Its funny how cussin equates to progress...

Your VC sounds like a b!tch. The VC on the straight 6 is a breeze for the most part. Now the CCV without removing the fuel rail or intake manifold.... I feel your pain. That was a 12hr 2-day job that made me hate life and swore never to do it again.

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Like anything else, how much trouble you have with this job depends totally on your experience level. m5james, you sound like a very experienced mechanic, for whom a job like this really is, or should be, relatively straightforward. For the rest of us, tackling it for the first time, it can be a real nightmare. It took me maybe five hours of actual wrenching, but when you add in all the time I spent researching, shopping for just the right set of picks, trying to locate a replacement clip after I lost one of them (forget about it; they're no longer available, unless you want to scrounge through junkyards looking for one), the job took me a total of at least fifteen hours :yikes: But if I had it to do over again, I bet I could do it start to finish in three to four.

The other big factor is knowing the key tricks. I just read on the E38 forum that somebody figured out that you don't have to mess with the clips at all! He claims that all you have to do is remove the four bolts holding down the fuel rail, and that when you lift the rail out, the injectors come out with it, with the wiring box attached! Knowing this would have literally saved me close to ten hours of agony.

But in the end, it's kind of like women after they have a baby - they forget all about the pain, and manage to remember the whole ordeal as a positive experience. I know I feel great about saving $500 by doing this job myself. Now, bring on that ZF transmission overhaul! :rofl:

Yeah, when I was doing the tranny swap, I also did the VC's inside of like 4hrs...removed, cleaned, painted black w/ off the shelf engine paint and slapped back together. I've followed other peoples write-ups before, but for me, it just comes down to getting into it and learning as I go sometimes....having upbeat music playing while I go also helps :)

I know this is a pretty old thread, but given the trouble I'm having I wanted to put as many feelers out there as I can.

I just finished the passenger side V/C gasket replacement and got as far as removing the coils and unbolting the driver side cover when I realized that there is a large conduit keeping the V/C from moving. I've learned that this is the alternator cable and that after disconnecting the positive charging lug on the firewall you have to disconnect the cable at the alternator. This is supposed to free up enough slack in the cable to allow the V/C to be removed.

My issue is that while trying to sort out what the conduit was, I traced it to a T near the frame rail. Indeed on arm went forward to the alternator. However, it feels like there is a third arm on the T (hence a T and not an L) that runs down towards the bottom of the engine. Also at the T, the cable seems to be clamped to the frame rail along with a vacuum line (which in my case runs along side the cable over the V/C but doesn't seem to be connected to anything).

Is this going to prevent me from removing the V/C after disconnecting the line at the alternator? Am I just insane and there is no mysterious T? Did I spend too many hours in the sun working on the passenger side today?

Thanks!