positive lead on driver side valve cover

[flyingmachine]

I'm think about replacing the gasket my own but I found there is a positive lead going from the underside of intake manifold and wrapping around the front portion of driver side valve cover(under the black bmw spark plug cover). Then goes down the underside of engine.

Anyone knows how to clear the positive lead and proceed to take valve cover off?

I thought I could just take the alternator side off and then loose it a bit but when I further look at that positive lead, it seems to me the line splits down there and there is another portion going down to the engine somewhere.

please enlighten me.

[flyingmachine]

anyone?

[flyingmachine]

Okay. Since no one answered it yet, I went ahead to find out. It would be very helpful information for others who will be doing this DIY.

The positive lead goes under the intake manifold and wraps around driver side valve cover and then goes down to alternator and starter. The starter is located on passenger side and is attached to transmission bell housing. You will have to take the re-enforcement plate off in order to see it. The positive lead is affixed by several metal clips. So, you can't just pull the line to make it loose. You will have to unclip the line. Then remove the connection to alternator and starter(unhook your battery connector in trunk first). Maybe not require to disconnect the starter end(I doubt though) but I did it anyways since I already took the re-enforcement plate off. Besides the metal clips there are some PITA zipties you need to get rid off. The one on the starter side is really PITA. Then you can pull the positive loose and get it out of the way on valve cover.

Another option would be dealing with the fuel rail plus intake manifold. If you're doing the valley pan gasket, you might wanna go thru this route.

Or if you can get some qualified mechanic to do it right at fair cost, it might be the best option.

[X5 in AK]

I covered this in another post, but for the record, here is what I found:
I was able to get enough slack in the cable by just pulling on the intake manifold side of the cable. There seems to be some extra slack down there. Did not have to disconnect anything or remove anything. When I was done, I just shoved the excess cable back under the intake manifold.