REPLACING TIMING CHAIN GUIDE RAILS

[m5james]

Congrats on being able to save it before it snowballed into a bigger problem, so thankfully you stopped driving it soon enough. It sounds like you have a great mechanic. Enjoy it

[J.Belknap]

Awesome!

[Isambard]

Thanks guys I appreciate your sentiments, and once again, your help!

Funny thing is his place looks like a run-down old scrapyard, and any normal person would turn around and drive away thinking it cant be a garage-surely not! Its funny I saw him last night and we were saying the exact same thing-he was the one that brought it up! But he knows his stuff, and I'm glad I didnt turn around and drive away 3 years ago when I first went to him for a diagnostic on my Z4-which he, er, solved that problem too in about 5 mins...

[2001SilverX5&MR2owner]

The same thing just happened to my 2001 4.4i here in the U.S. I started getting this tin lizzy noise, drove down the freeway about 12 miles and when we opened up the oil filter housing the filter was filled with metal flakes. My technician feels since it still runs good that he will be able to fix it. He says however, do not get Made in China oil filters. The one I have had some holes in it so some of the metal has probably passed through.

[Sergei-e]

Originally Posted by m5james

Ehh, I fear the damage is already done by the way he explained how the engine sounded. As long as he can make doubly sure the timing hasn't jumped, he might have a chance to save this engine. It's really too soon to tell at this point if it'd even be worth the effort of trying to backflush.

Hi m5james,

My X5, 2001, 4.4 has done the same at 270k.
I got the front of the engine apart and discovered that the plastic lining on the entire V deflection rail is gone and there is a substantial slack on the chain. The camshafts location @ the 1cyl. TDC seem to be slightly off and the chain was kinda clicking and skipping when I was aligning the TDC rotating the vibration damper pulley by hand.
I was not far away from home when the car started this "ticking" noise and I parked it on my driveway and haven't driven it after. The codes were cam shaft VANOS control cyl. 1-4 and knock sensor cyl. 1-2. I have replaced both sensors and tried to start the vehicle couple times - it started no problem, although the sound of the cold engine was accompanied by a loud clanking rattle that would disappear @ about 1500-2000 rpm (of idle run). I did not hear any other unusual sounds. The rattle by itself was quite unusual and I shut down the car and haven't started it since.
With 270K on the engine I will go to full extend and replace both timing adjustment units, their solenoids,timing chain, all guides, and all the tensioners and the distributor piece with the total cost of parts approaching $2,500 ...if only the engine is repairable.
You guys have probably seen these cases a lot and may give a good advise. What would be the safest way of approaching the repair? Is it possible to check the engine somehow to make sure it is repairable before investing an all the parts? I have purchased the timing adjustment tool and it is coming tomorrow.
I appreciate your help and expertise a lot.
Thank you.

[m5james]

Congrats on the high mileage and catching it before it got worse!

Thankfully the parts floating around your engine are plastic, so I'd consider dropping the oil pan as well and taking any remaining chunks out of there...hopefully they've just settled there and aren't interfering w/ the oil pickup.

[IanP]

Originally Posted by m5james

Congrats on the high mileage and catching it before it got worse!

Thankfully the parts floating around your engine are plastic, so I'd consider dropping the oil pan as well and taking any remaining chunks out of there...hopefully they've just settled there and aren't interfering w/ the oil pickup.

He isnt wrong there, that happened to me with the expected results........

[Sergei-e]

Originally Posted by m5james

Congrats on the high mileage and catching it before it got worse!

Thankfully the parts floating around your engine are plastic, so I'd consider dropping the oil pan as well and taking any remaining chunks out of there...hopefully they've just settled there and aren't interfering w/ the oil pickup.

Thank you for the advice. I will drop the oil pan and fish out all the bits and pieces before firing her up next time after the repair.
This weekend is going to be a busy one. The timing adjustment tool arrived yesterday and the new chain guide is on its way. I will keep the repair simple and dirty cheap at this point just to make sure that the engine is alive and repairable.
The vehicle turned to be a project car after 200k - transmission @210K (slip in reverse), the radiator @260k (your posts motivated me to replace all the coolant loop components at that time), front drive shaft @268k (purchased and installed a longer shaft from Cobra transmission - works great!) and a bunch of minor repairs in-between (door locks, window actuators, trunk lid lock, control arms, hood lock, cam sensors, CO2 sensors). With every repair she is getting newer and newer. Do not want to get rid of her yet and hope I will be able to pull it out this time with the help and advices of the Forum.
X5 is so fun to drive!...when it is not broken down.

[Sergei-e]

Originally Posted by m5james

Congrats on the high mileage and catching it before it got worse!

Thankfully the parts floating around your engine are plastic, so I'd consider dropping the oil pan as well and taking any remaining chunks out of there...hopefully they've just settled there and aren't interfering w/ the oil pickup.

Hi m5james,

You were right - there were plastic bits and pieces scattered on the bottom of the oil pan :

Some of them got wedged in the strainer of the oil suction pipe. I took time to clean them all out but the strainer screen still kind of tilted (from the bottom plate) in the housing

Is it how it suppose to be or it must be flat against the bottom plate?
I also found a small O-ring and so far cold figure out where it came from. Any ideas?

What a pain to remove this bolt (collar screw) from the hub. My impact does not fit without removing the AC radiator. I have broken 1/2 driver already and really afraid of damaging the bolt head. Do you have any tricks to get it out?

Thank you. I appreciate your help James.

[m5james]

Wow, there was quite a bit of stuff in there!

As for the oil pickup, I cant imagine that got bent out of shape at all. i would think that it has to be a certain distance from the bottom of the pan. Imagine using a vacuum near a plastic bag...far enough away, no problem...too close, suction gets cut off. I'm sure as long as you put everything back the way it was, dont see any obvious bends in the tube, you should be good to go.

That o-ring...that I'm not sure about. My best guess by the size of it looks similar to the tiny one used on the end of the really long bolt used to hold down the lid of the oil canister. Since youre doing an oil change anyways, save it and compare the two.

I'm not sure which bolt you're talking about possibly stripping...any chance of a picture? I work at Boeing as a mechanic on the 787 and you'd be blown away at some of the obscene angles my guys have to work in order to remove bolts, collars, etc from the airplane. If needed, maybe some retail therapy and a quick run to Harbor Freight, Sears, etc to buy some tools could save you a ton of headache.