New build! E90 M3
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I'm coming up tomorrow if you're back from Batavia by then but it's looking like rain all day long so that'll be a game time decision.
I will.
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I went to change the oil about two weekends ago before putting it away for the winter and upon re-inserting the rear drain plug on the oil pan I found that it wouldn't tighten to the required 18ft/lbs. Righty tighty became righty losey. I pulled the plug back out and examined the threads to find some alloy bits left on the bolt and the pan had some semblance of threads left but obviously not what it was supposed to look like. I'm the only one who's changed the oil since I bought the car and I have always used new plugs, copper o-rings and torqued both plugs at every oil change so I was confused and frustrated. I hit the google machine and found that it's a fairly common occurrence on the S65 with steel plug/aluminum pan. I also looked up the cost of the upgraded pan from bimmerworld... about $1100 and I'd get no core because of the damaged pan. That's still cheaper than a new OE pan for about $1300. The prospect of spending 8+ hours laying on my back to drop the pan was a scarier thought than buying the pan with a dipstick.
I decided to try a time sert first so $115 later I had it ordered. After getting it I called up Turner looking for some validation and their service department was pretty helpful. They said this happens and they've used these to do the repair before with success and consider it a permanent fix. I bought some red loctite and gave it a shot on Saturday.
For those like me who had no idea what a Time Sert was and why it's better than a helicoil here's my take. The Time Sert is a full set of steel threads with no gap in between the threads. This gives it strength and ease of installation with little to no change for it to pull out where as a helicoil is a wire type insert that lacks the strength of the Time Sert.
The Time Sert was far easier to install than I expected but the prospect of possibly ruining my pan further was terrifying. The kit includes the required drill bit, counter bore, tap, tap guide, driver and inserts. It did NOT include loctite or any T handle/tap adapter and I found that the drill bit and tap were slightly larger than any drivers I had or could find at a store so I used my drill on it's lowest setting. Also, by this time my oil had been draining for about a week so there was no oil dripping out at all which made the install cleaner. Since I was doing this on my back I made a guide for the drill bit by drilling a hole into a 2x4 and holding that against the pan for a guide. I then counter bored the hole and tapped it for the insert.
I put a little red loctite on the insert and used the driver to install the insert. I followed the directions and kept turning the insert past the point of it getting hard to turn until the insert stopped moving. I let it set for about 30 minutes then put the plug in and torqued it. The plug tightened to the proper torque with no fuss so I filled it up with a few quarts of oil and drained that out to try and get any shavings out. A couple came out but there wasn't much material removed to begin with so I wasn't expecting much. I reinstalled the drain plug, torqued it and added all of the Liqui-Moly 10w60 and let it sit for a little bit while I stared at the drain plug. No leaks yet so I started it up and let it run for about 20 minutes while I intently stared at the oil pan. No leaks! I took it for a short drive, re-examined and still no leaks. Took it for another drive, said a small prayer to the BMW gods and ran that tach to 8k RPM. No explosions! Did it a few times and brought it back home to inspect and found no leaks at all!
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said a small prayer to the BMW gods
I think this is what WIBimmers collectively forgets to do before hooking up a compression tester!
I'm glad to see it was a relatively easy fix! Dropping pans is never that much fun, especially for something of this nature.
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Those thread inserts are excellent. We used them at the Hormel shop frequently when threaded holes were needed in plastic or UHMW parts so that the threads wouldn't tear out. They are much better than a helicoil for things that get disassembled frequently, like a drain plug. Now it will be stronger than new. Please torque to 150 ft/lbs for science.
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Some of the guys at work did a quick edit of my car for me from a different video we shot. I fucked the definition quality some how but you get the idea.
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Some of the guys at work did a quick edit of my car for me from a different video we shot. I fucked the definition quality some how but you get the idea.
I propose a title change
“BMW man races to double park in a handicap stall”
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I propose a title change
“BMW man races to double park in a handicap stall”
I like it! I did that intentionally for the video. Really wanted to go full stereotype lol.
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I like it! I did that intentionally for the video. Really wanted to go full stereotype lol.
mentally kripple bmw owner double parks in real kripples spot
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Nice, the e90 and 92s are like the e36s, can’t go wrong with 2 or 4 doors. The current M4 looks better than the M3 and the new M3 looks better than the M4 (with the exception of the grill).
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mentally kripple bmw owner double parks in real kripples spot
"Handicapped boy struggles to spell cripple on internet. Forum community takes him in to fulfill social diversity engagement requirements."
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"Handicapped boy struggles to spell cripple on internet. Forum community takes him in to fulfill social diversity engagement requirements."
Cripple with a K to add some spice don't you know
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I drove the car every day last week and nobody has given me the finger once yet! I have some DCT maintenance stuff on hand to change that fluid out, some bushings on order and some exterior parts on order so far. The oil plug repair is holding strong with no signs of any leaking so I feel safe to say that's fixed.
I need to do new struts/shocks but still deciding on coilovers vs OEM+ Bilstein set up with my H&R springs.
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The Bilstein PSS_ setups look like a great Ron Popeill set it and forget it solution but they have very poor corrosion resistance from what I have seen.
great pic!
I had Bilstein on my 335i and I really liked them. The Bilstein's are very nice it's just a matter of spending almost $2k on coilovers vs B8 struts/shocks with my H&R springs.
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I saw one of these yesterday. I need one. That engine plus chassis/body in an incredible combination.
Aiming for 2-3 years from now.
Congrats on the pick up again.
I think we're on year 3 almost exactly now...
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I think we're on year 3 almost exactly now...
Rude...
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Minor update that's been annoying the shit out of me. New emblems! The flag on the M3 emblem was faded and the front had some minor things going on. The rear emblem really didn't need it until I took a chunk out taking it off but it made sense to just get all of them right away.
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I’d say life is pretty good when the problems to be sorted out are some faded badging. That or priorities out of whack
It's nice to have a car that turns on whenever I want it to.
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