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Old 12-22-2016, 12:46 PM
dannyzabolotny dannyzabolotny is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Phoenix, AZ
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More progress last night! I bought a new (to me) DSLR recently so I used that to take the pictures. Super fancy pics now.

I started by removing the crank pulley (aka harmonic balancer) and the water pump. Man were they dirty.



Surprisingly, the lower timing cover doesn't look all that bad:



After the water pump was removed, I removed both belt tensioners. One of them was being a little stubborn but it came off eventually. After that, I disconnected the battery to remove the alternator. I wonder who thought it would be a great idea to hide the battery in the X5 under the spare tire and air compressor... I also found a hacked-together U-Haul trailer wiring harness in the trunk, yay. The alternator came off pretty easily, though the bolts holding it down were unreasonably tight. Makes me wonder if somebody had monkeyed around there before.

With the alternator removed, I proceeded to remove the intake manifold to access the valley pan. Removing the intake manifold involved removing 10 11mm nuts, disconnecting the fuel line, and removing a bunch of hoses at the CCV in the rear. With everything disconnected the intake manifold came off pretty easily, revealing a nasty sight underneath.



As I suspected, the valley pan is leaking a bit already:





I'm glad I ordered the parts to do the valley pan job, because I wasn't sure if the valley pan needed to be replaced. Thankfully I caught this leaking valley pan before it became a serious problem. I highly recommend checking on it when you do a chain guide job— the extra labor is minimal. Plus as a bonus I'll get to replace the water pipe o-rings at the back coolant manifold and I'll get to install fresh new intake manifold gaskets to eliminate the common rough idle upon cold startup.

The oil separator return hose pretty much crumbled apart when I removed the intake manifold... turns out the oil separator is still original with a 2002 date on it, and the return hose is still original since it has the annoying BMW factory clamps on both ends.





I ordered a new return hose and a new oil separator from AutohausAZ this morning, since they're local to me and might have it available either today or tomorrow. I figured I'd replace the oil separator since it's original and easily accessible, because replacing it with the intake manifold installed does not sound fun at all. I also ordered new cam chains because the current ones have 213k miles on them. Once this engine is all fixed up I shouldn't have to mess with it for a very long time.

I bought some new GAS timing tools as well, since they're supposedly easier to use and less finicky than the BMW-style timing tools that I currently have. I love that the GAS cam lock blocks actually screw down instead of just floating on the camshafts like the BMW tools. The Beisan Systems vanos seal kit also showed up the other day, so I'll be able to rebuild the Vanos units for a rattle-free experience.
__________________
2003 X5 4.6 | 2000 540i Touring

Formerly owned:
2004 Range Rover | 2000 M5 | 2000 540i/6
1995 750il | 2003 Mercedes S500 | 2003 540i/6

Last edited by dannyzabolotny; 12-22-2016 at 12:51 PM.
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