Valley Pan Gasket
 

Anyone try the vallley pan gasket repair on their own? My 02 4.4 has the infamous valey pan gasket leak problem and I'm thinking of taking a shot at doing it myself. There are a couple good of DIY procedures I've found on the internet, one for a 540 and one for a 740. The 540 has the same M62 engine in it that the 02 X5 4.4 has and all the electrical/fuel/air/cooling stuff that needs to be removed around the air intake to remove the air intake look very similar.

Looks like it's a finnicky job that will take 6-8 hrs with very basic tools. Parts will likely be around $150-200 from dealer including replacement of all intake gaskets and some cooling hoses that connect to rear of engine. These are not required replacements, but since I'll be in there think it would be good preventative maintenance.

If anyone has any experience, advice, things to look out for, well wishes etc, please let me know. Probably won't get to this for a couple weeks.

Thanks.

I've ordered all the parts to do it and will probably start this weekend. I replaced all the front suspension arms/bushings/joints last week.

I anticipate this to be a 2 day ordeal.

http://www.xoutpost.com/x5-e53-forum/...+gasket+repair

Don't see where anyone has tried it.

Keep us posted please, and don't forget to take pics, good luck.

Fast4d how many miles on your X ?

98k. it's been leaking since about 70k. it's gotten alot worse lately so I'll just dive in and do it along with a new WP and radiator.

it's leaking too fast for 'stop leak' to work. I really don't want to coat the system with that stuff anyway.

Welcome new X5 owner here (3.0)
Well. 3.0 is because I also own 540 and figured that my wife really don't need another V8 :)

I did valley pan gasket along with leaking chain covers on my 540 about a month ago. I think I can do valley pan gasket in a few hours second time. Very easy.

Have mirror and picks available to unclip injector connectors.
Inspect intake gaskets (bottom) when installing intake.

Don't have to get parts from dealer. Worldpac retailers have same brand stuff for lot less. Like Autohaus AZ that I use (no affiliation)

New valley pan have different design, so you have to buy whole valley pan. Buy new plastic shield because you will brake old one.

Let me know if you have any questions on this job, will be glad to help

Update on my valley pan gasket situation. Afetr researching the DIY extensively, putting parts list together etc etc, I decided to give my dealer a call before I pulled the trigger on ordering parts, just to see if there was an outside chance they would do the repair under warranty. My warranty expired 10 months ago in April 2006. To my surprise, they will cover the entire cost of the repair. The service advisor told me that his guidelines were that he could make the decision to repair under warranty if the vehicle had under 75,000 miles and was less than 18 months out of warranty. Repair is being done March 1. I'll post again if anything unusual comes up, but this was a pleasant surprise. I would highly recommend all you 2002 owners make sure you have the valley pan gasket looked at.

Man, that is great news. Keep us up to date. :thumbup:

Update: Valley Pan Cover and Gasket replaced. Dealer also replaced 4 intake manifold gaskets as well as some o rings and gaskets for the cooling pipe at the back of the engine. All of the parts and 6.13 hrs of labor was covered under warranty. The new cover/gasket is a much improved design that should last the rest of the life of the vehicle. Apparently mine had been leaking for a while based the amount of dried coolant they claim they had to clean up in the valley.

While the were in there I also had them change 2 heater hoses coming off the coiling pipe at the back of the engine as well as an oil return line coming off the crankcase oil separator (I had already changed the two hoses running into the separator that sit on top of the engine that eventually turn to mush). These were preventative moves since the intake manifold needs to be removed to get at the heater hoses and the oil return hose is much easier to get at.

I was pleasantly surprised that the valleu pan was replaced under warranty. I also think the vehicle idles much quieter/smoother. Not sure if it really does, but I'm thinking the new gaskets on the intake manifold and the re-torquing of the fastening bolts might have improved air intake...who knows.

So, good ending on this one for me with dealer. The valley pan gasket replacement is one of two things that I've been wondering when I would have to deal with. The other is the infamous transmission issue that a few people have dealt with, that hopefully won't happen at all or for a very long time.