Cost to replace timing chain guides/tensioners on M62 (4.6is in particular?)

[Adas]

Hi everyone,
I know that this topic has probably been discussed TO DEATH on this forum already... But I have yet to actually find a post or a thread where people talk $s.

I'm in the market for a nice 4.6is (so I'll double-up on this post as a plug for that WTB as well!) and there are a few around that have had the timing chain guides and tensioners replaced, but a few others that don't mention if it's been done (so take it as read that it probably hasn't).

I would just like to know - so I can factor it into my budget as an immediate maintenance issue because I won't want to drive around in a 4.6is without the guides and tensioners having been done - a ballpark cost on this work? I'm thinking by an independent specialist rather than a BMW dealership (although would be interested on peoples' experiences of both).

Thanks in advance - and like I said, if anyone has a really nice 4.6is that has been LOVED and maintained to death and they'd like to part with it, please let me know!

Adas

[Plattus1000]

$4,400. But that includes new gaskets, oil and water pump (I think) while it's open.
You're shop might have lower or higher costs but I asked mine to scare me, they did.

[Plattus1000]

I'm going to see a guy selling both his X5's. A 4.4 and a 4.6is. You could throw me an offer for ours but consideribg we've "invested" $12k into it in the last year... It wouldn't be cheap.

Just saw 2 real clean X5's. Both '03s, one 4.4 one 4.6is they are owned by a family with 12 bimmers in the garage. Well maintained and looking sharp.

[Adas]

Thanks Plattus1000. Wow, $4k. Ouch! I figured it might be around the $3-4k mark...definitely needs to be considered when buying one. I think I've seen your 4.6is on another thread - a beautiful black one, in Washington, right? Looks really clean - but yes, if you've already spent $12k on it in the last year (double ouch! Should I be reconsidering getting a 4.6is...?) then you probably want/need to get more than what my budget would allow!

[Plattus1000]

This is what I tell people all the time. It's not miles per gallon I look for in a car but rather smiles per gallon. You can buy a new m X5 for $80k and you'll love the power or for a total of $20k have a fully restored beast from the past you'll love just as much.
You're on the right path researching cost of admission/maintenance. Find a well cared for vehicle and just know that any german parts made of plastic that are over 10 years old should be replaced. If they were replaced recently by the previous owner, great if not you can do alot of the work yourself it's not that hard.
A major cost of the maintenance is people trust their mechanic or shop and don't know about options for parts or repairs.
Prime example.
This guy, thanks to this forum just saved himself a ton of money and headache
http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...otor-asap.html
The e53 isn't a complicated vehicle compared to a more modern one. Mechanically it's accessable to just about anyone willing to read and try stuff.

I wasn't a fan of X5's before driving this 4.6is and now I kind of want one for myself to see how much power/control I can get out of it. It's planted, fast and for something weighing what it does, dances like a fit and toned baby hippo through traffic.
We have a set of winter feet for it and it did great in snow and ice. I used to live in Mesa CO so I know you get some white stuff over there.

If you find a creampuff and pay $11-13 for it, expect to pay another $2k right off the bat just to satisfy your inner doubts about stuff.
Then there's tires, brakes and a service check to make sure all is well.

Then just budget for an extra surprise fee for little things that break overnight when you're not looking.
I'm giving you a bad case (not worst case) scenario. My '03 wagon hasn't had an issue in a year plus so...?

Like with kids or anything you love and you will love it, the cost just becomes part of the story, the history that make you regret at times and love all the more the other times.

Smiles per gallon buddy, smiles per gallon.
P. S. I'd take $12k today
"You know you want it and yet you fear it. Accept it now before it destroys you! "

[Trasportador]

If to replace guides and other sundries whilst on there, I'd budget $1600 or so for parts, max $2k in labour. The below is what I went through

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...on-is-on/page2

[Plattus1000]

Originally Posted by Trasportador

If to replace guides and other sundries whilst on there, I'd budget $1600 or so for parts, max $2k in labour. The below is what I went through

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...on-is-on/page2

My gawd. You achieved all that for $2k labour (whatever that is) and $1.6k in parts!? Firstly, I applaud your posts/pics. Very motivational. Secondly, should the magic tree ever fall on your glorious red beauty's rear half, please send the motor my way. I'll give you the first ride in the only 4.6is wagon on the planet and perhaps a bottle of your favorite rum.

No shop I know of here would touch that project for less than $6 and that's with me providing parts at wholesale.

Oh, what is this labour stuff of which you mentioned?

Very cool. I would love to see what a brand new engine on one of these would feel like.

ADAS--
The short answer is yes, you want the 4.6is. I know there's no real good argument for that statement but it's true. The best thing you can feel the first day and the last is the rarity. There's like 1,200 of these world-wide. No offense to my 3.0, 3.5, 4.4 and 4.8 petrol (that was for you transportador)brethren but at a stoplight amongst the 600,000 other X5's out there, "it's got 11". It's something that adds an intangible value to whomever knows what it is and envy in those who have no idea and after all, don't we all want something special even if its only special to ourselves. I enjoy seing drivers in the other e53's do a double-glance at the side badge. It makes me smile when my wife sees a 4.4 and says "4.4, honey they have a little motor too, like in your car." (honestly if I have to explain displacement to her one more time I'll kill myself. I told her that the "is" meant It's Special)
There are faster rigs, more nimble rigs but this motor was a very special thing. Given the option to do it over again, I'd stay with it. It's a motor that sings. The effortless climb in rpm starts softly with a gurgle that changes to a wonderfully ellegant menagerie of chaotic discourse between force and redirection distilled into a chorus of apocryphal glory and prophetic carnage that just before a gear shift makes you want to push your foot through the firewall just to see what lies on the other side of heaven... Naked.

Woah, sorry, right. Short answer: Yes, get one.

[Trasportador]

Originally Posted by Plattus1000

My gawd. You achieved all that for $2k labour (whatever that is) and $1.6k in parts!? Firstly, I applaud your posts/pics. Very motivational. Secondly, should the magic tree ever fall on your glorious red beauty's rear half, please send the motor my way. I'll give you the first ride in the only 4.6is wagon on the planet and perhaps a bottle of your favorite rum.

No shop I know of here would touch that project for less than $6 and that's with me providing parts at wholesale.

Oh, what is this labour stuff of which you mentioned?

Very cool. I would love to see what a brand new engine on one of these would feel like.

Haha. "Labour" is the British spelling of the word, I spell that way as I was educated within said system. Labour, is that thing I try to avoid, but it being I have BMW's, I cannot seem to shake this tiring habit.

I have a close knit bunch of BMW enthusiasts here in GA, and we get things done for very fair prices. My 7 series is at a buddy's house right now getting the chain guides done(failed last week). $1k in labour, about $800 in parts. The reason the X5 cost so much to repair is because chain broke, so the heads had to be re-done et al.

We touch any project that we see value in. Fear, is not a factor here, just time and as little money as possible. Also, I'm able to save boatloads of cash by dumpster diving at the junk yards(make some cash too), so it all evens out in the wash I guess.

I love these cars. I'm able to have 4 v8 thoroughbreds for less than a used 2013 Camry. I tell you this fecal matter can only happen in the USA.

Oh, and if a tree were to fall on my X5, that motor is going straight to the 7 series!

[StephenVA]

[DYPWICK]

Something to consider if you end up finding one that needs TC guides done is retrofitting the oil separator setup out of the 740/540's. Maybe its not as much of an issue in CO winters but here in Minnesota the oil separator & CCV's fail with regularity due to the cold temps. I work at one of the BMW dealers here in Mpls and come winter time we see e53's come in all the time with failed separators and it's not always due to age, more so due to the poor design/external location of the separator where the moisture collects then freezes causing pressure buildup that ultimately finds a release through one of the various gaskets causing serious oil leak and in some cases hydrolock.

The separator on the 540/740's are located internally under the lower timing cover and thus do not suffer from the same failure because they don't freeze up . I myself just did this retrofit this summer but a few of the techs here own 4.4/4.6's which they have performed this modification on and have had ZERO separator issues combined between all of them going back as far as the past 5 winters since doing it.

It may not be an issue out there because the temps typically are not as cold on average as they are here in MN but just thought I would throw it out there. If you are already in there doing guides it is not that much extra work/money to do this preventative modification.

Cheers and happy hunting!