Something Every 50i owner over 80K miles should check

[Sophisticated Redneck]

The N63, S63, N63TU, and S63TU used in the E70, F15, & F85 are unique in that they all share the same oil pump and drive chain design up to the 2018 model year. Unlike the S63 & S63TU used in the M5, this chain drive does not have a tensioner so it is very likely and almost certain the drive chain will eventually become loose and is something that should be checked every 80-100K miles. I recently checked mine after reading some stories of engine failure and was lucky I did, it was more then 10 times out of spec and about to fall off.

BMW made access to the oil pump and chain adjuster pretty straight forward. It will only add an extra hour or so to your normal oil change time. As a bonus, the lower pan gasket that is notorious for leaking as these engines age is replaced as part of the process. Below are instructions, parts and tools needed plus a short video on the adjustment procedure.



Parts Needed (parts are the same for all n63/s63 engines and all E70, F15, F85 platforms):
(1) Lower Pan Gasket # 11137566808 https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...x5-11137566808
(25) Oil Pan Bolts # 07129909333 (you can save money and use Loctite 242 or other removable Loctite on old bolts) https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...mw-07129909333
(6) Reinforcement plate bolts (Do not reuse, these are one time use only) #33306772888 https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...er-33306772888
Gasket Tack: https://www.amazon.com/Permatex-8006.../dp/B000HBNV9E



Tools Needed:

Torque Wrench
Torque Wrench Angle Gauge
Cordless Ratchet (highly recommended, 31 bolts to remove and reinstall)
3/8" extensions
8mm long reach hex socket
T45 Torx socket
E10 External Torx socket
16mm Socket

Instructions (short video below with more details on chain adjustment):


1 - Drive up on 4 ramps or jack up truck as level as possible.
2 - Drain Oil, Reinstall oil drain plug.
3 - Remove the Reinforcment plate.



4 - Remove Oil level sensor connector(Fig.1)
5- Remove the 25 E10 Torx bolts (Fig.2) holding on the lower engine pan (Fig.3).



6 - Remove the oil pump rear T45 torx bolt (Fig.2)



7 - Tighten chain adjuster using 8mm hex socket (see video for more info)
8 - Adjust to 10-12mm total (5-6mm side to side) chain movement.
9 - Reinstall Oil Pump T45 Torx bolt, tighten to 27Nm.
10 - Clean lower oil pan and Install new gasket on oil pan, (ridged side faces towards engine), use gasket tack to keep in place.
11 - Replace 25 E10 Torx bolts with new or apply removable Loctite 242 to threads if reusing the old bolts and install lower pan. Tighten in standard crisscross pattern all bolts first to 10Nm, then 24Nm.
12 - Replace oil filter & refill oil.
13 - Install reinforcement plate and Tighten new bolts to 56Nm, then use Torque Angle Gauge and further tighten and additional 90 degrees.

[adonnan]

Darn, I had a shop replace the lower gasket a few months back. Wish I had known to ask them to also check this while they were at it.

[Gkacmaz]

I'm gonna do mine on the next oil change! Thank you OP I did not know about this!

[PGH_X5]

Great heads up. TY!

[Sophisticated Redneck]

No problem and hopefully this info will help save a few engines. Bummed BMW didn't include a oil pump chain tensioner on our engines but at least they made it pretty straightforward to adjust.

[Teej-h]

This is great info! Thank you!

[Chilled]

Sophisticated Redneck
Hey, where did you find that the reinforcement plate bolts a single use? Just going through ista and realOEM and am struggling to find this info. Would be good to know where to find this stuff, for future reference on other things.

[Sophisticated Redneck]

Originally Posted by Chilled

Sophisticated Redneck
Hey, where did you find that the reinforcement plate bolts a single use? Just going through ista and realOEM and am struggling to find this info. Would be good to know where to find this stuff, for future reference on other things.

If memory serves I saw it either in ISTA or BMW's TIS but in general, anytime you have to use a torque angle gauge, it means the bolt is one time use because it physically stretches the bolt, you find this for things such as cylinder head bolts, cam sprocket bolts, oil return lines, etc as well as critical suspension and frame components. I'll find out where I saw it and post it back up here to confirm when I have a chance later today.

EDIT: Found it, its under the 31 10 Front Axle Suspension
Tightening Torques document 2AZ subsection which should be linked in both ISTA and TIS, under the torque values is "replace screws"

[Gkacmaz]

This Thread doesn't seem to get the attention it deserves!

I just did mine and good lord it was super loose. This is literally a ticking time bomb

Again Thanks to OP for bringing this to our attention

For anyone attempting to do this it's not difficult, a little tedious and messy but not difficult at all.

[JMAN1111]

Originally Posted by Gkacmaz

This Thread doesn't seem to get the attention it deserves!

I just did mine and good lord it was super loose. This is literally a ticking time bomb

Again Thanks to OP for bringing this to our attention

For anyone attempting to do this it's not difficult, a little tedious and messy but not difficult at all.

Originally Posted by Gkacmaz

This Thread doesn't seem to get the attention it deserves!

I just did mine and good lord it was super loose. This is literally a ticking time bomb

Again Thanks to OP for bringing this to our attention

For anyone attempting to do this it's not difficult, a little tedious and messy but not difficult at all.

How many miles do you have?

[Gkacmaz]

Originally Posted by JMAN1111

How many miles do you have?

96k miles

[jackliu0527]

Does this only apply to the X5/X6? is the ones in the 5/6 series same or different?

[Maverik259]

Rented a bay yesterday and my wife and I knocked it our in about 2 hours. Overalls not a bad job.

Was happy/surprised the bolts came out as easy as they did but did reminded me how much I hate E bits and their ease to get rounded.

Worst part was trying to get the new metal gasket to fit properly. It was not a perfect fit. Even with the spray adhesive.

On top of that found out that FCP shorted me 5 of those E bolts which was annoying. Had to pull out 5 from the oil catch which was fun!

Also had nothing that I could get up inside to get an idea of what 5-6mm of play is so I just used my finger width and guessed. I don’t think it was very loose to begin with however. Maybe tightened it 2-3mm? Idk.

Best part was that I completely forgot about doing that until I had already installed all 25 e bolts. Luckily I hadn’t torqued them yet.

Also used this chance to install the new bmw oil filter cap with drain. Can’t wait for the dealer to find a way to break it at my next dealer oil change and then replace it with an old one. Haha

[skoold2003]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

Rented a bay yesterday and my wife and I knocked it our in about 2 hours. Overalls not a bad job.

Was happy/surprised the bolts came out as easy as they did but did reminded me how much I hate E bits and their ease to get rounded.

Worst part was trying to get the new metal gasket to fit properly. It was not a perfect fit. Even with the spray adhesive.

On top of that found out that FCP shorted me 5 of those E bolts which was annoying. Had to pull out 5 from the oil catch which was fun!

Also had nothing that I could get up inside to get an idea of what 5-6mm of play is so I just used my finger width and guessed. I don’t think it was very loose to begin with however. Maybe tightened it 2-3mm? Idk.

Best part was that I completely forgot about doing that until I had already installed all 25 e bolts. Luckily I hadn’t torqued them yet.

Also used this chance to install the new bmw oil filter cap with drain. Can’t wait for the dealer to find a way to break it at my next dealer oil change and then replace it with an old one. Haha

Did you get the Weistec filter cap, or did you find one for a more reasonable price?

[Chilled]

Originally Posted by skoold2003

Did you get the Weistec filter cap, or did you find one for a more reasonable price?

Why not just use the OEM filter housing and filter kit? Not as good as the old ones with the metal bolt, but cheaper than Weistec/Classic.

Oil Filter housing: 11-42-5-A34-A34
Filter: 11-42-5-A33-C43

You will need this filter going forward as it has the replacement drain plugs.

[skoold2003]

Originally Posted by Chilled

Why not just use the OEM filter housing and filter kit? Not as good as the old ones with the metal bolt, but cheaper than Weistec/Classic.

Oil Filter housing: 11-42-5-A34-A34
Filter: 11-42-5-A33-C43

You will need this filter going forward as it has the replacement drain plugs.

Aah, that’s what I was looking for, thanks. This throws off the routine for those of us who buy oil change kits from FCPeuro though. There don’t seem to be many places to buy that filter.

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by skoold2003

Did you get the Weistec filter cap, or did you find one for a more reasonable price?

Oem.

Too much for the Future classic and weistec versions imo.

But they do look nice. And I generally prefer metal over plastic.

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by skoold2003

Aah, that’s what I was looking for, thanks. This throws off the routine for those of us who buy oil change kits from FCPeuro though. There don’t seem to be many places to buy that filter.

Good point. Wonder if the new filter comes with the crush washer too.

[skoold2003]

Originally Posted by Maverik259

Good point. Wonder if the new filter comes with the crush washer too.

I think it’s the same filter, it just has the drain plug included.. although I can’t remember where I got that idea. Could you tell if the plug was single use?

[Chilled]

What washer are you guys talking about? If its for the filter kit P/N I gave. That comes with all the regular stuff (filter housing o-ring, tiny o-ring, tiny copper crush washer, pan drain crush washer) + the plastic plug for the oil filter cap. I'm guessing these plastic plugs are a one time use, hence why they include them. They look like the ones that are on the plastic transmission oil pans.


Also i just realized the filter kit P/N I gave has the //M tax on it. The regular 50i P/N is 11 42 5 A33 C42
https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1906689
https://f90.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...1714968&page=3

The Weistec do look nice even at the $200USD, but it was the $100+USD shipping that killed it for me. $300USD+ for a filter cap?

[Dan_Q]

Looking forward to checking/performing this with my upcoming spring maintenance bonanza. Thx for posting.

[Edwardsc1]

Just ordered the parts from FCP Euro last night, looking forward to getting this taken care of in the next week or 2. Thanks for the great write up!

*Update* I did this project last weekend and it went very smoothly. Just put the X5 up on some ramps and had it done in a couple hours. My chain was definitely out of spec, it had quite a bit of play. It wasn't in danger of coming off the guides, but great peace of mind to have that done. Plus, I noticed a good bit of oil residue on the front of my lower oil pan which I'm assuming was the old gasket seeping.