[tboudre]

There's a fragile dingleberry that hangs below the PCV diaphragm cap

I've decided there's no way to get the VC on without knocking off the "Dingleberry". Installed 3x and knocked it off every time with the last time the tiny oval plastic piece must have gone down the oil return and hopefully sitting in the oil pan. I shoved one of those fisher/grabber things all the way down there so I don't think it's stuck and restricting oil flow. The screen would keep it from going anywhere and I'll use the one from the old VC.

What I'll do is wiggle the valve cover on, I've found I can lift it up while the back end is in place. I'll then install the "dingleberry" & button it up.

I also took this opportunity to change my plugs to the NGK 97506 gapped to 0.022". One note on that is there was a bunch of crud (carbon) down in the plug well after removal. I put a small hose on the end of a vacuum cleaner & got it down into the cylinder & vacuumed over the threads & in the well. I doubt they would have seated properly if I hadn't done that.

BTW, excellent thread! Thanks!

UPDATE: I almost think that's why the dingleberry is snap-on - putting it on after the back end of the VC is in place IMO is the way to go. I kept an eye on that sucker until I couldn't see it anymore as there is not much clearance between the springs where it goes.

I used about every length wobble extension and every combo, mostly 3/8" drive 9" to 1-3/4" to E10 or E10 deep socket. The low end of my 3/8" drive torque wrench was 5 ft-lbs, so I used a 1/4" to 3/8" adapter and a 1/4" drive torque wrench set to 72 in-lbs. I couldn't feel the click on the 3/8" and over-torqued the 1st bolt.

Also, a 3/8" drive thumbwheel rachet came in really handy. I hand tightened all the bolts in the order in the OP, and when I came back with the torque wrench most were hand loose. I'll go back in a minute with the torque wrench and keep going back until they're all at torque.

BTW, I didn't remove the windshield wiper, I don't think it would have helped on the E90.

I saw one post where the guy uses glove fingertips to cover the injectors. In itself, that doesn't work very well. After I pulled the old VC off, I could wrap electrical tape over the fuel rail to keep the glove tips in place and for the injectors used rubber bands to keep them in place. I saw someone in this thread used balloons, which may be the best idea. I also shoved a shop towel down in each spark plug well to keep stuff from falling down in there.