It's a one time use! I got mine replaced by the dealer about two years ago. Two broken valve cover bolts were the culprit to the leak! These aluminum bolts can stretch and easily lose their integrity.

 

Does that mean the replacement bolts with no blue paint are reusable?

 

Also, did you or is it a good idea to put some sort of anti-seaze on the valve cover bolts when closing things up?

 

That's a good question. I think all the bolts/screws on our engine are made of aluminum. Because of that, whether they are painted blue or not, they will or can stretch after they are tightened (used). Once an aluminum screw is stretched, it can lose its integrity and can break if you use it again. I think you can re-use all those non broken aluminum screws if you willing to 'under torque" it (below BMW's torque recommendation) and taking chances of not sealing the valve cover effectively.

I can't see how using anti-seize can be negative. I think it's really up to you. All I can say is aluminum don't rust.

Good luck to you!

 

Thanks! I'm sure I'll post more questions later.

 

I also broke my very brittle crankcase breather hose. How do you unplug the electrical wire connected to it in order to replace the hose? Any diy with pics? Thank you.

 

Thanks for posting this, it was very useful and it help me do this same job on my 5 series.

 

An excellent post!

My E60 530i had been leaking oil onto the exhaust manifold for a few weeks resulting in a cloud of smoke from the engine bay as it heats up. A quick search on this forum suggested changing the valve cover gasket.I bought the parts off ebay (£30) and set aside a morning to do the job armed with the instructions in this post. They proved extremely helpful. I completed the job in under 3 hours. The old gasket was very brittle and broke into pieces when I removed it. The car runs perfectly and there is no more oil leaking down the side of the engine.

Success!

Thanks
Paul

 

Wow! I posted on this thread a year ago and must managed to get it done this past weekend. Anyway, I also replaced my spark plugs at the same time. The car currently has 82,000 miles.


Regarding the valvetronic motor, when un-mounting, it seemed to be under some sort of pressure because it just popped out as soon as I unscrewed the top. It scared the crap out of me! LOL! When putting it back in, you do sort of have to turn the coil from the back so that it would push back in and mesh with whatever gear that was in there. LOL!


A little tip about the back 3 valve cover screws against the firewall. It's a PITA to get to so it's best to use a universal swivel joint so that you can have a slight bend to get to it. You'll see what I mean.

 

Getting ready to do this tomorrow, yay :/ haha

I only saw the torque values for the valve cover bolts, not anything else involved in the process, anybody have them? or could point me to them?

Thanks!