Woohoo... smashed at the ballet.!! Well played sir, well played[emoji38]

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Cleveland ended up being better than I thought it would! Being a huge dance competition I was able to let my daughter stay with her friends, about 50 girls went, and they hung out at the competition all day while stayed at the hotel in the hot I hot tub and drank rum & coke!

Ended up not getting back to the garage until tonight but I was able to get up to 19!! Yaaaa!

Only 13 left to go and then I get to put her back together [emoji106]

I think I’m the most excited actually about the opportunity to clean everything while I have it apart - it’s the cleanest it’s been under the hood since I bought it!

Time for valve stem seals... 2005, 4.4i, 113,000 miles
 

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Speaking of smashed.

Learning how to make a new drink plus I never had this brand before so I needed to try a shot. That was a lot for an afternoon. I was “feeling fine" for sure.

Happiness factor for the valves: 19/13 1.462 :-)

See what I mean about Bulleit Bourbon...

I only have 2 bottles left from the case and my time off ends June 9th (scared about empty feelings)[emoji38]

By the way Andrew, remember nobody likes a quitter so stop leaving so much in that bottle[emoji38]

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Awesome:thumbup: Before installing the valve covers, turn the engine clockwise several times to make sure every movement looks normal, ensuring the valvetronic springs and rocker arms don't pop off, the keepers are seated properly (endoscope camera very handy here). Look back at your work. Check engine timing just in case. And when you're all satisfied, take a long sip of the Bourbon:D When you're all done and you fire up the engine and she starts right up with absolutely no issues and no smoke after a long idle, it will be one of the most satisfying feelings. And thereafter you can finish the bottle and light it up :rofl:.

The job well done satisfaction is near impossible to overstate. There are a LOT of moving parts and a LOT of electrical connections. I did chain guifes twice and helped move a few heads including swapping valves (R/R head after timing chain broke and bent a dozen valves)

I've "been there" with first time "scary big" inside the engine job but with each step not being scary it was just a lot of time. Engine started like it was parked a few days never a bit of a hiccup no sputter, coughing or cloud of smoke.

Check your chain tension! My recent research indicates the chain guide failure is a symptom not the disease. Chain tensioner gets weak and lets the chain go slack, slack chain slaps the guides and they shatter. Horrible for a $60 part to cause a $1000, 30 hr. job.

I haven't found the official BMW stance on frequency of replacing the tensioner but if I had the V8 I would replace it every 80,000 miles preventively. (Puts second replacement right about the age the guides typically fail.

EOD - “no one likes a quieter” - that is too funny!

AW - if you polished that off in an afternoon, I’m sure you were feeling no pain [emoji106]

X5only - maybe I’m too anal retentive... but I’ve been rolling them one full cycle as I finish each valve and replace that rocker arm, just made me feel good to know “that” cylinder was finished. That said, once I’m 32 for 32 I will probably Hans crank it a half dozen times while I run some oil over the cams and top of the head - button it up, pull the fuel pump fuse and crank it for 20/30 seconds, maybe less, to build some oil pressure before her first fire up [emoji106][emoji106]

AW - great minds brother!! With everything already apart I have been eyeing that tensioner, I think you just gave me the nudge I needed to go ahead and drop that in while I’m standing there! - No slack that I see/feel at the moment but for $60 it’s real easy to do now.

Hoping to get back to the garage this evening and make some more progress!

Too late for the OP, but making a video from several angles of turning over the engine by hand will give assurance by giving oneself the ability to check the work performed before the valve covers go back on. As you said, this moment is the last chance to ensure the work is performed correctly. During the initial tear down, this process will take only a few moments.

As a side topic, does anyone know what the stealership quotes for time involved to perform this? Also, for those of you who have completed this on your own or with buddies, how much time (not elapsed) did it take? Gimme your data.

^Dealership will want to pull the heads to do the job. Local dealer wants an ungodly amount of $$$... ~$7000 if memory serves. Local indy does it without pulling the head and charges ~$4000.

I couldn't agree more, my wife tells me all the time that i am "over-kill"... I have actually been turning the engine over one full cycle after I re-seat each of the rocker arms. It gives me an opportunity to review one full cycle of the engine immediately after I re-seat "that" valves keepers and take pressure off the spring, it's like a little "mini review" of each cylinder before the grand finale, (hand) crank event to make sure all's well for ignition :-)





For quotes I found everything from $2,100 + incidentals to $6,800 + incidentals. I found guys that would take responsibility for the cam sensors and eccentric shaft sensors and others who said if they crack, it's on you because they were old and brittle anyway - it really ran the gamete...



Time wise... WOW, I really went in to this with some misguided confidence... I can say that it isn't a "hard" job per say as much as it is a job were I.. think I may have invented a new language (and possibly cracked up just a little bit.. too :bustingup).


So far I have put in about 26 hours - about 6 on a nice, clean, methodical tear down and label shit day and the other 20 hours installing 20 of the 32 valve stem seals (I actually just finished the last of the exhaust valves this evening (bogger in the back on the driver side is a bitch to get a hold of to remove!) and have 12 of the intake seals yet go go... (and 2 of them are a royal pain) so I am guessing I have probably another 20 hours ahead of me with reassembling everything and cleaning up.