911 please help

[94bmw540i]

I am in the middle of replacing 540i spark plugs (8). As soon as I opened it up I saw a lot of oil and all the spark plugs after taking them out were wet with oil. I have platinum 4 spark plugs and not sure should I go ahead and install it or install old ones after cleaning. Has anyone changed a valve cover gasket if so how much damage I am looking at and time that I need to put in it.

Thanks for your help

[winfred]

oil at the plugs means it's time for new valve cover gaskets. personally i am not a fan of bosch platnum plugs because of the tiny surface mount center electrode is prone to fowling, the bosch F7LDCR or ngk BKR6EK work great and last 30-40k miles

[94bmw540i]

Thanks for the response on my query earlier. I am in kind of a fix right now- its getting late and I am not sure with the oil that I saw when I opened up the spark plugs:
a. Should I go ahead replace them (spark plugs) with new ones that I have?
b. Should the old spark plugs be OK for now till I get around (I will be driving minimally) to getting the valve cover gasket replaced.

I would really appreciate a quick response on this.
Thanks.

[632 Regal]

your platinum plugs suck! period. you should be prepared to change the gasket and clean all the wire leads, electrolisis does finny stuff after a time.

[94bmw540i]

So are you saying that I should not drive the car till I get the gasket and the lead wire's replaced, correct?

If yes, then can you let me know the effort/ money involved in changing the valve cover gasket.

I appreciate your help on this.
Thanks.

[winfred]

you can drive on it for a short while but the rubber boots on the bottom of the coils will eventually turn to goo and need to be replaced. the gaskets take about 15-20 minutes more a side to do then just swapping the plugs, i can't remember the price of the gaskets but there not much, id wait to do the plugs when you do the gaskets so you don't do most of the same work twice

[tim s]

when i replaced my valve cover gaskets we had to install 2 heli coils because they over tightened them.
tim s.

[winfred]

i just did a 94 318 that who ever did the profile gasket had no clue what so ever, i put 17 coils in that head, thank god he didn't get into the lower timming cover, i think i used up about all the 6mm heli coils in a 10 mile radious around the shop


when i replaced my valve cover gaskets we had to install 2 heli coils because they over tightened them.
tim s.

[94bmw540i]

I took the car today as that the only one I have and had no time to fix except weekend. The dealer said that the cyl head & wall are losing it and hence the oil enters above the cover. Additionally, he added that this could have happened because of Nikasil issue. My car has 129K miles and I guess I have to say good bye. I am still hoping to give it a shot and replace gasket and plug at my convenience and see if it makes a difference. The engine is real shaky and I am afraid to drive it for several city miles ata stretch. I am going to read up more on Nikasil, meanwhile if someone has any suggestin for me please pass them along.

Thanks

[632 Regal]

I think either you have no clue as to what he told you or a more likely scenereo id the dealer is out to Fu$$k you.

Nikasil is a compression issue not an "oil around the plug" issue.

your engine is skakey cause you have a *miss* which is either a coil, a boot, or a plug. A less likly thing could be an injector.

Nikasil is a bad thing if it's bad, thats it. Plenty of people on here have them and they run on, me for one. The metalurgy involved gets real deep and its too spooky once you know you have a Nikasil block thats why it took me 6 months to check it, then I had a hard time sleeping. Time passes and as it runs flawlessly it's just a memory.

After I bought the car I went to cure the miss, thats when I read about Nikasil, anyways replaced the plugs, injectors AND coils...NO fix! Eventualy I bought the plug boots and the whole miss is completley gone! Was a waste of money on the coils and injectors but still a LOT less than a short block.

[94bmw540i]

I think I don't have a clue as to what he told me. The only words I remember is that the motor is bad and its 7K to fix it. I had lost it then and there. Anyways I have made up my mind to fix it by myself. First the gasket, spark plug and later boots, coil, etc if needed.


[QUOTE=632 Regal]I think either you have no clue as to what he told you or a more likely scenereo id the dealer is out to Fu$$k you.

Nikasil is a compression issue not an "oil around the plug" issue.

your engine is skakey cause you have a *miss* which is either a coil, a boot, or a plug. A less likly thing could be an injector.

[MBXB]

I have a Nikasil engine in my 540i which I bought when it had 49K miles. When I found out about the Nikasil issue, I thought every miss was the death rattle.
Chances are, if your engine hasn't died by now due to the Nikasil problem, it won't. Checkout the basics first. Run an Inspection II if you haven't lately. Have a good independent do it. NOT the stealer.

[632 Regal]

spend the money on the basics like I mentioned, it can always be used on another block if needed. I wouldnt sweat the nikasil issue yet tho, even if the block is MINT it will get bad compression leakdowns if a cylinder is missing because of the oil and ring contact with the cylinder walls.

[94bmw540i]

I changed the valve cover gasket yesterday and the shaky engine effect is still there but not as profound as before. After changing the gasket I got a message check coolant level I am hoping its not leaking coolant in the oil. I am thinking of changing the boots now as it had some oil from before and its hard to clean them. Does anyone know how to check if a ignition coil is good or gone bad and were the AFM is located. I tried checking the engine codes by depressing teh gas paddle 5 times in 5 sec but the check engine sign does not flash. So ended up doing the other procedure of clear message switch and iginition switch and code nr is "00000". Is it supposed to be 5 digits?? All the codes I have read on websotes are 4 digit.



spend the money on the basics like I mentioned, it can always be used on another block if needed. I wouldnt sweat the nikasil issue yet tho, even if the block is MINT it will get bad compression leakdowns if a cylinder is missing because of the oil and ring contact with the cylinder walls.

[DueyT]

Vacuum plate at the rear of the engine is another gotcha for the M60 engine. It wears over time and then lets in small amounts of air that throw the engine's idle stability off. It's on the rear of the engine, at the base of the "V", underneath the coolant resevoir.

Sorry, the search function is down right now but do a search for "vacuum plate gasket M60", or something like that, and you'll see a few good posts on how fixing the vacuum control plate gasket will help things out...

Cheers,
Duey

[632 Regal]

but it is sometimes tricky to actually get a reading sometimes. Keep at it and you will get the codes (4 digit). There are tests for the coils but Winfred says he has seen bad coils that check out good, sold all my old ones on ebay for 20 bux plus shipping would have came in handy for you to try to isolate that miss.

[632 Regal]

I didnt even think about this!

[94bmw540i]

Jeff,

When can one tell if the spark plug boots have gone bad? When I replaced the valve cover gasket the boots were shinny from inside and had some oil (I believe) in there. Is this a good enough sign that I should replace those or is there a way to clean those nice and fine?


I think either you have no clue as to what he told you or a more likely scenereo id the dealer is out to Fu$$k you.

Nikasil is a compression issue not an "oil around the plug" issue.

your engine is skakey cause you have a *miss* which is either a coil, a boot, or a plug. A less likly thing could be an injector.

Nikasil is a bad thing if it's bad, thats it. Plenty of people on here have them and they run on, me for one. The metalurgy involved gets real deep and its too spooky once you know you have a Nikasil block thats why it took me 6 months to check it, then I had a hard time sleeping. Time passes and as it runs flawlessly it's just a memory.

After I bought the car I went to cure the miss, thats when I read about Nikasil, anyways replaced the plugs, injectors AND coils...NO fix! Eventualy I bought the plug boots and the whole miss is completley gone! Was a waste of money on the coils and injectors but still a LOT less than a short block.

[632 Regal]

think that they are like 6 bux each from BMA...not worth me messing around with a potential bad item. I dont have money to throw away but if they dont look fresh why not...know what I mean? Can always use it on the new shortblock :D

And at least you can document it to your running excell maintenance history.