Wow, I know the guides and tensioners have to be done, but to hear that they can be inspected and all seems to be well only to have them failing a month or two later...scary.

So x5Alpine, didn't know you worked at a dealership, just so I know I'm not getting a raw deal when I get that job done locally, I presume $4k is a fair figure to budget on? I actually spoke to an independent specialist local to me (they're based in Glenwood Springs CA - called European Auto Werks) before I bought the vehicle, and they service a couple of 4.6is' but they had never done the timing chain guides before (and it sounded like both 4.6s they serviced were around the 200k mile mark! But they may well had been done elsewhere...) The Manager quoted up an estimate of around the $4.4k mark, so I'm wondering if that sounds about right, plus should I be concerned if they've never done that procedure before or should it be pretty straight forward for a decent mechanic that works on BMWs...?

Adas