Good eye! Yep, it's a 2001 740i M-Sport. It's not mine (unfortunately), it belongs to a guy from Bimmer Forums who shipped it to me all the way from Michigan to fix the chain guides. 160k miles and the engine sounds like a tractor. It's super clean all around though.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...9cd0fcb1ef.jpg

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...74d7044541.jpg


Yeah, I'm going to get a new seat module. Since it's a component that's know to fail there's no point in saving a few bucks to buy a used one.

Man I always wanted one of those 740i msports. Hard to find clean examples.

What do you charge for a job like that? Shipping costs ain't cheap so it must be cost effective for those folks.

I charge about $1000 + parts costs. Shipping to almost anywhere in the US can be had for less than $1000 if you're savvy and hunt around. I've done the job 6 times (soon to be 8 times) so I have the experience to get it done correctly the first time, whereas a lot of shops are reluctant to even try it, regardless of cost.

Most indie shops charge $3000-$4000, with dealers charging even more. With me, it's $1000 labor + around $600 in parts + $800 or so in shipping, which comes out to less than $3000 for a job that'll get done correctly.

That's not bad at all. I called around and been quoted around $4800 for the job not that I need it. I wish you were not across the continent so I could have it done as preventive maintenance.

Wow, $4800? That's crazy.

Tonight I did what is possibly the most important mod you can do on any car... removing the front license plate mount.

Before:

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...ea5706dfc7.jpg

After:

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...dffed0a259.jpg

Much better. I'm so happy that Arizona doesn't require front plates.

The X5 is now inside the garage along with its timing chain guide twin.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...0e0b20d031.jpg

Nice Danny!

However, I found a good use for my front plate holder.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/O9...=w1165-h874-no

If I ever need timing chain guide service I'm going to remember you!

Mike

Oh timing chain and timing guides on the M62 engine what fun. I have done this procedure with my brother on 4 different BMWs that I have owned. I love when I find one with this problem because the car/vehicle can be purchased for such a low amount. Once you run through these engines they are essentially bulletproof

That's a pretty creative way to use the plate holder, but I prefer the clean look without it. That's just a personal preference.

Texas isn't too far away, I'm sure we could work something out if you needed the guides done.


To an outsider it looks like a terrifying job, but it's really one of the easier jobs out there... the majority of the labor is just in disassembly and reassembly.

I do love the good deals I get on BMWs that need chain guides. The M62tu is a pretty leaky engine in general so any M62tu-powered car needs gaskets and seals replaced at some point— doing the chain guides lets you replace everything all at once in one big swoop. My 04 Range Rover leaked all over the place when I bought it, but once I did the chain guide job it completely stopped leaking.

Yeah Danny, I spent several hours one night reading every step of these DIYs

https://www.germanautosolutions.com/..._diy.php#thumb

DIY: Timing Chain Guide & Timing Chain Replacement

and it was not exotic but a ton of tedious and precise work (not a stranger to this type of DIY work, but as a rookie to it, I'd sure feel better with a pro supervising me).

This year I tore into the front of my M62 to deal with a SEIZED alternator! I have never heard of such a thing but it happened on my X! I did all the stuff on the front of the engine, tensioners, pulleys, belts, every cooling hose, and of course the alternator.

Check out my post on that disaster here:

http://www.xoutpost.com/1093483-post44.html

My vehicle maintenance philosophy is to maintain to a long term up-time reliability standard and if I'm touching a 92K mile component during a job, I'm highly motivated to evaluate putting in a new one. After this alternator job I learned of the chain guides issue (which was just a little deeper from what I see), but that issue seems to occur from what I've seen, at much higher mileages.

At 6K miles or so/year, I'll be a few years away from guides, but if something changes, I'll get it out to you. :thumb up:

Mike