LOL, i just did a month ago, all 16 of them. all 280lbs of me standing on the bumper and hanging in the engine bay. i'd say pulling the coils off the back ones was the hardest part. it wasn't as hard as it looked. but i wish they only use 8 plugs instead of 16. it took around a hour and a half. but i gaped them and put on the anti-seize as i went.

i hate all newer cars because there is no room to work on them. dam hands don't fit. it take 5 minutes to pull the plugs on my old cars.

 

@Orion ZyGarian
Hi, i´m tobi´s brother!

The batterys of the "older" BMW 4 cylinders (M40/42/43/44; E46´s N4x) are located in front.
They are sitting just in front of the firewall, on the passenger side.

Newer 4-bangers (E8X/E9X) have the battery in the back, E9X has it on the passenger side of the trunk, E8X in the middle under the floor-mat.

@tobi
acual diesel engines still do have glow plugs, otherwise a diesel won´t start.
The difference to the older ones is, that there´s a ECU which will engage the plugs as soon the car is unlocked by the driver.
That´s the reason you won´t see the "glowing wire" on the instrument cluster in modern Diesels.

Only if it´s extremely cold outside, it might be that the engine needs more time to pre-glow and you´ll see the light go on for a short time.

 

my 01 zn cougar is somewhat difficult. The 3 in the back side of the motor near the firewall is a pain in the ass. Instead of a 5-10 min job it takes a good 30min to do the backside correctly.

 

I dunno man. I've owned both foreign and domestic. I've seen some f'd up shit on the japanese cars I've owned too. Most notably strange bolt heads that require specialized tools that the dealerships have. My SVT Focus and My LX 5.0 are easy enough to work on and use regular good ol' fashioned tools. And then of course, there are German cars with their eccentric bits under the hood and elsewhere.

 

We never got E46s with 4 bangers...or even N engines actually. Even the first E60s used leftover M54 engines. The N5X debuted in the E90s.

We wont get any 4 cylinders from BMW until maybe the next gen E82s and E90s.

I'm still pretty sure U.S. 4 cylinders still had the battery in the back. From what I've seen, only the ti touring hatchbacks had them in the front where you say.

I'll get some pics and info from my friend when we're both up tomorrow

 

That would be interesting.
The US Spec 318ti Compact´s battery sits definitely in the front.
My brother has already been asked for pictures of the back mounted battery beacuse some guys wanted to do an engine swap.

It´s not that easy because you have to cut out the trunk floor and wield in the piece from the 323ti, so many people just let the battery in the front after an engine swap.

 

^In response to BMW batteries not being under a seat. Actually, yes they are under the back passenger seats on certain BMW models, such as my BMW 750iL.

 

ballin.

strong second post btw

 

More like my daily driver.

If anyone wants to complain about workspace under a hood, try a BMW V12 wedged in a 7- or 8-series model. It recently took me about four hours spread over a few days to replace a ~$0.50 o-seal in the hydraulic system on my E32.

Still, I am going to agree about the fender-well battery on the Corvette C4 being a nightmare. There are a couple of different ways to go about the process, but for anyone taking body panels off, be sure to double check the fender alignment before using the driver-side door.

For another model just about as bad, try a Sebring convertible with the 2.7L V6. The battery is buried in the fender-well in front of the driver-side front tire. It is not a challenge to change, but the time it takes to do it can certainly be annoying enough. Did one, well, once. It is not a task I hope to repeat any time soon.

 

no one cares about this post anymore. or about a sebring for that matter