today i took my car to dealer for break recall and my SA told me that my upper timing covers/valve cover gaskets seeping oil. Quoted me 2000 .

I searched but couldn't find any Diy, how hard is it ?
For courtesy they turned off my airbag light

 

Ouch! Probably most of the money is in the timing chain cover. Likely not for the faint of heart either. Good luck - I'd find an indie to do it before I paid a dealer. How many miles?

 

Well that was awfully nice, my dealer wouldn't do that.

 

66k miles and most probably i'll try to do it my self

 

66K miles? That's pretty low milage....probably more so due to age. I have a leaky valve cover too but it's a slight leak and nothing I'm worried about. The time will come in a couple months where I'll feel like doing it.
Valve cover should not be an issue...timing cover...I'll have to look into that for you. I wouldn't imagine that would be any different to be quite honest but I'll look into it.....most of the time they exaggerate anyway. Of course they turned off your airbag light....they want to butter you up make you feel confidence in them. What a trade off....it takes them nothing to turn it off.

 

There's a Bentley manual available for our cars, something I think many of us are going to be investing in soon. I'd get it before you tackled the job. Just a matter of what you have to remove first to get at it. You'll probably also be in a position to replace some other stuff and save some longer-term money.

 

Not hard just very time consuming. Make sure to get all the gaskets including the grommets under the valve cover.

 

im thinking to change alternator, water pump, thermostat , spark plugs and drive belt at same time, is there any way i can download Bentley manual?

 

I think only printed. Not cheap, and just came out - I think it's two volumes and $129. Can't vouch for it per se but others I've owned have been excellent.

 

Get the Bentley manual for $120. BMW's aren't expensive to keep if you do the work yourself -- and you can do most of it. Brakes, rotors, cooling system, plugs/coils, battery, fuel system: it's no more difficult than any other car. Be thoughtful and use a torque wrench everywhere. http://www.realoem.com/bmw/ has exploded parts diagrams.

Buy parts at the many good BMW parts outlets online; 1/2 dealer parts and the good houses identify the manufacturers and if they're made by the same manufacturers as OEM.

--The valve cover gasket should be about $60-80 for the gaskets and 3 hours labor. Not $2000.

--The thermostat and water pump are about $120 together, belts another $30, new coolant of course -- use the BMW stuff. Two-three hours as well.

--Do the hoses as well. Alternator is like any other.


Good luck.