Part 2: 2012 BMW 650i Convertible - Engine Replacement

Here's the old, blown-up engine - ready to be stripped down. 

After stripping down the old engine, we found a hole in the cylinder wall. The piston seems to have disintegrated inside the cylinder wall. 

A brand new BMW engine ready for all its parts. No holes in this one! 

Here's the existing transmission sitting on the sidelines until everything is ready to install. 

One-piece exhaust - we had to take this off to get to the drive shaft. The drive shaft comes off to get the transmission out. 

Glad I have a big enough shop to store all these parts! Part 3 coming soon! 

2012 BMW 650i Convertible - Engine Replacement

A champagne colored 2012 BMW 650i convertible was towed into the shop. We knew the engine was blown. We discovered there was coolant filling the right-hand side of the throttle body. When we drained the oil, coolant came pouring from the oil pan, then oil followed. We dropped the oil pan and saw bits and chunks of metal in the pan. 

BMW engine looks to be intact...but we'll discover that it isn't

To remove the engine, we had to remove the front bumper and radiator support.

We know there is a catastrophic internal problem because the engine would not turn - it was locked. We had to remove the transmission to get to all the torque convertor bolts. 

This is what a 650i looks like with no front bumper, engine, and transmission. The design of this car is even more interesting when taken apart. 

Coming up, Part 2 - read just how catastrophic the engine failure is and see the new BMW engine!

2004 Mercedes Benz E320 - Electrical Short

This 2004 Mercedes Benz E320 was towed into AAS directly from the Mercedes-Benz dealership because when the owner would drive the car more than 3 miles, a fuse would blow, and the car would turn off. The dealership was unable to locate the problem. The battery was dead when the sedan was brought to us, so we also replaced the battery with a brand new Bosch battery.

When we went to road test the car to diagnose the problem, the engine was skipping and running rough. We determined the number 6 ignition coil needed to be replaced (there are 6 ignition coils in this car). When we removed the worn out coil, we noticed it was melted on the underside . We found this very odd. After we replaced the number 6 ignition coil we road tested the car again. Within 5 minutes of driving the car, there was smoke coming from the engine compartment. A small electrical fire broke out over the number 6 ignition coil and melted the connector and coil. We knew we had a big problem on our hands. When we further inspected the coil on the left side of the engine (driver's side) we noticed the number 5 coil was melted too. We had to replace the electrical coil plug to replace the one that burned up. We could have kept putting more fuses in, but the problem was an electrical short. 

We found the problem with skill, but also a good amount of luck. The picture below shows the frayed and broken wires in the wiring harness. Check out video on Instagram (@almostautoservice). Once we repaired the wires in the wiring harness, the car drove normally and will continue to run normally for miles and miles and miles. All the fuses in the world wouldn't have fixed this car. 

2009 Honda Civic DX - Starter Replacement

This 2009 Honda Civic DX was towed into AAS and the customer was reporting a "no start". When I got in the car and turned the key, the radio worked and all the lights in the car worked. Then, when I turned the key to start the car, nothing - silence. We did a complete electrical test of the ignition system and found that the starter was worn out. If the starter, the component that starts your car, doesn't work when you turn the key, then good luck starting your car. We removed and replaced the starter and the customer was happy to have his car back. Can't start your day if you can't start your car! 

2010 Dodge Challenger SE - Tune Up

This 2010 Dodge Challenger was brought in to AAS because of two issues. One was that the heat had stopped working. Two was that the engine was running rough (what mechanics refer to as "missing") with a 'Check Engine' light. The customer also asked us to give his Challenger a tune-up. We found the heater core was clogged, so we did a full coolant flush and unclogged the heater core. Now the heat works great! Nice and toasty! 

We diagnosed the 'Check Engine' light and discovered one of the cylinders had a bad ignition coil. The engine on the Dodge Challenger has an ignition coil pack for each cylinder. We replaced the faulty ignition coil first to make sure the engine ran smoothly again, cleared the check engine light, and re-programmed the engine computer. After this, we went on to do the tune-up, so we took out all six coils and replaced the spark plugs. When changing the spark plugs on the right-hand side of the engine (the passenger's side), you need to un-install the intake manifold to get to the spark plugs. When you take off the intake manifold, it is recommended to replace the intake manifold gasket to create a new seal because the old gasket will no longer seal. After that, we reinstalled all the coils including the new one and the car now runs smooth and purrs great. This is one hot kitten! 

2007 BMW 328i - Valve Cover Gasket Replacement

Customer towed his 2007 BMW 328i to AAS and informed us that smoke was coming from the hood while the engine was running. We ran the engine to operating temperature (about 180 degrees) to replicate the issue. Upon inspection, we found oil spilling onto the exhaust manifold because of a leaky valve cover gasket. We also noticed a secondary leak on the oil filter housing gasket. When we started to remove the valve cover gasket, we noticed 3 of the 6 spark plug ports were filled with oil. Once we removed the valve cover gasket, we saw the gasket was broken in several places. We also noticed there was sludge on the valve cover gasket and inside the head. When you have sludge like this it means that the owner (or past owner) hadn't kept up with the engine maintenance. The sludge and infrequent engine maintenance lead to a brittle valve cover gasket which then led to the gasket break and valve cover leak. 

Don't get sludged. Change your oil. 

Top: Brittle and broken valve cover gasket

Bottom Left: Spark plug ports filled with oil.

Bottom Right: Sludge in the valve cover. 

1999 Nissan Maxima - Radiator & Water Pump Replacement

Customer had his 1999 Nissan Maxima towed in to AAS. He told us smoke was coming from under the hood of his Maxima. We ran the engine to operating temperature (approximately 180 degrees). Radiators are constructed with seams and sometimes the seams can fail and leak, which is what we saw here. We replaced the radiator and ran the engine to operating temperature again and noticed a new leak coming from the front of the engine.

To find the source of the new leak, we had to remove the A/C compressor and A/C bracket. We discovered the water pump leaking. This is a common occurrence because once a new radiator is installed and the correct amount of pressure is restored, there is a tendency for new leaks to occur under the new, correct pressure. We called the customer and he gave us the green light to replace the water pump. No more leaky car. Be careful when its cold out. Systems can fail. 

New water pump (top), old, rusty, broken water pump (bottom left), radiator seam leak (bottom right).

2011 GMC Denali - Check Engine Light and Remote Start

Customer brought his 2011 GMC Denali in because of a check engine light and remote start had stopped working. The code we pulled diagnosed the issues as a catalytic converter problem. We didn't think the car needed a new catalytic convertor.

We noticed a very loud exhaust leak coming from the front catalytic converter connected at the Y-pipe. We disconnected the Y-pipe from the catalytic converter and noticed the gasket had disintegrated. We ordered a new gasket from GM and replaced it. We reprogrammed the computer and all was well. The remote start was a blown fuse. Now the owner can start the car from inside his house and let his car warm up before he goes to work. Good thing - cause it's freezing out. 

2005 Honda Odyssey - Engine and Transmission Mounts

The customer brought in their 2005 Honda Odyssey LX because of an engine vibration. We put the van up on the lift and checked the engine mounts. We noticed all 3 of the engine mounts and 2 of the transmission mounts were broken. We replaced all 5 mounts and the van ran smoothly. Our customer was relieved that was all that was wrong with the van. We are glad he brought his van in to us because who knows when that engine would have fallen out of the van!

2005 Honda odyssey // engine + Transmission mounts