[krautmeister]

Toxic plastic smell.... Check

Looks like I'm about to diy repair myself... haven't touched this car except for exhaust in 3 years... takes me back to my D2 S8 days... but my free time is not abundant these days

[Sebastian550]

How are you getting such low quotes? I took mine to my local BMW Fairfax and they quoted me $2,309 just to replace the turbo coolant lines. There is minor leakage, less than I see in many pictures here, but nothing major.
They also suggested also my back breaks for another $400 (only have 4mm left) and 2 air filters for $230 that I just found online for $25 each. Pricing is outrageous. Now I really feel taken advantage of. Going to take to another shop to get second opinion. Happy i didn't move forward.

[delje08]

My dealer just quoted me $3500 to do this.

[archival]

Originally Posted by delje08

My dealer just quoted me $3500 to do this.

They were probably quoting a much bigger job - which involves refreshing all the lines, including the ones under the turbos AND the turbo oil return while they're in there...

The lines that are being discussed in this thread up-thread are the top lines above the turbos. Those are easy to swap out or re-clamp with some new screw clamps. That's a couple minute job. Easy peasy, cheap and simple.

That said... there is ANOTHER set of 3 cooling lines joined by a Y-joint under the turbos that is much more prone to leaking. My guess is they were quoting fixing those, AND doing all the fun stuff under the turbos while they were at it.

I recently did mine - take a look at what remained of the y-joint that sits under the turbo:



See how it's snapped off on two parts of the y? CRAZY! There's really no excuse for it. BMW stuck a tiny piece of disintegrating plastic on three critical cooling lines under a super-hot turbo in the v of the damn engine. Those hoses don't need to be routed down there, and they sure as hell don't need to be routed through a plastic y-joint... but it is what it is. Go to BMW and ask them to replace that one tiny piece of plastic and they'll quote you a four figure shop bill!

Anyway, the three lines come together under the drivers side turbo in a y-joint, and after all these years, those crappy plastic y-joints on the n63 engine are cooked and rotting. Trust me, they're a ticking time bomb. If yours hasn't been replaced, it needs to be!

Mine was already leaking, causing a mix of oil (from my leaking turbo oil return) and coolant to flow out the back end of my engine. When I touched it, it fell into three pieces! Literally just snapped in each tube with the slightest of touch. I had to use a long wood screw to get the pieces out of the tubes (I screwed it into the pieces still inside the tubes and pulled them out).

Here's a pic of the y-junction still in there (you can see how it broke off one side, which is why my car was leaking coolant down the middle of the engine):



I replaced this stupid plastic piece of garbage with a proper 3/8th brass t-joint from a hardware store, like this:



You can technically replace this y-junction without removing the turbos. Just take the alternator out, and you can reach in and do the job pretty easily that way (I've seen people do it top-down by moving the hoses aside too, but that seems like it'd be much harder than just yanking the alternator, which is a fairly easy and straightforward operation).

BMW wants a ridiculous amount of money to swap that stupid y-junction. Do it yourself and you'll spend ten bucks on a brass part from a hardware store and a few hose clamps.

As for the rest of the job...

If you're smelling cooking goodness coming up from the V of the n63 engine, there's a good chance the gasket on your turbo oil return has failed. Here's the part:



The gasket under that part fails and starts leaking oil down the center of your engine (where it eventually pours out the back and onto the ground). It presents a fire risk. Good times.

Getting to the turbo oil return is a nightmare. BMW will want an absolutely stupid amount of money to do it. That's probably where the 3k-4k bids are coming from. They're probably trying to do all the turbo oil lines (return and feed), the turbo oil return, the y-junction on those cooling hoses, and all the various hoses etc as they button it back up.

Doing it yourself is possible, but it's a JOB. You'll need a set of torx bits, a set of allen-style bits, a variety of different wrenches and sockets, a good long breaker bar (to get the belt off the alternator with a wrench and a big torx bit in the tensioner), and you'll be doing a lot of disassembly. You have to literally take the damn manifolds off to get to the turbo oil return... so everything above the manifolds needs to come off. Turbos and all.

You can technically avoid taking off the catalytic converters, which is nice. Unbolt the brackets that hold them and loosen the heat shield behind them (there's a torx screw in between them in the very back that you can reach with a couple socket extensions), and they push out of the way enough to get the manifolds off and out.

Here's a video of someone doing it:

Make sure the manifold and the intake is super clean and shiny before putting on new gaskets! I didn't bother getting a nice mirror shine the first time I did this (I cleaned it up but I was being a bit lazy) and ended up having to tear it down a SECOND time to put a new manifold gasket on (ended up with an exhaust leak).

You'll need a few gaskets for the turbo as well - one on top of the manifolds (between the manifold and the turbo), and one that goes between the turbo waste gates and the catalytic converter (when you remove the turbos you just remove them with the waste gate still attached - only disconnect them from the catalytic converter itself).

Here's the part numbers on the turbo gaskets:

2 X Turbo to Downpipe Gasket Rings PN: 18307553601

2 X Downpipe to Front Pipe Gasket Rings: PN: 18307577959

You'll also need 2 manifold gaskets.

While you're in there, you'll probably want to replace the turbo return lines. They get cooked under the turbo and end up caked/clogged with bad oil. You CAN inspect them if you want. If they're in good shape they can be re-used. Here's the part numbers on them:

11427577010 & 11427577011

And of course, the whole reason you dig down this far is to get the turbo oil return replaced:

Part # 11657577016

Here's my basic (overly simplified) process for doing this job:

My steps (overly simplified):

Before you start... yank the negative battery cable off the battery. Otherwise you might get a rude awakening when you try to take the alternator off. ALSO go buy yourself a good magnet tool-retrieval tool, and a little metal grabber tool (one of the long thin things that you push a button on one end and a little claw comes out the far side). Trust me, you'll drop something at some point and they'll come in handy.

1: remove all the top-stuff (the engine cover, the bar that goes across the engine bay at the front, the plastic stuff at the very back above the engine, the two angled bars that connect the fender to the very back wall of the engine bay, and the cabin air filter).

2: remove the plastic air stuff that comes off the turbo - there are a couple air tubes that go to the front by the radiator you pull off first. Then you remove the two curved tubes that come off the bottom hole on the turbos, then you remove the top pieces that sit above the heat shroud.

You may have to open up the top tube going into the turbo and move that tube out of the way to do this - no need to fully detach the tube from the air cooler boxes, just detatch it from the turbo (be careful, there's a little rubber gasket in there that may fall out when you remove these things - be sure to catch it).

Also take note of several plugs that go into these things. You'll need to remove a round plug for each lower piece, and there's a plug on each upper piece too. Remove those first.

3: Remove the alternator.

This is a bit of a process. You'll need to remove the little secondary coolant bottle (the one that cools the turbos). That's going to make a mess, so put something under the car to catch all the coolant. You'll have to open up several hoses to do this, and if your car hasn't been torn down before, those hoses are going to be clamped with non-reusable hose clamps, so be prepared to replace a handful of small hose clamps with screw-clamps.

You'll also have to unscrew the turbo cooling pump from the alternator bracket and set it aside.

Before you mess with the alternator, remove the belt. That requires a BIG torx bit, which you're going to put into the tensioner and pull clockwise on a wrench. It helps if you've got a big wrench to do this. I used a breaker bar on a 1/2 inch driver.

Now CAREFULLY unbolt the four bolts that hold the alternator. There's a little plastic cable thing that goes above it (on top of the metal bracket the alternator sits in). You can actually pry that plastic piece up with a screwdriver (just insert it between the bracket and the plastic bridge, and carefully work it up and off). There are four screws holding the alternator down. Be careful because they're screwed into aluminum. You'll probably want to use some PB blaster on them and give them some time to loosen up before you crank them. And when you're putting it all back be SUPER careful not to mis-thread these things. Do NOT force those screws.

Anyway, there's a battery cable that needs to be removed on the back of the alternator (on the drivers side), and one little green plug stuck on top that you need to yank. Pull those, remove the 4 bolts holding the alternator down, and she'll slide right out.

There won't be room to fully remove the alternator as-is if you haven't removed the fan, but, you CAN remove it fully if you remove the bracket first. You'll have to take off two tiny bolts that are holding the fuel line to the bracket. Remove those, then pull the bracket out, and lift the alternator right out. Easy as pie. Leave the bridge of wires right where they are, and don't bother messing with the fuel line. They can stay in place for the entire job.

4: oxygen sensors etc

Next up you need to remove the head shroud. It's pretty self explanatory on how to do that. Remove the torx bolts and yank the shroud off the top. You'll need to remove the two top oxygen sensors first, so if you don't have an oxygen sensor socket... now's the time to get one. You will also need to yank some clips off the two side sensors to lift the shroud. Just yank all the o2 sensors off to make this job easier.

5: turbo time...

Get all of that off and you'll expose the turbos.

Now you've got access to the underside of the turbos. There are two little torx screws holding the turbos to the turbo oil return. You'll need to reach under them and unbolt both of those screws to eventually remove the turbos.

To remove the turbos themselves, you're going to need to remove the clamp-bolts holding them to the catalytic converter, and to the downpipe. You do NOT need to remove the clamp that holds the piece that connects to the downpipe - you can take that off as one piece connected to the turbo.

The hardest part is getting the manifold-to-turbo clamp off. There's not much room to get a wrench in there. I think I used a regular wrench to start it (moving it just a TINY bit at a time) until it was loose enough that I could kick the clamp loose and turn it enough that I could reach that bolt from between the two turbos from above with a socket-wrench. What a pain.

Now, before you can remove the turbos, you need to free them from the oil feed line. There is a bolt on top of this little funny looking round doughnut connected to the feed line that goes on both turbos. You'll see a line that goes down the side of the turbo and deep under the metal trays beneath. THAT is the feed line. When removing it, be super-careful because there's a washer under AND above the little round thing you're unscrewing. Catch both washers. The one below the round doughnut will try to fall when you take it off. Be careful! You only need to remove one of these on each turbo. Easy peasy.

Also make sure all hoses going to the turbos are removed in a way that allows you to remove the turbos. They're connected to all sorts of fun stuff, so be ready to detach several spots. Take lots of pictures to make it easy to re-assemble.

Once all that is done and the c-clamps are loosened, move them off their joint and carefully work the turbo off from the catalytic converter. It helps if you loosen the bolt holding the catalytic converter in place (there's a bolt on top connected to a bracket). Give that a little tug/wiggle, but be careful not to bend the turbo oil return line under the turbo. You DID unbolt that thing like I mentioned earlier, right?

That tube underneath has to be pulled more or less straight up, so just wiggle the turbo carefully until it lifts straight out. If you have any intention of re-using these turbo oil return lines, you do NOT want to bend them. that said, you should probably replace these things if you're already in here.

Repeat with the passenger side. Remember this later when you're re-assembling - your passenger side turbo needs to go in FIRST, then the driver second. If you try to do it the other way around it's going to be a pain in the ass.

Now you've got a metal tray to remove and you're at the manifolds.

One thing to note - if you haven't removed the catalytic converters, you'll need to loosen them up in order to remove the drivers side manifold (it's REALLY tight at that back bolt and there isn't room to remove the manifold).

Remove the bolt holding the catalytic converter to the side, and remove the side O2 sensors so you have more wiggle room if you haven't already. The cats will move enough if you wiggle them to let you remove the manifold.

While you're down there, replace the y-junction the 3 coolant lines are plugged into under the turbo. I recommend going to a hardware shop and getting a 3-line brass t-junction in 3/8th size. I picked one up for a few bucks at a true value. The one that's in there WILL disintegrate and break into multiple pieces when you touch it. You'll need to use a wood screw to get the pieces of nylon y-joint out of the hoses.

Also replace the turbo oil return. It's cheap, and the gasket on it fails and pours oil down the center of your engine. Every turbo oil return on every damn n63 will eventually fail. I am certain of it. If yours hasn't, you're living on borrowed time. It's under the heat shield that sits under the manifolds. Just remove the two torx screws holding the shield down and once the manifolds are out you can just bend the metal shield up and easily reach the turbo oil return to replace it.

Frankly, the first time you do this it's going to take you awhile. I spent the better part of a day getting everything torn down because I was being meticulous taking pictures and notes to myself, and labeling every screw I took off the engine.

The second time was much quicker. Probably 3 hours of effort since I knew what I was doing, and a couple more bolting everything back together.

I'd break this job down over a few days... because I'm telling you right now if you try to do this all at once you're going to hurt.

Good luck.

[Luky]

Nice write up Archival. Is all of this just for N63 or does it also apply to N63Tu?

One thing I am curious of, has anyone tried a "thermal wrap" tape like they put on headers to help protect the lines from the turbo heat to increase longevity? This seems like a simple band-aid that could go a long way towards improving reliability.

[TXSTYLE]

Originally Posted by archival

They were probably quoting a much bigger job - which involves refreshing all the lines, including the ones under the turbos AND the turbo oil return while they're in there...

The lines that are being discussed in this thread up-thread are the top lines above the turbos. Those are easy to swap out or re-clamp with some new screw clamps. That's a couple minute job. Easy peasy, cheap and simple.

That said... there is ANOTHER set of 3 cooling lines joined by a Y-joint under the turbos that is much more prone to leaking. My guess is they were quoting fixing those, AND doing all the fun stuff under the turbos while they were at it.

I recently did mine - take a look at what remained of the y-joint that sits under the turbo:



See how it's snapped off on two parts of the y? CRAZY! There's really no excuse for it. BMW stuck a tiny piece of disintegrating plastic on three critical cooling lines under a super-hot turbo in the v of the damn engine. Those hoses don't need to be routed down there, and they sure as hell don't need to be routed through a plastic y-joint... but it is what it is. Go to BMW and ask them to replace that one tiny piece of plastic and they'll quote you a four figure shop bill!

Anyway, the three lines come together under the drivers side turbo in a y-joint, and after all these years, those crappy plastic y-joints on the n63 engine are cooked and rotting. Trust me, they're a ticking time bomb. If yours hasn't been replaced, it needs to be!

Mine was already leaking, causing a mix of oil (from my leaking turbo oil return) and coolant to flow out the back end of my engine. When I touched it, it fell into three pieces! Literally just snapped in each tube with the slightest of touch. I had to use a long wood screw to get the pieces out of the tubes (I screwed it into the pieces still inside the tubes and pulled them out).

Here's a pic of the y-junction still in there (you can see how it broke off one side, which is why my car was leaking coolant down the middle of the engine):



I replaced this stupid plastic piece of garbage with a proper 3/8th brass t-joint from a hardware store, like this:



You can technically replace this y-junction without removing the turbos. Just take the alternator out, and you can reach in and do the job pretty easily that way (I've seen people do it top-down by moving the hoses aside too, but that seems like it'd be much harder than just yanking the alternator, which is a fairly easy and straightforward operation).

BMW wants a ridiculous amount of money to swap that stupid y-junction. Do it yourself and you'll spend ten bucks on a brass part from a hardware store and a few hose clamps.

As for the rest of the job...

If you're smelling cooking goodness coming up from the V of the n63 engine, there's a good chance the gasket on your turbo oil return has failed. Here's the part:



The gasket under that part fails and starts leaking oil down the center of your engine (where it eventually pours out the back and onto the ground). It presents a fire risk. Good times.

Getting to the turbo oil return is a nightmare. BMW will want an absolutely stupid amount of money to do it. That's probably where the 3k-4k bids are coming from. They're probably trying to do all the turbo oil lines (return and feed), the turbo oil return, the y-junction on those cooling hoses, and all the various hoses etc as they button it back up.

Doing it yourself is possible, but it's a JOB. You'll need a set of torx bits, a set of allen-style bits, a variety of different wrenches and sockets, a good long breaker bar (to get the belt off the alternator with a wrench and a big torx bit in the tensioner), and you'll be doing a lot of disassembly. You have to literally take the damn manifolds off to get to the turbo oil return... so everything above the manifolds needs to come off. Turbos and all.

You can technically avoid taking off the catalytic converters, which is nice. Unbolt the brackets that hold them and loosen the heat shield behind them (there's a torx screw in between them in the very back that you can reach with a couple socket extensions), and they push out of the way enough to get the manifolds off and out.

Here's a video of someone doing it:

Make sure the manifold and the intake is super clean and shiny before putting on new gaskets! I didn't bother getting a nice mirror shine the first time I did this (I cleaned it up but I was being a bit lazy) and ended up having to tear it down a SECOND time to put a new manifold gasket on (ended up with an exhaust leak).

You'll need a few gaskets for the turbo as well - one on top of the manifolds (between the manifold and the turbo), and one that goes between the turbo waste gates and the catalytic converter (when you remove the turbos you just remove them with the waste gate still attached - only disconnect them from the catalytic converter itself).

Here's the part numbers on the turbo gaskets:

2 X Turbo to Downpipe Gasket Rings PN: 18307553601

2 X Downpipe to Front Pipe Gasket Rings: PN: 18307577959

You'll also need 2 manifold gaskets.

While you're in there, you'll probably want to replace the turbo return lines. They get cooked under the turbo and end up caked/clogged with bad oil. You CAN inspect them if you want. If they're in good shape they can be re-used. Here's the part numbers on them:

11427577010 & 11427577011

And of course, the whole reason you dig down this far is to get the turbo oil return replaced:

Part # 11657577016

Here's my basic (overly simplified) process for doing this job:

My steps (overly simplified):

Before you start... yank the negative battery cable off the battery. Otherwise you might get a rude awakening when you try to take the alternator off. ALSO go buy yourself a good magnet tool-retrieval tool, and a little metal grabber tool (one of the long thin things that you push a button on one end and a little claw comes out the far side). Trust me, you'll drop something at some point and they'll come in handy.

1: remove all the top-stuff (the engine cover, the bar that goes across the engine bay at the front, the plastic stuff at the very back above the engine, the two angled bars that connect the fender to the very back wall of the engine bay, and the cabin air filter).

2: remove the plastic air stuff that comes off the turbo - there are a couple air tubes that go to the front by the radiator you pull off first. Then you remove the two curved tubes that come off the bottom hole on the turbos, then you remove the top pieces that sit above the heat shroud.

You may have to open up the top tube going into the turbo and move that tube out of the way to do this - no need to fully detach the tube from the air cooler boxes, just detatch it from the turbo (be careful, there's a little rubber gasket in there that may fall out when you remove these things - be sure to catch it).

Also take note of several plugs that go into these things. You'll need to remove a round plug for each lower piece, and there's a plug on each upper piece too. Remove those first.

3: Remove the alternator.

This is a bit of a process. You'll need to remove the little secondary coolant bottle (the one that cools the turbos). That's going to make a mess, so put something under the car to catch all the coolant. You'll have to open up several hoses to do this, and if your car hasn't been torn down before, those hoses are going to be clamped with non-reusable hose clamps, so be prepared to replace a handful of small hose clamps with screw-clamps.

You'll also have to unscrew the turbo cooling pump from the alternator bracket and set it aside.

Before you mess with the alternator, remove the belt. That requires a BIG torx bit, which you're going to put into the tensioner and pull clockwise on a wrench. It helps if you've got a big wrench to do this. I used a breaker bar on a 1/2 inch driver.

Now CAREFULLY unbolt the four bolts that hold the alternator. There's a little plastic cable thing that goes above it (on top of the metal bracket the alternator sits in). You can actually pry that plastic piece up with a screwdriver (just insert it between the bracket and the plastic bridge, and carefully work it up and off). There are four screws holding the alternator down. Be careful because they're screwed into aluminum. You'll probably want to use some PB blaster on them and give them some time to loosen up before you crank them. And when you're putting it all back be SUPER careful not to mis-thread these things. Do NOT force those screws.

Anyway, there's a battery cable that needs to be removed on the back of the alternator (on the drivers side), and one little green plug stuck on top that you need to yank. Pull those, remove the 4 bolts holding the alternator down, and she'll slide right out.

There won't be room to fully remove the alternator as-is if you haven't removed the fan, but, you CAN remove it fully if you remove the bracket first. You'll have to take off two tiny bolts that are holding the fuel line to the bracket. Remove those, then pull the bracket out, and lift the alternator right out. Easy as pie. Leave the bridge of wires right where they are, and don't bother messing with the fuel line. They can stay in place for the entire job.

4: oxygen sensors etc

Next up you need to remove the head shroud. It's pretty self explanatory on how to do that. Remove the torx bolts and yank the shroud off the top. You'll need to remove the two top oxygen sensors first, so if you don't have an oxygen sensor socket... now's the time to get one. You will also need to yank some clips off the two side sensors to lift the shroud. Just yank all the o2 sensors off to make this job easier.

5: turbo time...

Get all of that off and you'll expose the turbos.

Now you've got access to the underside of the turbos. There are two little torx screws holding the turbos to the turbo oil return. You'll need to reach under them and unbolt both of those screws to eventually remove the turbos.

To remove the turbos themselves, you're going to need to remove the clamp-bolts holding them to the catalytic converter, and to the downpipe. You do NOT need to remove the clamp that holds the piece that connects to the downpipe - you can take that off as one piece connected to the turbo.

The hardest part is getting the manifold-to-turbo clamp off. There's not much room to get a wrench in there. I think I used a regular wrench to start it (moving it just a TINY bit at a time) until it was loose enough that I could kick the clamp loose and turn it enough that I could reach that bolt from between the two turbos from above with a socket-wrench. What a pain.

Now, before you can remove the turbos, you need to free them from the oil feed line. There is a bolt on top of this little funny looking round doughnut connected to the feed line that goes on both turbos. You'll see a line that goes down the side of the turbo and deep under the metal trays beneath. THAT is the feed line. When removing it, be super-careful because there's a washer under AND above the little round thing you're unscrewing. Catch both washers. The one below the round doughnut will try to fall when you take it off. Be careful! You only need to remove one of these on each turbo. Easy peasy.

Also make sure all hoses going to the turbos are removed in a way that allows you to remove the turbos. They're connected to all sorts of fun stuff, so be ready to detach several spots. Take lots of pictures to make it easy to re-assemble.

Once all that is done and the c-clamps are loosened, move them off their joint and carefully work the turbo off from the catalytic converter. It helps if you loosen the bolt holding the catalytic converter in place (there's a bolt on top connected to a bracket). Give that a little tug/wiggle, but be careful not to bend the turbo oil return line under the turbo. You DID unbolt that thing like I mentioned earlier, right?

That tube underneath has to be pulled more or less straight up, so just wiggle the turbo carefully until it lifts straight out. If you have any intention of re-using these turbo oil return lines, you do NOT want to bend them. that said, you should probably replace these things if you're already in here.

Repeat with the passenger side. Remember this later when you're re-assembling - your passenger side turbo needs to go in FIRST, then the driver second. If you try to do it the other way around it's going to be a pain in the ass.

Now you've got a metal tray to remove and you're at the manifolds.

One thing to note - if you haven't removed the catalytic converters, you'll need to loosen them up in order to remove the drivers side manifold (it's REALLY tight at that back bolt and there isn't room to remove the manifold).

Remove the bolt holding the catalytic converter to the side, and remove the side O2 sensors so you have more wiggle room if you haven't already. The cats will move enough if you wiggle them to let you remove the manifold.

While you're down there, replace the y-junction the 3 coolant lines are plugged into under the turbo. I recommend going to a hardware shop and getting a 3-line brass t-junction in 3/8th size. I picked one up for a few bucks at a true value. The one that's in there WILL disintegrate and break into multiple pieces when you touch it. You'll need to use a wood screw to get the pieces of nylon y-joint out of the hoses.

Also replace the turbo oil return. It's cheap, and the gasket on it fails and pours oil down the center of your engine. Every turbo oil return on every damn n63 will eventually fail. I am certain of it. If yours hasn't, you're living on borrowed time. It's under the heat shield that sits under the manifolds. Just remove the two torx screws holding the shield down and once the manifolds are out you can just bend the metal shield up and easily reach the turbo oil return to replace it.

Frankly, the first time you do this it's going to take you awhile. I spent the better part of a day getting everything torn down because I was being meticulous taking pictures and notes to myself, and labeling every screw I took off the engine.

The second time was much quicker. Probably 3 hours of effort since I knew what I was doing, and a couple more bolting everything back together.

I'd break this job down over a few days... because I'm telling you right now if you try to do this all at once you're going to hurt.

Good luck.

DAYUMN!!!! That was o e epic informative post!

[TXSTYLE]

FYI.... My car is at dealer having Engine replaced by BMW. They have suggested that TURBO coolant lines be replaced and some type of radiator line.
I am wondering why this is not included with the engine???

[Zdd9]

Sorry to revive a fairly old thread but to make a long story short my car started smoking from the v and so I ordered a bunch of parts (oil housing, oil return lines, brass T to replace the Y, a bunch of seals, and some hose/brass fittings to replace the hose on top of the engine). I've got it taken apart and am cleaning everything right now, but before I reassemble is there anything else I should be looking at?

Attached is a picture of where I'm at. I have it mostly clean and then I'm going to take the oil return housing off, replace it with the new one and start reassembly.

[BloomingtonFPV]

Ahh- fond memories. New washers for everything? Scope the valve seals? You are doing everything that I did when I took mine apart.

That one heat shield bolt on the passenger side for the cat downpipe is a pain in the tuckus...

[Zdd9]

Originally Posted by BloomingtonFPV

Ahh- fond memories. New washers for everything? Scope the valve seals? You are doing everything that I did when I took mine apart.

That one heat shield bolt on the passenger side for the cat downpipe is a pain in the tuckus...

I think I'm going to leave the cats in. I don't see a reason to take them out. It's a little harder to clean but looks like it'll save me a bunch of work.

Off topic but related I think I'm super lucky. Someone has had this apart in the past and forgot a rag under the turbos. It partially burned at some point...

[BloomingtonFPV]

lol. That explains the burning smell... Yes, leave the cats and and just massage them out of the way. Note that the v-clamp bolts need to be oriented 'just so' to tighten them. Trial and error is the only way...

Also see the thread on BMW technician
https://bmwtechnician.com/2015/11/03...-hose-leaking/

[Zdd9]

For coolant fill did you drain and vacuum fill or just top off?

[BloomingtonFPV]

drain and fill

[spielnicht]

It's funny how eventually this thread get revived as owners start to experience the same issue with their 550i. Adding to the list of what can go wrong in 2020 for my car, I just noticed the leaking return coolant lines at the T and noticed drippings on the alternator. This is one heck of an involved DIY, but I'll definitely tackle it myself in upcoming months before I go back to my normal commute. Likely end up changing a crap load of other parts - oil return lines, water pump, aux water pump - and whatever else I should while going through that massive disassembly in the engine bay.

[BloomingtonFPV]

Yep, that's what it looks like. I guess the turbo lines are maintenance items...
Your oil return line seal to the main block is also probably leaking. Not expensive, but everything comes out (including the turbos and cats). It was fun to get that deep into the engine.

[spielnicht]

Giving myself a nice long runway to study the guides and watch the videos before tackling this :-) While I'm comfortable wrenching on my cars - this type of DIY is a first for me. Good to know others like yourself have successfully done this on their own.

Originally Posted by BloomingtonFPV

Yep, that's what it looks like. I guess the turbo lines are maintenance items...
Your oil return line seal to the main block is also probably leaking. Not expensive, but everything comes out (including the turbos and cats). It was fun to get that deep into the engine.

[BloomingtonFPV]

I posted a tutorial on this somewhere on the interwebs.

[mserafim]

Guys,
So last Friday i was driving my G11 750ix when i noticed white smoke ... the problem: one of the pipe leaking - you can see the video attached.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EbF...ew?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pzU...ew?usp=sharing

Now the car is at the dealer and after checking they said that all "3 lines need to be changed ... and that BMW will cover the cost of the parts and 50% of the mechanic work, but I still need to pay ~1000 $ / CHF (I'm from Switzerland) and the liquid " .

Good news for me is that I have an insurance(warranty) that will cover, but all in all it seems that the cost will be around 2500 CHF or USD.

To me ... this seems to be astronomical ...
Anyway I will ask for the final invoice to see what actually they have done ...

Best
M

[TBimmer]

Originally Posted by 335socal

3/8 fits snuggly. 1/2 is too big on the turbo coolant return pipe and will leak.

What size hose did you use

[TBimmer]

Originally Posted by General_Keller

Having this issue now, about to do this same fix. Quick question whats the size of the rubber hosing? Inner and outer diameter? You think upgrading to silicone is a good idea because of the heat? THanks!

-KC

Did you ever figure out what size hose was it?