Possible Head Gasket Failure

[Slideways]

The photo looks like the cylinder head is in fact damaged. Hard to tell how deep but your fingernail easily catches that black spot, no?

That can usually be skimmed. It's the deeper pitting that would need aluminum welded to it and skimmed after if the damage was worse.

[WestBankM4]

Got the head back from the shop, they took down 0.10mm to get it nice and clean. Seals and valves are all holding pressure fine. They did a chemical bath as well.

I can appreciate the mechanical aspect of this engine.

Ready to all go back together. Bought the valve shim kit from FCP so I'll be doing that as well for the first time on an S54.

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[sapote]

Machined head looks nice. How was the block?

[Thoglan]

How exciting! I almost miss rebuilding the engine on mine... almost.

[WestBankM4]

Machined head looks nice. How was the block?

Block looks good, I plugged all the oil and coolant holes, started with carb cleaner, then used a razor blade to take off the higher crap. After I used a sharpie and went over the head per your instructions, I performed a sand using a piece of glass and 2500 grit super fine paper. Used carb cleaner again, trapped all the little particles, the majority went onto the piston and i sucked it all out using a wet/dry shop vac.

Came out much much better but might go over it again with a scotchbrite pass.

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[WestBankM4]

Update: Head gasket has been completed and engine buttoned up. I fired her up today for the first time in over a month and she sounds and runs perfect. Let the car idle 30-seconds initially, turned it off, checked the coolant level. Everything checked out so I started the car again and this time let oil get to normal operating temperature and shut it off again. Did a compression test and I'm a solid 180 across all 6 cylinders now.

Vanos was a lot easier than I expected. I followed the Beisan guide and used the most recent Vanos thread on these boards for guidance. Took my time, was super patient and made sure everything was torqued down to spec using the All Torque Values Guide from this forum. Timing at the end was spot on for the exhaust camshaft, but the intake camshaft caused the bridge to lift slightly, ~0.50mm so I called it a day and buttoned it up. I was going to tear it apart and go through the timing and vanos again but alas, I felt confident after talking to heinzboehmer and opted to button her up and pray the BMW Gods will correct.

Car fired up on the first try, doesn't rumble like a V8 anymore, smooth 1100 RPM down to ~900 and sitting pretty. No symptoms like I previously had, literally felt like a brand new car. I decided to take the car around the block a couple of times and my goodness what I've been missing. I've probably driven this car a total of 25 miles before the 6-speed swap, Vanos, and then another 50 miles before the complete suspension refresh. After the suspension I started this thread once the marble sound started appearing, so I don't have much of a baseline to go off of. I could tell that the power is definitely all there now, in first gear alone I took it up to 6k RPM and it just felt like butter, also lost traction on the factory 18s. No odd noises so far, so I guess that's a wrap gentleman I'd say mission accomplished. I absolutely love this car. E46 M3 <3

[bigjae46]

Glad to hear that it is fixed! All things considered pulling the head isn't too bad. But tell the truth...did you have trouble getting the head off because of one stupid bolt that holds the chain guide in? Because I did...lol

[bigjae46]

Make sure that you chase all of the head bolt threads in the block, and use the proper torque technique/sequence.

And don't forget the blow out any blind holes so you don't crack the stuff when torquing bolts down.

[Cubieman]

Nice to hear the positive results, great work man.

[Will]

That's fantastic, glad it worked out. Thanks for keeping us updated throughout the process.

[heinzboehmer]

Nice work man! Glad the car is driving again.

[jet_dogg]

Great news man.

I love it when a plan comes together.

[WestBankM4]

Glad to hear that it is fixed! All things considered pulling the head isn't too bad. But tell the truth...did you have trouble getting the head off because of one stupid bolt that holds the chain guide in? Because I did...lol

I did not actually, never ran into any issues with that chain guide bolt. The hardest part was probably lifting and putting the head back on, I had to manhandle it both ways and it's not exactly light, around ~60lbs but probably more with the throttle bodies installed, I didn't want to install them after the head was back on the car, that would have been more painful.

Was really time consuming as I'm a perfectionist and just about replaced everything I could down to the little plastic oil grates (5) at the bottom of the head. Cleaned everything and made sure everything was accounted for on the button up. I took my time, really read everything I could before jumping and I wrote out a plan of attack each step of the way.

Thanks to everyone on the boards for your help, suggestions and comments. Really couldn't have done it myself, thank you all.

[sapote]

I did not actually, never ran into any issues with that chain guide bolt. The hardest part was probably lifting and putting the head back on, I had to manhandle it both ways and it's not exactly light, around ~60lbs but probably more with the throttle bodies installed, I didn't want to install them after the head was back on the car, that would have been more painful.

Were you able to remove all of the exhaust manifold nuts from above?
For me the most time consuming is when lowering the head on the new gasket with the head tilted at an angle -- didn't want to let the head scratch the sealing coating on the gasket.

Good job!

[WestBankM4]

Were you able to remove all of the exhaust manifold nuts from above?
For me the most time consuming is when lowering the head on the new gasket with the head tilted at an angle -- didn't want to let the head scratch the sealing coating on the gasket.

Good job!

Got all the bolts from above, lucky I didn't pull any studs either. Soaked them in WD40 and cleaned them afterwards.

Yes the angle to clear the rigid fuel line was a pain. I learned out how to fold the chain onto itself which made the head easier to angle. Still a pain and was definitely the hardest part.

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