2002 BMW 525i To 7/31/02 Production Date Valve Cover Gasket Set TRQ SGA11118

What's up, guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video, I'm going to show you how to replace the valve cover gasket on this 2001 BMW 325Xi. If you need parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description and head over to 1AAuto.com.

With the trunk open, over on the right side or the passenger side, there should be a cover that goes right here. This vehicle doesn't have one, but you're going to want to remove that cover. Battery is located right here. First thing I'm going to do is take a 10 millimeter socket and ratchet. Loosen up this nut for the negative terminal. And that's loose. Slide off the cable, slide it out of the way.

I'm going to take this cover off right here. Just take these clips, twist it to the side, just like that. And grab this and slide it out. This weather strip might be in the way. It should slide forward. You can take the cabin filter out. That slides out as well. You need to remove these wires from this housing right here. You can either take the cover off or you can slide it up right there. I like to take this cover off. Just take a screwdriver, slide that off like that, pull that out of the way.

Grab these wires, pull that down, pull this one down. Now I'm going to use a T30 socket, extension, and a ratchet. And I have four screws right there. Take those off. So it's all loose. Just slide this panel up, slide it out of your way.

We're going to take this cover off. Normally you'll have some little covers over here like these. You can just take a screwdriver and pop those out. And then there's two 10 millimeter bolts. I'm going to use a 10 millimeter socket, extension, and a electric ratchet. You can use a regular ratchet if you don't have one. Loosen those up. Let's use a magnet, grab the bolts. Grab the cover, slide it off.

Now I'm going to take this air pump off, just so I have more room over here. I can take it off right here, but I'm actually going to take it off at the hose down here so that the hose is out of the way. Just use a straight blade screwdriver and the worm clamp. Loosen that up, and you should be able to wiggle that off. Take that off. If you need to, you can get a pick underneath there. I'll just grab a pick and just go right around the hose. And slide it off. Make sure you don't lose that worm clamp. We'll just move that up here. And then I'm going to take these two bolts out over here and here. I'm going to use a 10 millimeter socket extension. I'm going to use an electric ratchet, but you can use a regular ratchet if you don't have one. Take that off. Take this one off right here.

And then disconnect the connector right here. There's two little push tabs. Push on those, and slide it out. Now on this cover, there's two little covers right here, just take a straight blade screwdriver, a pocket screwdriver, take those covers off right there and right there. And there's two nuts, and I'm going to take those off. Just use a 10 millimeter socket, extension, and a ratchet.

It might be easier to grab them with a magnet. Just use a magnet. Take those out. Now, I'm going to have to take the oil filler cap off. Just slide that off. And we can grab this panel, it just slides up, just like that. All right, I'm going to disconnect these coils. Just slide this lock up, and unplug the coil. Do the same on the rest of them.

Here's the ground right there. I'm going to have to take that nut off. I'm going to use an eight millimeter socket, extension, and ratchet. That that off. Just grab a magnet, take that off. And then I can slide the wire right off. So I want to remove this wiring harness that goes to the coils. They're all disconnected. I'm just going to take a pick, and right under here you can release this as I pull up. And then right here as well. Release that. Then I can just take this whole thing, and slide it out of my way.

Now, if this wire is in your way, you don't necessarily have to take it off, but it makes it a little easier if it's not in your way. Make sure your battery is disconnected, but you can take that wire off. There might be a cover over here, take that off. Use a 19 millimeter wrench. Loosen this up, take this nut off, slide the wire off. I'm just going to put the nut back here so I don't lose it. And remove it out of that retainer, then I can slide that over there.

Now I'm going to take these coils off. I'm just going to use a 10 millimeter socket, extension, and a ratchet. Take these all off. There is certain ones that have these ground straps on it, the front one and also the back one. So keep that in mind. Take those bolts out. And just grab the coil and slide it out. We're going to do the same with the other ones.

Generally, it's a good idea to mark the coils as well, so mark one, two, three, four, five, six. And put them back in the same location. These coils are brand new, so it doesn't matter. But it's a good practice to put them in the same spot.

All right. I'm just going to remove some of these O2 sensor connectors from these retainers. Just slide these out of the way, just so these wires are out of the way. And there's wires right up here. Try to loosen these up a little bit. This retainer right here, just slide them out, just to give me a little more slack. There is a vacuum line right here. If this pops off, you're just going to want to re-secure that back when you go to put it back together. I'm going to take an eight millimeter socket, extension, and a ratchet. And I want to remove the nut right here. This holds this ground strap on here. And then I'll do the same on the back side of the head. Oops.

Pull that nut off. There we go. Slide that off. I'm going to keep this one set aside so I know this is the back one and the other one's the front one. So there's four bolts. They actually have studs on the end of them. I'm going to use a 10 millimeter socket, extension, ratchet. You probably need a deep socket when you're doing this. Take these out.

So pull these out. These actually are not bolts. They're more like a different, interesting looking nut that has a stud on the end of it. So take those out. Before I take these bolts out, I'm actually going to disconnect this right here. This goes to the PCV system. Just push on that, slide it out. Remove these bolts with a 10 millimeter socket and a ratchet. These are all loose. We can go back and take these off. And these are similar to those other studs. They're more like a nut than a bolt. So we'll take those off. So be careful, don't lose these, because you're not going to be able to get these at a hardware store.

All right, now those are all loose. I'm just going to take a straight blade screwdriver. Just pry up on this a little bit. Be careful, you don't want to ruin the plastic. Slide this tube out of the way. And pull it out.

Now I can remove the old gaskets. Just slide these out, just like that. And these as well. And then also the outer intake gasket. Slide that out. If you're going to clean the valve cover, you're going to want to take these rubber pieces off as well. It is a good idea to replace these, but just double check. Pull these off. There's a little washer on top. I'm just going to use a straight blade screwdriver. Peel these off there. And then there's some in there too.

Here's the old part. Here's the new gasket from 1AAuto.com. As you can see, the shapes are the same of the gaskets, the machine, the same way. They're made of the same rubber compound. You have these covers on the end for the cams. Now, we sell this in a kit just like this, or we sell it with a lot more gaskets in the kit. Comes with intake gaskets, some exhaust gaskets, and a bunch of other gaskets and O-rings. Get yours at 1AAuto.com and you'll be ready to rock and roll.

All right, what I want to do is clean the gasket area where the valve cover goes. I'm just going to take a rag and some brake parts cleaner in especially this area right here, where there's a little bit of RTV. So you want to scrape that off, get that out of there. You can always use a pick. Just be careful not to scratch the aluminum. Get some of that junk out of. There we go.

Just take a little bit of the brake parts cleaner. Oops. Just wipe it away. You don't really want the brake parts cleaner getting into the engine. So it's always a good idea, whenever you're doing this, to change the oil after you're done doing this, just in case anything got in there. So you want to cleaning all this area back here. We'll have to take this RTV off back here. And then these areas right in here. Sometimes people forget these areas because it's not around the perimeter. So clean those off real good. And then you can put the valve cover back on.

All right, so I'm going to take and I'm going to start with the center gaskets. Just put these on. Now, make sure the holes line up with where the bolts go through, right there. And then this one is the opposite of that one. Just like that. Those should stay. And we just cleaned up the valve cover with some parts cleaner and let it dry. So it's nice. So the gaskets don't slip out.

Now we'll take this gasket. Now, you need to find out which side goes on the back and which side goes on the front. Now, if you go in between these two lobes, you can find this hole. And there's no hole on this side, so this goes over here. So we'll start that right there. And just press the gasket in all the way around.

And I just like to double check this area right here on the actual head, the ceiling area. Just take a rag and wipe some brake parts cleaner on it. So I am going to put a little RTV on the gasket just in these corners, which end up being right here, right here, right here. And I like to put a little on where there's an actual line. Basically, there's a separate piece right here from the head. So I'll just put a little RTV on there. And then on the backs as well. So I'll put it on the gasket side. Just a little bit. Just in the corners. You can use your finger to spread it a little bit. And over here.

It's just going to make sure it seals in the corners good. And then, over on the head, I'll just do that right there. Just put a little right there. And same goes right here. Just because it's a separate piece of metal. Now just make sure everything's out of your way, and then we can take the valve cover, flip it around, make sure the gasket doesn't fall and just slide it into position. Just like that. And push it down. You can wipe that off, a little excess RTV.

All right, so I'm going to reuse these seals. I don't have new ones. And then you take a washer, and then you take this nut/bolt. We'll slide this through here, and then we're going to install these just like that. I like to do it that way. You could also do it the other way, where you install this down and then take the nut and go on like that. So whatever you feel like doing, whatever's easier. And I'll install all of those.

The fasteners in the middle have these more like a nut with a stead on the end of it, so I'm going to use all four of these right here. I'll just use a socket to help me get these started.

All right, now I'm going to go around and snug these all up. I'm starting basically from the center and working my way out, alternating. There's no specific sequence that I have found for these, but it's good to start from the middle and work your way out. Snug those up.

And now I'm going to go around with a 10 millimeter socket and a torque wrench, and I'm going to torque these bolts to 89 inch pounds. Make sure you're on inch pounds and not foot pounds. Now I'm just going to take this PCV hose, it goes right there. Walk that in place, and then get these all set up the way they were. Take these wires, reattach those, reattach this vacuum line. Make sure you didn't pinch any of these wires when you're putting the valve cover on. And this vacuum hose, slide this through here, just like that. Attach that. And this O2 sensor wire can go right there. All right, that looks pretty good. And make sure everything's tucked out of the way.

Take these little ground straps, there's one in the back and one in the front, and then take the little nut that goes with them. Install those. Take an eight millimeter socket and a ratchet. Just snug that up. And I'll do the same one on the front. All right, now take the coils and install the coils. Get that bolt there, then take and install this bolt. Take that ground strap, go through that ground strap first, and install the bolt.

I'll take a 10 millimeter socket, extension, and a ratchet. Tighten these down. Just snug them up. Not too tight. That's good. And that's good. I'll do the same with the other ones. Front one has the ground strap, and the back one. All right, those are all tight. And I'll take this, these connectors. You slide this little retainer up, and then lock it in place. Just like that. Do that on all of these, all the coils. All right, that's good. Now we'll just lock this wiring harness in place, just like that. And then this ground, we're going to tighten that ground right there. Take this nut, reinstall the nut. A little bit tricky to get your fingers in there, but get started. Take an eight millimeter socket and extension. And you can screw this down. And then take a ratchet, and just snug it down, not too tight, just snug.

Now I'll take this starter wire or a positive cable, slide that in position there. Reinstall it right there. Get the nut started. Take a 19 millimeter wrench and just snug that up. Then put the cover back on. And then I'm going to slide this on next. Put the cover on. And that's good. Then we can put the oil cap back on. Take the nuts. Just use a 10 millimeter socket. Get these started. Same over here. I'll just snug those down with a ratchet. And take these covers, line that up, lock it down.

Now we can reinstall the air pump. We'll just connect this first right here. Connect that right there. Now, line this up. Slide the hose onto that valve right there. All right, then I can take a straight blade screwdriver and just tighten up the clamp. Make sure that's snug. And then take these smaller bolts. Put this on the bracket right here. Now, there's only two bolts that we have, your bracket might have three bolts.

Take a 10 millimeter socket and an extension, tighten these down. Use the ratchet, just snug them up. Same with here. That's good, nice and tight. Take this cover. There is some tabs on the back side, so that's going to slide underneath right there. And then take the bolts, install those. Get this bolt. Get that lined up. And then one in the back. Just use a 10 millimeter socket. And just take a ratchet and snug it down. And snug down the back one. And then, your vehicle may have covers, you want to put those covers back on. This one does not have those covers.

All right, now we want to install this. Just get this lined up. You can get these screws started. I'm going to take a T30 socket, extension, and a ratchet. Tighten these up. Now reinstall these wires and this cover right here. Just like that. Take this cover and line it up. And that's good. Take the filter, we're going to slide it in with the curved side towards the vehicle, so the bowed side more towards the out of the vehicle. Just slide that in position like that. We'll take this cover, it's going to just slide in underneath this weatherstripping. Push it in. Get these lock tabs to line up, and lock them down. They're spring loaded. And the last one. And you're good to go.

Now we can take the negative side, connect the negative side. Take the same 10 millimeter socket and ratchet, tighten it up. That's good. At this point, if you had that cover, you're going to want to put the cover back where it goes.

Thanks for watching. If you want the parts to do it yourself, check out 1AAuto.com, the place for DIY auto repair.