where the hell did my head tap fall?

Seaneezy

Corporal
Mar 12, 2018
133
34
0
Ride
e90 LCI 335i
IMG_1719.jpg

Update:
Quarantine gave me a chance to put the car back together (still with aug 2019 fuel), and on first startup I hear a grinding valvetrain noise so I immediately shut it off, I knew exactly what happened. Opened back up my valvecover to find this motherf*cker sitting happily right next to the intake cam ledge, so I assume I must have air blasted it on top of the camshaft. I looked for spring/lifter/retainer damage and couldn't find anything, no signs of metal shavings etc since the socket screw I pulled out was still in perfect shape. Will start the car again tomorrow to see how she idles. If its still rough, I'm going to tow her to my mechanic to look under the cam ledges and analyze what needs to be replaced/rebuilt since I don't have either of the tools to pull out/align the camshaft back in, as well as get him to drain out the old fuel for a pretty penny.

If she idles well, I am going to try to see if I can drive out the remaining fuel and put new fuel/stabilizer in, then send it to my mechanic for compression/leakdown tests and a second eye in general. I noticed a new oil leak from my front turbo drain line, which was OEM, so I decided to go for Rob Beck's drain line kit since the turbos are from him as well, but won't install these for a while.
 

MoistNapkin

Corporal
May 25, 2019
104
89
0
Ride
08 135i
Not gonna lie, I have one juggling around in mine right now too, searched for about 3 hours and even lifted a ledge up to peek a little.:tearsofjoy:
I've done about 30 WOT pulls so far without any death. I'm doing the valve cover today, I'll give it a second peek and see if I get lucky.
This is good forum info, you can guarantee there are others who have done this and won't be the last that do.
 

derekgates

Lieutenant
Feb 23, 2018
740
375
0
NW FL
derekgates.us
Ride
2011 335is
Holy shit! I can't believe you found that.


I, too, have had my car on jack-stands for a long while. Started far too many projects/DIYs and now a bit overwhelmed with time/box deliveries/old man body problems. :D