e53 N62 removed and on a stand..what to do ??

[maharaj1]

When we pull an N62 at the shop I work at there are a number of things we recommend the customer go ahead and do while the engine is out of the car and much easier to work. Keep in mind that we usually drop them to do either valve stem seals or cleaning of the secondary air ports in the heads but I will include those jobs in the list. We also do valve stem seals with the heads off the engine which will of course require you to set the timing on the engine Provided you have the right tools it isn't that hard to set timing on these engines. Our family also three different N62 vehicles so I've become fairly familiar with working on these engines and their quirks, fantastic engines and one of my favorites especially when they are running right.

List is as follows, I may have forgotten a couple things as it's late, keep in mind this list also includes the parts we replace when we do one of these bigger jobs, most of them as you will see are gaskets.

-Valve Stem Seals
-Clean Secondary Air System (Most effective with heads removed & disassembled but can be done with heads on the engine)
-Timing Chain Guides, Rails, & Tensioner (Pending condition of the engine this usually isn't necessary & isn't as common a failure point on the N62 as it is the M62 but we have seen failed guides on these engines.)
-Head Gaskets
-Rear Coolant Passage
-Valley Pan
-Coolant Transfer Pipe (Use the expanding kit that locks not the threaded one)
-Water Pump Gasket
-Thermostat O-Ring
-Thermostat Return Pipe
-Alternator Housing Bracket
-Oil Pressure Switch
-Upper Timing Cover Gasket
-Lower Timing Cover Gaskets (pending your removal of the lower timing cover)
-Valve Cover Gaskets & Grommets
-Spark Plug Tubes
-VANOS Gaskets
-VVT Gaskets (There are 2 of these per Bank)
-Pressure Regulators or Diaphragms (Located on top of the valve covers)
-Vacuum Pump Gasket
-Eccentric Shaft Senor Gaskets
-Lower Oil Pump Gasket
-Secondary Air Pump Hose (Pending Condition)
-Front & Rear Main Seals
-Engine & Transmission Mounts
-Intake Manifold Gaskets
-Exhaust Manifold Gaskets
-Throttle Body Gasket
-Drive Belts

I know that seems like long list and does get pretty close to doing a full rebuild. These engines like any BMW engines have their Achilles heel but having the engine out gives you an opportunity to take care of all of them. Having the engine out of the vehicle also makes a lot of these jobs a lot easier. If you're doing it yourself you can tackle most of it over the course of a weekend. A lot of this also depends on how deep into the engine you want to go. Never seen the upper oil pan gasket be a problem on these engines so I wouldn't say that it is necessary. If you do end up pulling the heads you have to remove the cam sprockets. Be sure you label which ones are for the intake and which are for the exhaust. The one for the vacuum pump cant be mixed up but the other three can, and the engine will not run right if they are. We've seen several come in where that was the case, someone did the job but got them mixed up because they look the same.

Sorry for the lengthy and possibly daunting post. We have done about a dozen N62s through the course of 2015, they are about an even split between Secondary Air and Valve Stem Seals. Some of them we pulled from the cars, usually 745s or 750s, and in some cases the engines are sent to us. I usually take pictures of my work because I like to make marks for timing despite having the tools at the shop to do it. Never written a DIY but there are some pretty good ones floating around online as well as some well versed individuals on the forums who can assist you if you need help.