some ramps (front clearance with the MSport bumper is naff all) - even speed humps frighten the trim underneath sometimes!!

Richard

Richard

[Jamee]

Cheers buddy, what sizes will I need for the job then, mainly the bugger at the back,

[Sanj]

Back one is the hardest to get to. Try a flexible piece (I did).

Everything else is standard tools.

[Jamee]

Thankyou for all your help guys, my turbo has been making the police siren noise for a few weeks now getting slowly louder, even tho the turbo is under warrenty, I want to avoid it breaking for the sake of £40. Plus I imagine the egr will be bad so got a 500ml can of carb cleaner with a few toothbrushes to clean it...lol

[X5Sport]

I think the cover bolts are all M6 x 20 Allen bolt not Torx.  These beasties.

Richard

[storminmike]

[quote="X5Sport"]
I think the cover bolts are all M6 x 20 Allen bolt not Torx.  These beasties.

Richard
[/quote]

This is true...allen that is. You also need to lift the wiring that sits above the vortex breather once all the plastic is out of the way. I guess we're talking diesels here. The wiring is held by small male star bolts. IIRC a normal socket grabs these even through the shape is wrong and they're not tight in. A pair of grips would actualy do but you should not knock the edges off though.

The back bolt holding the air filter cover..once the large cover is off is by far the trickiest. Once you "break" the grip of the bolt it can if you lie on top of the engine be undone with the fingers. It is hard to see but you can feel it.

a set of these in metric wouldn'y go amiss. They are good for the engine cover bolts and breather bolts. They also come in usefull for pulling the guide pins from brake calipers and the brake disk retainer. I got a cheap Aldi set (goodness knows why) but they work fine

[X5Sport]

5mm Allen key - just taken them off HRH's E46.  BEWARE they aren't all captive!!  I've lost a rear one onto the engine under cover.  I'll have to get my magnetic finders tool out to see if I can recover it tomorrow.  It's only for the beauty cover, but.......

Richard

[Jamee]

Cheers guys, got all the tools, also picked up a telescopic magnet tool from Tesco for £2.95 last night so hopefully if dropped any, should able to pick up.

Let the work commence (well once my 2nd coffee has woken me up..lol)

[Jamee]

Well what a pig of a job, could not get the bolts on the underside of the pollen filter housing out so getting the back Allen key out for the engine cover was nearly impossible. My hands are very  sore and cut now, but it's all done.
The pollen and air filters were not that bad tbh as it had inspection 2 done in Aug 12. The oil Breather however was dripping in oil and crap and the egr was very bad as well. Haven't taken it for a good run yet, should I feel any difference???.
Will post a pic up of the air, pollen, and oil Breather later.
I did notice I have 3 plugs by the water bottle, only 2 are plugged in , can't find what the 3 rd plugs into,(I imagine it's the headlight washer tho), also the pipe for the headlight washers is just hanging down next to it not plumbed in. Any ideas. ??

[storminmike]

[quote="Jamee"]
Well what a pig of a job, could not get the bolts on the underside of the pollen filter housing out so getting the back Allen key out for the engine cover was nearly impossible. My hands are very  sore and cut now, but it's all done.
The pollen and air filters were not that bad tbh as it had inspection 2 done in Aug 12. The oil Breather however was dripping in oil and crap and the egr was very bad as well. Haven't taken it for a good run yet, should I feel any difference???.
Will post a pic up of the air, pollen, and oil Breather later.
I did notice I have 3 plugs by the water bottle, only 2 are plugged in , can't find what the 3 rd plugs into,(I imagine it's the headlight washer tho), also the pipe for the headlight washers is just hanging down next to it not plumbed in. Any ideas. ??
[/quote]

Well done....for an air filter and oil breather change there must be few cars that beat the Bmw diesel in the "FFS why did they design it like this" awards

Gtting that back bolt out and removing the air filter cover origami style mus sure take the p!ss. Not sure what you meant by the pollen filter bolt...aren't those quarter turn catches?

Think I'm impressed you did the egr too in the same day.....mind you after all that plastic removal its probably worth it

How easy/hard was the egr to get off....bolts, the captive clips?


I found that back bolt to be a back breaker too...quite far away from the front ....that's why I lay on top of the engine surfer style

washers....I think you're right....3 of on facelift
Front
Rear
Headlight


someone else on here has done some de-gunking on these because they have filters that can get clogged. Sure they'll be a long soon to add to your question

[Jamee]

No not the qtr turn ones, I meant the bolts on the underside of the pollen covers directly sitting above the engine covers, there are 4. I had to remove the engine covers etc without removing the all the pollen enclosure, what a b'stard!!

Mine isn't a facelift, but the engine cover was in 2 parts (well 3 if you count the front piece around the power steering bottle. I just cant see where the pipes and plugs go, and obviously the washers need to work for the MOT in Sep.

The egr was quite easy to remove, the silly half moon clips on the pipe broke their tap weld so fell down but managed to retreive them. The cleaning of the egr was horrible, glad I bought carb cleaner as washing up liquid wasn't touching it, it was half full of hard black sooty stuff, so couldnt have been working that well.

Wish I took loads of photos, but only got a shite razr phone die to selling the 4s.

Next job is oil and filter, just waiting on offers on some good oil.

[jaynana]

i did this job today.

re. the air filter cover at the far back, a round headed allen key worked for me. didn't need the universal joint and the works although i had all that ready..

mine already had a vortex breather!!