Replacing base gasket on 1150

[scots_jon]

Hi All,
My 1150 seems to have developed an oil leak from the base of the LHS cylinder. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence but I did gentle lay it down on that side a few weeks ago.

I've tried re-torquing the four cylinder head nuts as per the Clymer manaul but that didn't help, so I'm contemplating taking the pot off to apply new gasket material. The Clymer manual makes this sound straightforward, but I'm nervous as I've never delved that deeply into this engine before.

I've read over the manual a few times as well as Steptoes's excellent head gasket thread and it does all seem simple so I reckon I'll give it go, but would appreciate some guidance:

-Does the pot need to be completely removed to clean the old gasket material and reapply the new? I'm guessing this will be easier if I don't take the pot completely off so don't have to mess about with the rings.
-Are there any "gotchas" I need to look out for?
-Apart form the cylinder head gasket, what else should I be replacing?

All help and advice much appreciated!

Cheers,
Jon.

 

[biggles12]

Hi All,
My 1150 seems to have developed an oil leak from the base of the LHS cylinder. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence but I did gentle lay it down on that side a few weeks ago.

I've tried re-torquing the four cylinder head nuts as per the Clymer manaul but that didn't help, so I'm contemplating taking the pot off to apply new gasket material. The Clymer manual makes this sound straightforward, but I'm nervous as I've never delved that deeply into this engine before.

I've read over the manual a few times as well as Steptoes's excellent head gasket thread and it does all seem simple so I reckon I'll give it go, but would appreciate some guidance:

-Does the pot need to be completely removed to clean the old gasket material and reapply the new? I'm guessing this will be easier if I don't take the pot completely off so don't have to mess about with the rings.
-Are there any "gotchas" I need to look out for?
-Apart form the cylinder head gasket, what else should I be replacing?

All help and advice much appreciated!

Cheers,
Jon.

1 yes
2 just make sure everything is clean before fitting the new gasket
3 base gasket and exhaust etc
Adjust tappets after
Its very easy

Good luck
Pete

 

[MattW]

To save faffing with piston ring compressors etc, on other engines I've withdrawn the barrel off the piston just enough to clear the gudgeon pin. Then you can remove a pin circlip and the pin (might need to warm the piston with rags / boiling water) and remove the barrel with the piston still inside (you'll need a new circlip when you refit the pin).

However I've not tried this on a BMW - it might not be possible / worth while - others will no doubt know better

Whichever method you use be careful that the piston / conrod doesn't fall against the block when removing the barrel (pad it with rags).

 

[scots_jon]

Ok, just in case this turns up in a search soemtime, or if anyone is interested...

yes, it's possible to replace the base gasket sealing material without withdrawing the piston. You can get (just) enough clearance by withdrawing the cylinder up the piston. The bits you need ar a cyclider head gasket obviouly and the two o-rings for the oilways between the block and cylinder.

However,you probably don't need to do it. I didn't. Turns out I don't have an oil leak at all, but instead had oil sitting on top of the engine under the alternator that was running down the engine when on the sidestand. Bugger knows how it got there. I suspect that I've been clumsy at some point or overzelous with the antirust spray. Twat.

Cheers,
Jon.

 

[Keith Chapman]

I had similar symptoms and it looked like both base gaskets were leaking. I eventually found oil pooling on the top of the engine. It was caused by a loose oil temperature sender. The feed to the oil cooler which is next to the oil temp sender has an o ring, if that fails you can get oil on top of the engine too.

 

[scots_jon]

Cheers for the tip. I'll check it out. I was going to take the tank off tomorrow anyway.