545i Spark Plug Replacement - Help!!! :-)
07-07-2008, 12:29 PM
#11
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My Ride: 04 545i - Titanium Silver/Black, Sport pkg, Comfort Seats w/ Lumbar, Premium Sound, power rear sunshade, Adaptive Xenon Headlights, Steptronic, Park Distance Control, Fold down rear seats w/ski bag, Aux jack, 6-disk changer, puddle lamps...
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Originally Posted by vancouverE60' post='618230' date='Jul 7 2008, 12:58 PM
i did this and had the same problems with the rear 2 spark plugs... it was very time consuming but you can do it...
passenger side rear i had to unbolt the AC lines that run along the side and really really ease the coil and plug out... gotta do it slowly and becareful when you push the other lines outta the way
driver side rear i had to unbolt and remove a bunch of stuff including separating the fuel line for easier access, just dun smoke when you are on this side of the car! hehe
took a long time and my fingers were very very tired afterwards
passenger side rear i had to unbolt the AC lines that run along the side and really really ease the coil and plug out... gotta do it slowly and becareful when you push the other lines outta the way
driver side rear i had to unbolt and remove a bunch of stuff including separating the fuel line for easier access, just dun smoke when you are on this side of the car! hehe
took a long time and my fingers were very very tired afterwards
Thanks for the tips Vancouver! I'm gonna revisit the 'final 2' when time permits.
07-07-2008, 12:46 PM
#12
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My Ride: 04 545i - Titanium Silver/Black, Sport pkg, Comfort Seats w/ Lumbar, Premium Sound, power rear sunshade, Adaptive Xenon Headlights, Steptronic, Park Distance Control, Fold down rear seats w/ski bag, Aux jack, 6-disk changer, puddle lamps...
Engine: Custom Remus cat-back exhaust w/chrome square tips, K&N Air Filter, Charcoal Filter Removed, Sprint Booster :-), 50/50 mix of 91+100 Octane, EuroRev ECU Remap (coming soon lol), Dinan High-Flow Throttle Body (coming soon...maybe lol)
Interior: Portable Sirius Stilletto 100 w/car kit, Garmin Nuvi 680 mounted below rear-view mirror, LCI-style I-drive knob, Dark Poplar Center Dashboard Trim.
Exterior: E60 forum clings, 5% rear tint, ACS roof spoiler (painted black for distinct look against limo tint), ACS trunk spoiler, ACS add-on front spoiler and rear apron (awaiting installation), "18 Black Staggered BeBeS Style OER (emergency replacement for cracked sport 124 rims), black kidney grill, white accessory lighting (including license and trunk lamps), Angel-eye upgrade, AIB xenon-matched fog lamps, AIB V3's on order, red rear reflectors
Originally Posted by subarashi' post='618239' date='Jul 7 2008, 01:26 PM
Advancedlogic,
Its interesting you bring this up cos I asked the stealer the same question pre 50K miles and was told not to worry..
I have a significant degree of hesitation on ignition/start to the point where I can hear the engine struggling to "catch." Is this akin to the "inline hesitation" you referred to or is this a different problem? I only notice this on startups on a cold engine. No issue when the engine has been turned over a few times [ie: warm], or when the car is running....
Its interesting you bring this up cos I asked the stealer the same question pre 50K miles and was told not to worry..
I have a significant degree of hesitation on ignition/start to the point where I can hear the engine struggling to "catch." Is this akin to the "inline hesitation" you referred to or is this a different problem? I only notice this on startups on a cold engine. No issue when the engine has been turned over a few times [ie: warm], or when the car is running....
It sounds different. It sounds as though you have a cold-start problem. Have them check the auxilliary throttle circuit/system* (a fail-safe in case of a Valvetronic failure. It's also used to aid in cold starts and controls fuel tank venting). My issue occured 'off the line' - during accelleration from stop, regardless of engine temperature. Generally you wouldn't have to worry too much about them, but as with anything mechanical, they do wear out gradually. It's easy enough to pull an accesseable plug and inspect it. Chances are, no sigificant differences exist between cylinders, so pulling one or 2 plugs may be indicative of the others. If course this doesn't ring true if the engine is suffering major mechanical faults (ie gasket leakage, injector faults, valve train issues, scored cylinder bores, worn rings, etc).
* - Check page 5, footnote 4 of this press release document for more information.
07-08-2008, 01:44 PM
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Originally Posted by vancouverE60' post='618230' date='Jul 7 2008, 01:58 PM
i did this and had the same problems with the rear 2 spark plugs... it was very time consuming but you can do it...
passenger side rear i had to unbolt the AC lines that run along the side and really really ease the coil and plug out... gotta do it slowly and becareful when you push the other lines outta the way
driver side rear i had to unbolt and remove a bunch of stuff including separating the fuel line for easier access, just dun smoke when you are on this side of the car! hehe
took a long time and my fingers were very very tired afterwards
passenger side rear i had to unbolt the AC lines that run along the side and really really ease the coil and plug out... gotta do it slowly and becareful when you push the other lines outta the way
driver side rear i had to unbolt and remove a bunch of stuff including separating the fuel line for easier access, just dun smoke when you are on this side of the car! hehe
took a long time and my fingers were very very tired afterwards
Nice! thanks for the tips.
07-09-2008, 07:06 AM
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Originally Posted by advancedlogic' post='618241' date='Jul 7 2008, 03:29 PM
I stuck with the Bosch Platinum +4's, the ones that were in the car. Bosh part number is #4417 for those, bought at good ole' Pep Boys for about $55 bucks for the set. Not sure how much more performance one can gain from spark plugs, considering these are already 'premium' plugs.
I don't think there will be any significant different if our engine not tuned to squeeze every bit of HP out.
It's just that, many tuners both Asian/European prefer NGK or Denso over Bosch.
They say, they last longer in extreme tuning and high boost application.
07-09-2008, 05:06 PM
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Today I bought 8 PULSTAR Spark Plugs @ $25 each!!. I tried to find any post in this forum regarding of this brand but I looked in other forums and reviews. There are positives commentaries.
http://www.sparkplugs.com/results_app.asp?...mp;AAIA=1423639
http://www.pulstarplug.com/index.html
I hope they are good, if I am not satisfied, I can ask for refund (They said money back warranted)
Wish me luck!
http://www.sparkplugs.com/results_app.asp?...mp;AAIA=1423639
http://www.pulstarplug.com/index.html
I hope they are good, if I am not satisfied, I can ask for refund (They said money back warranted)
Wish me luck!
07-10-2008, 04:52 AM
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no problem guys... after taking so long and at the end my fingers were all numb i wouldn't want anyone else to go through that hell! lol
spark plugs i just used the ones listed for the 545... when i asked my dealership about changing it they said not to worry about it, still had plent of time left.... but i also started feeling hesitation when starting my car....then i removed mine at 80k kms and it was definitely time to change them... don't think the dealership wanted to change them cos it is a pain in the ass to do!
note: when torquing the back two spark plugs, be careful! u'll need small tools to fit in there and torque slowly, the limited space and awkward angle (not to mention high levels of frustration) makes it easy for you to mess it up!
spark plugs i just used the ones listed for the 545... when i asked my dealership about changing it they said not to worry about it, still had plent of time left.... but i also started feeling hesitation when starting my car....then i removed mine at 80k kms and it was definitely time to change them... don't think the dealership wanted to change them cos it is a pain in the ass to do!
note: when torquing the back two spark plugs, be careful! u'll need small tools to fit in there and torque slowly, the limited space and awkward angle (not to mention high levels of frustration) makes it easy for you to mess it up!
10-12-2009, 09:22 AM
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My Ride: 2005 BMW 545i, Titanium Silver. Bridgestone 760s on Weds Bavaria II 18" wheels, standard sport pack size. Sport, AT. Latest job - NGK Iridium IX plugs installed.
Replaced my spark plugs this weekend thanks to the PDF instructions that Miguex made. To get to the rear plugs on the driver side it was necessary to loosen the plastic holder for the battery cable. getting the ignition coil in and out of there requires some finesse but it will, eventually, come out.
Notes:
The design of those ignition coil connectors - they are secure, but after that many years and miles, it was very tough getting the plastic latch to flip up - and seeing that it is plastic, I figure they will probably become brittle and break off- it might be smart to have a spare on hand.
The metal tabs holding the coil down are held with a male torx on my car. this required a socket opposite of a T30.
Noticed heavy corrosion on the driver side plug casing - probably from engine being hosed down, maybe by the weasels from the stealer
I had 99021 miles on this car, presumably the original plugs. They don't look so bad, but the engine is running a lot smoother now. Replacement plugs are NGK Iridium IX.
i wish my phone cam was working so I could document my work.
Notes:
The design of those ignition coil connectors - they are secure, but after that many years and miles, it was very tough getting the plastic latch to flip up - and seeing that it is plastic, I figure they will probably become brittle and break off- it might be smart to have a spare on hand.
The metal tabs holding the coil down are held with a male torx on my car. this required a socket opposite of a T30.
Noticed heavy corrosion on the driver side plug casing - probably from engine being hosed down, maybe by the weasels from the stealer
I had 99021 miles on this car, presumably the original plugs. They don't look so bad, but the engine is running a lot smoother now. Replacement plugs are NGK Iridium IX.
i wish my phone cam was working so I could document my work.
10-12-2009, 07:58 PM
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Originally Posted by advancedlogic' post='617390' date='Jul 6 2008, 10:44 AM
Thanks Rudy for the link but I'm looking for some specific info on the removal of the rears. All others were successfully replaced and torqued. What I need to know is if there is a specific procedure (lifting the engine on one side, removal from the bottom, etc) that facilitates ease of installation of the rear plugs and coil pack. I don't have enough clearance to remove the pack from the bore, shy of bending/breaking it. I ran searches on n62 plug diy, spark plug removal n62 545, etc and yielded no useable results. Any additional info found would be appreciated. Thanks.
10-13-2009, 12:30 PM
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My Ride: 2004 BMW 545I
M sport suspension
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Originally Posted by advancedlogic' post='616906' date='Jul 5 2008, 01:59 PM
I'm at 62K miles. The car has been suffering an off-line hesitation for quite some times, so I mosied on down to the autoparts store and bought direct replacement Bosch platinum plugs. My problem is replacement of the rear 2. The coil/boot is simply too long to pull out. On some engines I've worked on in the past, lifting one side of the engine with a jack (use a block of wood on the jack carrier) would gain clearance. I can't seem to find any DIY or service bulletins on it, so I'm stuck. I might just take it to the stealership to have the final 2 replaced. Any info is appreciated.
PS - The 6 plugs I removed were brownish with hard deposits on them - definately time for replacement well under the 100K maximum limit. The car responds awesome again - no hesitation. Low-Mid range power is definately improved. I recommend all take a couple morning hours to do a cursory inspection of their plugs. It isn't hard to do (except for the rears), and can restore lost power if the plugs are problematic.
PS - The 6 plugs I removed were brownish with hard deposits on them - definately time for replacement well under the 100K maximum limit. The car responds awesome again - no hesitation. Low-Mid range power is definately improved. I recommend all take a couple morning hours to do a cursory inspection of their plugs. It isn't hard to do (except for the rears), and can restore lost power if the plugs are problematic.
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