[aa87]

Thanks to this write up, i just completed this job. The PCV valve hose was self explanatory. I also didn't put in the spark plug guides until after i put the valve cover back on, and they slid down pretty easily. It made it a hell of a lot easier to replace the valve cover without them.

[stewbets]

I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to the OP for this excellent DIY. I read this whole thread and felt more than prepared to change my VCG. Everything went smoothly. No broken connectors. Burning oil smell in the cabin is gone.

The one contribution I'd like to make is the tool I fabbed to remove the three ground posts. I didn't have a 10mm deep well socket and apparently there are a bunch that don't fit anyway, so I took my 3/8" 10mm socket and welded it into a 6" piece of 1/2" EMT conduit that I had laying around. This required cutting a slit in the conduit so the socket would slide in, but the whole process took about 5 minutes and worked perfectly. I just clamped vice grips to the end of the conduit and used it to wrench the posts.

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

What the hell kind of deep sockets do you guys have? I tried with my deep socket and it's no where close to fit on it.

Also my wiring harness bolts seem to be steel and not aluminum? Odd.

[insanesam]

Originally Posted by stewbets

I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to the OP for this excellent DIY. I read this whole thread and felt more than prepared to change my VCG. Everything went smoothly. No broken connectors. Burning oil smell in the cabin is gone.

The one contribution I'd like to make is the tool I fabbed to remove the three ground posts. I didn't have a 10mm deep well socket and apparently there are a bunch that don't fit anyway, so I took my 3/8" 10mm socket and welded it into a 6" piece of 1/2" EMT conduit that I had laying around. This required cutting a slit in the conduit so the socket would slide in, but the whole process took about 5 minutes and worked perfectly. I just clamped vice grips to the end of the conduit and used it to wrench the posts.

Great innovation but it could've been simpler by purchasing plumbing tubular spanners. I purchased a set for installing mixer taps froman automotive store in Australia called Supercheap but for you Americans amazon has them https://www.amazon.com/Tubular-Spann.../dp/B01NCJH7TG. Basically use the 10mm one and on the other end use a standard 14mm (or whatever fits) socket on a ratchet

[stewbets]

Originally Posted by insanesam

Great innovation but it could've been simpler by purchasing plumbing tubular spanners. I purchased a set for installing mixer taps froman automotive store in Australia called Supercheap but for you Americans amazon has them https://www.amazon.com/Tubular-Spann.../dp/B01NCJH7TG. Basically use the 10mm one and on the other end use a standard 14mm (or whatever fits) socket on a ratchet

Well, having the right tool will always be easier. The point was that I didn't have it. Others have and will be in the same situation, and once you're there you don't want to wait a couple days for the right tool. Besides, I saved $13!

Thanks for sharing the link for the tubular wrenches. It's always good to know what else is out there.

[insanesam]

Originally Posted by stewbets

Well, having the right tool will always be easier. The point was that I didn't have it. Others have and will be in the same situation, and once you're there you don't want to wait a couple days for the right tool. Besides, I saved $13!

Thanks for sharing the link for the tubular wrenches. It's always good to know what else is out there.

Yep point taken and as mentioned a great idea. The main advantage of the tube spanners (from my point of view) is that it allows for a torque wrench to be used

[TheMidnightNarwhal]

Doing this job right now FYI at 72k miles my PCV holes are perfectly clean. I can't confirm if valve cover is 100% (no service records before I bought) original.

Valve cover has the factory stickers so I'm 80% sure it's the original. I guess it all comes down the the oil changes that were done previously.

[E60orBust]

Planning on doing this too after getting a CEL after a WOT run and having some real harsh idle that went away after driving for a bit.

Read the code for a misfire, pulled the spark plug and found oil in the well.

Thing is, I'm only at 35k on the odometer 😂 on the joy

Thanks OP, pics will come in handy soon

[Rodolfo soto]

Originally Posted by robc1976

Seems this DIY has never been done but it needs to be. It's really not that hard and the dealer charges $1000+ to do this. Ridiculous.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any damage done to your car following this tutorial. Worked perfectly for mine so it should for yours as well.

**Before you begin - DISCONNECT BATTERY! You'll be messing with electricity and fuel - not fun!**

Some have stated the 26 bolts need to be replace, some say it is not necessary. BMW stated it is not a common practice, only if a problem is noticed and 99% of the time it is not needed.

Here are the part#'s (thanks to user "joe-" for part#'s):

7544369 bolts x 26
11127565286 gasket
11127548063 bolts x 3
11127556977 bolts x 2

Torque specs: 7-7.4 lbs

Pic of new Valve Cover Gasket:



Remove passenger Side Cross Bar:





Remove Coils:



Remove O2 Sensors:



Remove clips on Fuel Rail to get access to bolts:



...and remove bolts:



...and remove Fuel Line Fitting (HIGHLY suggest doing this with a cool motor to avoid pressure release issues):



...and take Sensor off end of Fuel Rail:



Remove vaccum lines off of Booster Line:



Remove the six (6) connectors on Fuel Injectors, three (3) nuts & wires on Ground Posts with wires, lastly remove three (3) Ground Posts:



You do NOT need an extra long socket to get Ground Posts out - simply put socket on Ground Post and then socket/rachet halfway in socket hole:



Pry open tab CAREFULLY to get connectors off Fuel Injectors:



Remove fittings on all six (6) Fuel Injectors and remove entire Fuel Rail:





Remove Wire Holder connected to valve cover (by this point all wires, connectors, etc should be disconnected) - Note the blue-headed that BMW says need to be replaced. I disagree



Remove Positive Battery Terminal:



Valve Cover should be able to come off now. Use a putty knife and seperate Valve Cover from Head - do NOT force it or you could crack it. Also, don't gouge the head with any tool you use. I was able to get it loose by just lossening one side:



Cool pics of motor with Valve Cover off - look at that sexy motor LOL:





Get all Gasket material off of Valve Cover and Motor, being careful not to let anything fall into Motor. As you can see below, there's no way this old Valve Cover Gasket was sealing! Had a talk with Rob Beck today regarding
this and the gasket not sealing can cause a lot more issues than one might think. The head breathes into the Valve Cover. If the gasket is leaking, it pressurizes your crank case and can cause issues with Turbos, etc. I'll let Rob chime in and elaborate on this.





Clean surface on Motor of all Gasket material - Very important! If you leave it dirty, you will be sorry:



This picture illustrates where the Head breathes into the Valve Cover - have to give Rob Beck credit for this, I had no idea! LOL:



Clean out debris here (I found a bunch of burnt June Bugs in mine! LOL):



New Valve Cover Gasket installed - just push it on:



Insert Spark Plug Guides into Valve Cover before installing it on motor:



Installing Tips:

Really couldn't get pics of this. It's easiest with another pair of hands. Move everything out of the way, the ECU wires go behind Valve Cover easily. Take care not to scrape the Gasket so it falls out. It's really not that
difficult - took my wife and I about two minutes to install.
When putting in bolts, torque down to only 7lbs of torque. Anymore and you will strip the head. Do a bolt pattern - front to back, etc. There's a larger bolt that goes in the right front corner and one that goes in the left
rear corner (as you're looking at the car):



TIP: When installing the Fuel Rail, install the bolts first - before you start any fittings otherwise you may strip a bolt hole in the head, like I did (I retapped them easily but much easier if you just don't strip them LOL).




I'd like to send out BIG thanks to Rob Beck for his tips on this job. I appreciate it, man!

Robc

Was
Thanks for the diy , I change my control arms this last weekend but I don’t really like how they alignment any healp please

[Rodolfo soto]

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0vSz...r59iA#Veradale

[jkoljo]

Just did this service yesterday on a N54 Z4 35i. 75k miles. All in all it went well, but somebody had been there before me. Plastic cable management clips on the fuel rail were partially broken, and some of the valve cover bolts were not tight at all, and some were surprisingly tight.

As a bonus item, when I was getting ready to put the valve cover back in, I noticed that one of the spark plug sleeves had a metal compression ring (c-clip on the bottom) missing. If you do this service, remove spark plug sleeves before removing the valve cover. I searched around the engine valve system and could not see it there. Not in the spark plug holes either. I re-assembled the engine and it seems to work well. Some ticking sound at idle (not when I rev it) but that can be either the direct injection or perhaps the new metal VTT PCV valve that I installed.. Time will tell but I hope the c-clip is not somewhere in the engine.

The result is no leaks and very smooth engine operation! It seems that mine was leaking quite a bit, and now it even seems to have better boost control

[SkySoldier]

Just used the OPs write up as a guide, it left a lot of steps out.
ECS tuning one is much better for those looking to do this.

http://bd8ba3c866c8cbc330ab-7b26c6f3...eplacement.pdf

[tip_m]

Thanks for the pdf link. I’ve got the parts on the way and will tackle this next weekend. Ordered a crank vent hose just in case and also an upgraded PCV valve from Vargas turbo.

[abkonsta]

Just did this as a part of my rocker/lifter replacement job.
Excellent writeup, thanks robc!
After finishing the job, I cleaned that aluminum channel where the oil was seeping, presumably from the valve cover.
After about 50 miles, the channel is still clean.

[tip_m]

Finished the install yesterday, instructions were very helpful...

Had a moment of panic as I was putting back the fuel rain on


that little guy somehow made it all the way to the bottom of the intake manifold and all was well after I fished it up.


As a thank you my car decided to reward me with a broken cup holder. Hit a bump while driving; popped out and does not want to remain in closed position anymore. Oh well, one more project to deal with.

[Soden82]

Originally Posted by tip_m

Finished the install yesterday, instructions were very helpful...

Had a moment of panic as I was putting back the fuel rain on


that little guy somehow made it all the way to the bottom of the intake manifold and all was well after I fished it up.


As a thank you my car decided to reward me with a broken cup holder. Hit a bump while driving; popped out and does not want to remain in closed position anymore. Oh well, one more project to deal with.

I got away with not needing to loosen that bolt today on my VC. The previous time I did

[hsyed]

i have a 2008 BMW 335XI, recently my dad clean fuel injectors and he randomly put injectors back. he didn't know that they were supposed to be coded. i wanna know how much BMW dealership will charge for coding those injectors.

[Yobroham]

So I just completed the valve cover replacement and I am having trouble screwing in one of the 10mm bolts (one closest to the front with the ground wire attached). The other one went in just fine but this one almost feels like its not lining up with the hole. Anyone else had this problem or any suggestions. I really don't want to pull the whole thing apart...

I can get it started and everything looks good, but I'm afraid that the bolt being loose will cause some serious issue issues. I attached pics for reference

[dcorn]

Originally Posted by SkySoldier

Just used the OPs write up as a guide, it left a lot of steps out.
ECS tuning one is much better for those looking to do this.

http://bd8ba3c866c8cbc330ab-7b26c6f3...eplacement.pdf

I just 'completed' this fix and used the ECS walkthrough, which included more steps and in a more sensible order. This DIY was good to just get familiar with what I'd be doing before I did the work.

After getting everything back together and going for a drive, I have an active drip of oil on the ground when parked, which I didn't have before hand. I'm really hoping I didn't crack the valve cover when prying it off, definitely didn't sound good when I was trying to pry it off. Hoping it was just some oil that dripped out when I pulled the VC off, then heated up and ran down the exhaust. Reeeeeally hoping.

I agree that getting every bit of the old gasket off was the hardest part, since it was rock hard, halfway stuck to the head, and came off in multiple pieces.


Also, holy hell, neither this DIY or the ECS document prepared me for how hard it would be to get the spark plug hole liners out. I didn't have a set of small picks like ECS said to use. I had a set of small bent needle nose pliers, which should have been perfect to remove the liners, but they didn't work at all. I got one out and gave up, hoping to just pull the VC with them in place. I think it made getting the cover off much harder because I had to lift it a lot further off the head to get the liners to clear the injectors and everything else.

[rotarypower101]

What is the recommended gasket to utilize?

Anyone have an experienced recommendation?

Do they make a gasket that is utilizing a better material than the stock unit that hardens and cracks apart?

[muncie21]

I realize this is an old thread, however for those that purchased new valve covers-

Which brand did you pick/recommend?

Seems there are at least 4 brands available today.

[TommyV9]

Originally Posted by muncie21

I realize this is an old thread, however for those that purchased new valve covers-

Which brand did you pick/recommend?

Seems there are at least 4 brands available today.

I went with the "Genuine BMW" from FCP Euro.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...er-11127565284

Still leak free after over 4 years.