This past weekend I assisted on a fairly common BMW procedure. I helped my friend Duane replace the valve cover gasket on his 2002 530i. I had never seen an E39 valve cover gasket replaced, and sometime down the road may need to replace on my M5.
The National Capital Chapter DIY event was hosted by Craftsman Auto at their Chantilly, VA location. This was the first DIY event I attended to help out, rather than perform some maintenance on one of my cars. Duane’s car has a 6-cylinder engine while my M5 has an 8-cylinder, but many of the procedures are similar.
The valve cover gasket is a thin strip of rubber that forms a tight seal between the valve cover and the cylinder head of the engine. The gasket is rubber and subjected to heat and broad changes in temperature. Over time it becomes brittle and cracks, causing oil leaks. Replacement itself isn’t difficult, but it takes some time to remove the pieces necessary to get at the gasket. So labor costs are high for this common repair, making it a good DIY candidate.
The spark plugs are right there once you remove the cosmetic top cover, so Duane decided to replace those as well. This job takes some time, and we encountered a few surprises along the way. The small, thin secondary air hose was very brittle and broke, so we fitted a new hose on the line. There are 15 bolts to remove from the cover, and the rear bolt was difficult to remove. We borrowed a short 1/2 inch ratchet extension from one of the shop techs to get that one.
I didn’t take any video, but BavAuto offers an excellent video as part of their DIY series. Hosted by Gordon Arnold using the online name “Otto,” this one lays out the process on the exact same engine as Duane’s, the M54. Gordon points out the secondary air hose that broke during our repair. One difference – we did not detach the coil harness and the ignition coils, as he does in this video.
There are a lot of bolts and pieces to keep track off with this job. One more thing to note – the outside cover bolts use a washer, which should be replaced. These washers did not come with the replacement gasket Duane purchased. Craftsman was able to get these for him.
Some pictures below, click to enlarge. I hope neither of my cars needs a new valve cover gasket anytime soon. But when they do, I’m ready.
Starting out
Coils – spark plugs below
Coils removed – note how we kept harness attached, just pushed to the side
Replacement gasket
Cover off and new gasket applied – we used RTV sealant on the rounded end pieces and along the sides
Nice post Chris. Did you use RTV on the half moon discs at rear of cover? I’ve read that’s necessary. This job on the E39 M5 is a little more involved. You’ll need to remove the plenum which entails a lot of fasteners. I don’t have my car anymore but there’s a bunch of threads with pics (I put up some of my own) that will give guidance. It’s a little intimidating the first time but take your time and be careful with the multitude of fasteners. There’s a bunch.