Has anyone replaced the chain guides on an N62?
 

I have seen Dukes write up on the M62 which is great but I'd love to hear any tips or tricks or any idiosyncrasies with the N62 that could help me.

Thanks
Andrew

well i know how to get to them. but i never actually replaced them so i dont know how to proceed farther on it. if you do them might as well get all new gaskets as preventative maintenance

Looking at that makes me want to puke.

Or sell my X.

:(

Why? It is just something you have to do once. Just be patient. Like I always say, the eyes are scared, but the hands will do. Same thing applies. You are freaking out for no reason.

This isnt the N62

Close enough though. Should get the ball rolling.

Thanks Slick, much appreciated - I'm just interested if there is anything particular to the N62 (different to the M62) that I should be aware of.

Should be the same. I think i actually have the N motor as well. I had ordered parts as if I was doing the job on my 2001 740il - and they had different parts. The OSV was different and a few other things. But the job itself is the same, just the trimmings.

The OSV, for instance, is on the back of the intake, so its smart to replace that if you havent already at this point in ownership.

The rest is mainly gaskets. Off the top of my head..
Valve cover gaskets and gromets
Upper timing chain gaskets (L) (R)
Lower timing chain cover gasket (1)
Alt gasket (1)
Vanos solenoid gaskets (2)
Intake gasket set
Lower Oil Pan Gasket (you will expose the front half of the upper oil pan
gasket when you pull the lower timing chain cover, I used a bead of RTV on it to seal as the gasket is metal)
Crank Seal. (theres no time like now, since you have the cover off)

You should go ahead and replace your spark plugs too, since you are in there it just makes sense.

Take a piece of cardboard and trace out the front timing chain covers, when you remove the bolts, stick them in the cardboard so you know EXACTLY where each came from as they are different lenghts. One on the driver side is recessed a little but, so use the 1/4 drive and 10mm on that, the 1/2 is too thick and will just spin.

You may want to replace your sway bar bushings too. In order to get to everything, I pulled my skid plate off. Its 6 bolts and the sway bar is held on by those.

Its a great time to replace old water hoses too. I replaced a few of mine, id rather do it before they go and leave me on the side of the road waiting on a hose from Germany. :-)

The Harmonic Balance is very tight, so 4 hands will make that easier. Also, on mine one of the bolts on the cam itself was tighter than the Jesus bolt on the harmonic balance.

Simply, just take your time and be organized with your bolts and gaskets. A little planning goes miles.

Im sure I'll be doing this job on my 740il at some point. I just hope it's awhile, I need a break. I have mod fever and a thin wallet! Yay BMW! LOL :D

That's a shit load of gaskets. I might just get the gasket goo in a tube!

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...5/7f5b0cdb.jpg
...

Wow, the same yet so different! I can't wait to pick up a n62 as my next project, but I am actually holding out from a s62 if anyone see one ;)

I agree with Duke on things to replace... But wrong motor. Both of Duke's motors are the M62 config. But the principles are pretty much the same. Just not sure if you can use the M62 cam locking tools on a N62 motor.

Top right hand corner - a mini X in the engine bay. Hahaha

Yup sure is! :)

That picture tells you something important.

The upper timing chain housing is now part of the cylinder head.

On the M62 it wasn't - you took away some bolts and then you could remove the front part of the cylinder head, and slide the chain guides forward.

I'm afraid on the N62, the right-hand side requires removal of the cylinder head in order to change the guides. I can't see any way around it anyway.

On the left hand side of the engine (opposite to the picture above), you can replace them easily, because the pivot bolts/bearings screw out from the front. On the problematic side, they screw out from behind the guide.

Here are some pictures:


Here you can see the part of the cylinder head that is not removable in the N62. This is supposedly an improvement over the M62. Not for the customer!!
http://www.bigseopro2.com/n62/pezho.jpg

http://www.bigseopro2.com/n62/timinghousing.jpg

Here you can see *behind* the right-side chain guides. This is where you have to unscrew the bearing bolts - the pivot points for the guides on this side. They can only be unscrewed *after* removing the guides, by sliding the guides forwards, which you can't do because of the cylinder head mentioned above.
http://www.bigseopro2.com/n62/bad1.jpg

Here is the same from the front. The guides need to slide forward off here:
http://www.bigseopro2.com/n62/bad2.jpg

Here you can see the other side of the engine - the left side (left side if we were sat in the seats of the car). On this side the pivot screws / bearing bolts actually just remove from the front easily, and then you can drop the guides down / manoeuvre them out no problem.
http://www.bigseopro2.com/n62/good1.jpg


Last thing to share: in 2005 the chain guides were updated. They are now longer, and also on the left side - those that can actually be replaced fairly easily (presuming you already have the engine in bits to fix a leaky coolant pipe or alternator bracket oil seal), the pivot screw/bearing bolt is larger, so newer ones of those (those circled in the picture just above) are needed to go with the newer guides.

You have to replace the guides in pairs (top/bottom), and the older part is no longer available. If it were, you might be able to just pop the plastic bit out of the middle and at least replace that bit on the troublesome right side.

The Febi parts are actually OEM BMW parts, and they have ground-out the BMW logos and the words BMW off of them.

Here are some old-v-new pictures. This is the left-side upper (plastic) guide. The lower metal guide is also increased in size about the same amount.

http://www.bigseopro2.com/n62/newvold1.jpg
http://www.bigseopro2.com/n62/newvold2.jpg
http://www.bigseopro2.com/n62/newvold3.jpg

Of course prior to all this, you have to remove the lower timing cover.
The secret to that, IMO, is to remove the lower oil pan, and just loosen the bolts to the upper oil pan a little. Then the timing cover will pop off easily. Cylinder heads can stay put. Alternator and A/C compressor need to be removed, because they are doweled into the side of the timing cover, or their brackets are (alternator bracket is, and a/c compressor itself is).

Cost me $0.25 to share all that with you! I don't even have an X :)

Thanks for the great info! and welcome! :)

You're welcome :) Haven't found anybody else talking about N62 chain guides on the Internet. I wish the outcome was better.. I have all four new guides here, but it looks like I'll only be replacing the left side pair :(

That is correct. The engine shown in that video is not an N62. The engine in my 645Ci has extended mountings on the cylinder head castings. The timing chain guides and timing chain are behind these. It appears that you cannot replace the timing chain components without removing the cylinder heads.

Does anyone know how to get around this problem ????

(sorry, I didn't see the replies above until after I had submitted my post. It looks like they answer my question. Cylinder heads must come off to replace timing chain guides. The pictures in the post by Carl0s do not come out when I view it. What do I need to change to see those pictures ?)

Good day!!

I had a thread with my 2004 N62 rebuild on here with pictures, but photobucket destroyed that when they got rid of free hosting...

I'll see if I can put some on here directly for you... I also try to do a write up on it in the near future...

From my pictures, you MIGHT be able to do the guides with the heads installed... The lower cover has bolts that go thru a casting for the cylinder head, but they aren't the main head bolts used to hold compression. I took the chain cover off the front of the block with the heads on to seal the water passage better. I'll do a little detailed posting here with pictures in a second... I have to upload them and attach them...

Here is a shot (upside down) of the new guides with chains... Three have bolts that hold them on... There is also one that doesn't make things easy...

****I just remembered about the alternator mounting bracket... It extends around the front of the lower timing guide and down the side of the motor... That needs to be removed in order to get the front cover off... The front diff needs to be removed to get to the lower rear bolt holding that bracket on the block...*****

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/fsTxUl.jpg

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/923/OUDqPS.jpg

Here is a bad shot of the lower guide removed with the heads installed... You might be able to get the three guides out, but the last one needs to come straight out from the block... I think it will hit the head casting before it clears the pin...

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/924/0jIR2y.jpg

If you pull the vanos units off, you can get access to the chain easily... You don't have to loosen the cam caps like I have done here for the exhaust side... That bolt on the lower area of the head is holding the top of the guide in place...

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/922/SdcdZW.jpg

Here is the bolt that holds the guide on...

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/924/J4zDin.jpg

So, it would be best to remove the heads, but I personally don't think it is a requirement... The oil pans need to be loose to get the front cover in without damaging the gasket...

Let me know if you need more pictures of something specific... I'll post them up...

Cheers!!

what about the timing chain ???

My mechanic says he cannot fit the new timing chain without removing the cylinder heads ???

(BTW - many thanks for taking the time to post the images. Very helpful)

N62 timing chain components replacement.
 

Thanks Carl0s and williamX5. Valuable information.
Here's what I have come up with.
The LH side guides can be done without removing the cylinder head.
With the RH side, the head has to come off.
So be it.

After reading a few posts about the valve stem seals leaking I decided to
take the heads off both sides so I can take a look at these and replace if
necessary. The seals can be done without removing the heads if you have
the special tool, but then it is a lot easier to take a look at the seals with
the heads off. I know that you can check the seals without removing the
heads, but when you consider that one head has to come off, it's not too
big a deal to take off the other side.

It was easier to remove the entire engine to do this and along with the transmission. I was then able to look at the catalytic converters and these
look nice and clean.

So by tomorrow I should know if the valve stem seals are okay and
hopefully there are no other issues revealed when the heads are removed.

Although only one guide had the broken plastic, we could only buy a full
timing chain kit, so all guides and chains will be replaced, plus gaskets, head bolts etc. The original chain had some stretch in it. 150K kms (90K miles)

I had a problem with the radiator fan not working sometimes and then the water pump failed so the motor has been very hot on a couple of occasions.

A lot of work for a crappy little piece of plastic.

This all started because of minor oil leaks from rocker covers which leaked oil into the alternator and caused 'Low Battery' warnings which then threw up all sorts of other electrical faults. DSC, Seat belt tensioners and Air bags.

I have managed to cure one of these which was the DSC light on. This was a faulty Yaw sensor on RH side.

I won't know if cleaning the oil out of the alternator has cured the other
problem until the vehicle is back on the road. I replaced the regulator
on the alternator while we had it off as that was only $69.

I'll keep you all posted on progress.

All done now.
All new timing components.
All new gaskets and seals.

Stopping oil leaks getting into the alternator and replacing the regulator fixed the problem with the Low Battery warning light coming on sometimes.
I don't know which one actually was the cure. The new regulator was only $60. So that was a lot cheaper than replacing the complete alternator.

Had to replace the airbag sensor to get that warning light to stay off.
Airbags and Seatbelt tensioners were not working.

DSC problem was a Yaw Sensor. Replacing that fixed the problem.
I can now select Sports mode. I could not do that before.

645Ci, N62 motor.

Hello. I am up against the same issue, 2007 e70 X5, N62TU, timing chain guides worn and probably chains stretched. I am hoping to be able to do this work with engine in car and not to remove the heads. Can the oil pump chain be removed with the oil pans installed, or does the oil pump gear have to be removed and can the be done with oil pans still on? Any advice to this work with engine in car would be helpful. Thanks.

Not sure about the oil pump chain.
However you will have to remove at least one head in order to fit new
timing chain guides.

Old thread but interesting addition, maybe. Chain guides on cylinders 1-4 may not require heads off after all. From my parts browsing and realOEM I noted that the pins that cause the issue are separate parts and could be sacrificed and replaced. Dremel the pins off. The install guides with new pins in one go. It really depends on how much wiggle room is needed for installation, but it could well work.

Parts 8 and 11 here:

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=11_3267