Rocker cover gasket failure?

CRAIGO · Post by **CRAIGO** » Sun Jan 20, 2019 11:40 pm

Thanks for the great reply - very informative.

I’m a little stuck with the torque settings I should apply with regards to the OFH (24NM seems common) but the two alternator bolts seem to have a huge disparity in the recommendations where official references are extreme high at around 70NM and most diy’ers recommending ranges between 35NM and 55NM. Can anyone explicitly clarify the correct torque for the 3.0 M54 alternator?
Having watched 50’sGuy’s video - he torques his alternator bolts to 17ft/lbs (23NM) which seems way off what it should be?

Thanks

patriot66 · Post by **patriot66** » Mon Jan 21, 2019 9:32 pm

I used the TIS torque values of 22Nm for the OFH bolts and 42 Nm for the 2 x alternator bolts

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/

CRAIGO · Post by **CRAIGO** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:47 pm

That makes more sense!

Do both the AC and Auxiliary tensioners require a Torx 60 bit to take the tension off the belts for removal?

Thanks

patriot66 · Post by **patriot66** » Tue Jan 22, 2019 11:54 pm

Pretty sure the AC tensioner is a T60 or T55 bit and t'other is a 17mm socket iirc. I did mine from below, much easier access. Watch the first 2 mins of this video

https://youtu.be/YKphkCyEccs

CRAIGO · Post by **CRAIGO** » Sat Jan 26, 2019 5:59 pm

Thanks again for all the answers to my questions guys. I did the job today and it took me around 90 minutes but with the additional 3 hours of cleaning all the oil off the engine, oil housing and jet washing the undertray etc. I can now keep an eye on fresh oil leaks much more easily.

The job itself was a doddle. I think I spent most time cleaning the gasket surfaces with alcohol and trying to get the lower alternator bolt aligned! I’ve left the tray off for now as I’ll keep an eye on it over the next week before reinstalling. Fun and games.

Just a word of advice to anyone wanting to carry out this job. You don’t need to remove the AC belt - you can away with leaving the serpentine belt on too. Just release the tensioner and pull the slack of the belt up toward the AC compressor and water pump pulley and hold it out of the way with a cable tie. I did it this way as I didn’t have a torx big enough to fit the AC tensioner pulley then realised it was a waste of time doing that anyway

The gasket was shot! Picked it out and it snapped in two and was very hard and brittle.

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Beer and burger now for saving £400 in garage fees!

patriot66 · Post by **patriot66** » Sat Jan 26, 2019 9:56 pm

Well done Craig !

Glad you got it sorted and Wow!...it certainly was oily in there and that lower alternator bolt is a fiddly sod for sure

Can't beat that feeling of fixing it yourself and saving money too. We've got three cars in our household that we've owned for 8 years in total and other than MOTs, tyre fitting, and 4 wheel alignment they've never been in a garage for service or repairs...not once ! I really enjoy getting my hands dirty and keeping my wallet in my pocket

mr nurburgring · Post by **mr nurburgring** » Sat Jan 26, 2019 10:10 pm

Thought you would find a rock hard rubber gasket. Good for another 100k now.

Mine is still bone dry and I did it 6 years ago.

CRAIGO · Post by **CRAIGO** » Sun Jan 27, 2019 12:22 am

deffo agree on the self-servicing aspect. I paid £3300 for this car and it came with FSH (BMW and Indy mix) but I can’t warrant keeping that trend up. I’ll service it myself and keep the receipts and note the mileage. Which reminds me, I should get some photos of it up. It’s a month old

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