[colorado.e9x]

Let me know how that goes

Starting my CCV replacement and DISA valve rebuild today. Formic acid should be here by Friday so hopefully I can get the car on the road before work resumes Tuesday

[E92William]

So far I've had good luck working their kinks out. Basically no play just motor issues from oil.

[colorado.e9x]

I've been battling these stupid plastic clips and connectors all day and I'm getting tired of it

[colorado.e9x]

Originally Posted by E92William

So far I've had good luck working their kinks out. Basically no play just motor issues from oil.

How did you go about separating the two halves of the case?

[E92William]

lol it's a lot easier to take out the manifold in the junkyard where you don't have to worry about breaking shit

The way I've gone about opening them is a thin flathead and kind of tapping it with a hammer at the seam. About a 1/4 or 1/3 of an inch apart between each time you go deep into the case, you'll start to hear it kind of crack apart. Maybe this isn't the most appropriate method if you're using acid to close them back up. So I've also opened them using a razor blade and tapping that all the way around works as well.

[colorado.e9x]

That's for sure.. I'm halfway tempted to break them and just secure it with zip ties later. The ones giving me the most problems right now is the junction box just below the manifold and the hose that connects behind the throttle body. Huge PITA

I'll keep both of those methods in mind whenever I can actually get to them

[colorado.e9x]

I really want to give up at this point. Clips won't budge at all and I'm just about ready to break it off.

[E92William]

Oh no dude don't do it that way. The box you should unbolt it's from the manifold it has two torx screws. There's no way you'll get it off like that it's a huge pain.

Not to say the two little screws aren't a pita by themselves but less of it than the box

[colorado.e9x]

Funny enough I was fighting those two bolts, got the easy one towards the front off but with a combination of my large torx bits, all the wiring, and steering rack I could not for the life of me get the other one off.

I did finally get it off the other way with my trusty thin screw driver, a hammer, and wd40. A little barbaric but it eventually slipped off

[E92William]

That's great. Putting the bolts back on is even harder than taking them off. Basically no space to move or see anything

[E92William]

It's real Bmw hours

While on the small disa the plastic rod goes all the way from the gear part of the housing to the top. The large disa, the rod only goes through to about halfway through the disa then has a metal insert at the top to finish the connection. They're both the same length. Seems Bmw decided to use the same length rod to save money on the long run lol which is probably why the large one breaks off more often.... the rebuild kits seem to correct this by having a single rod that goes all the way through.

[Buug959]

Today I changed the old leaking valve cover on my n54 for a brand new one. Took about six hours start to finish. That includes scrubbing all the plastic parts like the engine cover, cabin filter housing, air filter housing, cowl, brake fluid reservoir cover and the module cover on the passengers side. It would have been a little quicker but I dropped the only E10 socket I own when I was loosening the fourth valve cover bolt. I lost it down the side of the engine near the water pump or so I thought. I ended up raising the front of the car so I could take off the plastic pan under the engine to get the socket... it wasn't there.I searched for about 20 minutes under there. Guess where I finally found it. Yup, inside the fan shroud lying against the radiator! It must have been doing some real pin balling around to end up there. Anyway its all back together and running. I did get a bit of a surprise when I started it and got a light on the dash saying the all-wheel drive dsc ? had failed and my anti-rollback had also failed. Now I'm thinking how could that happen??? Ok so long story short, both lights went out when I drove it around the block. Must have had something to do with disconnecting the battery. It looks pretty good under the hood now and I don't have that stinkin' oil smoke anymore.
Next project depends on which parts arrive next, oil change kit or suspension kit. All in all its been a good day.

[E92William]

That's common on xdrive cars. If you disconnect the battery for a bit it'll trigger a fault for the awd system. Kind of scared me too when doing my own valve cover

[jbey128]

Still diagnosing what my engine malfunction light is more research has lead me to believe more on the fuel system side will see as the days go on. hope to have the problem solved in a month at most

[colorado.e9x]

Well my large DISA was most definitely in need of repair.. It sucks that the gasket has started to peel, trying to decide if I should glue it or just cut the bad part off

Small disa is still perfect though I fear it'll break down the road so I'll be rebuilding it anyways.

I'll be honest I'm in way over my head with this DIY but I'm committed. William if you don't mind I may need your help again soon 😅

[E92William]

I've glued back rubber seals but that one looks pretty bad. I'd be tempted to still try gluing it first, the large one is easily accessible so you can take a gamble. The small one definitely do right the first time, mine wasn't perfect but good enough.

Being over your head is great, raises the comfort level I like to tell myself lol. Lmk if anything.

[E92William]

Originally Posted by jbey128

Still diagnosing what my engine malfunction light is more research has lead me to believe more on the fuel system side will see as the days go on. hope to have the problem solved in a month at most

What codes are you getting? That's the first step to diagnosing.

[colorado.e9x]

That's comforting knowing it's been done before. How'd you glue it and with what? I'm sure it's doable in my case as long as I'm careful cleaning up the oil around it. The small one seems to be in great shape so far, everything is nice and tight.

And it's very relaxing knowing any small mistake can lead to an extreme headache, I'm looking forward to it! Haha

[E92William]

I used loctite 404 which is well what I had on hand at work lol. I suppose it works fine if it's good enough for aviation. I'd try some super glue or high temp glue maybe even gasket maker/rtv though it could be a bit thick

[colorado.e9x]

Might try some RTV that I got laying around and trim off any excess with an exacto knife. Interesting using loctite I've never thought about it but it makes sense

I'm going to have plenty of formic acid leftover when I'm done. You can have the rest if you pay shipping lol

[E92William]

Well that loctite is called that but is more of a superglue type thing tbh. I haven't ever used the formic acid but I'll let you know I definitely might need it in the future.

Just finished putting back together the junkyard large disa and works excellently.

Still troubleshooting the small one which is slowing down after activating it many times.

[Leucosticte]

Originally Posted by E92William

Finally got around to cleaning the car. Had a lot of dust that simply would not come off with just water. Need to get to learning to wax and polish this thing eventually

Need to do that corner led delete my friend.