2012 X5 35i N55 Valve Cover replacement - Advice and luck appreciated

[msan]

Ma!n CLS70 I should have listened to you! But I didn't have 12 of those electrical "caps" handy.....OK so my saga is over....I started Monday night disconnecting the battery. Removed the stuff I knew from the spark plug change. Removed the passenger side partition, cabin air filter etc. Removed the "snorkel", air box, charge pipe. Undid the O2 sensor bracket with that one T-30 screw. Undid the two large wire looms across the back top , and removed the foam cover. Was thinking I don't need to remove the passenger strut bar (I did later remove it for more room). Unplugged the O2 sensors. Tied up the two large wires looms with long zip ties. Removed the coils and put towels in the tubes to prevent things from falling in them. Picked out the injector wires and took off the 3 ground wires. Moved the ignition wiring harness out of the way. Called it a night. So far so good.

Next day, removed the two vacuum lines on the passenger side of the valve cover. The front one came off easy, the back one was stuck on a bit and I tore a little of the hose, but the hose was long enough I could cut off the short section I damaged. Used six zip lock bags and took off the six fuel pressure lines that run across the valve cover. Used balloons to cover the 12 fuel openings (this later came back to haunt me). Evenly undid the 26 screws. Was a pain in the butt because I went slowly and undid them one or two turns at a time and went round and around maybe 8 cycles until all were loose.

I used the paracord trick to lift the valve cover a bit to get the removal started. This was a brilliant trick because my cover wouldn't budge otherwise. I got the old cover off and out, took a couple tries. I was careful not to knock that one thing that hangs down off. Wasn't easy but turned it this way and that until it came out. I THOUGHT I was home free, but nooooo!

I went to put the new one on and I could not get it to set down. I could get it a couple inches from where it needed to be but I kept bumping into those two AC lines near the firewall. I called a mobile mechanic but he said two days wait. I didn't want to wait. I then went back and figured I needed to remove the fuel rail and it would give me more room. Undid the fuel rail, moved it aside and tried to catch as much as I could of the fuel that spilled out (I didn't catch some of it). Remember this rail had 6 balloons on it. Anyways tried put the new cover on and got it to sit down!!! Highly recommend you remove the fuel rail, instead of just the pressure lines. I did the tedious task of tightening all 26 screws one turn at a times and make the rounds maybe 7-9 times until I felt I could do the final torque to 75 in/lbs (~6 ft/lbs). Couldn't torque the back left screw so just tried my best to mimic the tightness. After an hour of this I finished. Made my check to make sure I didn't drop and tools or anything. Counted the balloons and counted 11. *SAD FACE* The second one on the fuel rail was missing. I looked EVERYWHERE in the engine bay and did not see any yellow balloon. And I made the slow and sad determination that it might have fallen into the engine when the valve cover was off...or did it? Not sure. What to do? I just torqued all 26 screws down to spec. Told my wife and she told me you got to do what you got to do. So I undid all 26 screws again. Those of you who have done this can feel my pain right??? lifted the cover and sure enough the yellow balloon was sitting there inside!! Thank God I did the equipment check and opened it back up. Took out the balloon, cursed at it, and threw it as far I could. Put the cover back on, did the 26 screw dance. I got really good at it at this point. torqued it down. Was tired put some stuff back on like the fuel lines and half of the ignition wiring. But called it a day.

Last day just had to put everything back on that I had removed. I cleaned all the oil mess under the car so I could better tell if the new cover was leaking. Started it up ( a little worried since I had messed with fuel lines....) but it started up just fine. Had a little burning oil smell but the gasket was holding fine. NO leaks!! So happy now. So I was able to get it done for the $135 valve cover and maybe $50 of new tools I needed like crowsfoot wrenches for torquing the fuel lines (14mm and 17mm), some small paracord, a 3/8" male to 1/4" female adapter so I could use my 1/4" torque wrench with the E10 socket.

So I probably saved $1,000, learned A LOT about this service, but not sure I'd want to do it all again....