Oil Pan and Control Arm Bushing

Hi All,

I'm trying to extend the life of the old E30 which my son has beat to death.

I have a few questions.

#1. Front and rear suspension is totally shot. The front wheels shake when driven above 50 mph. I know for sure that the Control Arm Bushing has a LOT of slop and big gaps. Without going into major suspension repairs, I'm looking for partial repairs. How hard is it to replace the control arm bushing? The bushing itself is cheap, but how hard is it to remove the bushing from the housing? I can buy the bushing and housing as a complete set, but that is more money than I want to spend.

#2: The Guibo and Center bearing mount blew out recently. We replaced it maybe 5 years ago? How long should they last? The original lasted about 15 years. Someone here posted about a new guibo blowing out after a very short period. There was talk about it being installed incorrectly/reversed... arrow in wrong direction. I looked at the new guibo and the only arrows were at the holes showing the proper direction of the bolts. There were no arrows signifying the correct rotation... so it didn't matter which way it was turned as long as the bolts lined up with the arrows. My son and friend installed this so I assume they put it on right. I did point it out to him beforehand. Any thoughts on this?

#3. Somehow the oil pan has a crack and leaking oil badly. He says he bottomed out on a very steep/sharp road transition.. who knows. His friend told him to use JB Weld putty since removal is very difficult. I already had the stuff and he cleaned, rough sanded and applied the putty. Seems to be holding. I only had a cursory peek under the car to see what he did. Is the oil pan aluminum? If not, I would assume it can be welded once the oil is drained. Yes/No/Maybe?

Thanks,
Peter



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2011 03:10PM by sdp.

Hi Peter, That was my bad luck in not telling (I usually give a print-out) my mechanic the deal about the arrows on the guibo. It's a matter of bolt direction and flange mating not rotation but I can make it more simple with a picture tomorrow from the shop. If the guibo is installed wrong it rips in no time.

The oil pan is tricky because it's hard to clean the alloy (especially in the crack) so you get a good fix with the JB weld. I've used this stuff and had some amazing results on alloy oil pans. If you have some patients and an air compressor (it doesn't have to be a big one, canned air might even work) you can tilt the car so oil can't run in to your repair and wash it with thinner and follow up with alcohol (it has to be 99% stuff, rubbing alcohol has oil in it) and blow the crack many times (rough up the surface around the repair before hand) and after cleaning 4-5 times put your JB weld on right away so the oil doesn't have a chance to seep in to your crack. Make sure the room is warm but don't put heat on your repair area; that will make the oil travel in to the crack that much faster!

Good Luck, Rick

The first tool you need is a Bentley service manual for 1984 to 1990 BMW 3 series. Amazon has them.

The drive shaft is a bit finicky to reassemble correctly. Those arrows on the Guibo are supposed to point forward. Replacing the center bearing is discussed in detail in the Bentley.
The control arm bushings are a pain in the neck to do without a press. I used Armorall to lube them to get the arms into them. The Bentley tells how to do it.

The repairs you have described are not expensive or difficult. You are doing this repair so you can drive the car yourself I hope. I know what you are going through, when my boys borrow mine the stuff in the trunk is all slid to new locations. It really torques my jaws. They do not know what it costs them to do that in good will.

Bob in Lake Havasu

Hi Rick,

Nah.. No picture needed. The instructions showed the arrows and bolts lining up.. It just seemed that there was too much info and also showed the rotation. Half the info that they pointed out was unnecessary and only created confusion. I can only hope the boys put it on correctly. I had a fight with my son because he has been driving the car for almost a month with a blown guibo and center mount. I refused to fix it. He's always "busy". But ... when he gets stranded somewhere with his "busy" schedule... who's he going to call? Most of this "busy" schedule is BS'ing with friends.. Messed up priorities.

Well my son did use rubbing alcohol... I didn't really think much about the purity of the alcohol. The compressed air is a good idea... He did have it on a ramp with the oil drained AND with the garage open on a cold cold night. We'll see if his work holds up. Did you use the putty version of JB Weld?

Thanks,
Peter

Hi Bob,

This guibo had arrows pointing in each direction. One for each hole.. front, back, front, back... all the way around. I guess different manufacturers have different markings. I should have posted a PDF of the instructions for reference.

I was hoping a press wouldn't be necessary for the bushings.. it means I have to take the housings somewhere and that means my sons "busy" schedule would be impacted. OR buy the pre-fitted bushing/housing.

Nope, the car is no longer my ride.. it's my sons. I bought a E90 6 yrs ago after the head cracked. I never did a major repair like that so I just abandoned it at my dad's ranch. We fixed it ourselves when my son needed a car. It was in decent shape, but he's really run it down with 2 crunched fenders. I just want to keep the car going with minimal expenditures. I don't have the money to buy him another car or put a lot of money into this one especially if his interest level is low. As an unemployed college student he should be more interested since he needs this ride in order to keep up with his "busy" schedule. You just can't win.

I actually found a beautiful red 325is (like mine) at a dismantler's website a couple of yrs ago. I think it's manufacture date was even in the same month as mine. I wanted pull the fenders and other parts. Apparently something in the dash overheated and caught on fire. The entire dash was burnt out.. otherwise the rest of the car was beautiful.... but when I called they already striped what they needed and sent the car to the crusher...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2011 10:08PM by sdp.

Quote
sdp
#2: The Guibo and Center bearing mount blew out recently. We replaced it maybe 5 years ago? How long should they last? The original lasted about 15 years. Someone here posted about a new guibo blowing out after a very short period. There was talk about it being installed incorrectly/reversed... arrow in wrong direction. I looked at the new guibo and the only arrows were at the holes showing the proper direction of the bolts. There were no arrows signifying the correct rotation... so it didn't matter which way it was turned as long as the bolts lined up with the arrows. My son and friend installed this so I assume they put it on right. I did point it out to him beforehand. Any thoughts on this?

The arrows on the guibo do alternate pointing forward, back, forward, etc. Regarding the proper orientation of the guibo, see this previous post: http://bmwe30network.net/forums/read.php?3,8273,8298#msg-8298

You cannot fit the bolts through from the transmission side as they're too long. So the correct order of installation is important too.

First bolt the guibo to the driveshaft flange, with the bolts running back through the guibo and into the driveshaft flange with the corresponding arrows pointing back at the driveshaft flange. Then bring the driveshaft with guibo attached up against the transmission flange, running the bolts forward through the guibo into the transmission flange in the direction indicated by the arrows on the guibo.

See this photo from the Pelican Parts Tech article. The red arrow points to the "arrow" (actually a triangle) moulded into the rubber of the guibo. Bolts are installed running through pointed in the direction of the triangle.



Note also, as Rick has pointed out, how the guibo is substantially thicker in the section between the two bolts above the red arrow in this photo, compared to the thinner section between the two bolts below the red arrow. This is the correct orientation.

It is possible to install the guibo incorrectly, i.e. rotated one bolt hole further up or down. You could still run the bolts through the driveshaft flange and through the guibo following the direction of the moulded arrow. But it would be impossible to then run the other bolts in the direction of the moulded arrows from the transmission side through the back side of the transmission flange and out through the guibo.

That's how, by ensuring the bolts are inserted in the directions of the moulded arrows, the guibo will always go on the correct way.

Here's another photo from the Pelican Tech article showing the original failed guibo being removed (ignore the yellow arrow). Note how the bolts are ALL running the same direction, pointing forward toward the transmission. However, note also that the guibo orientation of the thicker vs thinner sections still corresponds with the correct orientation of the replacement guibo shown in the first photo above.



The thick vs thin sections are still in the correct orientation, so that's not what caused that guibo to fail. The problem with running the driveshaft flange bolts in this direction is the danger of them eventually seizing into the metal sleeves running through the guibo. There is evidence of chalky white corrosion on the bolts as shown. Had they been stuck tight in the guibo's metal sleeves, the bolts would have been a bitch to pull out through the driveshaft flange.

Quote
Ferdinand

Quote
sdp
#2: The Guibo and Center bearing mount blew out recently. We replaced it maybe 5 years ago? How long should they last? The original lasted about 15 years. Someone here posted about a new guibo blowing out after a very short period. There was talk about it being installed incorrectly/reversed... arrow in wrong direction. I looked at the new guibo and the only arrows were at the holes showing the proper direction of the bolts. There were no arrows signifying the correct rotation... so it didn't matter which way it was turned as long as the bolts lined up with the arrows. My son and friend installed this so I assume they put it on right. I did point it out to him beforehand. Any thoughts on this?

The arrows on the guibo do alternate pointing forward, back, forward, etc. Regarding the proper orientation of the guibo, see this previous post: http://bmwe30network.net/forums/read.php?3,8273,8298#msg-8298

You cannot fit the bolts through from the transmission side as they're too long. So the correct order of installation is important too.

First bolt the guibo to the driveshaft flange, with the bolts running back through the guibo and into the driveshaft flange with the corresponding arrows pointing back at the driveshaft flange. Then bring the driveshaft with guibo attached up against the transmission flange, running the bolts forward through the guibo into the transmission flange in the direction indicated by the arrows on the guibo.

See this photo from the Pelican Parts Tech article. The red arrow points to the "arrow" (actually a triangle) moulded into the rubber of the guibo. Bolts are installed running through pointed in the direction of the triangle.



Note also, as Rick has pointed out, how the guibo is substantially thicker in the section between the two bolts above the red arrow in this photo, compared to the thinner section between the two bolts below the red arrow. This is the correct orientation.

It is possible to install the guibo incorrectly, i.e. rotated one bolt hole further up or down. You could still run the bolts through the driveshaft flange and through the guibo following the direction of the moulded arrow. But it would be impossible to then run the other bolts in the direction of the moulded arrows from the transmission side through the back side of the transmission flange and out through the guibo.

That's how, by ensuring the bolts are inserted in the directions of the moulded arrows, the guibo will always go on the correct way.

Here's another photo from the Pelican Tech article showing the original failed guibo being removed (ignore the yellow arrow). Note how the bolts are ALL running the same direction, pointing forward toward the transmission. However, note also that the guibo orientation of the thicker vs thinner sections still corresponds with the correct orientation of the replacement guibo shown in the first photo above.



The thick vs thin sections are still in the correct orientation, so that's not what caused that guibo to fail. The problem with running the driveshaft flange bolts in this direction is the danger of them eventually seizing into the metal sleeves running through the guibo. There is evidence of chalky white corrosion on the bolts as shown. Had they been stuck tight in the guibo's metal sleeves, the bolts would have been a bitch to pull out through the driveshaft flange.

Ferdinand is right on, as usual. These guibos can't stand to be mounted wrong. it's a good idea to check the center bearing too; the one in the nose of the shaft by the guibo.

I guess for now, it is what it is... I'm not in the mood to get under the greasy pit under there especially since it has that drum around it. I'll assume the boys put it on right.. I'm wondering if we put it on INCORRECTLY 5 years ago, hence it only lasted 5 years.

I guess I had better luck with my boys and cars. They had to save up some money and buy the one they could afford. Only one of them was not able to maintain his own machine. He is more of a computer wizard so not as motivated with the greasy stuff. When it came to insurance, I made it clear that I was not buying any for the car, just liability. If they wrecked it, the penalty was the car. It was a random success as there were no wrecks and only a few speeding tickets.

They had jobs and income so car repairs were theirs (for the most part).

I did notice that when they drove my car the gas mileage was about 2/3 of when I was driving it. It did not seem to occur to them to put some gas in it to cover up their bad habits.

Bob in Lake Havasu

Quote
Bob in Everett
I guess I had better luck with my boys and cars. They had to save up some money and buy the one they could afford. Only one of them was not able to maintain his own machine. He is more of a computer wizard so not as motivated with the greasy stuff. When it came to insurance, I made it clear that I was not buying any for the car, just liability. If they wrecked it, the penalty was the car. It was a random success as there were no wrecks and only a few speeding tickets.

They had jobs and income so car repairs were theirs (for the most part).

I did notice that when they drove my car the gas mileage was about 2/3 of when I was driving it. It did not seem to occur to them to put some gas in it to cover up their bad habits.

I agree Bob; my kids had to work hard to afford their first car (both Bmw's). One, the younger one was driving cars at about ten but the older one didn't even want to drive. They both are driving many years now and are totally in charge of everything. I think what I want to say is, I've never made too easy for either one; they had to earn it once that happened everything fell in to place for them, and their cars... Rick