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Old 10-01-2019, 12:25 PM
Anshev Anshev is offline
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Join Date: May 2018
Location: Houston
Posts: 11
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I replaced the oil cooler thermostat gasket as part of the larger project (valve stem seals!).
My X5 is m-sport with adaptive drive, so having read other posts on this matter, I removed the front left wheel, plastic wheel arch liners, alternator. My learnings are:
1) the gasket can be changed from the top via the space occupied by the alternator
2) from wheel side, the bolts are visible, but accessing them is impossible due to adaptive drive. No need to take off the wheel and lining
3) remove the lines first - one bolt, easy to do. There is a plastic bracket in lines near the hood lock - remove that as well. It will allow to move the lines around to change O-rings, etc.
4) the next is to remove 3 famous bolts. They are not tight. The key is to have good sockets and flex head drive wrench (s). I had two e10 sockets (1/4 drive and 3/8 drive) and used both. You’ll need two hands - one to hold the socket tight on the bolt (that’s the key for these bolts) and another to turn the wrench. I was able to remove the bolts in 15 min - slow and steady.
5) if the wheel and lining was off- replace o-rings on the lines connected to the oil radiator. I did
6) clean surfaces and assemble everything back with a new gasket.

7) The torque wrench won’t fit there. Torque maybe 15 NM ...the bolts were not tight all originally

Difficulty is 5/10 compared to Valve covers 7/10 and Stem seals 9/10
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