Drilling out broken diesel injector from Cylinder head BMW M57

[stuvy]

For the time it takes, why bother about buying another - unless necessary? Second hand, maybe, but I am doubting a reconditioned unit - do you have a link to a source?

I don’t work with cars full time anymore(haven’t for a good few years) but we would get heads sent in all the time for lots of different cars

I can ask the ex boss but 99% of the parts were eBay or a local motor factors

 

[stuvy]

Still waiting for a link. I simply don’t believe a recon head would be only £80.

Op said a second hand one was £80

Don’t need to be a keyboard warrior over me typing recon when I meant second hand
Let me know when your off this

 

[Franknstein]

UPDATE:
Ok, so I finally had a chance to mess with this yesterday (and gather the courage!).

I decided to go with my original idea of the 16.5mm cobalt blacksmith bit using my guide - however I modified the guide a bit to be more supportive. I found an internal sleeve from an old air fitting in my box of odds and ends, reamed it out to 12.7mm on my fobco press and welded it onto the plate. Worked out pretty well as a guide. I used my dewalt cordless drill and went at it. The guide was helpful to an extent as it kept it central to start, however It seemed to very quickly blunt the end tips of the bit, I kept at it with the guide for a bit, resharpening on the bench grinder and repeating. Eventually I got rid of the guide and I think that was more helpful in the end as tipping the drill to even a slight angle would allow it to cut a lot better for some reason.
In terms of swarf management I cut the injector nozzle shorted with a grinder, slathered it in grease and dropped it down the hole. After drilling for 20 seconds or so I'd vacuum out any swarf and then repeat.

As I got down past the thin sleeve, I had to remove the nozzle as it was interfering with the drilling process, I then vacuumed again and pumped a little grease into the hole. I grinded the tip off the drill bit to make it flat at the end which allowed me to drill without breaching the copper washer, or worse - the cylinder head.

ANyways, after a couple hours of this I finally got the remnants out - my hope was the drill bit would catch the piece and I could pull it out, alas this did not happen in my case - it really was in there - eventually knocking a small flathead between the wall and the sleeve released it and I pulled it out with a pair of very long nose pliers.

I've ordered a used injector, and I'll be reassembling as I get time.
Also going to ream the sealing surfaces with a reaming kit I've ordered.
I've also photographed what is left of the valve cover gasket, which turned to plastic after 253,000miles - the reason I had to remove the injectors in the first place.
Look, this car is well used, and not worth me investing in doing a head job - besides, I'm tired of doing BMW head gasket jobs, I've done a load of them over the years!
We'll see what happens. If my engine is destroyed after the process I'll probably just part the car out.

Thanks for everyone's input on this. I'll keep you all posted as to whether I get the car going again.
Have a great day everyone.

 

[arther dailey]

think you did great there personally , victory

 

[tom2207]

well done ,,, a lot to be said for patience and perseverance .. a bit of cunning goes a long way too ...

 

[Leecapri83]

Done real well there, well done.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

a lot to be said for patience and perseverance

I last heard that said in an entirely different context, but with "and a little olive oil" added on the end....but we'll not go there!

 

[Franknstein]

UPDATE 2:
Right so spent Saturday putting the car back together. Fired her up, a little bit of smoke initially for a few seconds, as to be expected as it burnt away some of the carb cleaner and grease, after a few seconds exhaust burning perfectly clean. Been driving all weekend and all is good - no smoking or anything even when I give her the boot.

Funny thing though is what I found whilst cleaning up the injector seat on cylinder 3 - Cylinder 6 is the one I drilled out, but I noticed injector number 3 had a different model number to the other 5 injectors, so I know someone has been in there before - anways, when I removed the copper washer on cylinder 3 I found two rather deep grooves - looks to me like damage from a flat-head screwdriver by the previous owner! It was clearly leaking on this cylinder too by the looks of the black death around the injector. I then looked more closely at the washer - see the pic! Anyways, the two grooves were probably about 0.4 deep or so, so I thought what have a I got to lose and put my injector reamer into my drill and went to town until I couldn't see the grooves anymore... I know this will bring the injector down into the cylinder and mess with the combustion - but I'd rather risk that than have it leaking... could have used a thicker washer if I could find one - alas, I didn't. Anyways, all seems good with the car, runs fine and in fact seems to idle a little smoother and quieter too now.

 

[arther dailey]

excellent result , I didnt think for one moment you would be able to keep from going off line while boring the ali head being so soft and injector so hard , couldnt have been more wrong and happy to admit it.

 

[Franknstein]

excellent result , I didnt think for one moment you would be able to keep from going off line while boring the ali head being so soft and injector so hard , couldnt have been more wrong and happy to admit it.

Technically it didn't drill perfectly centred, it drifted about 0.5mm to the one side, but good enough to get the job done!

 

[armalites]

Fair play, that looks like something that could be refined into something you could make some money out of.

 

[roofman]

UPDATE 2:
Right so spent Saturday putting the car back together. Fired her up, a little bit of smoke initially for a few seconds, as to be expected as it burnt away some of the carb cleaner and grease, after a few seconds exhaust burning perfectly clean. Been driving all weekend and all is good - no smoking or anything even when I give her the boot.

Funny thing though is what I found whilst cleaning up the injector seat on cylinder 3 - Cylinder 6 is the one I drilled out, but I noticed injector number 3 had a different model number to the other 5 injectors, so I know someone has been in there before - anways, when I removed the copper washer on cylinder 3 I found two rather deep grooves - looks to me like damage from a flat-head screwdriver by the previous owner! It was clearly leaking on this cylinder too by the looks of the black death around the injector. I then looked more closely at the washer - see the pic! Anyways, the two grooves were probably about 0.4 deep or so, so I thought what have a I got to lose and put my injector reamer into my drill and went to town until I couldn't see the grooves anymore... I know this will bring the injector down into the cylinder and mess with the combustion - but I'd rather risk that than have it leaking... could have used a thicker washer if I could find one - alas, I didn't. Anyways, all seems good with the car, runs fine and in fact seems to idle a little smoother and quieter too now.

View attachment 368712

Yes i wish lads would not try dig them copper washers out with sharp flat tools...they ding them then after still not getting them out they leave them in sealing surface gone for ever. All they need is a red hot iron tip on them for 30 seconds and 120 psi air with a blow gun to lift them off the seat.

 

[Ruffian]

Yes i wish lads would not try dig them copper washers out with sharp flat tools...they ding them then after still not getting them out they leave them in sealing surface gone for ever. All they need is a red hot iron tip on them for 30 seconds and 120 psi air with a blow gun to lift them off the seat.

Always found that a made tool worked well.
Just welded a m10 bolt to a piece of threaded bar.
Grind end into slight taper, and wind it into the copper washer. Then clamp mole grips onto threaded and tap out with hammer.

 

[Melvyn Best]

Yes i wish lads would not try dig them copper washers out with sharp flat tools...they ding them then after still not getting them out they leave them in sealing surface gone for ever. All they need is a red hot iron tip on them for 30 seconds and 120 psi air with a blow gun to lift them off the seat.

I used to struggle sometimes trying to get injector seals out until I got myself a small slide hammer with a tapered thread that screwed into the seal , a few light taps and the seal is out . I did shorten the shaft to allow better access on some cars

 

[premmington]

If the head gasket, bolts, new injector etc had been ordered Friday from local factors . . . head off saturday morning . . . abuse with punched, chisels, hammers, blowtorches, extractors etc saturday afternoon, into sunday . . . pick up gaskets monday lunchtime . . . drop head off for skim . . . if lucky like my local, hang around while done . . . head back on by Monday evening . . . celebratory blast around block this morning . . . ?

Or am I lucky to drive a Lancia, or a Dodge, where parts arrive within 24hrs?

(well, okay, 72 hrs from Arizona in the case of the Dodge)

I learnt a long time ago, the chances of a bigger cock-up (and therefore more unnecessary expense and wasted time - something I'm allergic to) when trying short cuts, bodge jobs etc tend to get quite high . . .

"I learnt a long time ago, the chances of a bigger cock-up (and therefore more unnecessary expense and wasted time - something I'm allergic to) when trying short cuts, bodge jobs etc tend to get quite high . . ."

Oh wise words - gained by bitter experience

 

[Melvyn Best]

This is the type of seal removing tool I have

 

[premmington]

This is the type of seal removing tool I have

View attachment 368795

I got one of them too - they work OK - till the thread wears out just at the diameter - ID of the sealing ring. Cheap enough just have to buy another (like a consumable).