BMW E46 Valve Cover Gasket Replacement 

+Nathan's DIY Garage interesting comment. I'll have to remember that the next time I service a BMW.

+piercedasian I just did a video today on how to spot if the cover is warped , hopefully this might save you some pain next time you gotta do this job.

yes please do share as I'm interested in knowing too. I had no idea that they could warp especially being a composite material that is supposedly supposed to be better than good old fashioned metal. Damn you BMW and your quality issues!

+piercedasian I posted it to my channel yesterday

cool. I'll have to check it out!

lol, yes this motor was definitely really really clean.

I didn't remove it because my hands were small enough to reach into the backside of the engine. Admittedly at the time when I did the video I didn't know that cabin filter housing could come out but if I had to do it again I'd still do the way I did in the vid. Having tiny hands does make my life easy :)

8-10 ft-lbs but trust me when I say that uneven pressure on the gasket will not likely cause any issues let alone any damage. If your hand tightening is reasonably consistent then chances are you'll be close anyways. I wouldn't give this type of answer say if you were doing an internal engine assembly. Precise torque is critical for those parts but not for a VCG.

Great video might do it myself next time but I did have a friend do it for me this time e

that's the best when you can con a friend to do the work for you :)

Kpro4 good tip. Fortunately for me I have small hands and I'm a contortionist! j/k. Great tip for those that struggle accessing the rearmost plugs on the M52/M54/N2 engines.

I was able to inspect the mating surfaces with a mirror and by feel and up until someone pointed out that I could remove the air filter assembly to gain better access. Had I known that before working on it that it would've saved me some time. Car still on the road today with zero issues (thankfully).

+TJ B Thanks for watching!

no draining necessary. Just undo the valve cover and replace away :)

nope. Very light "hand tightening" is all that is needed. If you use a torque wrench on those nuts I GUARANTEE you'll break almost all of them. Unless you have an ultra precise torque wrench that was designed for tiny fasteners with extremely low torque values you're better of just hand tightening them.

Its a plastic cover

been 100,000kms and it hasn't leaked a drop yet...

Thanks.

good luck! :)

No I didn't because the parts guy at BMW told me NOT to apply any. Normally I would but since I was told by their parts guy....

Alain Prchal great tip! Thanks for the suggestion!

Um no you don't... I have some pretty high end torque wrenches that register tiny torque values and 6 ft lbs is barely finger tight. I take a common sense approach to fixing cars and 6 ft-lbs is not a value that is worth putting a torque wrench on. BMW process at the factory will do it this way b/c they have insanely expensive manufacturing process tools that can be accurate to values that low. The average (and even pro mechanic) likely doesn't possess such expensive gear for a tiny nut/bolt/screw.

good luck and good idea on taking the cabin air filter assembly out. I have such small hands that I often don't think of showing others on taking things off b/c I assume they have small hands too. I will keep that in mind for future videos that I make.

ah brutal that sucks! Definitely a nuisance when parts warp. I would expect better from BMW but they seem to make more and more car parts out of that supposed high temperature composite plastic. In any case I hope everything worked out for you.

starkiller Yikes! You probably have oil residue or a leak dripping onto a hot exhaust pipe that is causing smoke to form and enter the cabin. Is the VCG gasket completely try? Have you tried shampooing your engine bay to get rid of any oil residue that may be burning off on hot engine parts? Clean the engine bay and undercarriage well. Not only does it look better but a clean engine will help you pinpoint where something may be leaking.

great tip as others have pointed out the same. I have small hands so it wasn't too bad to get to the rear bolts. I'll keep that in mind for next time. Thanks for watching my vids!

Honestly you could go either way and there is no harm adding a little sealant around the camshaft "curves". I didn't use any and I don't have any leaks.

chazmuska no surprise there. Stealership is ridiculous in what they charge for such a straight forward job.

I guess I should've shown the removal of the filter to have easier access. Fortunately for me I have tiny hands so I could easily reach into the back of the engine with minimal effort. My bad.

+xDLXSFx true that. I guess I should've shown that in the vid but I've never found the need for it since my hands and arms fit perfectly fine all the way to the back of the engine.

perfectly normal. Small chemistry lesson here: When you burn fuel what are the chemical byproducts? Ideally under perfect conditions it should be water and co2. When your engine is running especially in the winter you're creating condensation inside the motor as part of the byproducts of combustion. It is mostly water vapor and will burn off as the engine heats and the car is driven for enough time to dissipate the moisture. This is why a quality engine oil is so important because that water likely contains things like nitric acid, sulfuric acid and all sorts of nasties b/c of impure fuel or incomplete combustion suspended in the oil to protect the seals and metallic surfaces inside from corrosion. This is why driving short distances that don't allow the engine to fully warm up is creates more emissions and why it isn't goof for your engine (not enough time to vaporize and burn off the moisture). Winter is worse b/c the outside temperature is cold and the surfaces where the water vapor contact will condense. Summer time it is still there it is just that you don't see it. Hope that explanation helps.

Matt Moropoulos thanks for watching and don't forget to subscribe!

no sealant necessary. The gaskets are well made enough such that I have yet to experience an issue. I'd like to point out that BMW even from the factory doesn't use any sealant on the gaskets although there isn't any harm in using them if you're really paranoid. Ft-lbs for the bolts? Don't bother with a torque wrench you'll strip the bolts b/c most consumer grade torque wrenches won't accurately measure out what 9 ft lbs torque would be. Hand tight is sufficient.

+Daniel Baumgartner that is crusted oil residue and combustion by-products (varnish). I wouldn't be overly concerned with this as I've seen higher mileage cars have this type of reside.

Yeah in hindsight I should’ve done that. Lucky for me I have small little hands to get into tight spots.

glad you liked my video. Thanks for watching!

glad you liked my vid. I certainly hope I know what I'm doing otherwise I'd be misguiding folks and that wouldn't be good....

+Tool0GT92 aside from weird looking wear (it would be obvious) not a heck of a lot. If a motor was running fine before taking it apart I suspect that there won't be too much stuff to be concerned about. Perhaps keep an eye out for engine sludge which could indicate something's wrong with the oil change interval?

lol, at the time I didn't know about the centre cabin filter access panel. Fortunately, I have very small hands where I didn't need to take anything out to get the valve cover out.

Glad it was helpful!

+ilovejazz3s Glad you liked the vid. Thanks for watching.

perfect. Glad it provided you with some frame of reference to do it right.

glad you liked my vid!

sorry I do not. Maybe in the future I might.

Thanks! Glad you liked the vid!

you're most welcome. Thanks for watching!

you're welcome :)

+luis lopez glad you liked it thanks for watching!

Jagadesh Shekar you're welcome. I am glad you were ABLE to fix your own car :)

based on what you've described and the engine oil itself doesn't look "milky or chocolate milk looking" then you're fine. It is all part of normal combustion. Just make sure you avoid doing a lot of short trips that don't allow the engine to fully warm up. If you have no choice to let your car warm up to full operating temperature (idling doesn't count) then simply increase your oil change intervals so that you're removing the dissolved acids and moisture out of the oil.

how long it takes really depends on your mechanical abilities. I'm an experienced mechanic so something like that took me just over 1 hour and I was taking my time and I didn't even remove the cabin air filter housing that sides towards the back of the motor. Had I removed that I would've probably finished this job in 45 minutes or less. Just take your time. Even the most novice of mechanics/hobbyists I'm sure can finish this job in under 2 hours.

piercedasian - thank you! Yes, it took me exactly 2 hours. Saved me lots of money and time.

glad it all worked out for you.

Thanks!

you're welcome. Thanks for watching!

Hello from Canada! Work with me? I don't know if that's a good idea. I'd talk your ears off :)

hhhhhhhhhh i been there and done that

lol!

personally I think replace only as needed but some BMW owners say that since they're made from aluminum that they can gall and stretch and do weird things so you'll have to gauge by "feel" when you're screwing things back together. In this video's case I reused ALL the old fasteners without any issue.

piercedasian thanks

not necessary at all.

+piercedasian thanks buddy.

+Hilton Powell glad you liked my video. Thanks for watching!

nope doesn't matter which cylinder they go back into.

Thanks

piercedasian did this job today and went very well thanks for this video.. awesome. . question,what could I have used to clean the valve cover underneath? Thanks again.. now I need a video of replacing rotars and brake pads 2002 325ci.. What's the best or an ok brand.. thanks again

Sorry it took so long to reply but no you don't have to clean the bottom of the valve cover unless you had some wicked sludge buildup underneath it. Brake rotor and pads? ATE or Wagner have never failed me if I was looking for a decent replacement that won't break the bank.

you're welcome!

+Daniel Jimenez you're very welcome. Thanks for watching.

+Chris Borja glad you liked my video. Thanks for watching.

Got it done! No leaks!

+Chris Borja kick ass! Good job :)

true that... I guess I like to make work difficult for myself... LOL Thanks for the tip.

piercedasian ha ha. Anyway I enjoy your e46 related videos. Is(was) this your vehicle? If yours, I would like to ask you a wuestion.

this isn't my vehicle but it was a relative's. Ask away :)

piercedasian thanks.what I want to find is that is there anything that can be burnt on right side in the rear of the engine ( under the cabin air filter tray). Because I smelled burning smell and saw little smoke from there. But I don't think its an oil.

+Erik Calleros not likely however, you should consider pulling the spark plug coils and the plugs just to make sure that they're not soaking in oil because of an oil seal failure. This happens on certain cars and certainly a possibility on your BMW IF the seals have failed and oil got in where it shouldn't be.

+piercedasian thanks for the reply i appreciate it

not a problem. My pleasure :)

glad you liked the vid.

+uiolkijhgh that's good although admitted the valve cover gasket I've installed with no sealant hasn't developed any leaks yet so clearly if it didn't come from factory on my car then chances are for those folk that didn't use sealer that they likely won't develop any leaks :)

+piercedasian It comes with the sealant from the factory, it's always by the half moons

I guess that would make sense unless of course someone before me serviced it and didn't seal it. It was literally sealant free when I removed the old one. Good to know for next time.

glad you liked my vid. Thanks for watching!

+SuperPastorjose glad you liked my vid :)

😂😂😂

+MR. MItch (Mrmitch65) I'm not THAT bald yet.... you're killing my self esteem :(

lol, it isn't that I like using the term "as such". Probably a verbal reflex of mine when I'm trying to explain something ad-hoc when I'm authoring my own videos. I've been working on stopping myself from making overly verbose vids and using silly words "as such". Good luck on your fix :)

glad you liked the vid. Thanks for watching!

Tom Kay Tom I didn't remove the cabin filter b/c I didn't feel it was necessary to do so. I am fortunate enough to have tiny hands that can pretty much fit into places that would otherwise be impossible by others. As for the sealant I am well aware of sealant that would typically be required on the humps but as per the BMW parts department I was informed by them NOT to use the sealant - their reasoning was that it wasn't required so who am I to argue when they specifically pointed that out. So far no leaks.

+piercedasian never listen to people in parts department, they don't work on cars, they just sell parts

true that!