Bringing this thread back from the dead... Just replaced the VC on my 2011 e90 335i, RWD 6MT this weekend. It had been slowly leaking oil for a while from the VC area and would push oil out of the cap after driving hard. Then the burning oil smell came and got worse and worse and worse. I'm at 111k miles on the original VC so figured it was likely a bad PCV causing high internal pressure and pushing oil out through gaskets.
Ordered valve cover kit 1 from FCP Euro which came with the accordion hose (broke the original), valvetronic gasket, screws, etc... Definitely pushed my luck and mechanical skill but I got it done in way longer than it should have taken. The rear left bolt (#18 on the torque pattern picture) took me 3 hours, 3 hours! 3 HOURS!!! I removed the passenger wiper, cowl, and the center and passenger plastics below the cowl but it's still very hard to get a ratchet in there at the right angle to seat the socket onto the e10. I had the VANOS recall done a few years ago and I think the BMW tech must have over tightened that one bolt because it wouldn't budge. I tried every wobble and extension I could get my hands on but nothing... I did not want to strip that bolt. Eventually broke it loose with a 3" wobble extension, the tiniest 1/4 ratchet ever, and a lot of elbow grease (thumb grease technically).
The VC came off without a fight after that, no clearance issues with the cowl and lower plastics removed. Going back on was a piece of cake. I did this on a day when it was 20 degrees F outside so my garage was pretty cold. I used a hair dryer to warm up all the plastic clips and pieces so reduce the likelihood of breaking any of them. I did manage to snap the clip for cylinder 6 fuel injector wire
... Tried to reassemble with some glue and it's been fine so far. Huge thanks to the OP for posting this DIY. Have put about 200 miles on it so far, looks and smells good! No new oil visible and haven't had any burnt oil smell.
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