View Single Post
  #46  
Old 12-12-2016, 11:50 PM
X53Jay4.8is X53Jay4.8is is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Southlake, Texas
Posts: 2,094
X53Jay4.8is is on a distinguished road
Quote:
Originally Posted by dannyzabolotny View Post
The reason I say that is because of my personal experiences. Here are the mileages of each car I've done guides in:

1. 200k+ (wasn't sure of mileage because cluster was fubar) 2001 540i: Guides were completely gone, chain was rubbing on metal. Poorly maintained Arizona car with zero service records.

2. 194k miles, 2003 540i/6: Replaced guides preventatively due to paranoia. The U-guide had the tiniest bit of wear, no plastic pieces in the oil pan otherwise. This could have gone another 20k miles easily. This car was a California car since day one, and had complete maintenance records from when it was new.

3. 160k miles, 2000 540i/6: Replaced guides preventatively. They were completely intact and could have easily gone to 200k. This was a car from the northeast that had ended up in Arizona over the years, no maintenance records.

4. 159k miles, 2000 540i/6: Guides were completely shattered to bits. This car was maintained very poorly and lived in NJ. A cheap shop had done the guide job and completely wrecked the engine. The owner then replaced the heads and did the chain guide job again, messing up the timing a little. I ended up buying the car at that point and redid the job properly, timing it perfectly with no codes.

5. 188k miles, 1997 740il: Guides were perfectly intact, car was owned by one person for over 10 years with good maintenance. Note that this was a pre-Vanos M62 engine, which are known to go longer without guide failure. By my estimates it could have easily gone to 220k without guide failure.

6. 160k miles, 2004 Range Rover HSE: The U-guide had begun deteriorating on the driver's side, but there were no signs, noises, or engine codes, so it was still very much within spec. It could have easily gone another 20k with no issues, the other guides were in perfect condition. This was a one-owner vehicle that lived in the south its whole life. The engine was pretty neglected though— at 160k the valve cover gaskets were still original, as was almost everything else.

7. 160k miles, 2001 740i: Guides are fully gone on this car that originated in California and moved to Michigan. No idea how well it was maintained, but the inside of the engine is quite varnished so I'm thinking the previous owners ran very long oil change intervals or used cheap oil.

8. 213k miles, 2003 X5 4.6: Guides are fully gone on this car that originated in California and ended up in Michigan. From the service records I can tell it was very well maintained, and the inside of the engine looks very clean, indicating good oil change intervals and/or proper oil.

Basically it's a total crapshoot but you're very likely to go past 150k miles on original guides. I'd say that the engines in the 540i work way harder since people beat on those cars, whereas most X5's, like it or not, are used as suburban mom kid-haulers. Very few X5's see heavy usage with towing and off-roading, most never leave the pavement (same goes for Range Rovers).

But who knows, maybe my experiences aren't the norm.

Also, while the X5 was assembled in the US, I'm pretty sure the engines have always been made in Germany, and with the same exact parts as the German-made BMWs. Aside from the oil pans and oil separators/CCV the engines are more or less interchangeable.
I agree with you that on some of the M62 engines the guides can go a long time before changing. I can only speak from what comes in the shop and we have done quite a few timing guides where those that were X5s happened at a lower milage whereas the ones on the sedans ad tourings occurred at a much higher mileage. We have a done a number of Range Rovers but most of them have been around the 150-160K miles mark.

I should also add that quality oil changes and frequency of oil changes affects these engines greatly and the condition of the guides.
Reply With Quote

Sponsored Links