I thought I would attempt to do a simple DIY on replacement of valve covers using a used set or your own if you are attempting this on your own. I have seen some information that is incorrect in regards to the installation and figured I would help those trying or attempting this yourself.
As a background note:
I have been offering refinished covers for some time now. I do this as a side hustle to help make a few extra bucks to be able to fund my personal car for maintenance and upgrades. I had learned how to powder coat years ago and use a friends local shop to provide this service. This is by no means a business or my job at all. I basically enjoy the work and pass on the service to fellow members looking for professionally powder coated covers.
My personal car is a 2013 E92 M3. It currently has roughly 50K miles on it as it stands today. I wanted to do a set of covers for myself but my car really did not need a set when I picked it up just over a year and a half ago. But I had noticed on the side with the air intake it was showing some weeping and the covers were starting to bubble so I felt it was time to do it myself.
I chose the color that I ended up doing my BBK about a year ago. Just thought it would look a bit better if it matched but honestly it was a bit more work PCing them vs the standard Wrinkle Red, Black Etc. But Im always up for a challenge.
I purchased everything from FCP Euro due to their lifetime warrantee. You really cant beat that at all. I replaced every bolt and seal as BMW recommends this. This goes with the Oil Separator bolts, Cam Sensor bolts, and the Valve Cover Bolts.
Ill provide a list of parts at the bottom.
So lets get to it:
First you want to remove your airbox, your cabin filter housing, as well as your strut bars and plenum. We disconnected the fuel line coming up from the rear and going into the fuel rail. This made things much simpler. On the other side we did the same and loosened up the coolant reservoir so we would be able to remove the cover on that side.
Go ahead and remove the injector harness as well as the cam sensor clips. Just disconnecting everything that is in the way to remove the covers with out binding up on anything.
Use a socket to remove the bolts along the valve cover. There is quite a few of them and you might need a swivel to reach them all. Once all of them are lose go a head and pull up on the covers. This was not that difficult for us but I have read that many use a zip tie method to get it to come up. The issue is the Spark Plug tubes are pretty seated and it will give you a bit of a time to get it to come up free.
This is what it looks like once out and free.
This is a good time to replace the timing chain seal as well. It has 4 bolts in the front of the cover and removes pretty easily.
This image is why I went ahead and replaced mine. This shows you the weeping of the covers. No leaks were found around the timing cover but because we were there we went ahead and did it anyway. An inexpensive part to replace and simple while everything was out of its way anyway.
Now this is where some people start to mess up. And its no real fault of their own but hopefully this will help. When BMW coated these covers they used a 2 part epoxy paint. This paint was sprayed over the covers to fill in the casting and pits that the casted covers had. This is that nasty bubbly grey color you see on the covers. Inside they half assed it and just half hardly sprayed the inside. But what this did was to again fill the pits that are found in Magnesium Casted covers. When you refinish these you are removing that filling and the pitting is exposed. This can cause issues down the line with leaking as oil is able to get around the seals.
As I did my research on this I found that many people were using Drei Bond from BMW to fill in these pits under the seal to create a better bonding surface. I know people will say it goes against that they know but this is the best method of making sure your covers do not leak in the future. You can always go the route of new covers but that's about $1400 from the dealer and you will be dealing with the bubbles and horrible look after a few years of driving.
As a background note:
I have been offering refinished covers for some time now. I do this as a side hustle to help make a few extra bucks to be able to fund my personal car for maintenance and upgrades. I had learned how to powder coat years ago and use a friends local shop to provide this service. This is by no means a business or my job at all. I basically enjoy the work and pass on the service to fellow members looking for professionally powder coated covers.
My personal car is a 2013 E92 M3. It currently has roughly 50K miles on it as it stands today. I wanted to do a set of covers for myself but my car really did not need a set when I picked it up just over a year and a half ago. But I had noticed on the side with the air intake it was showing some weeping and the covers were starting to bubble so I felt it was time to do it myself.
I chose the color that I ended up doing my BBK about a year ago. Just thought it would look a bit better if it matched but honestly it was a bit more work PCing them vs the standard Wrinkle Red, Black Etc. But Im always up for a challenge.
I purchased everything from FCP Euro due to their lifetime warrantee. You really cant beat that at all. I replaced every bolt and seal as BMW recommends this. This goes with the Oil Separator bolts, Cam Sensor bolts, and the Valve Cover Bolts.
Ill provide a list of parts at the bottom.
So lets get to it:
First you want to remove your airbox, your cabin filter housing, as well as your strut bars and plenum. We disconnected the fuel line coming up from the rear and going into the fuel rail. This made things much simpler. On the other side we did the same and loosened up the coolant reservoir so we would be able to remove the cover on that side.
Go ahead and remove the injector harness as well as the cam sensor clips. Just disconnecting everything that is in the way to remove the covers with out binding up on anything.
Use a socket to remove the bolts along the valve cover. There is quite a few of them and you might need a swivel to reach them all. Once all of them are lose go a head and pull up on the covers. This was not that difficult for us but I have read that many use a zip tie method to get it to come up. The issue is the Spark Plug tubes are pretty seated and it will give you a bit of a time to get it to come up free.
This is what it looks like once out and free.
This is a good time to replace the timing chain seal as well. It has 4 bolts in the front of the cover and removes pretty easily.
This image is why I went ahead and replaced mine. This shows you the weeping of the covers. No leaks were found around the timing cover but because we were there we went ahead and did it anyway. An inexpensive part to replace and simple while everything was out of its way anyway.
Now this is where some people start to mess up. And its no real fault of their own but hopefully this will help. When BMW coated these covers they used a 2 part epoxy paint. This paint was sprayed over the covers to fill in the casting and pits that the casted covers had. This is that nasty bubbly grey color you see on the covers. Inside they half assed it and just half hardly sprayed the inside. But what this did was to again fill the pits that are found in Magnesium Casted covers. When you refinish these you are removing that filling and the pitting is exposed. This can cause issues down the line with leaking as oil is able to get around the seals.
As I did my research on this I found that many people were using Drei Bond from BMW to fill in these pits under the seal to create a better bonding surface. I know people will say it goes against that they know but this is the best method of making sure your covers do not leak in the future. You can always go the route of new covers but that's about $1400 from the dealer and you will be dealing with the bubbles and horrible look after a few years of driving.
