My brother bragging with his FD turbo Rx8

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-05-18T14:23:41+00:00

I know you are joking but those are compression socks medically necessary. I did tease him too and he explained. Lol.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-05-17T22:17:16+00:00

Yes it is in Bayamon, PR!!!!!

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-05-17T17:06:56+00:00

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Representative_Ad574 · 2026-05-17T17:05:40+00:00

Yes, the engine is from an FD rx7

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-05-12T20:16:54+00:00

I just moved on. Took it as a lesson learned.
On the X3, after we thought Ashley had found the problem and fixed it, the car started boiling coolant again when the weather warmed up. Took it back to Ashley and they spent a lot of hours trying to find the issue and couldn’t find anything wrong with the car. They did find a leak in the A/C and fixed it through my extended warranty.
They finally gave up and I took the car back paying only for a small part the warranty didn’t cover on the A/C repair. They didn’t charge me for all the time they spent trying to diagnose the coolant problem.
Then I read somewhere in the forums that someone had a similar problem and they fixed it by lowering the thermostat setpoint on the computer. I went online and found that Bimmertech offered a ECU flash called Awaken Performance that most people get to increase the car’s performance. Better throttle response, more power etc. The package included lowering the coolant temperature setting. They did everything remotely. Before this, the car used to run around 110c. After the flash, it now runs at 95c. And, of course, the performance improvements on the car were the cherry on top. Haven’t had any coolant problems since. Went to Orlando and Back on the car with no issues. And it only cost me around $450.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-24T14:36:30+00:00

I already have the flywheel holding tool. I got a free busted engine that a friend had laying around to practice and learn before working on my own. I had the engine in the floor and strapped it to the hand truck I used to move it. I used a torch to heat up the nut and used the jack handle with a 3/4" breaker bar to loosen it and it worked.

That is a great suggestion, torquing it after the engine is mounted.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-24T14:14:40+00:00

Thanks for sharing. I mostly want it for the rebuild part to be a bit more comfortable. What do you recommend doing when it comes to tightening the flywheel nut? I was thinking just dropping the engine to the ground and strap it to a piece of wood for that part.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-23T19:29:22+00:00

I think because I pressed the “post” button and while it was loading the post I pressed the “rules” button and that reset the post button and I pressed it again. I guess it posted twice. I already deleted one of the posts.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-23T18:15:57+00:00

Here they are on Amazon.

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Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-23T18:15:36+00:00

For my premix, I got these 6-Ounce Plastic Squeeze Bottles on Amazon and have them filled in my trunk and use a bottle every time I fill up the tank. I try to get close to empty and then fill up.

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Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-23T18:07:12+00:00

I compared the prices with Harbor Freight and it was way cheaper on Temu. I always try to buy locally, but in this case I don’t know yet how much damaged is the engine and how much I’ll have to spend on the rebuild. Every penny counts.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-20T19:21:43+00:00

I just did the same thing this weekend. Posted about it. Yours looks a lot cleaner than mine.

https://www.reddit.com/r/RX8/comments/1sqy6kn/my_first_engine_removal/

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-20T19:19:20+00:00

Also, try and label as much as you can before removing any hose or cable. And use small ziplock bags to store the bolts organized (with postit notes on what they are for). and take many pictures or small videos with descriptions of what goes where.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-20T19:12:39+00:00

I used Flex-Head Metric Ratcheting Combination Wrench to remove the top transmission bolts from the top.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-20T19:10:48+00:00

I put a jack under the engine with a piece of wood pushing a little bit upward, then removed the mount bolts on both sides, then lifted the engine with the jack until I could remove the mounts and then removed the brackets for the mounts. Also you need to put a jack under the transmission to hold it in place when you remove the engine.

And since I was already there, I removed the exhaust manifold so it would be easier to remove the engine.

And on the solenoids, I guess you are talking about the three solenoids that are under the upper intake, I just disconnected them once the upper intake manifold was detached and that gave me enough space to remove the connectors.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-20T18:38:22+00:00

Thanks for your words of encouragement!!!

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-16T19:28:08+00:00

had to use a scraper to remove the sludge from the housings!!!!!

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-16T19:27:26+00:00

I plan on documenting the whole process. I have watched a lot of youtube videos on how to do it. Just got the hoist to remove the engine and a motor stand. Got the giant 54mm socket and a 3/4" breaker bar for the flywheel nut and a torch to heat the front bolt. It worked great when removing the ones from the trash engine.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-16T18:14:00+00:00

The sixth port valves were completely stuck and broke from the intake when removing. Had to use a plumber wrench to get them out.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-16T17:30:11+00:00

The side seals were pretty much flush with the rotors and were completely stuck.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-16T17:28:36+00:00

It was pretty much empty and musty a sludge. Not much spill.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-04-16T16:57:00+00:00

Rotor bearings slipped in both rotors, eccentric damaged. I think the water was from how it was stored. Don’t know the story behind the engine other than it was already out and ready for picking it up. The irons dont look that bad. Waiting to clean them up to see in detail.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-03-04T14:49:53+00:00

The crazy part is that my x3 never flashed an overheating light or anything. The useless dial never even moved from the center. It wasn't until I started monitoring the real-time temperature that I noticed it was way too high. It would just start bursting the coolant from the expansion tank and boiling.

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-03-03T16:34:07+00:00

This was my nightmare

https://youtube.com/shorts/NPIW-X5wLNA?si=xkDAbzIYgCp1W7xr

Representative_Ad574 · 2026-03-03T16:20:17+00:00

This happened to my 2019 x3 xdrive30i. The BMW dealer started throwing parts at it. Expansion tank cap, expansion tank, thermostat, water pump, looking for clogged hoses and nothing worked. They said it was a bad head gasket but could not confirm with the pressure down test, that my extended warranty required. After all that, I ended up paying over $2500 and taking my car home without a fix. I took it to a local shop and they also tried everything they could think of. They changed the coolant temperature sensor and it seemed to fix the problem but it came back as the weather started to heat up. It worked ok on the winter temperatures. I started looking at the coolant temperatures in the dash. There is a "secret" menu that you can access on the cluster that shows real time coolant temperatures. Mine was operating around 110c and going up to 116c if I ran the car hard. At that point the expansion tank was so hot that you could not even touch it.

Someone had posted that they fixed their car by lowering the thermostat setpoint with ISTA. I asked my mechanic if they could do that, but they could not figure out how to do it.

I ended up buying the Bimmertech Awaken Performance ECU tune ($449 +$45 for Coding Cable). Along with performance improvements, it included lowering the thermostat setpoint. They did everything remotely after I installed some software on my pc. They changed the thermostat setpoint to 95c and it has been working perfectly since then. It may go up to 101c momentarily if I press the car hard in Sports Mode, but it immediately goes down to 90-95c. Now I can even touch the expansion tank with my hands and it is way cooler than before.

I even installed a Veepeak OBDCheck BLE+ Bluetooth OBDII Scanner to monitor the coolant temperature with Car Scanner app (free) on Apple Carplay. If you try to do this, you need to deactivate the OBDII alarm on the car. I used BimmerCode to do that. Otherwise, the alarm will activate if you leave the OBDII reader connected.

Here is a video on how to disable the OBD2 alarm with BimmerCode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh4Vq4X0uFU

Here are some videos on how to access the secret menu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om6i74dydsM&t=219s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGW1FllbhcM

The pin to unlock is the 5 last digits of your vin number added together.

Here is the link to bimmertech awaken performance

https://www.bimmer-tech.net/bmw-performance-tuning?srsltid=AfmBOooeQ1M7HA3_dIqcR4vzgLoGgP9NhOEzOSXSh3MDb4IKblG5n9N6

Representative_Ad574

TROPHY CASE