I haven't even determined yet if I have the oil cooler or not, I'm guessing it's pretty obvious?

I've had my valvetronic motors off a few times and have never had any issues. It's just an electric motor with a worm gear on the shaft. When you take the 4th bolt out it will pop up about 1/2". to put it back on just insert and then spin it clockwise. I marked mine for what side it was on but I doubt it matters and the orientation is obvious by the electrical connector.

Go on realoem.com and put the last 7 of you vin in. This will tell you if you have a alternator bracket or oil cooler thermostat housing. Thermostat is much easier to change with less parts to move. I believe the oil cooler is located in the driver side front wheel arch. Can be seen there. Also two oil lines that come up from the arch under the expansion tank line that can be seen. Those two lines have quick disconnects that lead straight to the housing. If no oil cooler than there are no lines to the bracket.

Thanks for the info. I'll be working on the car Sunday and will post pictures after or if I have any problems.
Let me know if you need anymore information the the alternator gasket mess.

You kinda lost me on using RealOEM to determine if it has it. I always thought that the last 7 of the VIN is the same as drilling down to month/year of production.

Either way it shows an oil cooler and does not give the typical... "for cars with..."

RealOEM.com * BMW E70 X5 4.8i Engine oil cooler/oil cooler line

And it shows the thermostat:

RealOEM.com * BMW E70 X5 4.8i Oil supply - oil cooler connection

Wife's got the car right now but I'm excited about this possibly being a much easier job

Real Oem uses the same systems that BMW does ordering your parts. Ive always used it to determine what parts I will need. Thats why it is nice to have the last 7 of the vin. Either way check it out when she gets home. Could be that all n62's in E70's have oil coolers. Im new to the E70 world. Ive got several other BMW's but this is the first n62 motor. If you've got the oil cooler than id plan for a weekend of working on the car. Could be anywhere from a few hours to a day or so if you can't get the parts to fit back. I got the gasket out in about 3 hours, and a little longer for installation due to the difficultly of not being able to see. Time and patients were key....it is very frustrating.

Ive got a master tech friend at BMW in Florida that I talk to when I get stuck so he helped a lot. Also there is a tube that attachs to the oil cooler thermostat bracket that goes under the engine cover. I was concerned that I broke something. Heres a link to clarify.

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...e-nowhere.html

If you can upload pictures I can help guide the process.

Definitely have an oil cooler. Lines with quick connect fittings can be seen in the engine bay

Attachment 65931

And you can see the cooler behind the drivers side lower grill

Attachment 65932

Those are the two lines you will follow to find the gasket. Good news is there are only three bolts on the housing to get to the gasket.

Did mine yesterday, gasket was rock hard.

All in all I didn't find it that difficult. Once I got the alternator out I removed the one torx head holding the oil lines onto the housing and removed them. From there it was pretty easy to get to the three e-torx. I did not do anything with the power steering pump, this resulted in the socket going on to the one bolt at a slight angle but I still managed to get it loose. I replace all three e-torx bolts with socket head cap screws and then reinstalled with a ball headed hex socket. Much easier that way.

Glad to hear it went well. My parts didn't show up on Saturday. Just arrived today. Will be doing the valve and timing cover Thursday.

much easier oil cooler gasket replacement?
 

This seems much easier than other posters about this .... bump