Replacing cylinder head valve cover gasket

[Peterv]

Hi All,
Due to oil leak, I would like to replace the cylinder head valve cover gasket on my '00 540i. Does someone have a step by step procedure in doing this? Before I begin the job, I would like to know what's involved. I have the manual and there's no specific section for replacing the valve cover gasket only. There is a section for replacing the cylinder head gasket but don't want to follow this that I may end up removing parts that don't need to be removed such as intake and exhaust manifolds. Thanks in advance for your help.-Peter ;)

[yaofeng]

This should be rather straight forward unless your 4.4L engine is drastically different from my 4.0L in the top of the engine fixtures.

Use a small flat blade screw driver to pry away four plugs on top of the acoustic cover. Remove four M6 nuts to remove the acoustic cover. There should be some foams inside. Remove them.

You should see this,
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/yaofengchen/BMW_95_540/DSC_2755.jpg

Next loosen four M6 nuts on the wiring harness enclosure to loosen them.

Use the small flat blade screw driver to pry open two plugs each on each cylinder head cover. Remove two M6 nuts to remove the plastic cover.

Now all bolts head and the coils are exposed. You should see this,
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b274/yaofengchen/BMW_95_540/DSC_3095.jpg

Remove two M6 nuts on each coil and unsnap the coil connector to remove the coil.

Remove 10 M6 bolts on each cylinder head to remove the cover.

I'd appreciate if you could take a couple of pictures of how the foam under the acoustic cover is placed. I think it has been five months since when I removed them. I forgot how to put them back together. I am still trying to start the engine after an fiasco. See this,

http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=28076

[Peterv]

Yaofeng,
Thank you for your reply. My car is a little bit different that yours and I found a write up. I don't think mine has a foam but if it does, I'll take a picture.-Peter :)

[Jon K]

Its not far from that stuff yaofeng posted - V8s have it relatively simple!