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DIY: M54 Timing Chain Cover

80K views 45 replies 16 participants last post by  James115 
#1 · (Edited)
Timing chain cover

Link to other parts of the project
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?p=14015375#post14015375

The timing chain cover sits at the front of the engine behind the vibration damper. In it is housed the coolant pump at the top, and at the bottom is where the crankshaft pokes though to connect to the vibration damper.

To remove the timing chain cover, it is an easy task if the engine is removed, and both the head and the oil pan are removed. The cover is jammed between the head and the oil pan. If the engine is in the car, it is possible to remove the cover without removing the head. It requires the oil pan to be off, and hence the engine supported from above. The three bolts that hold the head to the cover can be removed from above after the valve cover is removed. The vanos and timing assembly can stay in place.

Why would you need to remove the cover? If you need to get the crankshaft out, or there is something wrong with the timing/oil pump chains then you would need to have it off.

Removing it is a simple process once the head, oil pan, and vibration damper have been removed. Initially, the coolant pipe that goes into the back of the timing cover needs to be removed. There are two there. The top one goes into the head, and should already be gone. The bottom one goes into the timing chain cover. They are both a pain to get out. They both have two O Rings that are really jammed in there.





At the front on the cover there are a load of small bolts that need removing. Remove all of these, but leave the top two in there loosely. The cover is still held on by the two dowels. These are not like others on the engine, they are like a nail that has been hammered in there. You can't just pull the cover off. The Bentley manual talks about tapping them out from the front. This has the issue of you then having to fit them into the cover again prior to installation. It's much easier to tap them out from behind. They stay in the cover ready for installation.












When the cover has been removed, this is what it looks like from inside.






The chain guides can be easily removed, however, if they are like the guides on this car, the tabs that hold them on will break when you try to remove them.






Once the guides are off, the chains can be easily removed. Also the sprocket that drives both chains can slide off the crankshaft. The sprocket is one unit. It is reversible, and can be put on the other way around no problems. When the vibration damper is fitted, the sprocket is held between the crankshaft and the vibration damper.












Here is another picture just for information. I had said in a previous post that there was no requirement to hold the timing chain up when the timing sprockets (up the top connected to the vanos) are removed. This is the reason why. There is a lip on the timing chain cover that doesn't allow the chain to fall of if it is loose at the top.


 

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#4 ·
No, the seal can stay in place. The vibration damper is what is running on the seal, so when the vibration damper is removed, the seal isn't touching anything. That being said, if you had the cover off, replacing the seal is dead easy. The seal is inexpensive, so it might be worthwhile doing while you are there.
 
#8 · (Edited)
As soon as you remove the large bolt that holds on the vibration damper (the crankshaft pulley) the vibration damper and the sprocket pull straight off. Because there is a seal around the vibration damper, it will be a bit tight, and might require a bit of jiggling. Note the chains need to be off the sprocket if you want it to come off. ie the oil pump needs to be removed, and also the vanos and all connected components in the head need to be removed. To get just the cover off, the sprocket doesn't need to be removed. It just depends on what you need to do

With the oil pan removed, the cover can come off as long as the:
-vibration damper is removed.
-all nuts are removed around the perimeter of the cover.
-the two dowels are hammered out.
 
#13 ·
I know this is a old thread , but I did a search and this poped up . Very good info here , but have question ?? what holds the lower gear in place ? is the a second keyway ?
Reason being the large{Jesus} bolt worked its way out on my m-50 race motor and sheered off the keyway that holds on balancer . That spun aprox 100 degrees creating all kind of havoc..
 
#17 ·
Sorry I know this is a old thread, fantastic write up! My question is I sheered off my damper woodruff key and I went to install a new one and it fell inside the hole as I tried sliding the crank pulley back on. I can't seem to locate it anywhere inside that hole obviously with limited access. From your pics it looks like it could be hiding possibly along that bottom chain rail. I have tried everything I can think of to get this out with no luck. Do you think it's OK just to install a new key or am I going to have to take the chain cover off to get to it?
 
#18 ·
There is a chance that it may have fallen all the way to the sump, but you can't be sure. To get the cover off you need to remove the pan first, so I would remove the pan, see if it's in there first prior to removing the timing chain cover. Even if it was in the sump, I would want to get it out prior to driving the car.

Have you removed the seal? This is the first thing I'd do if I couldn't find it. Not hard to get out and it will give you more room to look, use magnetic tool, etc.
 
#19 ·
Thanks for replying JJRichar, I have been pulling my hair out over this man! So how does that seal come out. I'm not sure on how to do that. I just went out to look at that seal and I think I see what you are talking about. It's obviously the hard rubber ring around the hole the crankshaft is coming out but how does it come out? Thank you so much for the help!
 
#20 ·
The best way I found to do it was to gently tap with a hammer/flat head screwdriver around the perimeter so it moves only about a mm so you break the seal. Then tap on one position only (say the 3 o'clock position) and use some sort of pulling tool (I use 3mm fencing wire often for tool like this to make a hook that would fit in the gap) and pull on the opposite side (9 o'clock). What should happen is it pivots around the 12 and 6 o'clock positions and then you can just pull it out. I've done it before where after the seal was broken, just hitting it in one spot had it rotate nicely and then just pulled it out, but I'd have a tool to pull on the other side as well so you have no chance of pushing the seal inside.
 
#22 ·
Hi Jjrichar, so I found the half moon key in the oil pan so thanks for the help on that. I'm now removing the timing cover to replace the gaskets and I need your advice on two questions. I have removed all the bolts you mentioned above along with both dowels, I can't get this thing off. Is there a trick? Just to let you know, the engine is in the car and I have the oil pan off. What am I doing wrong here? I know by what you said it's jammed under the head, with that being said do I need to tap the cover from the top? Second question is how can I put the dowels back in after knocking them out from the front when I'm ready to install the cover back on? Thanks for all your help!
 
#23 · (Edited)
You need to remove the valve cover and the vanos. A little bit of work, but not a big deal. If you don't have instructions for this, have a look at the Beisan systems website (if you haven't done your vanos seals I'd do them at the same time).

Once the vanos is off, there are two bolts that go down into the cover that need to come off. There are also 14 large head bolts. DON'T TOUCH THESE. It's the smaller ones at the timing chain end that need to be removed. Have a look at the head thread, and the third picture down has where these are. Also there is a third that is adjacent to the main timing chain. It's there to connect the tensioner, but it goes all the way through to the timing chain cover. You can remove this one safely without removing the tensioner, as there is another holding it in place. From memory they are all M6 bolts, so installation is 10 Nm.

Photos attached to help you out. The first photo is from the head, and shows you from the head where these are located (circled in red). Second photo shows the third bolt adjacent to the timing chain.

Installing the cover is done by putting the dowels in the cover prior to installation so they are protruding on the block side about 3mm, then tapping the cover into position. The TIS says to put RTV sealant on the corners under the head so you don't get leaks.
 

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#24 ·
Man, I would be totally lost without your help Jjrichar. Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out, you don't find many people like you. I was about to give up on this last night but after seeing your photos I feel more comfortable completing the task, I think...lol. I think if I'm going to continue to work on my own car and do a lot of these dyi's myself then I'm going to invest into a Bentley manual. Ok so it looks like I have an additional 4 more bolts to remove from the looks of your pictures (by the way thank you) and by what you said. I read that you said the torque for reinstalling on these last bolts when ready was 10lbs, do you happen to know the torque spec for the 13 bolts on the front of the cover mentioned in your first post? I will for sure do the vanos, I have heard about them before but never messed with them and I'm almost 100% positive they have never been done since everything else I have run into has been original and never changed which worries me with the car having 170,000 miles. Ok I'm heading out to knock this out, thanks again for the help and if you wouldn't mind please just let me know what the torque specs are for the 13 bolts on the front of the cover. Thanks Jjrichar!
 
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