E46 330i, engine rebuild (update: post #46)

Hi all

as some of you know I bought St. Lunatics E46 330i .. he sold it due to a damaged motor.

I have opened the tappet cover gasket and can see its in pretty bad shape as far as engine cholesterol goes.. but the cams and surfaces seem ok.. some slight discoloration, most likely due to the very bad oil .. there is also no oil pressure or any circulation and I believe this is due to the oil pumps shaft being damaged where the sprocket connects to it... common bmw problem apparently.

the engine had previously overheated so I don't wanna take any chances/shortcuts, I am going to pull the motor and dis-assemble it completely to check the damage of all the components and then see what needs to be replaced, I allready have some parts for the motor that I bought before.. but we will see, my initial idea was to modify and turbo this motor but instead I would like to keep it as a reliable daily driver. so that big turbo is going into one of the other cars..

I am obviously going to do some mods to the motor, but nothing tha will cause extra wear.. I will be porting it and doing a few things tho.

I have taken some pics before I got too dirty ..













Here we go so far. I'm trying to move the car to a spot now where I can lift the engine out.. so pics to follow.. I will try take some high quality pics of the process but I can't guarantee that I will have the patience to do it.. these pics were taken with my cellphone.

MWeahAHeaHea

Thats some BAD sludge :shocked: Good luck with the rebuild, let me know if you need help or some good botom end parts

Sludge galore!!!
Whats the km, by the way????

Shot Werries ! will do man, just wanna take the rest of it appart and see whats happening down there. I'm struggling to get going on it because I don't have a nice spot to work here :/ grrr.. allways the same problem.

not sure how I'm gonna clean all this crap out.. gonna end up buying a new cover prolly.. metal pieces can go in the dishwasher after a parafin soak.
sho sho sho ..

Good start there clutchy....

I am dying to see what comes out of that sump.

keep us updated dude...

Eish dude, I am quite sure I'm gonna find Al Gore down there, or jackey chan or something....
will take pics all the way I can bru

That sludge isnt bad the chain is still clean as a whistle.

I have seen some pics off the e46fanatics forum that would make this engine look sparkly clean.

Good luck with the build clutchy! :thumbsup: Pity about the turbo, but it will live to tell another story on another car

lol, not bad ? .. the wearing bits are clean I guess.. but the rest if FILTHY compared to my 540i engines.. they are SUPER DUPER clean and sparkly and have way more mileage..

shot HELLAS ! .. the turbo might still happen hey.. but only if I get a E60 550i in nice shape. just need to keep ONE car at least for a reliable daily driver..

ok cool, so I didn't make allot of progress today. I started taking some things off the engine and out the way sothat I can remove the engine from the car..

here are some pics for today..

cover unbolted ..


wtf is wrong with this filter ? looks like it got raped by a vortex ...


lol, attempt at cold air intake ? .. naught bru ..


blah blah blah ..


WTF did this engine swallow ? a dog ? or a small person or something ? must be that cold air intake ...


Police Article 2


lol, can't stop laughing.


no no no .. full of bugs ? no wonder the oil looks like that.. and no wonder the oilpump is fk'ed, the intake was most likely the cause ..


It's a bugs life ...


well, thats it for today. its friggen cold outside ... time to go inside and snuggle the heater.

It was St. Lunatic, on the highway, with an E46 330i. I'd also lose oil pressure if I swallowed a human being.

:spit: It was Mrs Doubtfire, in the study with an inflatable goat and a rather large bottle of mayo that did it...

Good start there clutch. I once did a VW Jetta motor with the block still in the engine pay, and honed/cleaned + rings by just taking off the head and sump and working through there.... If you dont need to do engineering on it, why not do that first, then you dont have to worry about pulling the block ?

Although this was an old VW though, donno if its possible on the BMW ?

Any idea of the service history? That sludge I have seen before and it only occurs with dino oil, and will never happen with full or part synthetic. That black stuff is the dino oil being left too long and reverting back to carbon, some just do not realise how important engine oil quality and changes are.

I did hear some stories of BMW stopping using Castrol Magnatec because of sludge problems, I wonder if this is not an example?

Carb cleaner gets that black stuff off, but what worries me is it builds up in the oilways as well, any part that doesn't move or rub gets a coating.

Keep at it, reminding yourself there's a really nice engine under all that black stuff.

LMAO Major !! .. ai, I don't think its Lunatics fault.. I think the previous owner must have not used good oil .. it looks to have been in there for quite a while .. :/ .. eish

zaleonards.. lol dude, hmm not possible, just to remove the sump I have to disconnect the sub assembly.. taking it out is so much better because I need to get the block and head checked for damage also, if the block is damaged I will sleeve it and then I need to remove it anyways :/

Rick ! not sure acctually. I think the book is missing.. but oh well, not too worried. I don't think they used oil in here, I think they used crocodile fat, lol. but ya.. your right, people don't realise how important it is to use good oil ..
cool, ! good to know carb cleaner will work, I was gonna soak it in parafin or something and then stick it in the dishwasher...

fully synthetic FTW !

In the dishwasher you say...

That may end badly for you I predict, my wife would slaughter me and then send me a bill for her time...

How long do you plan on building the engine??? If not to long you can maby bring the car to my place...
I have got a perfect block too....
Its a crap job to get all that sludge out.... (I've got secret formula )

lol Leonard.. it works but don't make woman any happier .. lol

Werries !! lol, worked out it would take about 2 weeks cause I can only work during sunlight hours here :/ at night in witbank vampires come out and you have to be inside before it gets dark. moms fiance said I can put the car where one of the big trailers are standing but he will have to take it to the farm first.. so I will see how long it takes him to do that.. in the meantime I'm deconstructing everything thats in the way.. but I can't immagine it will take me longer than a day. lol, I would really like to bring it over as I'm sure it would take the both of us 2days or less to rebuild and refit the engine, but its abit of a logistical nightmare .. and putting this car on the trailer really damages the sides and underneath :/ .. was horrible last time.

but I'm gonna go as far as I can and then if I get stuck I'll maybe bring the engine over or something, as I don't have the tools to allign/refit the cams and vanos and all that fun stuff..

heres your tools:

Toothpics


Jelly Tots


Dont forget Mechanic girl

dude, that sludge is bad stuff, id say do a 2 stage sludge removal. obviously remove the sludge that you can see now, and once the engine is put together again, do an oil flush. it will clean out all the oil channels. might cost a little bit extra, but in comparison to what youre probably be spending on that car anyways, a few hundred bucks should be a problem to make sure that you dont have sludge issues.

ye, the sludge is evil.. nagh, will clean it out properly with a little chemical bath once the parts are out .. lol, wanna make sure its SQUEEKY clean before I put it back together..