B10 Gave up the ghost

Congrats mate
 nae beer for you for a while.

You'll be glad the headache is away mate and can get back to driving it the way it should be driven.

Great news, I was back down Keilder way yesterday and was telling my mate about the Big Alpina that followed me down the A7 the last time I was there

Edited by muppet 2

great news....enjoy.

Crombers that's good news your back on the road. I did see you on South St on Thursday, you were already passed but I gave you a wave anyway.

I'm glad Keith came up trumps for you and that was nice of him to have a look at your dads motor too.

Wahey it's back!  Collected it on Thursday morning and overjoyed to be back on the road.  Oh aye, gave you a toot Stevie as I think I passed you on South Street on the way back

Well, its cost me the best part of 3 big ones ££££, one of which Warranty Direct have offered to cover which I personally believe to be reasonable.  In effect covering the labour and parts of replacing the HG on one bank.

In addition I've had both heads reconditioned, Water pump, thermostat replaced & crank case breather replaced.

Keith at B4BMW has done a great job and I'm very glad I used them.  Even more credit to the guy - My dad took me there on Thursday morning to collect the car but on the M8 on the way in the rear of his E39 528 stepped out wildly with a thunk.  An inspection on the hard shoulder and a gentle crawl into Clydebank had one of Keiths guys getting the car on the ramp and making a temporary repair for no charge.   An absolute gent.  (As it transpired his MOT Failure / Bush replacement was done without tightening the nuts and so failed within days! not B4BMW work I hasten to add).

The car has been returned with engine performance far improved from what it was when I bought it.  It's nice and tight, smooth as a babys bum and sounds sweet as a nut right across the rev range.  When I bought the 66k B10 I was well aware of the top condition of the engine over my previous 155k 540, that said, the bar has been raised now and in conjunction with the fortune spent on suspension work I feel like I'm in a new car.

Should be I suppose given what I've spent on it this year.   No nights out for me for the next, oh, 5 years!  but no more busses either - woot woot!

Edited by Crombers

Crombers

I was down at B 4 BMW today to pick my car up and was asking Keith how your car was coming along and he said he was hoping to finish it very soon, maybe tommorrow with any luck.

so hopefully you'll be back on the road and I hope you were happy with the service they've given.

Once again they've come up trumps for me and I'll be using them again and it's the added bonus of having them on my doorstep

stephenperry wrote: Crombers wrote: The original HG on the Alpina 4.6 V8 (B8 / B10) between 1997 & 2001 is an organic paper affair rather than the usual steel HGs used by BMW. That's worrying... do you know if the 6-cylinder 3.2 and 3.3's use paper gaskets too?

It's a known V8 issue, think you're home and dry Stephen

Andrew,

The work on the failed bank will be replicated on the second bank.  Extremely false economy not to do so.

The original HG on the Alpina 4.6 V8 (B8 / B10) between 1997 & 2001 is an organic paper affair rather than the usual steel HGs used by BMW.  A ticking time bomb in effect :(   which as you say is not helped by the reduced distance between the cylinders.   This issue was address in 2001 when Alpina started using the steel X5 4.6i gasket in the B10s.

A menace, but not something you should ever need to worry about

The estimate is sitting at £2028, should hopefully hear what the Warranty company have to say this afternoon!

Well thumbs up to B4BMW so for.  I had a call from them on Friday to let me know that the engine had been stripped and that thankfully there appears to be no damage to the block other than a ruddy great hole in my head gasket between cylinders 3 & 4.

The conversation surrounded what should be done while the engine is in bits.  I'm keen to ensure anything that can be done to reduce the effect of 73k miles is carried out and the following work has been tabled:

M5 Head gasket replacement (a given)
Valley pan gasket
intake manifold gaskets
Exhaust gaskets
PCV replacement
Full injector clean (on a proper rig)
Re-seat valves
De-coke internals

The heads will also need to be pressure tested just to be on the safe side.

Does anyone have any further advice on what should or shouldn't be done at this point.  Although I'm fairly clued up about the M62 I'm a little less knowledgeable when it comes to internals.

Cheers