How to time a 540tu engine

[JimLev]

For starters I'd clear the codes, then reset the trigger wheels to the correct positions on both sides.

[Samaid16]

Took too the top end apart apart down to the upper timing covers.
TDC- cam blocks- and decided to re-time the engine.
I timed the engine and kept the cam blocks down the whole time, and was able to torqued everything to spec. I followed your instructions on the video precisely and was finally able to crank and all the codes went away.
The problem that I’m having now is the engine is a little louder than it supposed to be and engine bay is also smoking a little. No codes on the dash. I’m hesitant to let it run too long because I don’t want something to burn up.
I’ve also been doing this project for at least 2 to 3 months now, with sometimes 1 to 2 week interval when the car will just sit. Due to the car smoking a little bit in the engine bay, I haven’t had the car is to let it continue to run to see if it’s just from coolant and oil being all over. I also noticed that there is a bit of coolant leak in the back, which I’m sure is coming from the transfer of pipes. I wanted to at least get the engine running properly first before tackling that other project.
Any recommendations?
All of the previous codes for timing Advance and fuel shut off bank one are gone.
Thank you for all of the information that you put on this forum, as well as the videos. It’s a huge help to a lot of people.

[JimLev]

Without seeing it I can only guess. Smoke could be coming from oil on the exhaust manifold that got there during the cam chain guide replacement, or maybe your valve cover gaskets are leaking?
When the engine is cold run your hand along the bottom and back side of the valve covers to see if they have oil on them.

[theWalkinator]

I bet it is valve cover leaking, when I did mine, the first time putting passenger side valve cover back, 6" of gasket came out of the groove at the exhaust side so when I pour the oil down, I got a massive oil leak so I have to re-seat the valve cover. Double check your valve cover gaskets.

[Samaid16]

I’ll definitely check on that next. I was just pulled back a bit that my first crank went fine, sounded perfect. After a cracked again few mins later, it started to sound a little loud. The sound didn’t get worse, but when it started smoking, I didn’t have the guts to let it run. I’ll do the manual check along the valve covers next time.
Thank you again guys- all the collective info has been marvelous. Trying to save another 99 e38.

[Samaid16]

A 10 mm on the passenger side closest to the firewall wasn’t tight enough. That was causing the smoke.
With that fixed, I started to have some coolant leak in the back of the engine, and I Realized the o-rings in the water accumulator for the coolant pipes were ruined. That got me to:
Intake manifold gasket
Throttle body gasket
Ccv gasket
O ring for the plastic pipe that runs from the front to the back inside the manifold.
Coolant pipe o-rings in the water accumulator, and both gaskets on each side of the water accumulator
Cranked it up, and timing corrected. Engine sounds good, but I noticed some oil in the intake manifold, and also in cyl eight hole into valve stem. I’m not sure if this is just residue from oil being in the manifold, but I thought I drained it out pretty well.
Any recommendations? Do I need to replace the entire CCV unit? I rarely hear about the unit itself going bad, so I just got a new gasket. Thanks in advance

[Knail41196]

German auto solutions has great tools and has good power point instructions. Did 01 740i last summer.

[b2ke]

Jim,

I have one question regarding zip tying the chain/guide. I am wondering when you are suppose to remove the zip tie. Do you first install the timing cover AND then install the chain tensioner then you cut and remove the zip tie?

I wonder if there is enough space cut and remove the zip tie with the timing cover on.

[JimLev]

I don't remember if the video showed it however I used zip ties to hold the pass side guide against the chain until I was ready to install the pass side upper timing cover. I then used a piece of thin wire to hold the guide, cut the zip tie, and loosely installed the cover. The wire was still in place between the cover and the head. Next I installed the tensioner in the side of the cover, then cut the wire.
My reasoning for doing it this way was to keep tension on the chain so there would be no slack in it that could mess up the timing.

[R Shaffner]

My experience:

If the passenger side guide (that applies the tension) goes slack with the bottom cover on, no problem. Some cams might turn slightly because of the valve springs, but the chain won't come loose from the crank sprocket, or the cam sprockets. In short, after I put the bottom cover on I cut the zip tie, let the passenger side guide loose, put on the upper passenger side cover, and then put in the chain tensioner.

That is NOT the case when the bottom cover is off. Then the slack chain can allow it to slip a tooth on the crank. I know because I made that mistake.

(Jim's approach is a good idea though. No reason not to be careful.)

[Samaid16]

I actually also used Jim’s approach few months ago. After it is almost completed, the last thing you wanna do it’s repeat. The most tedious part is timing the engine. I’ll confess that I actually had to do it twice. The first time, I thought everything was perfect- Engine was running like a tractor. I had to re-time. It’s a very meticulous job.
Even when the cam turns slightly, I also recommend when you put the upper timing covers on partially, remove the small torx screw next to camshaft sensor (upper timing cover)—- use a long hex and stick it in the hole- - the hex should go straight into the hole through the can trigger wheel — means it’s timed correctly.
Passenger side gets tricky because cam turns slightly.
Jim -should that hex method be tested before the cam locks are removed on the passenger side? The passenger intake cam turns after the blocks are removed. I would think the trigger wheel would be aligned with the whole prior to the cam turning.

[JimLev]

Jim -should that hex method be tested before the cam locks are removed on the passenger side? The passenger intake cam turns after the blocks are removed. I would think the trigger wheel would be aligned with the whole prior to the cam turning.

Probably isn't a bad idea to do that as a double check. The cam lock blocks need to be on to keep the cam from moving.
I've never used the torx hole, it's not as accurate as using the alignment tool. You could still be off a few degrees using the hole. I turn the engine over 2-3 times, lock the crank at TDC and put the cam lock blocks back on. Retard the vanos, put the trigger wheel alignment tools back on to make sure nothing has changed.

[Samaid16]

Your thoughts on this. When I initially timed the engine and it was running extremely poor… I mean extremely rough, it took me a couple of weeks to realize that it was the timing. I was busy test and every other component, and hoping camshaft sensors or something else went bad. My question -is there any chance of any damage To internal components that would derive from When the engine was running so roughly? Is that a common thing? None that I’ve noticed yet, but it got me a little anxious once I finally got it right.

[JimLev]

As long as there wasn't valve to piston contact there shouldn't be any internal damage. You weren't driving the car with the engine in this rough condition so there wasn't any real load on it.

[theWalkinator]

I followed Jim's procedure to the teeth, but also noted that 3 things you need to pay particular attention:

1. Timing chain tension needs to be really tight all the time, I used couple of large zip ties to keep the tension before removing tensioning tool and installing upper timing cover
2. Make sure that you push down the upper timing cover to flush with the head before you tighten down the bolts, this is absolutely critical to have the timing alignment inspecting hole on upper timing cover aligned to the alignment hole on the trigger wheel, check with an appropriate size allen wrench.
3. Double check by hand rotating the engine 2 rotations, lock the engine and check the timing with allen wrench again.

I have no timing issue after the job, car fired right up, smooth and no timing/vanos error codes, it has been 4 months since I got the timing chain guide job done and the car drives beautifully.

[Samaid16]

So I fired up the beast and all was great for a while until I got:
P1357 misfire cyl. Fuel cut off
P0011 over advance bank 1.
I will bee swapping coils to see if it’s related.
For the bank 1 timing, could this be :
Redo timing?
the trigger wheel?
Timing solenoid?
Any thoughts on a first plan of action?
I understand timing issues could cause misfires with fuel cut off, but would bank 1 be related to cyl 8 misfire? I guess I need to address the misfire first?

[Chedley]

So I fired up the beast and all was great for a while until I got:
P1357 misfire cyl. Fuel cut off
P0011 over advance bank 1.
....
I understand timing issues could cause misfires with fuel cut off, but would bank 1 be related to cyl 8 misfire? I guess I need to address the misfire first?

No.
I would deal first with P0011 first, re-timing the engine the right way.
Bank 1 = (cylinders 1 to 4), right side , passenger side. and Bank 2 = (cylinders 5-8), left side, or driver side in the US.

[b2ke]

So I fired up the beast and all was great for a while until I got:
P1357 misfire cyl. Fuel cut off
P0011 over advance bank 1.
I will bee swapping coils to see if it’s related.
For the bank 1 timing, could this be :
Redo timing?
the trigger wheel?
Timing solenoid?
Any thoughts on a first plan of action?
I understand timing issues could cause misfires with fuel cut off, but would bank 1 be related to cyl 8 misfire? I guess I need to address the misfire first?

I completed the replacement of my guides last week. I followed Jim's video to time the engine, cranked it over twice, and the trigger wheels aligned to my alignment tool. And what do you know? At the 3rd start the P0011 code popped up. I was pretty frustrated because I had everything back together and I'm pretty sure I timed it correctly.

Anyway, I did some searching and found this thread. I think its best you read through the entire thread yourself, however, page 4 is where I found the remedy for the P0011 code.

Basically, as described in the thread, I removed my valve cover, cranked to TDC, locked the fly wheel, locked the cams, marked my starting position of the trigger wheel, then measured about 1mm (more accurate measurement is found in that thread I linked), and advanced (move clockwise) the trigger wheel by that 1mm measurement. I doubled checked with the trigger wheel hole on the timing cover. Then put everything back together.

This solved my P0011 code (in the time it took remove the valve cover). I've driven about 25 miles and the code is still not back so as of right now I think that thread solved my P0011 code.

I believe this code, in my case, was due to the timing kit I used (amazon) and/or my cam locks weren't flush while I was timing the engine. There is also the possibility that you didn't preload the timing cover when bolting it down.

[JimLev]

B2ke, got a link to the tools you used? I've heard about some possible problems in the past with some of them, also problems with using the GAS tools, those might have been operator error.

[b2ke]

Jim, here is a link to the tools I purchased, which are now unavailable. The blue box it comes with looks identical to eBay tools as well. Anyway, yeah I was basically trying to mention operator error in the last sentence of my previous post. I believe that is a huge factor. It may not be the tools themselves.

[Samaid16]

So do you check the trigger wheel hole on The timing cover before or after you take remove the cam locks on bank one?
As you know, the cams on bank one snap forward a little bit when you remove the cam locks. So am I making sure the trigger will hole aligns with the timing cover hole before I take the cam locks out?

[R Shaffner]

So do you check the trigger wheel hole on The timing cover before or after you take remove the cam locks on bank one?
As you know, the cams on bank one snap forward a little bit when you remove the cam locks. So am I making sure the trigger will hole aligns with the timing cover hole before I take the cam locks out?

Usually the chain tensioner keeps the chain tight enough so that won't happen. Yes, the cams should be properly aligned for TDC, when checking the trigger wheels.

[JimLev]

Before you remove the cam lock blocks, otherwise the cam will rotate on bank one.
The vanos will allow it to rotate.
One bank 2 it won't rotate but I'd still leave the cam lock blocks on.
Crank pinned at TDC too.

[mateo8]

Before you remove the cam lock blocks, otherwise the cam will rotate on bank one.
The vanos will allow it to rotate.
One bank 2 it won't rotate but I'd still leave the cam lock blocks on.
Crank pinned at TDC too.

Jim, I just redid my timing with refurbished heads and with new Dr. Vanos vanos, which were soaked in oil before putting them on. Once on, with the crank pin still in, I took the cam blocks off and the bank1 cam did not rotate (I thought this was odd) but proceeded to take the crank pin out and rotated it by hand 2x over. Once rotated, I put the crank pin back in and the cam blocks slid right over the cams without having to adjust the bank1 cam, the trigger wheels also aligned perfectly, and the engine spun freely when hand cranking. (My timing tools are GAS tools) Should I be worried about anything?

[JimLev]

Mateo, I've never had the bank 1 stay put when I removed the cam lock blocks.
If yours didn't move that's good.
Only thing to worry about is if your CEL comes on.