BMW S54B32 (aka S54) DIY: Valve Adjustment

[JeST]

I will try my best to make this one of the most thorough valve adjustment DIY tutorial made. Some of the pics taken didn't come out the best but I will be adding more pictures when doing the next valve adjustment. For those that have experience with the s54 valve adjustment feel free to leave any comments on whatever you may feel I've left out.

Alot of people feel a bit intimidated when it comes to performing a valve adjustment, but it's easier then most think. It's by far not a tough job but it can be very easy to mess up. Always double check your work, do not rush, and record your work. While performing the adjustment if there's any questions feel free to either pm me or post it here.

Early model vehicles with the S54, such as the 2001 E46 M3, unfortunately do NOT have the screen preventing anything from dropping into the oil gallery (pictured below), because of this continue at your own risk. 2001-2003.5 M3's have a simpler oil recirculation plastic hose. While 2004+ have a more complex hose which will be somewhat in the way of the duration of the valve adjustment. Not a big deal. Just thought I'd mention this if you were wondering why yours is pictured differently.

TOOLS NEEDED:
1. 32mm fan wrench
2. 1/4" Ratchet
3. 3/8" Ratchet
4. 19mm socket, 18mm socket, 13mm socket, 10mm deep socket, 8mm socket, T27 torx socket, spark plug socket
5. Pick
6. Expansion clip screw driver
7. Small prybar
8. Paper towels
9. Assortment of lights and magnets (just in case)

SPECIAL TOOLS NEEDED:
1. Micrometer (one that reads at least to hundredths)
2. Shim installer/Magnetic pickup tool BMW Part #90-88-6-114-400
3. Valve Shim Kit BMW Part #11-34-0-031-525
4. .20mm (exhaust side) & .15mm (intake side) Feeler Gauges. Preferably "L" shaped.
It's not necessary to purchase the valve shim kit if you plan on making this a weekend job. While checking shims you can write the ones needed down on paper and purchase them up individually through a dealer. You do however run the risk of waiting for shims if that dealer runs out of that size.

Miscellaneous Gaskets and rings needed:
1. Valve Cover gasket BMW Part #11-12-7-832-034
2. Spark Plug gaskets BMW Part #11-12-7-831-271 (6 of these)
3. Rubber grommets BMW Part #11-12-1-437-395 (2 of these)
4. Rubber grommets BMW Part #11-12-7-830-972 (13 of these)
5. Copper O rings BMW Part #07-11-9-963-129 (2 of these)

Before we continue to the tutorial just a few things to keep in mind. The motor absolutely positively 100% has to be cold (heat causes expansion thus giving improper readings). Some say you can do it after 4 hours of sitting. I, however, disagree. Before I perform a valve adjustment I like the car untouched overnight. Make sure the car is in neutral (otherwise the car will be moving when you're walking the motor). Do this indoors ala garage. If you do not have the luxury of having indoor space to do this you run the risk of getting caught in rain and other poor weather conditions.

Because I'm OCD I'm going to label each step.

Step 1:
M3 parked overnight inside the garage with ample lighting


Step 2:
Tools laid out ready to go




Step 3:
Unclip the wire holder infront of the cabin filter tray and pull the wires out of the holder



Step 4:
Disassemble cabin filter tray. Untwist the 3 knobs 90 degrees till they release.



Step 5:
Remove the 4 T27 torx screws holding the cabin filter tray in place. Pull up and out (make sure all cables were unclipped





Step 6:
Remove the battery power line (19mm socket) Move the power cable to the driverside (out of the way for the adjustment)



Step 7:
Remove the center piece strut bar (4 x 13mm nuts from the center section if its an oem piece). If it's an aftermarket one piece strut bar... your camber will be thrown into positive readings once the strut brace is removed.



This is what your engine bay should look like so far


Step 8:
Pop up the recirc hose and pull up (NOT OFF just up a bit as pictured). For those 2001-2003.5's you can simply pop up the clip and twist it out of the way.




Step 9:
Remove the 6 x 10mm nuts holding the cover for the valve cover on and remove the cover.




Step 10:
Unclip the 2 clips holding the post o2 sensors in place. There are no other ways around the o2 sensors except taping them off to the side. On this specific car the owner extended the post o2 sensors to the drivers side to accommodate the euro csl header/cats setup he has so we didn't have that problem.


Step 11:
Remove the 2 x 8mm bolts holding the coilpack harness in place, unclip the harness from the coilpacks and remove the 13mm bolt for the ground. Now you'll be able to move the harness to the driverside along with the battery power cable. Pull the pre o2 sensors and other wires out of the way (behind the valve cover.







Step 12:
Pull out the coilpacks and remove the spark plugs. The coilpacks have quite a bit of suction holding them down. I've found that using a screwdriver or an extension to help with pulling them out to be a lot easier. The plastic will not break.
**Important note**
After removing every sprak plug PLUG up the hole with a paper towel. Doing so will help in preventing anything from dropping into the cylinder while still allowing for us to walk the motor to do the adjustment.





Step 13:
Remove the oil feed banjo bolt. Upon reinstallation absolutely make positive not to overtighten. First there is no need to as there are 2 copper orings on both sides of the bolt. Second the material between the holes are very thin and over tightening will cause the head to break off. Use the same caution as if you were reinstalling a drain plug. I use a pick to catch the copper o ring on the inside and to reinstall.





Step 14:
Remove the 15 x 10mm bolts holding down the valve cover. The 2 in the front corners will require a deep socket. Remove valve cover.







The S54 in all its glory.


The screen I mentioned 2001 M3 S54's do not have:


Step 15:
Now using the 32mm fan wrench walk the motor counter-clockwise. In order to adjust the valve you'll want to get the intake camshaft lobe and the exhaust camshaft lobe mirror image of each other. This isn't bringing that cylinder to top dead center but the profile of the cam is the same by doing this as if it were at top dead center. The reason for this is to make the job faster.





Step 16:
Now it's time to adjust the valves. Use the .15mm feeler gauge for the intake side and the .20mm feeler gauge for the exhaust side.





You're basically checking to see if the valve shim is either too loose or too tight. If the feeler gauge doesn't/can't slide in between the rocker arm and camshaft the person who did the adjustment previously put an excessively large shim in. The shims, for the most part, are sized in increments of .04 hundredths. If the size is too large or too small go to the next size shim accordingly.

Now if you use your feeler gauge and it feels loose (the feeler gauge is sliding in/out without any resistance) it's time to bump up to the next size shim.

Step 17:
Remove the clip holding the rocker arms in place. Then slide the rocker arm out of the way. If the rocker arm doesn't slide off you need to change your oil more frequently OR you're using the wrong oil.



In this pick with the rocker arm off you can see the shim sitting on top of the valve spring/valve (albeit blurred)


Step 18:
Using the magnetic pickup tool remove the shim. Apologies on the bad pic. Couldn't get at a good angle showing everything. Check the size of the shim with your micrometer.



Before reinstalling everything double check your work. Move the rocker arm back over the shim and check again with the feeler gauge. If the feeler gauge doesn't fit in the shim is too large and you'll have to revert back to the one you took out (which is a good reason not to discard the shim).

The valve shims in cylinder 5 and 6 can be a bit tricky to get to but take your time, use proper lighting, and might take a bit contorting of your head but there accessible.

Last Step:
After you're finished with the adjustments, lube up the new profile gasket and the 6 spark plug gaskets and install. The profile gasket has dowels that fit into holes around the mating surface. Make sure to have these fitted/pushed into place. Also where the vanos meets the head there's a crevice. The gasket should technically be ok in sealing this area but I like to use rtv gasket silicone to further aid in sealing the area.





side note: the back half of the gasket are half crescent moon shaped. When you place the gasket down it'll seem like it too much material (won't seat against the mating surface). This is perfectly normal and will be taken care of once you start bolting down the 13mm bolts for the valve cover.

Again, if there are any questions or anything you want me to further explain please feel free to post up.

[JeST]

If anyone was wondering why I have expansion clip screw driver listed but not used I unfortunately didn't get a chance to take pics of how to remove the front intake shroud along with the fan shroud. On the next job I'll get some detailed pics of it.

I'm thinking of possibly putting this into a video.

[kuschmi]

Thanks .Pete, Nice job, answered all my questions.

[Joey]

Excellent job, Pete! This will be very useful to members

[Viper7180]

Great write up Pete. Thanks again for the valve adjustment lesson. The job was so much easier the second time around.

[JeST]

No worries Dan. Thanks for letting me use your car for the write-up.

[bmwm3smg2]

Hi Pete. Great job on the DIY. I'm gonna be doing this sometime soon.

- Erwin

[JeST]

Erwin! Glad to see you on here. If you need anything further then the DIY let me know.

[bmwm3smg2]

Will do. Thanks.

- Erwin

[JeST]

Finished up ~6 more valve adjustments since this. If there's anything specific let me know.

[Joey]

Finished up ~6 more valve adjustments since this. If there's anything specific let me know.

That's where you are getting all of this money for your news toys! I need some more side work

[JeST]

After doing 70+ valve adjustments I just rely on word of mouth now

[bmwm3smg2]

Thanks again Pete for the valve adjustment. It was a lot easier than I thought. Car runs great once again.

[matm3]

Great write up, this will come in handy this weekend.
Ive always heard rotating the engine counter clockwise was a bad idea. What are your thoughts on that?

[JeST]

Spin the clutch fan (32mm) counterclockwise only. Not clockwise. If you run into any issues give me a pm and if you really need the extra help in a bind I'll send my cell #

[matm3]

all done, went smoothly thanks for the help!

[matm3]

As soon as I was done doing the valve adjustment i drove the car around and got it up to normal operating temperature. It drove smoother than before and heard no abnormal noises.

The next day i took the car out again and started smelling something burning. I looked under the hood and saw smoke and what looks like burnt oil on the exhaust side around cylinder 3. My assumption is that my valve cover gasket isnt seated right. Any tips for getting the sit right? Can I put the rtv gasket silicone all the way around it?

Is there anything else I should look for? I was pretty meticulous about measuring and putting in the shims. If the clearances were too small or too big Id hear some noise with the valves right?
Im just worried its something other than the gasket and i cant look until it cools down.

[JeST]

Common misshaps could be not noticing an old gasket and "double-gasketing". Looks like it's leaking from one of the 15 bolts holding the valve cover down. Remove the valve cover and go from there. As for the RTV silicone you only need 2 dab that in 2 places which is where the vanos unit meets the head. Besides that you don't need it anywhere else.

ps. If it was leaking from the valve cover gasket it shouldn't be leaking from above it.

[matm3]

Double gasket, god i feel like an idiot.
Spent too much time worrying about my measurements.

[JeST]

At least it's a simple fix

[EYEHAVEYOU]

A little confused on the measurement piece. You say to use the .15 and .20 feeler gauges, but I believe the intake should be between .18 - .23 and the exhaust should be between .28 and .33, am I missing something?