@admranger - Honestly, I'd rather just pay the $30 for the Craftsman without a swivel head vs $23 for the Harbor Freight with a swivel head. I've heard some people have issues breaking the pins in the swivel head models. And while I may only use it a few times in my life...if I break it I'm still gonna be pissed.

Now if it were $23 vs $80, that'd be a different discussion!

Was able to get the accessories and everything off, the CPG off, and the oil pan off. I'm having an issue getting the alternator out though...any suggestions on how to do that?

The water pump looks to be in fantastic shape, and even has a metal impeller?? I'm used to seeing crap plastic impellers, so in my mind a metal one is good! I'll use the new gasket, but otherwise I see no reason to use the new water pump I got. Same thing with the belts. They look like MAYBE they have 25K on them, with almost zero cracking or anything. They'll go back on and I'll keep the current ones as replacements.

The oil pan shows water in it, but I see no signs of metal or plastics or coolant. From what I've been able to see, the chain guides look fine with no chipping or breaks in them. I'm tempted to leave them be, but since I'm already there and have the tools, I'll be replacing them. Also, I know the coolant is green and that's from the PO. I will be replacing it with BMW coolant.

The rest of the parts and tools should be arriving today, so I'll be able to get down to the nitty gritty today. I've already put her at TDC and lined everything up, tonight I'll secure everything and go to town.

If this is engine porn, this is a fetish I'm really not into.

lol nasty. buy a case of brake cleaner!

Pelican Technical Article - BMW X5 - M62 8-Cylinder Engine Alternator Replacement

@TECN1K - Yes, no kidding. I've tried degreaser in the gallon jug, degreaser in a can, and neither did jack. The ONLY thing that worked at all was brake cleaner. So, I will be going to the store to get quite a bit more of it. I'm hoping to have a lot of it cleaned up once I'm done, and then may look at getting a steam clean.

Yeah, I got the bolts and everything out of the alternator, it's disconnected and everything, but it will not "slide out" as Pelican so delicately puts it. Any hints on how to slide it out?

Get that green shiite out of that engine! Blue antifreeze only please...

Good luck with your repair!

He mentioned that Previous Owner had this crap in the engine and will be replaced with the proper blue stuff.

Glad to see you're making progress.

Alternator- yes, it should slide out once the bolts are free. Check you didn't leave one bolt. If it's not that, I suspect someone put rtv on the oring. If that's the case, look at pictures online and find a place to pry it out of the cooling jacket. Carefully...

Coolant - I'm a little worried about coolant in your oil. Could be a dribble from when you removed the water pump, or could hint at head gasket damage. Did you ever do your leak down test?

@David - No, I didn't do a leak down test. I actually don't see any coolant in the oil, it all appears to be water from condensation. There is ZERO green in the oil. I also have not found a trace of oil in coolant, or any indication at all that either the head or head gasket has been compromised. I did get everything to do the leak down test, but since I haven't seen any indication of coolant anywhere I decided not to do it. All I've seen anywhere is water from what I assume is condensation.

If you had a head gasket leak your oil would probably look really muddy. I think you will be fine with your current approach.

OK, question for everyone. I've seen and have rented the VANOS toolkit and timing chain guide kit. My question is...what is the process? I have the Bentley at home, but frankly I've found it relatively worthless so far.

I am thinking that if I put the crankshaft pin in, and lock the cams in place BEFORE I take the crankshaft bolt off I'll have a problem. So, I'm thinking I need to take the bolt off BEFORE I do the work on the VANOS units, so that if I need to rotate the crank to get the crankshaft holder tool setup correctly I won't bind anything or break the camshaft locks or anything.

So, do I replace the timing chain guides and chain, and then deal with the VANOS units? Or how do I ensure the timing doesn't move when I'm replacing the timing chain guides?