Quote:
Originally Posted by theblue
So I need some advice.
I definitely need to do both valve cover gaskets and maybe the valley also, but I'm going to hold off on that since I'm not losing coolant fast enough right now and I have plenty of other projects to get done.
I looked at the how tos for the valve cover gaskets and it looks easy enough. My question is do I really need to do the 22 gaskets for the bolts holding the cover down? They don't look perished on mine and I don't think they are the source of any leaking. I know I didn't bother on my E36 and didn't have any issues.
thoughts?
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Yes, get those gaskets. You will not achieve correct torque values with used bolt seals. The may look good, but chances are, they are pretty hard.
I just did this job, and I can tell you that the ONLY hard part, is getting the driver's side cover back in place without disturbing the pressed in gasket. The semi-circular pieces on the gasket that stick out and fill the camshaft clearance holes just want to catch on the top of the valvetrain as you're reinserting the cover. The tangle of heater hoses that reside on that side of the engine is just too much in the way, even if they are pulled back. After quite a few attempts to get it on right, I ended disconnecting all those heater hoses and pulling them fully out of the way.
So I would say, be prepared to partially drain the coolant, and get all those hoses that connect to the firewall fully out of the way from the start. (Have some blue BMW coolant on hand!) While it does NOT say to do this in the Bentley book or the DIY video I watched, believe me, you will definately have a MUCH easier time of it if do this. Also, I would have on hand one of those large telescopic inspection mirrors. You can not see the back of the engine at all, so you need some way of making sure the gasket is properly seated before torqueing down the cover.