Timing Chain Guides - Done!
 

It all started with a.....piece of friggin' plastic!
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C4C92E9818.jpg

And that plastic had babies.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C7EC2C54FA.jpg

Driver's side...
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C4E66CFAD8.jpg

Passenger's side
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C4F2D28C0A.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C4FD51212A.jpg

Pointing at the UTC.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C5CE875D11.jpg

Removing the coolant
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C5E498E006.jpg

Fuel!
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C622389DA9.jpg

Valley Pan
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C611CCCD9F.jpg

Fuel Rail, just a hangin'
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C5FF258116.jpg

The bolt in the recessed hole we drilled off - as it were a regular socket wont even touch the bolts head. Homer Simpson moment.
Replaced the crank seal too.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C6C86DC906.jpg

Cam locks in place.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C73B2EE4B2.jpg

Plug that came out of it...no idea how old or new it is. (179k)
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C74AD9EFA9.jpg

The culprit. Why plastic, why?
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C75F712518.jpg

NEW PLASTIC. That makes sense, right?
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C7697BC5AB.jpg

Ugly.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C773339383.jpg

Primed...much better. :)
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C789FFBA5F.jpg

Paint was still wet here, but you get the picture. Literally. :-) Flat Black. (Hides oil, right?) LOL.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C795601E69.jpg

Here's my tired cheese with my friend that made the job possible. "Many hands make light work. Unless it's a BMW."
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C7FC4E3D71.jpg

Hey, that looks like a motor!
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C80A784034.jpg

Intake going on..
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C817DE1ABD.jpg

I'll need Chevy Chase to reconnect these wires.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C811AA243F.jpg

Hey, it is a BMW.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C829033EFE.jpg

I did have a set back, and the JB weld did not hold it. So I have a new secondary air line. Here is the old, which i kept to maybe have someone
tac the bracket back on.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...C8377A4C87.jpg

And that is that. OK. OK. Truth be told, I must have skipped the part about timing the engine, so we tore it back down enough to time the engine,
which is a NEAT process. It doesnt take long, I just wish I'd done it on the first time in. Practice makes perfect, right? The only other issue I had
was the O-Ring fell off the Timing Chain Tensioner before sliding it in, so it was leaking like a submarine on a bad day. After a few days, that
was narrowed down. Now she is dry as a bell, does not leak anything that Im aware of and runs fantastic. Today it will hit 182,000 miles.

I hosted a meet over the weekend and a friends E38 (4.4) has 325k on it. His OEM guides failed last week and they reaplaced them. This seems
to be an unpredictable fault, but obviously one worth FIXING. It makes me sad when people scrap these because of a timing chain guide. These
engines will run for a very long time if you change the fluids. Same goes for the transmission and t-case for us X5 folks. Change your fluids, before
you have issues. Preventative maintenance!

Back to enjoying the ultimate driving machines.

Great pics. Thanks for sharing. I think all V8 owners should pay attention to these threads just incase.

Nice job. I would check the oil pump suction filter after a couple of hundred miles. That pizzza, sorry plastic, gets everywhere.

Great thread, thanks for the write up.

Great writeup!

Great thread. So how long did it take you? Do anything else while going in there? And how much did you spend.

Great thread...Its my turn now I guess :(, my car sounds like a diesel a V8 one too :D

I'll post a vid in the afternoon as I am at work now.

It took a couple of weekends. We took the slow and cautious route. I think I spent about $1000+/- all in. I replaced a lot of stuff that made sense to do whilst in there.

Run it as little as possible. NONE is better. Doing this is better than buying a new/used engine!

+1 what duke said. And really try not to start it if you don't have to. Those bits floating in the engine can go places. And the timing covers cost your left nut to buy new.