In preparation for this month meeting of the Italian BMW E30 club I decided to fix some small problem on the car. One of the first thing was replacing a buggered rear fender chrome trim with a new one (BMW will happily sell you one for the small sum of 31 euro ..), in the process discovering that some bodyshop had nailed the old trim in it's place by simply screwing it to the body, so know there's two rusty hole under the trim ..
One of the other problems was a small leak from the valve cover, after the last valve lash adjustment the cover was put back without replacing the (very) old gasket, slapping in tons of gasket sealant for "good" measure (all this was NOT made by me).
So I ordered a new gasket from the dealer (10 euro, why in the world someone would spare on this ..) and set up to install it.
P5139630 by ipv7net, on Flickr
you can see the gasket sealant oozing out all around the valve cover
P5139599 by ipv7net, on Flickr
removed the valve cover and now we are in the magic world of the sludge
P5139639 by ipv7net, on Flickr
It's not very clear when the sludge ends and the head start, maybe the engine is held together by all the carbon buildup ..
The inside of the valve cover it's no different
P5139646 by ipv7net, on Flickr
This is not entirely a surprise to me, as I already know what was inside the head. In the past I've done two 500km oil change with cleaning addictive and started to change the oil every 5000km, but really I don't see much of an improvement. On the positive side cam lobes and rocker arm show little wear, the M10 oil spray bar on top of the camshaft haa a tendency to clog up on high mileage engine but this one seems well lubricated.
Anyway the valve cover was very dirty on the outside, has some pitting and corrosion and even after a good clean was still resembling a piece of scrap, I had some high temp paint from a previous work on the rear drums so I decided to paint it.
P5139653 by ipv7net, on Flickr
The result was not bad for a quick job, not sure if I will leave it this way or sand and polish the rest of the lettering/raised stripes.
P5139673 by ipv7net, on Flickr
P5139676 by ipv7net, on Flickr
P5139683 by ipv7net, on Flickr
So this was the last work done on the car.
One of the other problems was a small leak from the valve cover, after the last valve lash adjustment the cover was put back without replacing the (very) old gasket, slapping in tons of gasket sealant for "good" measure (all this was NOT made by me).
So I ordered a new gasket from the dealer (10 euro, why in the world someone would spare on this ..) and set up to install it.
P5139630 by ipv7net, on Flickr
you can see the gasket sealant oozing out all around the valve cover
P5139599 by ipv7net, on Flickr
removed the valve cover and now we are in the magic world of the sludge
P5139639 by ipv7net, on Flickr
It's not very clear when the sludge ends and the head start, maybe the engine is held together by all the carbon buildup ..
The inside of the valve cover it's no different
P5139646 by ipv7net, on Flickr
This is not entirely a surprise to me, as I already know what was inside the head. In the past I've done two 500km oil change with cleaning addictive and started to change the oil every 5000km, but really I don't see much of an improvement. On the positive side cam lobes and rocker arm show little wear, the M10 oil spray bar on top of the camshaft haa a tendency to clog up on high mileage engine but this one seems well lubricated.
Anyway the valve cover was very dirty on the outside, has some pitting and corrosion and even after a good clean was still resembling a piece of scrap, I had some high temp paint from a previous work on the rear drums so I decided to paint it.
P5139653 by ipv7net, on Flickr
The result was not bad for a quick job, not sure if I will leave it this way or sand and polish the rest of the lettering/raised stripes.
P5139673 by ipv7net, on Flickr
P5139676 by ipv7net, on Flickr
P5139683 by ipv7net, on Flickr
So this was the last work done on the car.