About Cars

How to Replace the Head Gasket on a 1996 BMW 740iL

1. Pop open the hood of your BMW and use a wrench to remove the clamp bolt of the negative battery terminal. Lift the negative cable away from the battery. This will allow you to safely work on the vehicle.
2. Place a drain pan underneath the radiator. Remove the drain plug at the bottom of the radiator. Drain the coolant in to the pan. Place the pan in a safe area.
3. Use a wrench to remove the mounting bolts off the clamps which hold the air intake hose, vacuum lines and coolant lines in place within the engine. Remove the covers on the timing belt. This can be done by removing the mounting bolts attached to it.
4. Remove the bolts on the heads. Loosen the bolt furthest to the left and then continue loosening the rest in a cross hatch pattern. Once you have loosened them all begin removing each bolt. Keep track of where each bolt goes because you will need to put each specific bolt in the correct place when you reattach them later.
5. Carefully remove the head gasket from the engine. Take care not to damage the surrounding components. Place the new head gasket on the engine block.
6. Place each specific bolt back on the head in the reverse order from which you removed it. Start with the last bolt you removed first. Place them in the same holes you removed them from. Reattach all the hoses and timing cover following the removal steps in reverse. Open the radiator cap and place the coolant back in to the radiator. Attach the negative cable back on the correct battery terminal.