Does anyone know if the drivers side cylinder head on a 2014 e63 can be removed with the engine in the car? The exhaust manifold bolts look impossible....

 

I'm almost positive it's not...everyone who has done the exhaust bridge pipes that I've heard from has dropped the subframe. You could in theory do a subframe lowering while supporting the engine like an engine mount job, but that seems like more work when you factor in all the other things that come with cylinder head work and keeping things clean with lots of space when the head goes back on, room for your torque wrench etc.

 

That blows! I guess I'll finally change my transfer case shaft seals.. I hate changing good parts but what would you preemptively change with the motor out (2014, 65k miles): motor mounts? rear main seal? I'd love the thoughts of anyone who has an opinion on this...
water pump and turbo coolant lines just done last month....

 

Definitely motor and trans mounts, and if there is any sign of oil seepage into the wire harness (or you don't have a lot of history of watching them for intrusion) from the cam sensors etc you might want to price out the harness as that is also an engine out job down the road.

When we dropped the motor on our GL63 the only other item we tackled were cam case seals and oil filter housing gaskets, but that had over 90k miles and they were visibly leaking.

 

Oil pump sensor, as it's also a potential source of oil wicking and looks less than fun to attempt with the engine in the car.

 

I was thinking about that sensor...A while back a poster struck fear into me with his oil wicking story from there, I got the connector off and mine was dry at the time but probably cheap insurance. I did my 4 pucks and 4 cam sensors last year and just resealed my oil cooler and oil filter housing when I was doing my water pump last month.

 

I just did head gaskets with the engine still in the car on a 2014 E63S. No lift and no money for a shop to do the job so jack stands and ripping my hair out it is lol. Definitely would be easier and less frustrating to do out of the car but it is possible. Long hours for sure and a lot of head aches but its possible. I used a hoist to assist the heads out of the car. I actually left the exhaust manifolds and turbos on the heads and disconnected the downpipe. Came right out aside from having to disconnect the turbo oil return which is extremely inconveniently located just behind the alternator on the passenger side and just behind the AC on the drivers side. Drivers side turbo oil return was easier to attack from the rear and passenger side was easier to unbolt the alternator. It is absolutely meticulous trying to keep random garbage from falling into spots. Lots of vacuuming and using picks to get stuff out of passages. Not a job for the faint of heart but tasos helps a ton. Did not have any problem fitting a torque wrench in to achieve the proper torque specs on the heads. This is definitely the time to do other things also. Motor mounts will stare you in the face while you do this job so might as well do them. I replaced mine with the subframe/ engine lift method last year and it was a pain beyond belief. Best of luck and let me know if there is any way I can help!

 

Thank you for the info max.gibson! I was guessing that the only possible way would be to pull the head with the turbo and manifold still on. Good to know it's possible. I super hated doing the turbo coolant lines and it looks like the oil lines are even harder...It's tough for me to find a silver lining in this situation, this was a total unforced error and by far my biggest automotive f***-up in 30+ years or wrenching: I've been doing a boroscope inspection of cyl # 5 every 10k miles since I got the car and this time a part of the boroscope fell into the combustion chamber....this really sucks ***!

 

Small magnet? Small vacuum hose?

 

Use another boroscope to get the boroscope out?

I’m sure you’ve tried everything but there has to be a way!

Bubblegum?
Earth magnet?
Shop vac?

Or is it gone out a port already really lost?

 

I got a new, firmly assembled , small diameter boroscope into the spark plug hole alongside one of those 4 jaw retracting push button whip cable part grabber devices. Because of the cylinder being at a 45 degree angle, the part fell to the lower side of the cylinder, to make it worse the spark plug hole is angled slightly upward so I cant get to it. it's non ferrous so a magnet wont work. Maybe a vacuum hose but that's a long shot because of the shape of the object....I gave up and sent the car out to a well regarded local indie shop...

 

 

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

Guess it’s my turn to revive a year-old thread. Does anyone - referring to you @max.gibson - have any pointers on how to angle the driver’s side cylinder head on the way down with the host to get it past the timing chain/guides and onto the block? I can’t figure it out but the head came off so it should go back on, right?

In hindsight obviously would have attempted this with the engine out if I did it again. Wayyyyy too many headaches and potential gotchas with the engine in place. Not to mention cuts and bruises. Thanks to anyone that can help.

 

Here’s a pic to illustrate what I mean. The blue arrows point to the part of the head that needs to clear the chain guide, indicated by the lower blue arrow. Coming straight down with the head does not allow it to clear the guide and drop over the timing chain. And there’s no space next to the turbo to be able to move the head to the right.

 

SOOOO on the way back together I actually did not use the hoist. Go ahead and start taking steroids and lifting steel plates with straight arms today. The most terrible part of this whole process is the physical strain of moving the heads to and from the engine bay. The way I was able to do it was by setting the rear of the head down onto the block and keeping the front side up by hand while guiding the chain and its fragile guides through where they needed to go. Eventually it will drop nearly into place and then you can do your final alignment ensuring the gasket is in place. It sucks, beyond sucks, and redefines sucks. I am sorry. The key is the rotation of the head as it gets close to the guides. There's a chance you could have a second person assist with this task to reduce the strain.

 

Thanks Max.

Here I was thinking the passenger side would be the more difficult one, since it has the HPFPs and PCV/oil separator/centrifuge thing behind it - I’d left those attached and even so it was a piece of cake in comparison.

Bottom line for anyone thinking about doing this with the engine in place - don’t…unless you absolutely have no choice.

 

were you able to get it done?

 

Yeah got it done, but it was pretty difficult. Actually had to shave down the end of the plastic chain guide because I just couldn’t find the extra 1-2mm I needed to get the cylinder head over the guide.