M54 Oil Pump solution

Originally Posted by McSpeed

IMO: That's a big exaggeration^; stick with mrshelley's guideline. Tim's was an isolated incident (or maybe 01's are somehow extra vulnerable). I redlined my ZHP often and even after a few thousand miles turboed the nut was tight as hell. I was at around 80K when I replaced the pump. AggieE46's OPN wasn't going anywhere either when he checked.



I wouldn't consider the VAC pump at all given that, despite the hype on the VAC site.

sounds good to me i wont be doing anything to it soon unless something happens knock on wood

Originally Posted by mrshelley

As if you guys are worried enough, wait until someone breaks a valve spring retainer.

damn it! Any fixes for this problem?

Originally Posted by mrshelley

As if you guys are worried enough, wait until someone breaks a valve spring retainer.

Originally Posted by HighBoostin330

damn it! Any fixes for this problem?

you should put Mrshelley on your ignore list.

http://store.bimmerworld.com/m50-dri...-nut-p640.aspx
haha just sharing

Originally Posted by steven747

http://store.bimmerworld.com/m50-dri...-nut-p640.aspx
haha just sharing

You obviously haven't read this thread.

Originally Posted by TxZHP04

You obviously haven't read this thread.

i know it wont hold just saw it and posted but yes i have read this thread in fact ive read it twice..

With a simple hand drill and a small drill bit, you can just drill out the stock nut (takes about 2 minutes). It's not some super hardened item. Also, if you do safety wire it, then go ahead and loctite it.

As for the valve retainers, it's a matter of time when someone will break one. I just broke one at Lime Rock and the last time that happened was in 2005. On the other hand, every engine rebuild I do, the car gets brand new retainers, springs and valves (the old ones go right in the garbage). I guess fate caught up with me. I know other teams that had plenty of failures but they were just reusing the old retainers. Since we have to run the stock stuff, I just change out the parts more often. Since the retainers are dirt cheap, it's cheap insurance (same for the springs and valves).

When we ran the Z3's with the 2.8l motor, we used to rev them to 7500. They broke retainers all of the time and GA let us run an aftermarket one. Then the problem was solved. With the 330, they put the kabosh on that.

My suggestion would be to change out the seals, valves, springs and retainers when you decide to pull the head for a rebuild. Also, the new valves are ready to use, no machining necessary.

Originally Posted by OrientBlau

I am more concerned with the life of the oil pump under normal operating conditions. ... I have also had the red oil lamp come on and flicker on many occasions after driving it hard. Im wondering if maybe I have some issues with the oil pump.

Sounds exactly like what happened on my '04 530i at about 70k. The red oil pressure light would come on for a few seconds after: long drive, idle, starting up again slowly. (Panic time when going up a one way parking garage ramp helix with no exits.)

The dealer replaced the sender first and ultimately ended up replacing the oil pump.

Oil pump pressure is proportional to engine speed, so if there's a problem developing it will likely appear first at your lowest speeds when the oil is really hot and then disappear as the engine speeds up.

As the pumps get older, the oil pressure bypass valve can become gummy with junk. I've seen this on some high mileage engines or ones that had a lack of oil changes. The valve is held in by a circlip and the whole pump can be disassembled then cleaned. If you have the pan off, it's worth it to remove the pump and clean it along with the pickup. Plus you might want to change the o-ring for the pickup.

Also, you can just bump up the weight of the oil in the summer and see if it takes cars of the problem.

Originally Posted by McSpeed

When I did it I didn't disconnect any hydraulic or brake lines or drop the struts. To get the subframe out I popped the control arm connections out of the wheel hubs, moved the steering rack forward, undid the lower motor mount nuts, undid the subframe bolts and voila. This was all per BMW TIS. Not easy at all either. And I wouldn't trust an engine hoist if you're leaving it over night- I used a screw jack under each motor mount to be safe.

If the heat doesn't kill me, I'll be tackling this over the weekend. I should probably go buy a small fan for the garage....

I've got a pretty good idea what needs to be done but I do have one area of uncertainty. Does the PS pump need to be moved out of the way or can it remain bolted in place?

Originally Posted by TxZHP04

If the heat doesn't kill me, I'll be tackling this over the weekend. I should probably go buy a small fan for the garage....

I've got a pretty good idea what needs to be done but I do have one area of uncertainty. Does the PS pump need to be moved out of the way or can it remain bolted in place?

Definitely forward out of the subframe and out of the way. Detached from the guibo, yes, but it can remain attached to the tie rods. At that point it's just floating so I had mine lashed to the headers, the sway bar and a stud on the driver's side shock tower while taking the oil pan off.

I must say that detaching it entirely, or more than I did, would make things a lot easier when removing/installing the oil pan. I just didn't want to deal with detaching PS hoses or tie rods.

Originally Posted by McSpeed

Definitely forward out of the subframe and out of the way. Detached from the guibo, yes, but it can remain attached to the tie rods. At that point it's just floating so I had mine lashed to the headers, the sway bar and a stud on the driver's side shock tower while taking the oil pan off.

I must say that detaching it entirely, or more than I did, would make things a lot easier when removing/installing the oil pan. I just didn't want to deal with detaching PS hoses or tire rods.

Thanks, that's what I was expecting regarding the stearing gear. I'm still curious about the pump though - any reason it would need to be removed?

Originally Posted by TxZHP04

Thanks, that's what I was expecting regarding the stearing gear. I'm still curious about the pump though - any reason it would need to be removed?

oops I misread
yeah the pump needs to be moved to the side a little and suspended for pan clearance - there are 3 bolts involved

Originally Posted by McSpeed

oops I misread
yeah the pump needs to be moved to the side a little and suspended for pan clearance - there are 3 bolts involved

Thanks! Good to know in advance so that I can get as much of the top side work as possible done prior to jacking up the car.

Originally Posted by TxZHP04

Thanks! Good to know in advance so that I can get as much of the top side work as possible done prior to jacking up the car.

Np - also note that it's not easy to take the drive sprocket off of Greg's pump so you can install it. It comes assembled and red loctited. I ended up drilling holes in a length of steel bar to create a holding tool. The center bolt is M6 so torque to 10 Nm.

Originally Posted by McSpeed

Np - also note that it's not easy to take the drive sprocket off of Greg's pump so you can install it. It comes assembled and red loctited. I ended up drilling holes in a length of steel bar to create a holding tool. The center bolt is M6 so torque to 10 Nm.

Yeah, that took a little effort. Also worth noting that the center bolt on this pump is not left hand threaded like the stock pump.

Upon removing the sprocket, I noticed my pump only has 2 of the 3 dowel pins shown in Adam's pictures. Should I be concerned?

Originally Posted by TxZHP04

Yeah, that took a little effort. Also worth noting that the center bolt on this pump is not left hand threaded like the stock pump.

Upon removing the sprocket, I noticed my pump only has 2 of the 3 dowel pins shown in Adam's pictures. Should I be concerned?

Grrr, crap, I'll get one to you.

Sorry about the loctite, issue noted and will be corrected in the future.

Originally Posted by vaio76109

Grrr, crap, I'll get one to you.

Sorry about the loctite, issue noted and will be corrected in the future.

Dang you're quick, I just got done sending you an email....

A big thanks goes out to Greg for going out of his way to get me that missing pin! Pump is now installed and my leaking oil pan gasket has been replaced. Upon dropping the oil pan, one of the first things I did was check the condition of the oil pump nut. Even with my occasional run to the 7k rpm red line, the nut was still quite snug.

I will say this. While this solution is still the best i have come across so far. I decided that since a) I am poor, and b) I am not a professional racer, and my car remains street legal, I decided on locktite and a safety wire from BimmerWorld in the end. I am going to run this m50 hard,and eventually boost, Just hopeing this will not be a decision i live to regret. Although going through the swapping process (and realistically the engine rebuild process) for the first time, has really opened my eyes to the true cost, and amount of work that goes into this sort of stuff.