lower oil pan

[Henn28]

Hi all,
Need to do an oil change on my 2002 e53 4.4i with 150 k miles on it and am considering dropping the lower oil pan to replace the gasket, and also look for any plastic that may be present. If I don't find any then I'll put a new timing chain tensioner in it, if there is plastic present I'll start thinking about replacing the guides (I'm sure the tensioner will come in any kit I buy).

The pan had been leaking for some time, but stopped (mostly) when I started running high mileage oil in the car at about 5k miles ago. Since it isn't leaking now (from this area at least) I could pull the oil filter apart and look for plastic, but is that as definitive as seeing chunks in the pan?

Any gotcha's on this job, which seems like it should be very straight forward...or would be on my '93 jeep! I'll have the car on a lift so dropping the plate and pan should be straight forward. 25 bolts add up quickly, but are new ones really needed? How about the two alignment studs?

Thanks all

[andrewwynn]

You can look at the guides with fiber optic camera through the oil fill port.

If you have the original tensioner replace it. Get OEM tensioner.