Starter Motor location on E86 3.0

[Zedebee]

To be fair, the NewTIS instructions for N52 does say remove the intake plenum first, whereas for the M54 it doesn’t. Hope this helps (instructions and view of starter motor with plenum removed). Oh, and you need torx spanners for the aluminium bolts.

 

[thecremeegg]

I did mine the other day, not hard only a bit fiddly if you have big hands

 

[enuff_zed]

I did [ref]PVR[/ref]'s last Friday. Not having done one before I was expecting a struggle.
I ended up removing the air filter box complete back to the front of the sound generator, unplugged a sensor near the front top of the manifold, undid the screw securing the fuel pipe to the rear of the manifold (purely to give another inch of movement), then removed the half dozen bolts and screws securing the manifold. Nothing else needed. This gave me enough room to lift the manifold and reach in from the front to access the electrical connectors and the short mounting bolt. The long bolt was easily rreached from the rear.
Whole job took around 45 minutes which was a pleasant surprise.

Test start and it was completely dead!!

Reconnected the battery and it worked. :roll:

 

[chanlon1]

Reconnected the battery and it worked. :roll:

Must remember that last step……

 

[thecremeegg]

I did [ref]PVR[/ref]'s last Friday. Not having done one before I was expecting a struggle.
I ended up removing the air filter box complete back to the front of the sound generator, unplugged a sensor near the front top of the manifold, undid the screw securing the fuel pipe to the rear of the manifold (purely to give another inch of movement), then removed the half dozen bolts and screws securing the manifold. Nothing else needed. This gave me enough room to lift the manifold and reach in from the front to access the electrical connectors and the short mounting bolt. The long bolt was easily rreached from the rear.
Whole job took around 45 minutes which was a pleasant surprise.

Test start and it was completely dead!!

Reconnected the battery and it worked. :roll:

I've done two and you only need to remove the airbox really, but like with any job on these cars, the more you remove the easier it gets hah

 

[enuff_zed]

I did [ref]PVR[/ref]'s last Friday. Not having done one before I was expecting a struggle.
I ended up removing the air filter box complete back to the front of the sound generator, unplugged a sensor near the front top of the manifold, undid the screw securing the fuel pipe to the rear of the manifold (purely to give another inch of movement), then removed the half dozen bolts and screws securing the manifold. Nothing else needed. This gave me enough room to lift the manifold and reach in from the front to access the electrical connectors and the short mounting bolt. The long bolt was easily rreached from the rear.
Whole job took around 45 minutes which was a pleasant surprise.

Test start and it was completely dead!!

Reconnected the battery and it worked. :roll:

I've done two and you only need to remove the airbox really, but like with any job on these cars, the more you remove the easier it gets hah

If you only remove the air box how do you reach the starter connections and which way do you remove it? I can do an M54 with just the sound generator off but couldn’t see enough gap on the N52.

 

[chanlon1]

My new starter motor from Autodoc arrived today. Just need to add this to my ever growing list of things to do over winter on it.......

 

[pvr]

And it is almost spring :lol:

 

[thecremeegg]

I did [ref]PVR[/ref]'s last Friday. Not having done one before I was expecting a struggle.
I ended up removing the air filter box complete back to the front of the sound generator, unplugged a sensor near the front top of the manifold, undid the screw securing the fuel pipe to the rear of the manifold (purely to give another inch of movement), then removed the half dozen bolts and screws securing the manifold. Nothing else needed. This gave me enough room to lift the manifold and reach in from the front to access the electrical connectors and the short mounting bolt. The long bolt was easily rreached from the rear.
Whole job took around 45 minutes which was a pleasant surprise.

Test start and it was completely dead!!

Reconnected the battery and it worked. :roll:

I've done two and you only need to remove the airbox really, but like with any job on these cars, the more you remove the easier it gets hah

If you only remove the air box how do you reach the starter connections and which way do you remove it? I can do an M54 with just the sound generator off but couldn’t see enough gap on the N52.

Ah the N52 might be slightly different, I've only done it on the M54, apologies!