God I don’t miss having a V8. Bless you sir.

i'm frightened just looking at it :)
and your looking at a 02 m62 owner with 160K on the clock , on original guides :)
damn, did I just , no
steve, you cannot tempt fate like that :)

There is a tricky bolt/but on the back of the PS pump. There is no room for a normal ratchet but a "through hole" ratchet will just fit. I think it's 13mm

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ec935f3a36.jpg

What did you do to / for your E53 today??
 

Another tip: if you don't have the thin wall special socket to remove vanos solinoid you can loosen the top chain covers an access with an open end wrench to loosen them. (Don't bother trying to twist from the body it will just rotate)

My trick is to use the clutch fan wrench from the top when the valve covers are off. It’s not ideal but works if you have nothing else. Thanks for the tips though!

Never again. Next car is an e70 Diesel.

I went to church to pray it makes it to the Mercedes dealer for trade in on a S model diesel. It must know it's being traded in after 16 years of bleeding my bank account. 140k miles, 2 transmissions and an engine, yearly work on the front end, about 8 door handle carriers, and too many other repairs to remember. BUT I still have to admit it was probably my favorite car I ever owned and my wife is very sad to see it go. It's a part of the family... BTW I'm trying to fix this transmission failsafe issue that popped up a few days ago...

Well. kinda tempted fate and she bit my arse, oil leak that i thought was rocker gaskets is most probably the upper timing guide gaskets..
so my nice new rocker gaskets have got to be taken off and binned,
oh the joy

You'd have better luck trying to snug the timing cover to stop a leak. I would try that first. I would get new bolts perhaps a grade tougher and swap one at a time to reduce buckling.

When I've replaced the timing covers I could feel the plastic deformation of the bolts even at spec torque. I suspect BMW used soft bolts so they have less risk of stripping the threads in the head.

I would swap out the 3-5 bolts surrounding the leak, maybe loosen them all slightly then replace them from the center out to about 80% torque initially then rotate through bumping up 5% at a time to 110% spec torque. There is a very good chance you'll stop the leak

Beemerless
 

Fixed my Failsafe issue with a new QUALITY battery. Drove it to the dealer and now I am Beemerless for the 1st time in 25 years..Kinda sad..