Dumb Question Thread - No Flaming Allowed

[Cubieman]

I *think* the HJS were found to be subpar, more flexible, someone else will chime in I'm sure.
I remember going OEM but this was 3 years ago when they were likely much cheaper.

FWIW one of the Uber expensive, but very nice, Rouge Engineering mounts on PS coupled with rubber OE style mounts on the DS makes for a solid yet still compliant setup with minimal to zero NVH.

I have a SCZA muffler that would hit the EVAP casing on occasion and that is the reason I run that setup.

[ATB88]

Anybody have experience with these "aftermarket" HJS muffler hangers? https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...js-18201401797

The OE BMW ones are $85/piece and I need 3. Would much rather spend $25/piece, but won't bother if they're crap or lesser in quality from the BMW pieces. I hesitate because it says it's aftermarket, not OEM.

[bagger]

to me, that just looks like a remnant of a sticker. i feel like you should be able to just pick it off.

Hah. Wow. I never wanted to pick at it to potentially make it worse. Picked at it, and you were right - thanks! How that never came off with all the tire cleaning and stuff I have no idea. Glad I'm in the dumb question thread. Thanks!!

[L0okitzRaj]

to me, that just looks like a remnant of a sticker. i feel like you should be able to just pick it off.

[bagger]

Not sure what happened here. Been there for a while, but now it's bothering me. Should I be worried about this? Or just sharpie it and call it a day? Tires probably have like 2,000 miles on them - tops.

[Shonky]

Can somebody remind me what color wire is the 12V switched power going to the BM53 amp in the trunk? I think it's red with green stripe??

Also, anybody what gauge wire that 12V switched line is? I'm trying ton find the right size posi-connector to tap into it.

RT/GN (rot,gruen) is permanent 12V. Switched should be VI/WS aka violet/white.

[duracellttu]

Can somebody remind me what color wire is the 12V switched power going to the BM53 amp in the trunk? I think it's red with green stripe??

Also, anybody what gauge wire that 12V switched line is? I'm trying ton find the right size posi-connector to tap into it.

[Cubieman]

I was amazed at the amount of paint marker "debris" that I found on my M6 oil filter shortly after doing RB's. Probably not a big deal, but I will go a bit ligher on that next time. I just like to mark each bolt immediately after its torqued.

[Slideways]

I've heard the recommendation to do an oil change ~1200 miles after fresh rod bearings which sounds reasonable. Is there any merit to also doing one really soon (100-200 miles in) just to get all of the dirt/grit/assembly lube that found its way into the engine during the job out of there? Is that standard practice?

Reason for not changing the oil is that the oil filter will catch any debris and they didn't do a 1200 mile oil change after the recall.

[IamFODI]

I've heard the recommendation to do an oil change ~1200 miles after fresh rod bearings which sounds reasonable. Is there any merit to also doing one really soon (100-200 miles in) just to get all of the dirt/grit/assembly lube that found its way into the engine during the job out of there? Is that standard practice?

Any merit? Sure. I wouldn't expect it to change the game, but theoretically there should be some benefit.

I've heard of change schedules something like, first oil change after the first ~10 minutes of runtime, then again after a couple hundred miles, then again at ~1k miles, then whatever your normal change interval is. I'm sure I'm remembering the numbers wrong so don't take them as gospel, but you get the idea.

[ATB88]

I've heard the recommendation to do an oil change ~1200 miles after fresh rod bearings which sounds reasonable. Is there any merit to also doing one really soon (100-200 miles in) just to get all of the dirt/grit/assembly lube that found its way into the engine during the job out of there? Is that standard practice?

[ATB88]

Just lowering the subframe means that you don't need to drain the power steering system, which equals less mess and work.

To get a good plastigauge measurement, you need to do the full torque procedure. I'm willing to bet that the BMW techs at the dealership did not plastigauge measure clearances before installing the new bearings. It is not in the service bulletin - http://www.siwilson.com/BMW/Service_...20Bulletin.pdf

I did find this BMW service snippet which explains how to use plastigage to measure S54 rod bearing clearances during replacement. Since the torque sequence described is for the M11 bolts, I'm assuming that this is an "old" version of the service bulletin before they moved to the M10 bolts? This suggests to me that it was part of the dealership service procedure earlier on (or maybe for the first of the two service bulletins)? Whether or not they actually did it is another story.

The procedure does say to do a full torque sequence to do the plastigage measurement.

http://www.adkusters.dsmynas.com/Website%20mynas/TIS%20documents%20PDF%20aanvulling/11_24_571.pdf

If they actually do this at the dealership when replacing RBs, then that effectively halves the usable life of the M11 style bolts, which seems concerning.

If it's generally known that you don't have to fully torque to use plastigage properly... how much should I torque if I want to plastigage?

[Slideways]

Another RB question: I'm going to be doing tie rods, steering rack boots, and all the PS lines "while I'm in there"... I see that a lot of people don't completely drop the front sub frame, just lower it. It honestly seems easier to just remove it entirely if you're going to be taking tie rods off anyway? Is there any reason to avoid dropping the whole front subframe off in my case?

Just lowering the subframe means that you don't need to drain the power steering system, which equals less mess and work.

To get a good plastigauge measurement, you need to do the full torque procedure. I'm willing to bet that the BMW techs at the dealership did not plastigauge measure clearances before installing the new bearings. It is not in the service bulletin - http://www.siwilson.com/BMW/Service_...20Bulletin.pdf

[JakeM346]

Another RB question: I'm going to be doing tie rods, steering rack boots, and all the PS lines "while I'm in there"... I see that a lot of people don't completely drop the front sub frame, just lower it. It honestly seems easier to just remove it entirely if you're going to be taking tie rods off anyway? Is there any reason to avoid dropping the whole front subframe off in my case?

well if you’re changing all that anyway than it’s better to remove it. If you just lower it you can keep the tires on and don’t have to wiggle out the tie rod bolts. It’s basically a bit less work and most people do it like this because the original BMW recall specified that procedure.

[ATB88]

Another RB question: I'm going to be doing tie rods, steering rack boots, and all the PS lines "while I'm in there"... I see that a lot of people don't completely drop the front sub frame, just lower it. It honestly seems easier to just remove it entirely if you're going to be taking tie rods off anyway? Is there any reason to avoid dropping the whole front subframe off in my case?