Under plenum maintenance

[djsilverjohnson]

Wife’s E93 is at 62k and wondering how long the TA’s will last. Couple of weeks back, she tells me it’s surging at idle after a fill up, so now it needs a fuel tank vent valve. I contacted Ahmed and got a pair of MPower TA’s for “while I’m in there”. What else should I look at real hard “while I’m in there”?
Thx!

[amrazM]

If you dont want to go back under there for the next five years do the starter, idle control valve and the thermostat.

[roastbeef]

It takes about ten minutes to have the plenum off. It's not a trip to the moon. Fix the fuel vent valve and call it good.

[tdott]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

It takes about ten minutes to have the plenum off. It's not a trip to the moon. Fix the fuel vent valve and call it good.

Agreed.

If they ain't broke......

RBs are the only thing I'd be doing preventatively (aside from fluids and normal stuff), since those will cause catastrophic damage to the engine. Others can be replaced when they fail or start to give trouble and won't cause a blown motor.

[SilverSlug]

Agreed. If you already bought the TA's, I'd just save them to have them ready for if/when they go… I've heard of them lasting until 130k.

I'm at like 93k miles on original TA's.

[spammysammich]

Is there any maintenance as far as the throttle valve's themselves? Pivot points to lubricate?

[SilverSlug]

Throttle valve? Do you mean actuator?

BMW has a TSB on it, they just open them up an lubricate them with some type of lubricant.

Apparently the reason they burn out to begin with is the gears get jammed up and worn down, making it more difficult to actuate, until the motors finally burn out.

Some people preemptively replace the gears themselves with kits available online. However the kits with brass are no good, since brass develops it's unique green corrosion, which ends up jamming the gears anyway.

So, whether you do it yourself or install rebuilt TA's… Make sure it's not the ones with brass bits.

[spammysammich]

No I mean the actual valves. There are 8 no? ITB require some kind of maintenance I would think.

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by spammysammich

No I mean the actual valves. There are 8 no? ITB require some kind of maintenance I would think.

The linkage can certainly sound like it needs lubrication (try with ignition on/engine off). Lube will make dirt stick though and heard not recommended. Didn't do it yet but maybe next time plenum is off I'll give it a try.

[spammysammich]

Originally Posted by Helmsman

The linkage can certainly sound like it needs lubrication (try with ignition on/engine off). Lube will make dirt stick though and heard not recommended. Didn't do it yet but maybe next time plenum is off I'll give it a try.

Good point about lube making dirt stick. I've had throttle plates and pivot points get dirty and sticky on old Subarus. Careful application of silicone spray after a good cleaning helped. I have yet to really wrench on this engine.

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by spammysammich

Good point about lube making dirt stick. I've had throttle plates and pivot points get dirty and sticky on old Subarus. Careful application of silicone spray after a good cleaning helped. I have yet to really wrench on this engine.

Silicone spray sounds good, alternatively teflon spray which I'm using onboard the boat. Except for avoiding silicon (not good with polyester hull..) it is "dry", and very slippery.

[nick3753]

Originally Posted by djsilverjohnson

Wife’s E93 is at 62k and wondering how long the TA’s will last. Couple of weeks back, she tells me it’s surging at idle after a fill up, so now it needs a fuel tank vent valve. I contacted Ahmed and got a pair of MPower TA’s for “while I’m in there”. What else should I look at real hard “while I’m in there”?
Thx!

Spark plugs if they are close to being due. Otherwise agree with others, if it ain't broke, or nearly broke. Don't fix it.

[djsilverjohnson]

Thanks for all the comments. The original TA's may last a long time, but there's a lot of history of them acting up around 60k and didn't want to leave the wife stranded somewhere. I had already changed spark plugs and they aren't due for a while. I had already picked up the TA's and the fuel tank vent valve and didn't want to leave Ahmed hanging on the cores so I did both. I did look over the throttle linkages but didn't put anything on them, as lubricant does attract things. The only place I used anything was a little on the throttle couplings to make a good seal. No error codes on startup and took it for a ride including full throttle to make sure no code at both ends of the stroke and all is good!

[SilverSlug]

Nice. Spark plugs don't require plenum removal anyway, so no labor loss there.