©oncrete donkey's 540i timing chain guide replacement

[Concrete Donkey]

Sorry if you came into here expecting a DIY of some sort (I contemplated this) but this is just a thread following the repairs I am currently working on. Enjoy.

Tore into the motor this past weekend and had to stop at this point




I rented the timing tools from Bimmertoolrental.com and they arrived today



I've had parts ordered from PelicanParts and ECSTuning scattered all around my garage in boxes for weeks





I haven't really taken many pictures today due to the weather over here in NJ but below I have already removed the upper timing covers to begin cleaning...and by cleaning I mean blasting with aluminum oxide.













Then realized I was side tracked while my tool rental time was ticking I'll come back to this later.



Moving on, my apologies to the previous owner if he happens to run across this thread but guy, you took terrible care of this car. Every possible gasket and o-ring are fried... plastic,brittle, oil leaking out everywhere type of fried. I still have other issues to attend to but I decided to replace every gasket and o-ring possible at this moment....while praying to the "Jesus bolt" that the head gaskets are still in tact.

Let us pray



Here are a few comparison shots between the OEM gasket on the right & new Victor Reinz on the left





IMPORTANT - to all of you out there... I cannot stress how important it is to change out your chain tensioners as preventative maintenance. See below for a comparison of the new and old tensioner:





The spring in the old tensioner is shot .. I'm lucky that the slack in the chain didn't allow it to slap against the timing guides. This is @ 130,000 miles.



The fly wheel lock is in place and those are the cams at TDC

[aspensilver540]

I just hit 120K, thanks for the motivation! Scary before/after pic, just placed my previously procrastinated order for new tc tensioner!

[Gumbi4u]

Welcome back Topaz! LOL!!

[Concrete Donkey]

Welcome back Topaz! LOL!!

Try again

[AK_5eries]

Wow, I don't know if I would have enough balls to tackle this job. What year is your 540i?

[freethrowdunk]

That's a cool thing you did with the C there. I see it.

And lol if that's Topaz.

[bigjoe87865]

topaz already did his guides months ago... and he bought his own set of timing tools

[fragzem]

It's DAN and he's got a new 540

woot

[Concrete Donkey]

Wow, I don't know if I would have enough balls to tackle this job. What year is your 540i?

02

topaz already did his guides months ago... and he bought his own set of timing tools

This ^

It's DAN and he's got a new 540

woot

Who's DAN? You guys wouldn't know of me since I'm new to the E39 scene.

[freethrowdunk]

Oh, Dan. :/

[mifesto]

so whats the condition of your timing chain guides at 130k miles? hope you also have a new oil seperator on-hand; i'd definetly swap that out too while im in there.

[Concrete Donkey]

so whats the condition of your timing chain guides at 130k miles? hope you also have a new oil seperator on-hand; i'd definetly swap that out too while im in there.

I will post up a comparison... I tried to snap the plastic on the old timing chain guides without much success. There is a difference in color with the 130k being more of a very dark brown (as opposed to an almost translucent brown on the new guides).

Right now I'm pretty much at my budget for this job... the CCV will have to wait for now I believe I'm somewhere in the $600 ballpark including tool rental/purchase.

[bigjoe87865]

I will post up a comparison... I tried to snap the plastic on the old timing chain guides without much success. There is a difference in color with the 130k being more of a very dark brown (as opposed to an almost translucent brown on the new guides).

Right now I'm pretty much at my budget for this job... the CCV will have to wait for now I believe I'm somewhere in the $600 ballpark including tool rental/purchase.

not the CCV, but OSV ... and OSV is inexpensive and will require pulling the lower timing covers and they are pretty brittle at this age and fail often... so its a pretty good idea to hit that.

[mifesto]

ah so at 130k mileage, the guides still had some life in it? if so that makes me breath a sign of relief for now..... and my oil seperator seems still be doing its job so im alright (for now)

[Concrete Donkey]

not the CCV, but OSV ... and OSV is inexpensive and will require pulling the lower timing covers and they are pretty brittle at this age and fail often... so its a pretty good idea to hit that.

Excellent piece of info... thank you.

[papajetta]

Not to troll , ... But not cool on bashing the previous owner because if leaking gaskets... Every owner is different. Not every owner overhauls a motor because of a brittle looking gasket unless you are there doing something else already. Unless there is an oil leak, it is totally normal for m62s to have wet timing c overs at 130k. That's not the owners fault, that's bimmers fault.

[Concrete Donkey]

ah so at 130k mileage, the guides still had some life in it? if so that makes me breath a sign of relief for now..... and my oil seperator seems still be doing its job so im alright (for now)

Actually, I went to insert the tensioner tool and the plastic guide broke. This 540i has been overheated without proper care to maintain anything The plastic on mine may be much more brittle than yours (taking a stab in the dark) but I wouldn't hesitate on pulling your covers to inspect.

so whats the condition of your timing chain guides at 130k miles? hope you also have a new oil seperator on-hand; i'd definetly swap that out too while im in there.

Thanks again for the reminder... I don't know what I would have done if I thought about that AFTER everything was back together. Here are some randoms from tonight:









If any one's timing guides look like those pictured above, it means prepare to replace them ASAP. Since it was raining today I toyed around with the thought of polishing my timing covers... what do you guys think?





Working out some pitting...







I'll be removing the Jesus bolt tomorrow

[NJpit1996]

Looking good man Cant wait till the 540s done!

[mifesto]

i wouldnt bother polishing the cover unless you plan to make your 5er into a show car. you'll need to maintain it, which will be tough to keep shiny even if you dont have mechnical fan. maybe i'd get it powdercoated black.

[Cyrix2k]

Nice work so far. Those tensioners are not as big of a deal as people make them out to be - the spring does not apply the tension, oil pressure does. It might cause a rattle on startup in which case it should be replaced, but otherwise it's not hurting anything. I believe BMW also changed the design so old tensioners do not have the same spring as the new ones.

[mifesto]

whats interesting is mine rattles at startup (only when engine's been off for a week) but the chain tensioner is only 1k miles old. then again it could be vanos related.

[Concrete Donkey]

i wouldnt bother polishing the cover unless you plan to make your 5er into a show car. you'll need to maintain it, which will be tough to keep shiny even if you dont have mechnical fan. maybe i'd get it powdercoated black.

I planned on using a high temp clear coat which should hold the shine. At this point I don't have the funds for powder coating and looking to get it back together using the resources available.

Nice work so far. Those tensioners are not as big of a deal as people make them out to be - the spring does not apply the tension, oil pressure does. It might cause a rattle on startup in which case it should be replaced, but otherwise it's not hurting anything. I believe BMW also changed the design so old tensioners do not have the same spring as the new ones.

Which tensioner are you referring to?

whats interesting is mine rattles at startup (only when engine's been off for a week) but the chain tensioner is only 1k miles old. then again it could be vanos related.

Possibly a broken timing chain guide? The chain can hold the broken guides in place in some instances.

[NJpit1996]

Herculiner that shit

[mifesto]

Possibly a broken timing chain guide? The chain can hold the broken guides in place in some instances.

possible but it wouldnt explain if i drive it often, startup is quiet and smooth.

[Concrete Donkey]

Herculiner that shit

Imagine? Don't tempt me