[gac]

Originally Posted by Bal s t

Did mine today,took a hour and abit few scratched knucles and alot of swearing.but done,car sounds quiter on idle not that it was loud to begin with,hard to explain but hardly any clatter,cars only on 42k so see how i get on🤞🏾

Can we go back to the posts saying how easy it is? After TurboWeasel's post I figured this was well within my capabilities with my qualifications of "has hands" and "owns ratchet". But no one else seems to be finding it trivial

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by gac

Can we go back to the posts saying how easy it is? After TurboWeasel's post I figured this was well within my capabilities with my qualifications of "has hands" and "owns ratchet". But no one else seems to be finding it trivial

He left out a couple of minor details - also need triple-jointed wrists and eyes on the ends of your fingers :-)

[Bal s t]

Originally Posted by Watsey

He left out a couple of minor details - also need triple-jointed wrists and eyes on the ends of your fingers :-)

Definitely not as easy as it sounded hence why I ordered the part and wanted to do it,it was just more fiddly and space constricting,other than that straightforward,on the plus side car sounds quiter and the chain is as tight as it can be,not planning on selling it anytime soon so a win win in my book.👍🏾

[TurboWeasel]

Sorry guys, I forgot to mention it's only easy when there's a solar eclipse and you've had 3 shredded wheat and a boiled egg for breakfast.

[gac]

Thought about taking a look at this while the sun's out and hit the first snag. I have a 70Nm torque wrench that I bought for changing the oil a couple of weeks ago. What I don't have is a 3/8" drive 24mm socket to go with the torque wrench, only a 1/2" drive. Excuse for more tool shopping I guess...

[TurboWeasel]

You can never have too many tools. Don't worry too much about torquing to 70nm. It's a tight torque for the restricted access. You need to get the socket onto the tensioner dead square to avoid rounding off the soft aluminium.

You will feel the crush washer flattening down and then it will stop, much like a sump bolt. Give it one more final ugger dugger at that point, and that's all it needs.

[dave550i]

Joined the New Tensioner Club today!

[gac]

Originally Posted by dave550i

Joined the New Tensioner Club today!

I've got this far too!

Still slacking on actually installing it though, even though I know it won't be keeping the chain very taut sat on my desk...

[TurboWeasel]

BMW will probably run out of tensioners soon

[gac]

Originally Posted by TurboWeasel

BMW will probably run out of tensioners soon

Perfect - for anyone reading this in 12 months time, if I still haven't got around to fitting it, then you're more than welcome to buy it from me for £120+postage

[Recon3D]

Any reason not to do this job? I believe my X5 has the original 11318576201 as my build date is 11/6/2014. The car is a 2015 35d with 140k miles.

I'm going to be doing my VCG and I was looking to maybe tackle this as well. I don't believe I'm having any issues at the moment with slack, although I was going to pickup the tool to check the slack.

[Allworth]

Originally Posted by Recon3D

Any reason not to do this job? I believe my X5 has the original 11318576201 as my build date is 11/6/2014. The car is a 2015 35d with 140k miles.

I'm going to be doing my VCG and I was looking to maybe tackle this as well. I don't believe I'm having any issues at the moment with slack, although I was going to pickup the tool to check the slack.

Yes, as in some engines and makes it is harder to access the bolt it may be better just to leave it as it is.
On a picture is a N47 engine on X1; the gap between bolt and engine block is so tiny is next to impossible to put any socket onto it, I am still figuring what it takes to replace this bolt.
But if your can be done using procedure described in this thread without removing much, then I would definitely have done this.

[srtjko]

I've been trying to get the original off for a couple of hours for two days. I don't have a long extensions so I used multiple extensions I've had laying around and I already broke 2 of them. The hardest part is getting the socket correctly onto the bolt head, there's not much space. I guess I need to get flexible socket and a sturdy extension. It's not as easy as people make it look.

[dave550i]

Hi, I attempted to do mine after reading how easy it is and failed miserably mainly not been able to find the tensioner bolt head! so ordered this borescope off Amazon and different to night and day works a treat and really cheap compared to others, cannot recommend it enough buy one and job sorted good luck https://www.amazon.co.uk/Endoscope-I...zcF9tdGY&psc=1

[gac]

I ended up paying a mobile mechanic to do it who already had an inspection cam, various extensions and torque wrenches to get the right setup going. I figured I could start buying more stuff myself but it would be limited return on my investment since I'll probably never need a borescope again, or a selection of sockets/wrenches besides what I need for an oil filter change (which I already have).

So it did cost me the same again for the labour as it did for the tensioner itself but at least it's done. Unlike the OP I can't say I've noticed any real difference, but it's peace of mind knowing I've got the updated part to give the engine the best chance at a long life.

[Allworth]

After 3D printing some 24mm sockets with a cut-out that look similar to injector removal sockets I must admit that I have failed to find a fit for tensioner head bypassing protruding block of cylinders.
It is good to know that on my vehicle an engine needs to be removed to replace the tensioner, but a bit pity to miss the experience of a new part fitted. Was curious to find whether it would remove awkward slapping noises during cold starts in a winter when oil is really thick.