Spark Plug Change

[Kartelli]

Need some help finalizing my spark plug change. I'm just about to put the intake manifold back on, when I realized I broke 2 of the cheap plastic clips on some hoses.

Hose 1: Rear side of the manifold, the hose in the back, has a plastic clip that holds it onto the unit. Any ideas how to make it stay in place if the clip is broken?

Hose 2: Snake like 1/2" piping going into the pcv valve under the intake manifold. Its broken as well.

Are these clips replaceable?

All in all, not bad, took 5 solid hrs to change out the plugs. The rear 2 plugs were the hardest, bmw should have gave some sort of clearance for easy maintenance... BMW was asking for over $900 canadian to swap out the plugs.

After 55,xxx kms the plugs were definitely worn. No way they will make it past 100,xxx kms.

I can make a DIY if there is any interest. I give the difficulty a 7/10, as it just time consuming if anything.

[Georgeair]

5 hours?!? Good lord, that's just crazy. And are you saying you actually have to remove the intake manifold to replace the plugs? How in the world can that be?

[Kartelli]

haha Im not kidding, 5 solid hrs of effort. If I had to do it again, id say 4 hrs.

Clearances are super tight for the back 4 spark plugs, you spend more time fighting and wiggling things out of place enough to sneak tools in to get at them.

Intake plenum has to come off to give you enough clearance to make it manageable.

I highly recommend swapping out the plugs every 50k kms after seeing what mine looked like.

[Trier Germany]

Pics please.

[Gearhead999s]

Why are you changing them yourself?Mine were changed at 45000 kms as part of the normal service which is covered under the 4yr/80 km free service plan in Canada.They are replaced every 3rd oil service as per BMW.

[JCtx]

Originally Posted by Kartelli

I can make a DIY if there is any interest.

You should make it man . There's always interest, and that will increase as more cars become due for a spark plug change.

Now to the clips. Those hoses are absolute crap. I removed my plenum with the intention of inspecting my idle valve, but had to abort the operation when I found out BMW uses another crap fastener, in the form of a non-removable clamp. But when I removed those hoses you're talking about, I knew with a few thousands more miles of heat those crappy clips would break. As far as I remember, they're part of the damn hose, so you'll probably have to buy new ones man, as there's no other way to attach them at BOTH ends.

If I keep the car after warranty, the first thing I'd do is inspect the idle valve and replace those clamps with proper worm-type. Oh, and spark plugs need to be replaced at 36K miles per the manual. Take care.

[Kenyon]

I've done spark plug change before on a customers car. (Former BMW tech, I'm an Audi tech now) I had to use a bmw special tool specifically for the M3 to pull out the coils because of the way they're shaped. What did you use?

[Kartelli]

My car is from the USA, it does not qualify for the free maintenance program.

I used a plumber style wrench with a narrow profile, wiggled each coilpack out one by one. Its a bitch, I didn't realize there was a special tool.

I don't think replacing the tubing is a cheap option. The rear hose snakes somewhere around the backside of the engine. Good thing the car is parked till april, have some time to figure it out.

I'll post some pics up later today. DIY to follow.

[kingfish01]

I read the TIS and all it said was to use a special tool for leveraging out the coils. But I dont know why you cant grip the top of the coils and pull them straight out. Other than that, it said to remove the air filter box and unfasten the reservoir and move to the side. seemed straightforward.

[Kenyon]

Originally Posted by kingfish01

I read the TIS and all it said was to use a special tool for leveraging out the coils. But I dont know why you cant grip the top of the coils and pull them straight out. Other than that, it said to remove the air filter box and unfasten the reservoir and move to the side. seemed straightforward.

Its because the top of the coils are shaped ovally. So the special tool is shaped specifically to hook under the coils to pull out and also has a rubber piece on the tool for the leverage part. Hard to explain how it looks and works. Wish I have a pic of it. Its an amazing tool for the job I must say.

[Kartelli]

^ I used a similar method with a pair of pliers + flat head screwdriver to pull them out. Would have been nice to know there was a tool available, would have saved a bunch of time.

I've solved the hose problem, even better than OEM solution with plastic zip ties, 1 zip tie per side, and then 1 to pinch the piping together. Holds very snug, worked like a charm.

For those who have reinstalled their plenum before, I'm having some issues with it popping off while tightening the clamps. I can't seem to get it to stay down. Its nowhere near as tight as it was when I pulled it off. I'm almost at the point where i'll have my little cousin sit on the plenum to put enough downforce on it, then tighten. Any tips?

[Kartelli]

Mission accomplished, fired her up for 20 minutes, no issues. Thanks for everyone's help especially ELP_JC.

[emthreeboy]

Originally Posted by Kartelli

Mission accomplished, fired her up for 20 minutes, no issues. Thanks for everyone's help especially ELP_JC.

Awesome! Must be running smoother now after the sparkplug change?

Also, please make the DIY!

[Kartelli]

mods, you can close/delete this thread!