[rlesko]

Originally Posted by halcyon_waves

Just did mine today (2013 335i, PWG) and I found using Saran wrap pretty useful in covering the injector ports. I would pull it tight towards one direction and twist the remaining material to form a tight seal. I also thought about giving aluminum foil a try.

As for the valve cover itself, I went with Elring, which according to FCP Euro is OEM. It sure looks the part and fit like a glove. Even came with instructions for the bolt tightening sequence.

Now, onto a few questions/concerns:

1. I accidentally broke off one of the fuel injector tabs when disconnecting the little cable. I slid the connector back in and it still fits real snug, I even have to use a little force to get it back out. How important is this, and is it worth getting a new injector over? (I'm at 100k miles and wondering if I should just change all the injectors, but from what I've read, most agree that if they are fine just leave them.)

2. Bryan at Kiesmotorsports made a fuel injector video and mentioned that you shouldn't mix up the fuel injector connection cables. I really didn't pay attention to this, but I'm sure each one went back into the correct injector since the wires were all bent a certain way from being there for 100k miles. Sadly, I watched that video after I did the job. How important is this? Are they really not interchangeable?

3. I could not reach the bolt to remove the breather hose, so I left the old one on for now until I figure out a way. The video I watched showed a guy removing the expansion tank easily - after removing the 10mm, he simply pulled the tank to the side to gain enough clearance to the breather hose bolt. I'm not able to do this as my tank is firmly secured by what appears to be a giant plastic clip and it won't budge. Any tips on how to remove the expansion tank?

4. I definitely did not use a mirror to check if the gasket came loose during installation, but my valve cover did come with a pre-installed gasket that fit like a glove and barely budged. How concerned should I be? The valve cover pretty much dropped right into place and all the bolts threaded in nicely.

OEM is not the same as OE. My genuine Valve Cover which will soon need replacing is labeled Mahle.

1. Should be fine. I did the same a while back, no issues.

2. Each fuel injection has a slightly different flow rating, thats what the numbers on the outside mean. When you replace, you need to need enter this information into the DME so it can provide correct fueling. If you wired incorrectly, the DME could be thinking it’s controller injector 4 but it’s actually controlling injector 3. I haven’t seen how much slack there is on that wiring harness, but my inclination is that it would be difficult to connect the wrong injector with the wrong wiring harness.

3. Expansion tank is secured by a 8 or 10 mm bolt iirc. Remove the bolt and slide up and out.

[rlesko]

Originally Posted by Mkesler75

Replaced my valve cover this weekend and adding a bit of commentary. Previous owner replaced just the gasket 5-6k miles ago due to leak. I started to get a bit of rough idle and did all the usual, plugs, coils, cleaned sensors, etc. No codes at all, random misfire via bimmerlink at cold startup. Once or twice the past 4 months heard some kind of high pitch whine, sounded like vacuum. Suspected my pvc so opted to swap out cover.

1. Opted to go with a cheap cover from autohauseAZ. Ordered from them in the past and had good quality parts. They have a branded cover for like $115. The thing is nearly identical to the oem, same markings, weight, stickers, etc. Fit perfectly, no issues at all. https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/AH-11127570292 wouldn’t hesitate using again.

Is your Autohaus AZ still holding up well? The price is so attractive compared to other aftermarket Valve Covers. Both the genuine and Elring Valve covers are simply way too much money for what they are.

[Mkesler75]

It is doing just fine. No concerns at this point.

[AmuroRay]

Originally Posted by rlesko

Is your Autohaus AZ still holding up well? The price is so attractive compared to other aftermarket Valve Covers. Both the genuine and Elring Valve covers are simply way too much money for what they are.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...lve+cover,5772

[rlesko]

Originally Posted by Mkesler75

It is doing just fine. No concerns at this point.

Did you use the AutohausAZ gasket too? Was thinking about getting genuine gasket w/ aftermarket cover.

[AmuroRay]

Originally Posted by rlesko

Did you use the AutohausAZ gasket too? Was thinking about getting genuine gasket w/ aftermarket cover.

I'm using both, I did it on my last BMW (N52 328i) and on this car. No issues so far, but on my current car (M235i) I only changed it as a precaution, there were no issues.

[Mkesler75]

Originally Posted by rlesko

Did you use the AutohausAZ gasket too? Was thinking about getting genuine gasket w/ aftermarket cover.

I did. It looked solid and it’s much easier.

[PoBoyR6]

Just did this job, found it interesting that my F30 did not have as many lines to remove as in the eatsleepdrive YT video...also I had to completely remove my fuel rail...

But I mainly wanted to share a tip for removing the valve cover itself since mine was really stuck in place, I ended up using a heat gun around the gasket and using the sharp end of a trim removal tool and hitting it with a rubber mallet around the front & drivers side until I heard several cracks from the gasket coming loose. If I didn't do this I'm not sure I would have been able to get the cover off. Hope this helps someone!

[rlesko]

I just did my cover + gasket today too after finally receiving it from trash ass autohausAZ. The cheapo aftermarket cover was pretty much as advertised, the bolts themselves were noticeably low quality, an E10 socket has trouble seating on most of the bolts. I ended up having to tighten many bolts with an 8mm. Otherwise, it was a straight forward job with a lot of steps. My CEL came on after install because I didn’t fully seat the Valvetronic connection on top of the valve cover. I didn’t have any issues removing the cover and gasket from the engine block. And god damn those bolts on the valve cover towards the firewall were a real pain to get a torque wrench on.