[MikeR1994]

What's up guys? While I was installing my headers I noticed that the bolt that connects my passenger side engine mount to the engine support had separated from the rubber in the mount. Couldn't find a DIY so I decided I'd try to write one up myself. This is the first time I've given this a go so bear with me. Also I'm sure the same procedure can be followed for an n54/5, but I have an n52 so keep that in mind. Sorry about the pictures not being all that great, I was doing this by myself.

Tools needed:
-A jack, stands, and wheel chocks
-8mm socket
-10mm socket
-15mm shallow socket
-16mm shallow socket
-A short 3/8" drive extension
-Craftsman universal socket set from Sears- There are some e torx bolts that are far bigger than an E16, and if you don't have the correct size you're not gonna find it locally. This 9 piece set is around $12 and it grips e torx heads very tightly, so don't worry about rounding anything.

You should replace a couple of the mounting bolts and the top nut as they are aluminum and are a one time use thing, since they are supposed to be torqued past their elastic torque in order to get them to hold onto the magnesium block.
All the parts you'll need:
Passenger side motor mount: 22116760330
Aluminum bolts- comes as a full set of four: 22110392551
Flange nut: 07119904670
I got everything from ECS Tuning.

**I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS AS A RESULT OF YOU TRYING THIS DIY** If you don't think you can do it, don't try.**

Alrighty, lets get started.

-Start by jacking the car up and getting it on stands.

-Get under the car with your 8mm socket and remove the bolts holding your splash guard in place.

-Once the splash guard is out of the way, go back up top and remove the two 10mm bolts holding the coolant expansion tank in place, pull it towards the engine, then sit it out of the way up by the front of the engine.

-Next, using a 15mm (or 16mm. the new nut I got was a 16mm but the one that was on my car was a 15mm) shallow socket, remove the flange nut from the engine mount.


-Once the flange nut has been removed you can now support the engine with your floor jack by lifting it by the oil pan enough to bring the engine support off of the mount.


-With the engine now resting on the jack, it's time to get down to business. Start by removing the top bolt that is closest to the front of the car on the engine support. This is only one of four, but it is easily removed from above the car so I'd recommend doing it first. I'm not sure what size e torx it is, but the 14mm Craftsman universal socket fits nice and tightly on it.


-Next, get under the car and remove the remaining three bolts on the other corners of the engine support. One of them is inside a tunnel like hole going through the support. You'll need a 3/8 drive extension to get to that one. If you get frustrated with that bolt take a break and come back to it, because it's not all that easy to get out IMHO.


-At this point the only thing left to do is remove the two external star bolts on the bottom of the mount that connect it to the chassis. The Craftsman 9mm universal works best for these, however I used the 10mm on one of them because I needed to come in at a slight angle on the bolt.


-At this point the mount and support can be pulled out. From here on out it's all common sense. To install the new one, simply get the mount into position making sure that you have the alignment pin in the proper hole, then wiggle the engine support up into place and over the bolt on the mount. Install the new aluminum e torx bolts on the engine support to attach it to the engine, reinstall the bolts that hold the mount in place, lower the jack out from under the engine, tighten new aluminum flange nut with a 16mm shallow socket, put expansion tank back into place, reinstall the splash guard and get that baby back on the road!

I have no clue what any of the torque specs are so do your best to match the breaking torque of everything. I'm going to talk to a tech hopefully tomorrow so I can get that info for you guys and update the thread with it, but I can tell you everything is pretty low torque.

I hope this helps some of you. Sorry if the length of this DIY makes the job seem hard. I finished it in under an hour but I had pulled my broken mount out a couple times this week to check up on it.

[B7Lee]

Great writeup Mike. My mechanic told me that I have two passenger motor mount bolts that have been sheared off. I think I can see one is missing by just looking right behind the passenger wheel.

He says he has to remove the axle nut in order to gain access to replace all four motor mount bolts. Is this true? He quoted me at about 6 hours of labor to do this job. What do you think?

I am all four having him do it if it takes 6 hours. But if you think it is relatively easy (with the right tools), I would rather do it myself than pay 600+ dollars.

[Ferg]

Did you notice a vibration in the cabin at idle with this mount being bad?

[MikeR1994]

Originally Posted by Ferg

Did you notice a vibration in the cabin at idle with this mount being bad?

Yes but it was only noticeable upon startup. An abnormally harsh shake right when it fires is what tipped me off. I had catless headers running a pretty aggressive exhaust setup at the time so that in itself caused constant vibration from the resonant bass my exhaust was creating.

[David0ff]

what headers are those?

[Ferg]

Did you replace the driver's side mount? I looked at it and it seems the axle is in the way.

[MikeR1994]

Originally Posted by Ferg

Did you replace the driver's side mount? I looked at it and it seems the axle is in the way.

I have done it and it's not much more difficult however on an xi it is a bit more of an ordeal. You may have to remove the axle if I remember right.

[MikeR1994]

Originally Posted by David0ff

what headers are those?

They're MMW headers!

[framebuilder]

Hey guys,
Thanks to MikeR1994 for the great write up! Does anyone know the torque spec for the four bolts that connect the engine mount to the block? I'm so nervous with those aluminum bolts...don't want to have them vibrate loose but also don't want them to stretch too far and shear.

I found http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=802982 and the poster listed a line item:

Engine Mount to Engine Bracket M10 10.9: 56 / 41
E92 M10: 38 / 28

I was hoping someone had access to a Bentley manual to verify the E92 is 28 ft-lbs??

Thanks in advance.

[Ferg]

Originally Posted by framebuilder

Hey guys,
Thanks to MikeR1994 for the great write up! Does anyone know the torque spec for the four bolts that connect the engine mount to the block? I'm so nervous with those aluminum bolts...don't want to have them vibrate loose but also don't want them to stretch too far and shear.

I found http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=802982 and the poster listed a line item:

Engine Mount to Engine Bracket M10 10.9: 56 / 41
E92 M10: 38 / 28

I was hoping someone had access to a Bentley manual to verify the E92 is 28 ft-lbs??

Thanks in advance.

Bentley manual does not talk about motor mounts.

[AlanAZ]

I replaced my Right (pass) side mount only, '06 325i 100K mls. The mount was compressed by ~3/16" (but was undamaged), I could see before removing it, that the engine bracket was close to, but still above the bump stop (a solid rubber pad at top of the mount aluminum housing. It was probably hitting it under certain conditions. Engine start and idle is smoother, I have noticed a degradation over the past 10K mls.

I bought the Corteco mount from ECSTuning, and comparing it the BMW mount being replaced, it was the exact same part down to the numbers molded into the plastic, and where there was a BMW symbol on the original, it had been melted on the replacement to make it unrecognizable. It is $54 vs. $112.

I loosen the top nut on the Left (dvr) side mount by three turns before jacking the engine, by going in on the side from the wheel well after removing that wheel, and using a 16mm ring spanner. And had to raise the engine until the exhaust was against the heat deflecting material on the floor to clear the new mount. I used a wood block on a raised bottle jack on the Right side edge of the oil pan/block/engine mount bracket per the photos at Pelican parts.

Overall, not difficult or expensive at all.

Hex nuts top (1 for each mount): 56 Nm, 41 lbs
Screws/bolts (2 for each mount) : 21 Nm, 15.5 lbs
Support arm to engine: 38 Nm, 28 lbs

[moapys]

All - in repairing the (apparently not-infrequent) aluminum bolt head shearing on the engine support bracket, 'any tips for extracting the residual threaded shafts? The "bottom" two were not difficult, using a sharp pick to reverse them out; they were remarkably not seized or even tight... As for the one hiding in the tunnel, and the top one, they appear nearly inaccessible without micro-hands, or engine removal! 'Thoughts/'experiences?

[PhaseP]

Why do you guys remove the bracket and have to fuss with the aluminum bolts of the bracket? Especially on an N52 passenger side, that is not crowded at all over there. On the N54/N55 it maybe required which I don't know, due to turbo(s) and related piping, but N52 passenger side is not.

I had replaced my engine mounts which is N52 Xdrive without removing the brackets. I only needed a 24 inch 3/8 inch extension though.

First support the engine from bottom with a block of wood on oil pan area and jack underneath it. Try to use strong area of the oil pan, maybe a corner of it, and use big enough block of wood to spread the load. Make sure to use a flat area, so it is supported securely with the jack and not precariously about to slip off of the jack. Use common sense.

If you have an engine support bar to hold the engine from top, it is better option to use.
Either way make sure engine is supported not to fall down, and can be lifted up, and it is securely held.

For passenger side, initially loosen but not remove the engine mount top nut from top of engine with the 24 inch extension, socket and ratchet. Penetrating oil will help to loosen the nut, better spray from top a day before, spray again just before doing this. Then on the driver side loosen the engine mount top nut two turns or so, again from top with 24 inch extension, but keep it holding then mount in place. Same with penetrating oil usage. The nut on driver side is loosened but not removed to allow some more movement to lift the passenger side of the engine.

Then remove the two bolts bolting the passenger side engine mount to the subframe from underneath.

Then lift the engine up with the jack very slowly by watching if it is pushing on anything on top, pulling on any wires etc. Engine being tied on the driver side mount will tilt up on the passenger side. Rotate and tilt the engine mouth from underneath until its top stud comes off the bracket hole, and then rotate it 90 degrees and fish it out from under the engine. Place the new one is same way and so on. From what I remember rotating the engine mount 180 degrees at first had helped to free its top stud off of the bracket hole, but it could have been 90 degrees, just play around with it until comes off. It has been two or three years since I had done this.

For the driver side you make sure the passenger side engine mount is bolted and in, but again the top nut is loosed two turns or so to allow more movement. Taking out the driver side engine mount is more difficult since it is more crowded there, especially on XDrive with the axle. For that I had to remove the black fuel line protection bracket on the side inner rail. And I had to remove the top strut brace bar because the engine when lifted up on driver side had started squishing the intake manifold vacuum sensor on the brace bar. I had to fiddle more with the rotation and orientation of the engine mount on driver side more but it came out when it was at right angle and position, and new one got in same way.

There is a DIY pelicanparts and fcpeuro or rmeuropean for engine mount replacement, they all from what I remember do it this way, without removing the bracket.

Hope this helps.

Edit: DIYs I had used when doing mine:
pelican parts:
http://www.pelicanparts.com/BMW/tech...eplacement.htm
RMEuropean:
http://www.rmeuropean.com/bmw-e90-en...placement.aspx