This thread has been stagnant for a long time. I thought I'd chime in as I just (as in ten minutes ago) did swapped the starter in my '96 M44 ti. I already had the intake and cooling hoses out as I'm in the middle of rebuilding the cooling system. Seeing that the starter was right there, I didn't want to risk not replacing it. My car is just shy of 200k and I don't see any service records showing that any of the POs had replaced it. My car came with binder of records too.
Tools you really need to do this right, and I can't emphasize this enough:
- SWIVEL HEAD SOCKET WRENCH
- E12 SOCKET
Trying to use anything else to get the two bolts out is half-assing the job. The firewall is directly above the two bolts, so you need a handle that came come back towards you (even just 10*) to clear the firewall.
I found that on my car, once the bolts were broken free a turn or two, they came out with finger pressure. Whew!
The starter did stick on the locating pin. A little VERY gentle prying while rocking and it came right out.
I noticed that the new starter didn't want to slide back over the locating pin easily, and you don't want to bang on the starter as you can damage the magnets. I took a bit of fine sand paper and took off the surface gunk on the locating pin. This allowed the new starter to fully seat with hand pressure with a little rocking.
I also cleaned off a bit of the corrosion that was on the two bolts and put a dab of anti-seize on the threads. I was able to finger tighten each bolt all they way until they bottomed out. Just a half or three-quarters turn on each with the wrench until tight.
I hate working way back there. It's just asking for muscle cramps. Man, I'm really out of shape!
Good luck!