winfred, or any m50 people... how much of a PITA is it to remove L-timing cover.....

[ryan roopnarine]

AFIAK, two thermostat housing bolts are broken off flush in there....if i'm going to flush the coolant, was hoping to get those little buggers out to try and set the car on the path to solid mechanical order. it looks like the sealing/gasket deal is holding up well...almost 5k miles on it, not even a hint of leakage. TIA

[Geoff Hoad]

Ryan,

Its a relatively easy job. I think the hardest part will be extracting the broken bolts. There is plenty of room and if you need more then pull the radiator out. The fan needs to come off anyway but that's pretty easy.

Cheers,

Geoff

AFIAK, two thermostat housing bolts are broken off flush in there....if i'm going to flush the coolant, was hoping to get those little buggers out to try and set the car on the path to solid mechanical order. it looks like the sealing/gasket deal is holding up well...almost 5k miles on it, not even a hint of leakage. TIA

[ryan roopnarine]

i can get the bolts out in-situ, that's why i was thinking about removing the timing cover. the mech. that changed the water pump said that he worked for a solid hour trying to get them out, but gave up because it was a small town, and that he couldn't get a new timing cover if he messed up, which he was sure to do if he tried more "significant" means of extraction....do you have any experience getting the cover out?

[winfred]

the thermostat housing bolts to the head not the lower timing cover, if it's the lower cover that would be the water pump, the water pump could stand to loose a bolt or two, it just needs to be held in the bore the o-ring seals it tightly. as for the head, id drill em out, if the threads survive cool otherwise id heli coil them. the mother of doing the lower cover for the small time guy, is the 22mm crank bolt is real tight, as in 3/4 drive tools tight, the only other issue is being careful with the gaskets above and below the cover. if you need a timing cover i have several core motors, 1-866-bmw-guys 8-5:30 m-f 9-1 sat cdt

[ryan roopnarine]

i see that it isn't really the timing cover....i guess i could see why he said timing cover. i guess if he messed that up it would be head damage instead. hoping to get find a way to move it out until a little piece sticks out a little...can do tedious $hit like turn microscopic screws all day long. too bad i cant just jb weld em....wishful thinking.

[ryan roopnarine]

jb weld spec sheet says 1080 tensile....methinks i can put a wee bit on the end of a bolt and jb weld it to the stuck stud and turn.....if it won't, can always cut the bolt off and leave it as a thin stud....

[Unregistered]

Take it to a welding shop and have them tack on a small bolt to the already broken one. Then try to loosen the broken bolt, it should work.

Jr
'91 ///M5

[ryan roopnarine]

because i can't attach anything to the broken off piece without taking off the thermostat housing, IE, would have to drive it to the shop, remove thermostat housing and drain coolant in the parking lot, and turn it out right there because the cover won't fit back on otherwise....been looking at a 30 dollar electric welder for things like this, itll be on sale when i return home.