Some dumbass left a washer inside the head

[Voodoo Child]

I was taking my engine apart because it suffered from the well known timing case gasket failure.  The head also needed to be resurfaced and for that the cams en valves has to be removed.
To save some money and spare the shop some time(in that order) i decided to do it myself but when i removed the cams i discovered something crazy...
One of the hydraulic tappets was missing pieces of metal on the underside...
Here's a pic of the tappet ;




As you can see all around the tappet, pieces of metal has broken off.
when the tappet is installed it can rotate so my guess was there must be something stuck underside the tappet and i was right as you can see in the picture below...



If you see something like this you wonder why how anyone could be soo dumb to left a washer in there.
If you look good you can see that the tapped has smashed into the upstanding washer and the washer is also stuck so there was enough force to smash it into the head itself.
Strange but fortunately the the valves are all ok and the rest is in pretty good shape . Since i have the car i've drove about 25.000 Km with it.
My only concern is where those pieces of metal have gone as they are not that small...
On the other hand, i've changed my oil about 3 times by now and drove many thousands of enthousiastic kilometres with this damage while the engine worked perfectly.

Forgive me if i've made some mistakes in the language, i'm from the Netherlands in Europa

[Warsteiner]

Your English is Great! You see how strong these engines are? I have never seen any thing like that before.

I'm hoping you can doing a really good visual look and just replace it. If the bucket never sat properly and got smashed then I wouldn't think that your valve did not hit your piston and should be ok!

A quick story: I bought a 318i from a guy that blew 2 huge holes (seriously ventilated) in the side of the block from a lean condition because of a rip in the intake boot, AND he still drove the car off the trailer and parked it in his back yard!! These engines are amazing.....


Good Luck with everything......

Cheers,
~Ralph

[Voodoo Child]

Thank you Ralph! And you're right these engines are very strong, when i first drove this car i was also suprised by the power of this 21 year old 4 cilinder.
My intention was to go for an e30 with a m20 2.5 but that engine is much bigger and forward placed then the M42.
And i didn't want a nose heavy car so the choice was simple

By the way when looking at your name/avatar... I know a guy that bought a warsteiner e30 M3 a couple of weeks ago.
That car is really perfect, engine with only 50.000km's , the thing looks like brand new everywhere you look.
He imported it from Germany, wich is pretty easy because they are our neighbours.(if you got a bag full of money )

these are the last pictures i've got.
This engine has 250.000 km's on it;

[DesktopDave]

Nicely done...good save on that motor.  I'm impressed by the durability of the motor, but the cooling system is seriously underdesigned, IMHO.  The plastic bits are far ahead of their time...but not nearly as durable as other solutions.

[Voodoo Child]

I've got a question and maybe one of you guys can help me...(sorry for bumping this thread up)
A week ago the engine head was rebuild, new valve seals, valve guides(dont know the excact english word for it? ) valve seats etc. There is only 1 thing wich i'm not sure it will fit...
It's called by BMW by the name ''no return valve'' and its sits in block. Or the head maybe? Anyway i read a couple of things on the net that says it doesn't really have to be there.
I assume it's not therefore bacon and beans right? That's a term in Dutch  The no return valve doesn't reallly seems to fit in the block and the gasket. If anyone have some information on this that would be great.
I'm talking about no. 9 and 10

[Warsteiner]

Yes that is what it is called. It is also sometimes called an anti-drain back valve too. It's purpose is to keep the oil up in the valve train (lifters) instead of draining down.

Cheers,
~Ralph

[Voodoo Child]

Thanks Ralph. But the only place where it seems to fit is between the second and third cilinder on top of the block when you stand on the rightside of the car.
There you can see a frazed out channel that goes to the hole of the head bolt.
From there on i don't get it... Also the frazed out channel doesn't seems deep enough for the anti drain valve. I will post some pics of the block then you can see what i mean.





There doesn't seems to be another place for that valve right? Did you put that in you car btw?  The thing itself is about 1cm high and seems double to high too fit in there...
The marked hole has also screw thread btw and it connects with the hole for head bolt wich is kinda weird.

[txleadfoot]

I purchased that valve in anticipation of having the head rebuilt.  The valve didn't exist at all my my M42's head.

[Voodoo Child]

It wasn't installed in my m42 head either... ANd the dealer forgot to order part number 10 so i'll have to wait again.
I think i'm not going to wait and just assemble the head without that valve...
Did any of you guys encountered problems without it? All i can say the engine ranned fine without it so...:confused:

[monko141]

Cancel the order.  It won't fit anyway.  From what I see in your pictures you still have the old style chain guide on the right hand side of the chain case.  It won't be that long until it disintegrates and you will be pulling the whole front of the engine off.

[Warsteiner]

This particular valve was only installed on E36 M42's as far as I know. I bought a  '94 M42 for my Stroker motor and it had the valve. I had a '91 M42 and it did not have it.

~Ralph