10-20-2018, 10:42 PM | #1 |
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N63 Valve Stem DIY Experience
I’m sharing my experience changing the Valve stem seals on my N63 engine. Sorry for the long post I wanted to share some details in this project. Feel free to contact me to explain anything below.
It's well known the N63 suffers from more than a few issues: 1. Valve Stem Seals- causing the engine to burn oil, particularly after idling. 2. CCV Hoses- they get hot and brittle and crack in to multiple pieces. 3. Turbo oil line return cover. This little aluminum piece has a gasket that mates to the block and it gets old and leaks oil everywhere down the back of the engine. Looks like a rear main leak or upper oil pan leak. 4. Rear main seal leaking Seems like most people encounter all the above around 60k to 100k miles. My vehicle had the rear main changed at 80k and I did 1-3 above myself just recently at 92k miles. I'm making this posting to collect some great information together in one spot to help educate those about this issue. I opted to do items 1-3 in my home garage, it was a super long frustrating process that took me like a month of work after normal working hours and weekend. Hope this information helps those who attempt this. I also replaced the mechanical water pump, thermostat, 1 Vanos Solenoid and both belts. To perform the Valve Stem Seal repair you’ll need the N63 Valve Stem Seal Master's Collection. It’s approximately $1800 new. http://www.agatools.com/tool/n63-val...ool/collection Or you can RENT the tool set from Tony’s AGA Tool Rental. https://www.facebook.com/BMWN62/ Shameless plug for Tony, I used his tool kit and it worked great. I would recommend him to anyone who needs it. Tony communicates primarily via TXT and he is pretty speedy. Be sure you study the AGA Youtube videos carefully on how to use the tool kit. The AGA kit is very well thought out and pretty straight forward on use. AGA Video on N63 Valve Stem replacement Toolset AGA Video on CAM Timing Toolset AGA Video on Direct Fuel Injection Toolset https://youtu.be/H_DEetgHzKg?list=PLaWZP3MPuL1ZNg-r5ZghbpiUDiOJGt0KD Random thoughts on tearing down the top of the engine: Labeling every possible connection and hose that you remove. Take some pictures of how the hoses are routed. They only go one way. And there’s a lot of them. Use some common sense. You don’t want coolant going into the throttle bodies or other items, tape up or cover all the opening as you go. I reused all the metal clamps holding on the turbo chargers. The Turbo to manifold clamps are somewhat hard to get at, you might have to “tie” the catalytic converts up a bit to gain some extra clearance. I did not need to remove the CATs. Now is your chance to examine the wastegate arms and vacuum actuators. I thought mine were fine and I reused them as is. Now is a good time to order new engine partitions if you have not had them replaced. They will crack and fall apart on disassembly. I ordered the fake Chinese ones on eBay. They work OK, but if you live in a rainy climate or park outside I recommend buying the BMW brand ones. The Chinese ones do not seal up very good. When you remove the valve covers and set the engine at 150 BTDC using the tool set. Now is a good time to mark all the cam bearing caps and place a mark on the camshafts. This way when you get it all back together you’ll have confirmation you have it right. Or if you screw up installing it, you’ll have a mark to confirm it. Cam bearing caps MUST be installed in the exact same position they came off. Turbo Oil return cover thoughts: You do have a set of E-Torx sockets right? Make sure you REPLACE all the oil lines, and all the coolant lines. The coolant lines will be damaged by heat and probably close to leaking. Particularly by the turbo chargers. The oil return lines could be partially clogged with burnt oil. Same with feed lines. Make sure you have some new hose clamps, you’ll need replacement worm drive clamps. When reinstalling turbo chargers the oil lines are easier to bolt to the turbo first and then position in place and tighten the bolt for the oil line to the oil return cover. Valve Stem repair thoughts: Be advised that a lot of this work is done via mirror. Make sure you have a couple good lights and a good mirror or two. Removal of the radiator fan is pretty easy. Whomever designed this is a genius. Once it is removed it makes a lot of room for other stuff. I used the Elring Gasket kit- If you buy this kit it has A LOT of gaskets to change the turbo oil return cover as well. Make sure you check the parts list. You need a decent air compressor for this job. When you do the valve stem repair the cylinder is pressurized with air, and that air leaks down somewhat fast. Therefore your compressor will be running a bit. Pancake compressors need not apply for this job! When you pressurize the cylinder the pressure need varied somewhat for me. I used 30 to 60 PSI. Using the leak down tester as prescribed made it easy to adjust the pressure. The valve stem keeper tool from AGA is great. Make sure you understand all the ways it bends BEFORE trying to use it. Once you get use to the tool, you should be able to put the keepers back on the valve in confined quarters the 1st or 2nd try. It really works good. Before installing the valve keepers after replacing the valve seal, I always “practiced” on the installation of the keepers to ensure I have the tool set to the right angle. I did this on every valve. (After I learned better.) MAKE SURE the valve keepers are installed correctly. I used my finger to feel the keepers and make sure they can rotate around the ridge of the valve stems. When you release the pressure on the valve stem spring compression tool, MAKE SURE the valve keepers remain seated as the spring pressure releases. You will need to use the wrench and the “handle” to help massage the process. If you are not careful you can load the pressure on the valve stem keeper wrong and it will fly off and you’ll have no idea where it went. (it happened to me on one.) One keeper was lost and never found. (eek!) Make sure you cover up as much of the tops of the cylinder heads as possible in case you lose or drop something. Order an extra or two of the valve spring keepers in case you lose one. Remember if it’s lost then you will have to maintain air pressure in the cylinder until you find it. (hours?) Having an extra will prevent that drama. When removing the camshafts. The video sets the timing at 150 BTDC for bank one. (bank 1 is passenger side in the USA) Anyway the cam comes out easy peasy. You have to rotate the engine once more before removing the cams in Bank 2. Otherwise that cam will be in tension pushing on valves. Check your marks and Cam timing carefully when putting it back together. When rotating the engine by hand, take care of the CAM timing chains. Somehow I had a link get “weird” and it took me an hour to figure out how to get it back straight. Hold the chain in a position without slack while turning over the engine. I used one of my kids to help. When putting all the coolant hoses back on, make sure you position the worm drive clamps in a way that you can get to the them after everything is together. You might have to tighten one later. Installing Injectors: You must use the slide hammer tool to “hammer” in the injectors. Listen for the pitch of the blows. When the pitch changes that is your signal that the injector is all the way down. It is need to easy to tell if the injectors are bottomed by just looking at them. There are no ridges or tabs that line up. Otherwise follow the directions. Starting up: When I started it up after all the repairs it ran pretty rough for about 5-10 seconds, then it all smoothed out. I had a ton of codes to erase. The lifters and timing chains made a racket during the 5-10 seconds. The turbo to manifold and turbo to catalytic convertor gaskets smoked when they got hot. It was slightly unnerving. After that it took me a while to diagnose my mistakes. Couple plugs got left out and a few hose clamps were not tight. Once I had the engine running for 10-15 minutes, I did a full oil and oil filter change. Wanted to make sure I didn’t have contaminated oil messing things up. You’ll need a couple gallons of BMW coolant. You can use the Zerex G-48 brand at Autozone. I used BMW coolant because it was cheaper. (really) It’s been about 3 weeks now since repair. I’ve driven about 1500 miles, and 250 of those miles were pulling a 5000# trailer. So far so good, fingers are crossed. Here is my parts list. Be advised that I replaced A LOT of hoses. You may not need everything, but I’m only doing this once. All items were purchased at FCP Euro. Everything was delivered on time as expected. BMW Engine Coolant Hose Right - Genuine BMW 11537577014 BMW Engine Coolant Hose Left - Genuine BMW 11537577015 BMW Connection Pipe Y - Genuine BMW 13717577742 BMW Vent Pipe - Genuine BMW 11157575640 BMW Vent Pipe - Genuine BMW 11157575641 BMW Breather Hose - Genuine BMW 11157646087 BMW Thermostat Assembly - Mahle Behr 11537586885 BMW Water Pump - Genuine BMW 11517548263 BMW Engine Coolant Hose - Rein 17127576363 BMW Turbocharger Intake Tube Gasket - Genuine BMW 13718655216 (x2) BMW Valve Keeper - Kolbenschmidt 11341461405 BMW Cylinder Head Gasket Set - Elring 11122159374 BMW Central Screw (M10X1X80) (550i 750i X5 X6) - Genuine BMW 11367564346 (x2) BMW Engine Oil Filter Kit - Genuine BMW 11427583220 BMW Serpentine Belt - Contitech 7PK1647 BMW Black Vacuum Hose (1 Meter) - CRP 11727545323 BMW Coolant/Antifreeze (1 Gallon) - Genuine BMW 82141467704 BMW O-Ring (41X2) - Genuine BMW 11657577018 (x2) BMW Vacuum Hose - Genuine BMW 11657638730 BMW Vacuum Hose - Genuine BMW 11657638729 BMW Vacuum Pipe - Genuine BMW 11657612158 BMW Engine Oil Return Tube (750Li 750i X5) - Genuine BMW 11427577010 BMW Return Pipe (Cyl 5-8) - Genuine BMW 11427577011 BMW Oil Return Cover - Genuine BMW 11657577016 BMW Hex Nut With Flange - Genuine BMW 11627576992 (x16) BMW Engine Coolant Hose Left - Genuine BMW 11537577013 BMW Engine Coolant Hose Right (X6 X5) - Genuine BMW 11537577012 |
10-20-2018, 10:54 PM | #4 |
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Here is a pic of the valve spring compression tool in action. Once the valve is compressed you have to move the item pictured. That is the valve stem keeper. There are two of them to create the circular shape. Telescoping magnet tool is your friend here.
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10-21-2018, 10:37 PM | #5 | |
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Quote:
That is a problem. I would say you MUST find the lost keeper. Otherwise it can be in the engine, somewhere between the springs and can cause serious damage. When I did mine, I also lost one and spent one entire DAY searching it unless found it under the car. Yes, it was lots of frustration. And much happiness when found Great work anyways, and hope you get another 100k miles with fresh seals and gaskets. |
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10-22-2018, 12:02 PM | #6 |
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Thank You Ryan!
Great job and info mate.
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01-01-2019, 09:04 AM | #8 |
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Good job Ryan!
I need to figure out a way to post pics up for my valve seal repair job I did on my car. Granted it is my 2011 550i 6mt, it was done at 105k miles. I'm at 113k, did the first oil change at 6500 miles, going on second. I did not lose a drop of oil the entire time. Runs mint too Total cost of my repair is 1500 dollars, all in parts and tools. It was a nerve racking week, and weekend hahaha. But after everything was done and did my first start, it was quite emotional. Car used to burn a quart every 1k miles, blow nice blue smoke with factory exhaust. Now, catless and muffler deleted, no smoke at all. Only smoke comes out are the tires losing traction hehe. Now I read that you had to hammer your injector back in place.....how so? I have a special tool set that I used the slide hammer to get them out, which all slid out by hand surprisingly but was coated in fresh oil.........which told me my VC failed miserably. To reinstall, I bought all new injector seals and decoupler rings, go through three seal squeezing steps( each has an internally tapered die to slide the injector to squeeze the seal). On the third and hardest tool, you only had like 2 mins to put it in the hole on the engine or the seal is damaged since it swells up. They slid right back in no problem. I was also fortunate that I did not lose any keepers( crazy......) but the intake valves towards the firewall are the worst in which a little mirror is nonexistent for assistance. Lithium grease and praying lol. The vanos solenoid seals, hpfp seals, VC, oil separators, lines, etc were also changed out too. Hope it brings nothing but joy, happy new year! |
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11-09-2020, 01:51 PM | #9 |
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[QUOTE=550iFreak;24178541] nice post. message me if you need me to host the images somewhere so we can share them on this site.
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11-09-2020, 02:57 PM | #10 |
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appreciate the detailed post. i will be working on this in the coming weeks. picked up a used s63 motor with 100k on it. in the process of tearing it all down.
interesting though, when i removed the fuel injectors, the tips were covered in oil. another post had said this means the "VC" went bad. whats a VC ? sorry, im new to all the abbreviations. Thanks [QUOTE=Ryan5034;23879019]
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11-09-2020, 03:09 PM | #11 |
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I'm pretty sure he is referring to the valve cover gaskets. They have rings around each injector hole and the injectors can get oily when they fail.
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11-09-2020, 03:22 PM | #12 | |
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Quote:
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11-04-2023, 10:19 PM | #13 |
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Looks like it measured 10 to 11mm
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