Correct. Will be filling up with oil then adding Moly! But it's good to ask. You never know especially with me. :D

I'm not sure my 3 year old tensioner is OEM. Can't seem to find the receipt. I may be able to find the invoice on one of the sites I order from unless it was Bav. I will try to get some sound bites before and after. Hoping to do this job in the next 2-3 weeks.

As an added note when replacing the tensioner I plan to pull whatever fuses I need to pull (can't remember right now) and crank until the tensioner is primed. I did not do this when I replaced it 3 years ago and the start up rattle was horrifying. Def not going to do THAT again. If that's the sound people hear when their guides explode then, yeah, I heard it once for a few seconds 3 years ago. You can't miss it!

if you don't know replace it. Use a medium depth 3/4 )19mm socket or a through hole socket with one extension. Almost nothing else will work. Shallow socket won't clear the bump on tensioner, deep well won't clear AC compressor.

If turns out the one in there is oem clean the crap out of it and toss in the trunk as a spare (coat with light oil or wd-40 and seal in zip lock)

Thanks! I did buy a 'shallow' 19 mm socket but it's actually 20 mm deep. Not sure if it will be enough. Will check when I receive the new tensioner and buy appropriate tools if needed. I've never owned a through hole socket. Might be time if I'm going to do this now and then.

Crescent 20 Pc. 3/8" Drive Pass-Thru X6 Standard Spline Mechanics Tool Set - CX6PT20 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009L8GEPM..._Umc4FbHHSE19N

This is the set I have. It has been more than priceless for working on cars especially the X5.

Sweet. Thanks! :thumbup:

I just wanted to chime in and thank x5alpine for the suggestion to go with authentic oil filter for our x5s. I just did an oil filter change using genuine Bmw filter and noticed an immediate change in start up rattle. The sound was less noticeable and much shorter in duration.

It used to rattle for a good 1 to 2 seconds. Now it’s down to less than 1 second.

Still worried this rattle might be chain guide related, but I’ve replaced the tensioner 2 years and 15,000 miles ago with Oem part so I’m hoping it’s the vanos noise instead fingers crossed.

Also I noticed that oem filter has this rubber / plastic lip on top that seems to fit inside the groove of the oil filter housing Cap. That would theoretically seal up the housing so the engine is better pressurized to avoid vanos rattle?

M62TU timing chain tensioner - which is best?
 

Tighter seal will force more oil to not bypass the filter = lower oil pressure but the key is the filter itself having the design spec resistance to flow so the proper pressure not to high or low leaves the filter.
Wife's car was tripping cam angle errors. I added 1/2 qt of oil and changed the filter and no repeat of the error

I think that if the check valve fails you can get chain or vanos rattle even with properly functioning other parts. Search YouTube for sample recordings of vanos vs. chain guides they should be quite distinctly different.

Once the guides have become brittle it just takes one bad pothole to slap the chain and start the snowball so I would get an inspection camera in there

What oil filter brand were you using before?