Nightmare - N62 spark plugs

[Bren]

As my car never sold I thought I would spend some money on new plugs - my suspicions they had never been changed were confirmed when I pulled one last week.

£70 lighter a set of bosch were obtained and I cracked on.

Remember when Marlon Brando said " the horror - the horror" when his cork was popped in Apocalypse now? He was actually half way through changing a set of N62 plugs.

To do the offside you need to move the header tank aside to give yourself more room. The plugs themselves are quite deep and you will need various extensions and a UJ. The coils came out after a struggle - various pry bars were needed to get them going.

Due to depth at which the plugs sit you need to push them into a piece of rubber pipe ( I used fuel injection hose ) and wind them in until they start. You then pull the pipe free and use a socket to tighten.

I put some red rubber grease around the boot. Some recommend dialectric grease in the coil but I doubt any moisture or corrosion could exist as the engine gets really hot.

The plug being wound in.

 

[Bren]

The rear was enough to have you reaching for the valium - I had to move the bracket for the aircon pipes and wiggle the coil underneath to get it out. My 5" extension was too long and I had to borrow a 3" one. Some posts on internet suggest moving the engine for better access.

The nearside was a bit easier - move airbox for more access. Agiain all was ok until I got to the rear one - 

The plug is underneath the trunking from the DME - coil came out after a fight. New plug and it was all back together.

As of yet I haven't tried the car - if there are any problems I will be leaving my shoes on the beach and doing  a Reggie Perrin. It's one of those jobs nobody wants to do - access on a 6/7/X5 may well be better. Over two days it took me around five hours. My hands are mangled I am lucky I didnt lose a couple of finger nails.

I can only assume whoever signed this off at BMW had been bin bagged by his missus the night before.

Fingers crossed it starts.

[sierraman]

If you are selling it at some point just do the easy ones. 😂

[Bren]

Just now, sierraman said:

If you are selling it at some point just do the easy ones. 😂

Ten years or 100k. They will not need replacing again.

[dome]

If you think that's bad wait til it needs rocker gaskets🙈

[Bren]

1 minute ago, dome said:

If you think that's bad wait til it needs rocker gaskets🙈

They were done when the valve stem seals were replaced. Thank fook.

[SiC]

1 hour ago, Bren said:

I can only assume whoever signed this off at BMW had been bin bagged by his missus the night before.

Or won the internal BMW award for the most increase in servicing profit at dealers for long term owners. 

[New POD]

1 hour ago, dome said:

If you think that's bad wait til it needs rocker gaskets🙈

I've done both on a V6 omega plus the plugs twice. And the coil packs.

To do the plugs, you have to remove the  metal fuel pipes on one side and a mental cable tray on the other. Plus to unplug the coil packs requires magic fingers. 

To do the cam cover gaskets requires removing the inlet manifold. With seals that are NLS. 

But changing the spark plugs and coil packs stopped it throwing up engine codes. 

[Bren]

The new plugs have made a world of difference.

Car is much smoother and needs smaller applications of the throttle.

[New POD]

I've just changed the plugs (and air filter) on my astra.  Getting 44 mpg on the motorway where before I was seeing 40 mpg 

[jonny69]

I did a learn. I didn’t know about the rubber hose spark plug trick

[Bren]

4 hours ago, jonny69 said:

I did a learn. I didn’t know about the rubber hose spark plug trick

 

w

Why you need the hose - the plugs are quite deep.

[grogee]

What's an N62 in? (just so I can make a mental note never to buy one) 

[Bren]

2 hours ago, grogee said:

What's an N62 in? (just so I can make a mental note never to buy one) 

5/6/7 and X5

[Matty]

@Bren, can you link the for sale ad, can't find it by manually searching.

[RoverFolkUs]

Most BMW plugs are a nuisance, a shaved down socket and some locking wobbles/extensions make it easier 

[jonny69]

8 hours ago, Bren said:

 

w

Why you need the hose - the plugs are quite deep.

I didn’t mean just for this. I can think of all sorts of things a bit of rubber hose will help me frustratingly wiggle something into a hole too tight to be fingering around in.