Quote:
Originally Posted by bugbyte
What is the milage on your car and did you service your timing chain as preventive or were there symptoms? I am thinking to service my timing chain while doing the valve cover, valley pan and cooling hoses and having 2nd thought about removing the front of the engine for the chain is PITA. I don't have any symptoms on the timing chain yet and currently at around 92k mile.
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My X has 135,xxx miles on it now. Did the chain guides as preventive maintenance. Had these symptoms a couple of months ago:
Extremely loud grinding/crunching sound on two start-ups; they lasted about 3-5 seconds, but seemed like an eternity. Now I know it was the chain grinding on the plastic chain guide that had broken off. One of the guides was missing a 1" chuck of the plastic, and the rest were extremely brittle, especially around the thin edges.
You don't have to remove the oil pan or drain the power steering fluid. The lower bolts on the lower cover are outside the oil pan on the X5. I found this out after removing the oil pan cover
...it was great to see inside the engine though.
The crankshaft bolt "Jesus Bolt" was uneventful. Came right off. Just use 3/4" impact socket and 3/4 breaker bar, along with a 4-foot steel pipe (from Home Depot). Spray it with PB Blast a day prior. Be sure to use the crank holding tool--not the fly wheel pin.
Here is a good consolidation of the job:
http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...ides-4-4i.html
I went very slow and learned a lot about the entire process and how the engine parts all come together. I read and study all the write-ups to the point of muscle memory before starting the work. Get all parts and tools before you start the work.
I change the oil every 5,000 miles or so; original owner since it was new. I am convinced that the chain guides should be replaced at or soon after 100K--they are just high impact plastic. M62 engine.
I'm redoing the timing again tomorrow with this new set of timing tool:
BMW Master Cam Tools DIY
Purchased two days ago. Just arrived today. They seem more precise than the clunky two-section blocks I was using. Will report back...