BEST NEW BMW M62TU Complete Timing Chain Guide Procedure 540i 740i x5 4.4l 

Jack it up a bit and put on stands

I am not even tall and killed my back working/ cleaning mine. I got a stool 100x better

ouch I am actually going to have to do this now.. mine just failed after an oil change.

Also, I definitely recommend counter holding the cams when torquing!

On a scale from 1 to 5 how difficult is it? I’m wondering if I should pull the trigger on getting a 2002 540i with 108k miles. Thank you

I would say a 3. You'll want to do it with the whole front grille and radiator removed to save your back. I must have done it right because I sold it to my neighbor and it now has 270Kmi.

@@garyvanremortel5218 nice!! You did a great job then. If you remember, were there any specialty tools that broke the bank? I’ll do the research about what I need if I choose to go down this un forsaken path. Maybe it will be a good negotiation point with the stealership that has the 540 that caught my attention

@@marcelcovaci9922 You'll need the camshaft tool kit and you'll want to find someone to do a rebuild of the VANOS gears while you're doing the chains, guides and tensioners. I found a guy in Concord CA to do the VANOS gears.

​@@marcelcovaci9922i reckon you'd be looking at around $2200-$2500 with current prices (FCP, ECS, etc.) for parts and depending on tools you might have available already.

There are different symptoms. From bad to worse. You can search up here on RU-vid plenty of folks have uploaded videos of the noise at various stages. You will also set trouble codes for valve timing. Initially what fails is your tensioner. That one gives a symptom of like a rattle at cold start that goes away after a few seconds. Imo all the aftermarket tensioners are junk and will fail in short time. Don't do the ghetto thing of putting spacers or nuts inside to make it tighter either. All you are doing is shortening the life of your tensioner. Buy the BMW one (under 100 bucks) and you will be fine. From there the next most common failure will be the timing chain guide rail. The lower circular one that runs in the middle of the block between the two heads. That one when it fails you will get a consistent tapping or clacking sound that does not go away. You may also set a check engine light as well. The final one is the VANOS units themselves. Those produce the same clacking, tapping sound, but the pitch and speed of the noise is slightly different as the cams spin at a different speed than the lower rotating assembly. It takes a trained ear to differentiate the noises. But regardless, a bad clacking or tapping noise coming from the front of your engine? Likely a timing job is in your future.

Nathan said to use red and suggested they check that tube they had had not gone to dust!

They were on Amazon and eBay , not sure anymore

Change that tensioner

4.2 is a chain

@@NathansBMWWorkshop the older 2000 year model

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZCLOMZ1Oc_Q.html

It pops the metal retainer over the plastic nub, it wont break them

@@NathansBMWWorkshop if all goes as planned, yes. But the plastic is 20 years old at this point, I'm not that brave.

47:00

Its the same engine and same procedure

@@NathansBMWWorkshop no it’s not

Can use a meter on the 4.6is so I guess you never did one

@@OzzyTheFerret129 I do know there is no pegs on the 4.6 , but it wasnt worth mentioning because the entire procedure other than that one thing is the same

Having owned 4, 6, 8 and 12s, all BMWs have their own issues.. Hmm I should get a V10.. ;)