I have done full engine swaps in less time. Along with a buddy, we pulled and engine and rebuilt it over a weekend and had it back in for tuning on a Monday. I expect this VSS replacement to be both supremely time consuming and a test of patience. For fun I asked two indies in my area for an estimate on the VSS’s.

Indie 01: “yeah, do you want to pay for having this done with the engine in or out of the truck? The reason I suggest engine out is that the ports in the heads may need to be honed out if the seals have been smoking for a long time and the engine needs to be removed for that. Engine in is $2700, engine out will be $5,000.”

Indie 02: “sell it.”

Ha ha ha - I really like Indie 02 [emoji12]. Sounds like he has definitely done this before!

I would love to see a master at work, I had one guy tell me to drop it off on Monday and stop back in Wednesday about lunch time to pick it up!

2.5 days... the dude has to be a BMW Ninja!

Well... (almost) the worst happened, I say almost because it didn't fall into the engine.. it fell into the vast, dark expanse of the engine compartment... and it's gone - I lost a keeper! :-(


That was right at the same sinking moment that I realized I had ordered everything... except additional keepers!! OMG - who does that.. VSS job and it really never crossed my mind, "what if I lose a keeper"... DOH!!


So... I have a handful of them on order from FCPEuro now for next day delivery... should have them Tuesday, until then.. I'm screwed.


Oh well, this opens up time for me to work on polishing my headlights... fun...

Put up part number. I have a feeling you aren’t the only one who will drop a keeper. I’m pretty sure I will drop a few when time comes.

Come do mine when you’re done with yours. I’ll compensate you in keepers.:D

Maybe your x5 will rattle out that keeper a few days after you finish. You can make a necklace out of it and wear it as a reminder of the dragon you slayed.

...maybe the word should be changed from keepers to lost’ers.

For a whooping $2.48... definitely grab at least a couple when you order the VSS themselves, then... you won't be waiting... like me... :popcorn:, until Tuesday...

Good call, that is:


BMW Valve Keeper - Genuine BMW 11341461405

I like "losters", I'm actually amazed I didn't lose one until now. Every time I drop one trying to install them I think, yep this is it, the time I don't find it, and every time, up to today, there it was, found it every time.


I finally lost a "loster"!


Once I have everything put back together I am going to "bounce" the car in the garage and see if I can get that keeper to fall on to the floor... will be too late to do anything about, but like you said - my ass is going to frame the thing! :D

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

I lost like 3 keepers while transferring 6-7 valves from three heads into two. I was using the open tailgate of an x5 as my bench and they fell either into the crack of the tailgate or onto the ground.

I had Bunches of spares since we had at least one maybe two heads that were scrap so when one fell I could just grab another. Very good the point being made to have some spares. They are slippery little bastards.

95% chance it will be In the foam on top of the stiffening plate. Very good chance you'll see it again some day when you need to remove that sucka.

Stiffening plate is still off from when I did the alternator bracket gasket, I had hoped that it may have made it all the way to the floor but now I’m thinking it’s hung up in the oil cooler and power steering lines somewhere... I’ve been all over the thing and no luck, I’m going to look some more today with fresh eyes and see what I come up with.

Other than that, it looks like I’m on “vacation” from VSS until at least Tuesday - super bummer!

I even shook the car and gave everything in the general vicinity a nice bump bump bump to try and shake it loose, and still no joy.

I’m still annoyed that I totally forgot to order a handful of spares BEFORE I started... oh well...