pulling engine 1990 525i

i unplugged everything unbolted the tranny took out the convertor bolts took off the hood took out the 2 motor mounts and the engine will come out 3 or 4 inches from the transmission and not move anymore it gets stuck. any ideas?

not stuck on exhaust or anything

Just glanced at the engine removal procedure the other day. First step was "remove tranmisssion". What a pain.... good luck!

got the engine out. new one is going in as soon as its like 10 degrees warmer outside so i can feel my fingers. ill let u know how it turns out

Did you have to pull the tranny? Bill

nope flywheel was rusted to convertor. i jumped on the hoist and the engine popped right out.

didnt have to pull the tranny at all i got everything all reconnected now that i have a garage to work in and its all ready to go except for the front exhaust manifold its on kind of a flex piece and i cant get the flex piece to bend enough to get it back on the studs where it belongs.

Yeah, what a major pain that is.... I finally removed a few of the studs so that I could get it on, then reinstalled them after the manifold was in place.

To reinstall them put two nuts on the stud and tighten them together. Use some thread lock and screw it in. Then loosen the nuts and remove one of them. Then tighten the remaining nut. You may end up with those studs not being in the head quite as far as they should be... but that was all I could come up with....

I tried everything, crowbars, wooden planks, lots of cursing, etc.

I think if you take the manifold loose from the exhaust system.... good idea to replace those gaskets anyway, it may go on much easier...

Let me know how it runs!

thanks bill i ended up getting it earlier by disconnecting the manifold and putting that on and bolting it to the head and then using a crowbar to pry the manifold onto the piece with the flex part. then i used a c clamp to pull it into place and it was a hastle that had me all yesterday and today but the car will be finished tomarow since i lost the starter bolts. also by any chance do you know or have a picture of which plug goes into where on that strip that is down underneeth the throttle body since i have no idea which one goes where now since its been months since the old motor came out.