engine and drivetrain 1969 02 engine overhaul due to oil in coolant

[ClemensKnieper]

Hey guys,

I purchased a sweet little sahara painted 1969 BMW 2002 in Santa Barbara, CA bout 1 year ago. The guy that sold it to me had the car just gotten back from the shop, where they did an engine swap (put in a used m10 2.0). I was a little dumb at the time and blindly purchased the car without knowing anything about it..

Long story short, the "new" engine isn't working so great and there is some gross gooey oily light brown mixture to be found in the radiator. Also, the engine oil seems to have a little water in it too.

I drove the car halfway across the country until it overheated right at mt. rushmore. From there I had it be towed to a hobby mechanic in Massachusetts, about an hour from where I live... he looked at the car and immediately thought head gasket time. He removed the head gasket, replaced it with a new one.. no change. We checked over everything else it could maybe be, but came to the conclusion that one needs to take out the engine and look inside it... check the block and head from ground up.

I have put way too much money in the ride to be able to afford a $5000 and up shop repair, so I am doing it myself. So far I got the engine out via dropping the subframe... all went well. Now the engine is on a stand ready to be dismantled. I have the good old old haynes manual on my side, and you guys.. I think I can do it.

Now here are some questions for y'all..

- Do you think I am crazy to try to do this by myself? I sure am an amateur at this, but patience, cleanliness and organization skills I do have. I think that is half of the job..

- Instead of completely taking apart the engine, are there any tips you 'd have (maybe links) to how I should go about solving my particular problem, which is hopefully to find something to be wrong with the block?

I guess any comments in general would be appreciated, as I am jsut about to start on takign apart the m10. I can still NOT do it myself and give it to someone who will do it for my cash..

Well, thats my food for thought for you guys hope to get some comments.

PS: I love these cars, and I really want to learn how to upkeep it myself.. removing the engine was a complete joy to me, and the learning I have done through it is exactly what I am looking for.. I just don't know if the engine overhaul is too insane for a person of my skill level.

Thanks!

-Clemens

[c.d.iesel]

welcome to the haus

before you do anything else

remove the cylinder head and find a local machine

shop to presure test for cracks, measure for

warpage and go from there.

also remove the radiator and deliver to local

Radiator Repair shop for 'boiling', pressure

testing, and they will advise you if a 'recore'

is needed.

yes - since you have the motor out

remove the pistons so you can inspect

cylinder bores, condion of pistons and rings,

condition of all the con rod and main bearings.

Please give us photos as you go

remove the front timing covers so we can inspect the

timing chain guide rails and condition of all timing chain

gear teeth.

note what you find when you remove the oil pan

ie. any chunks of metal or other debrix

more to come . . . . . . . . . . .

[Preyupy]

With oil in the water there is a very good chance there is a crack in the cylinder head. It can be internal between the water passage and oil passage and be very hard to see. It can also be corrosion around one of the head bolt holes (oil pressure from the rocker shafts down the head bolt hole and a leak from the cooling system into one of the head bolt holes). I would have the head checked before you spend a lot of time/$$ on the bottom end. If you need a head it might be easier to just find another complete engine.

[Pamola]

...also take some pictures of cam lobes / journals (head and cam) and main bearings.... Good luck.

[Kpeters]

Good luck! I've never taken the M10 out of the car but in my other bimmer when I replaced the engine for the 2.7 the most difficult part was getting the geabox/clutch/engine to fit easily while the car was on some really low jack stands.

[Kpeters]

Good luck! I've never taken the M10 out of the car but in my other bimmer when I replaced the engine for the 2.7 the most difficult part was getting the geabox/clutch/engine to fit easily while the car was on some really low jack stands.

[ClemensKnieper]

I will get the head to a machinest as soon as I can... should I be cleaning the engine from the outside first, as the haynes manual suggests? It's not too dirty though, as they have just put that thing in there a year ago...

Thanks for all your comments, I will make sure to take pictures and share them with you. More soon!

[jimk]

Drain the block before you pull the head or you will have antifreeze down in and around the pistions/rings.

[Kpeters]

Drain the block before you pull the head or you will have antifreeze down in and around the pistions/rings.

Good advice that could have been easily overlooked.

[ClemensKnieper]

Hello again,

finally had some time to remove the cylinder head... here are some pictures for you (please let me know if you need close ups of anything).

Some questions and notes:

I got confused and unbolted the 10 master cylinder bolts one at a time with no diagonal order as the haynes manual described, I hope I didnt mess anything up because of that...

In what shape and form should I be bringing my cylinder head to the machinist?

here the pictures:

[jgerock]

Please remove the head gasket and take another picture of the block.

I'd also like to see a close-up of the head gasket between cylinders # 3 and 4.

[ClemensKnieper]

As per your request:

[ClemensKnieper]

and could someone tell me if I need to remove the bearings before bringing the whole cylinder head to the machinist?

[jimk]

There are no bearings in the head. The cam runs directly on the head bore. The rockers have bearings and run on the rocker shafts. The rocker bearings are not replaceable. If you are not experienced, it is a good ideal to let the machine shop disassemble the head parts. Use a shop that knows M10 engines.

[TobyB]

Boy, there's nothing obvious in your pics.

If it was me, I'd take the head, just as it is, to a shop that

can pressure- test the coolant passages and see if there's an

internal crack or leak.

The time I had a corrosion- induced leak, it was obvious that coolant was leaking

out around one of the head bolts.

The other thing to check would be to put a straightedge on the block...

but again, there's no obvious signs that there's a problem with gasket

sealing.

hth

t