blown 87

I have got some major work coming up on the 87 in the next couple of weeks.

Here is the short list of things that i have got to service or repair and replace.

I have all ready done the timing belt, water pump, tensioner and idlers.

Motor mounts and oil pan gasket. I have the Ford mounts and a real gasket from one of the big three. Should i go ahead and do a baffle and or a scrapper while i am in there? It is not much money so i think i will go ahead and do this while i am at it.

Remove the intake, cam covers and the timing belt front and rear covers for powder coating. Not sure about the color as of yet, but i am leaning towards a combination crinkle finish red (or yellow) and black right now

I have most of the gaskets and seals for this plus i got one of the hall effect sensors that i have been told to replace while i am there. My plan as of right now is to replace everything that looks remotely worn under the intake as far as hoses, etc.

Transmission filter and gasket.

Rear drive axle seals, the ones that go in the transaxle.

Does any one have any other suggestions of what else to replace while i am in there?

I am not sure if i would be better to pull the engine to to do all of this work or not, right now i am leaning towards leaving it in the car. I do have a lift so that will help a bunch.

I am just waiting on some of the special tools that are needed to do all of this, here is what has been ordered so far.
The VW dial indicator stand and dial indicator for setting the cam timing.

The cam removal tools and bridges in case i need to replace the cam chains and wear strips, i am leaning toward doing this as cheap insurance at this point.

The factory tool for setting the timing belt tension, i will also get one of the Kempf tools when they become available again.

Greg N

John Veninger

Think you mean the knock sensors, not hall sensors. Replace the hoses under the intake and you may want to consider a new idle stabilizer valve or clean the one you have.
I would also change the rod bearings while you have the pan off. You didn't mention mileage.

blown 87

It is a refference sensor that is supposesed to go at the back of the passenger side head, I was told that they give a lot of problems on these cars. I have not looked at it yet but i would think that it goes into the bellhousing.

We do a lot of BMW's here at my shop and some have 2 of them, a speed sensor and a position sensor that go bad on these cars often.

Do the knock sensors give a lot of problems on the 928's? I hope i only have to do this once, but you know how that goes.

I plan to at least clean the IAC motor while i have it off, if it looks like there is wear from grit and what not i will replace it. I have found on other makes of cars with the LH type of IAC cleaning only works about 1/2 the time.

As far as the mileage on the car, I was told it had 124,000 and that the odometer was working when the PO started to do the timing belt and water pump a few years back, it does not work now so putting a set of rod bearings in there might not be a bad idea. It still holds over 1 bar of oil pressure at a hot idle after a long drive.

Looks like i may need to add nuts and bearings to my list.

whitefox

It would be a good idea to replace the knock sensors WYAIT, mine were brittle and broken covered in oil.

John Veninger

The sensor on the front of the passenger head is the cam position sensor. I've only read about one going bad. The crank position sensor is in the rear center of the motor block, another sensor that doesn't give much trouble.

worf928

On an S4 there are 4 sensors that have the same type of 3-pin Bosch connector: 2 knock sensors in the engine valley, one Hall (cam position) sensor behind the timing belt backing plate on the passenger side, and the speed/reference/impulse sensor at the back of the engine that points down at the flywheel.

I have yet to find one of these connectors on a 100k+ mile S4 that wasn't ready to disintegrate at the slightest touch.

The knock sensors like to fail because the insulation gets eaten by oil and/or coolant leaking from wherever. If the intake is coming off they're a WYAIT thing. The speed sensor may also be a WYAIT but it doesn't get bathed in leaking crap. The Hall sensor is much easier to get to with the cam cover off. (You can barely see the connector for it - much less the lower allen bolt - with the cover and other hoses in place.)

I've had the Hall sensor fail on my '89 and the speed/impulse sender on my '91. If I was taking the cam covers and intake off I would do the knock and Hall sensors. The speed sensor is fairly easier to get to so I might leave it alone.

worf928

Here's pic of baked knock sensors. You can see the damage done to the sensor head by oil and coolant and you can see how the 3-pin connector is not there.

Second picture is the Hall sensor connector looking down at it.

Mrmerlin

Hi Dave C that is a nice picture of the Hall sensor, I would like to add that the fuel line looks like it is original might be worth replacing it if that is the original line as well as the other 3 flexible lines on your engine, Stan

blown 87

What i have already, is the hall effect sensor for the cam, i just never had opened the box to look at it.
Those knock sensors in your picture look really bad look.
really bad.
I will know a lot more about what i need once i get the intake off of the car, but i suspect everything is going to get replaced.

It is those speed reference sensors that go into the bellhousing that we see go bad on BMW's so often, the all metal types seem to be more prone to failure than the plastic type with the metal nub sticking out of the end. I am going to pull mine and if they are the metal type and they are not flat on the end they will get replaced.

I was a little surprized that they sent me a cam sensor instead of a speed reference sensor, regardless i am going to replace it.

Worf928, your avatar just cracks me up every time i see it.

blown 87

We are going to look at the fuel lines, didn't some one here have a 928 burn to the ground because of a bad line.

I really am starting to like this car, to the point that I have changed my mind about what i am going to do to it.

I was just going to have a nice paint job done on it, but leave all of the glass in it.
I think at this point I will go ahead and spend the extra money to have a show quality job done on it.

Are the 928's bad about the rear window getting lose like the 944's are?

worf928

Hmmm... might want to check the part number.

Like John V. said: the sensor part itself doesn't seem to go bad often on 928s. But, the connector dies once touched.


Yup. A twin-screwed 86.5 if memory serves.

Dunno. I've not seen that. However, on S4s people like to open the hatch by lifting the wing. Eventually that results in a loose wing and some rust at the bolt holes.

Thanks - I like it too. I scooped it from the random picture thread on OT. The filename was 'deathwish.jpg'

blown 87

It looks like a cam sensor to me.
[IMG][/IMG]


Here is what i mean by the BMW type of speed sensor, the first and second pictures are of the metal type that seem to give so many problems. Maybe you can see that the end is no longer flat, that is a sure sign that it is on its way out.

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

the last one is close to what the plastic ones look like.

[IMG][/IMG]

That sucks!


The glass seems to come out of the urathane and is for the most part impossible to get sealed up again.

bd0nalds0n

[QUOTE=blown 87




The glass seems to come out of the urathane and is for the most part impossible to get sealed up again.[/QUOTE]

I don't think the 928s have the same sort of rear window problem as the 944s. The 944 window frame is much less rigid than the 928 window, which sits in a hatch.

blown 87

Thats a good thing.

worf928

Yup. That looks like it.

The S4 version is longer by 1/4 or 1/3. I've heard that they can be a real PITA to get out of their hole. I've not had that trouble luckily.