[petem]

Well, just reached 156,xxx miles on my wife's 330i, has been a good daily! Battery died yesterday, installed a new one, then won't start. Troubleshoot down to the starter, bought it and installed. While reassembling noticed pvc valve hose to oil separator was broken. No wonder I couldn't figure out why that small oil leak, randomly appeared in my garage. Now waiting for hose to come in to finish the job...hopefully before Christmas!

[porsche959]

Nice. How long did the diy take? Estimated start to finish? And tips, or nice to know tricks that would help? Planning to do my starter soon.

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by porsche959

Nice. How long did the diy take? Estimated start to finish? And tips, or nice to know tricks that would help? Planning to do my starter soon.

I'd say probably about 2-3 hours. Bosch rebuilt or new starter will run you $150 to $190.00. You'll need a special ratchet.

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showt...5#post16941382

[PhaseP]

If the sockets are long that may not fit still. I had similar flex head wrench and didn't fit with the socket attached. A box E-torx wrench is better and sure bet to use there, like this one which is what I used:

https://www.amazon.com/Vim-Tools-WTC.../dp/B000FN6PGA

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by porsche959

Nice. How long did the diy take? Estimated start to finish? And tips, or nice to know tricks that would help? Planning to do my starter soon.

Buying a spare breather hose that goes from valve cover to intake is a good idea. If you don't break the existing one you can return the new one you bought, but if you break it you won't have to wait to finish the job. They are very easy to break.

If you have N52 with a silver engine vanity cover, those have another breather line that goes down to oil pan that may break too, which buying a spare of that line is also a good idea. Disconnecting that from the oil pan line without breaking is a challenge. I have been using 1/2 inch quick disconnect tool from this set, it works. I drilled a small hole on the flange of the 1/2 inch tool, tied a small wire (or thread ) to it, so if it fell down I could fish it out easily. Which it did fell down a few times. It is tight space, that is the difficulty of it.

https://www.autozone.com/test-scan-a...l-set/2356_0_0

Also do not try to separate the electrical junction box from the intake manifold as some DIYs say. It is not meant to be separated, it is there with barbed tabs that won't come out. There are two small bolts on each end of the metal bracket this junction box is attached too. These small bolts screw on to the intake manifold. Undo those and let that junction box stay down together with the bracket. The bolts are torx. Most bolts are torx.

It is a good idea to get a set of intake manifold gaskets, but may not be necessary if they are still pliable and stand up proud after removal.

It is good to remove the throttle body assembly, it will give more room. The gasket on it is pretty robust silicon. By the book you need to replace, but not really necessary unless you find it compressed.

[petem]

Originally Posted by porsche959

Nice. How long did the diy take? Estimated start to finish? And tips, or nice to know tricks that would help? Planning to do my starter soon.

As PhaseP describes and I found out doing this job, it's not as straightforward as I thought it would after watching a couple of DIYs. There are several disconnects, sensors and due to the age of my vehicle I had to be extremely careful not to brake those. The "valve cover to manifold hose" is very brittle and it snapped on me. Good thing Advanced Auto sells a replacement made by Dorman, had it in stock so i was able to continue my work. There is another hose in the bottom of the oil separator that was a biatch to put back in place!
After all I end up spending $200 bucks between the remanufactured starter and the hose. Beats the hell out of $1,000 bucks the BMW steeler quote me! Car is back running fine now!

[nsjames]

Originally Posted by PhaseP

If the sockets are long that may not fit still. I had similar flex head wrench and didn't fit with the socket attached. A box E-torx wrench is better and sure bet to use there, like this one which is what I used:

https://www.amazon.com/Vim-Tools-WTC.../dp/B000FN6PGA

those are still straight, and the problem is the firewall comes back over the top.

you need an angled wrench or flex head ratchet.
I had no issues with a flex head ratchet and standard 3/8 socket.

[PhaseP]

Originally Posted by nsjames

those are still straight, and the problem is the firewall comes back over the top.

you need an angled wrench or flex head ratchet.
I had no issues with a flex head ratchet and standard 3/8 socket.

I used those exact VIM ones that I linked when I had replaced my starter. There is enough room to use them. The room is lacking to fit in the head and the socket of a ratchet. There is enough room to swing the wrench on the top, straight or not.

And those VIM ones are recommended by a pro who couldn't fit his flex head in a you tube video he made specific for E90 N52 starter replacement which I had shared in another thread where you had again claimed that the flex head ratchet you had was fine. Your socket and the ratchet was fine, but that does mean everyone other flex head and socket combination will be fine. The one I had weren't, the pro guy who made the video had multiple ones only one old version was fine.
That VIM e-torx set works fine. If someone wants more convenience GearWrench has ratcheting box E-torx wrench set too, still straight. These are handy for OFHG replacement too.

[PhaseP]

Starter replacement video

Minute 22 he tries the flex head doesn't work, then goes into what worked and ends up recommending VIM box e-torx wrench that comes in the set I linked.

[petem]

I did have to buy an E-14 socket to remove the bolts holding the starter (once I removed the manifold). Removing the front bolt was easy with a 12" extension, now when I tried to set the socket over the rear longer bolt I couldn't sit the ratchet in place because there is hardly any room between the bolt head and the top of the transmission ( I believe is the tranny). I solved this issue using the closed end of a 11mm wrench and was able to undo this bolt without stripping its head, actually worked really well!