L322 Project Vanos and Timing Chain Guides Starts Today...

Well it's been a while since I started a thread and I have put this off long enough so today I begin my latest project of timing chain guides, timing chain, cam chains, vanos rebuild, valley pan, 80 degree thermostat mod, PCV valve and anything else that even looks at me funny will be getting it.

None of this needs doing urgently but I have a bit of start up rattle at times, I have a knock from the vanos when the engine is hot, my upper timing covers leak and it's only a matter of time before the guides self destruct and so this is a bit of preventative maintenance and hopefully won't brick my engine...Stand by for lots of 'HELP' questions

Your guides will probably look like mine and you'll think 'WTF was causing the rattle????'
We lined the new chain up against the old chain and the old one was about an inch longer so regardless of rattles or faults, after seeing mine I'd advise this was done to all M62 engines between 100 to 130k.

Good luck with it mate, hope it goes better than mine did and if you get the cam timing bang on first time, let me know how you did it, a house move and job change is delaying any progress at all on mine but once I'm settled I'll be on it although it did pass its MOT first time so I'm thankful for small mercys.
Have fun lol.

Thank you mate, I am hoping I get the timing bang on too, I have next week off which will hopefully be long enough....
I am guessing you still have the tap tap?

Best of luck Andy. Photos notes and take your time is the key....dont rush and try not to time limit yourself to much.

Thanks Ant, I think the time limit bit is my worst enemy, I often find myself rushing jobs, but more often than not for no reason.
I am going to flush the cooling system before I start with a flushing agent to get rid of any crap and i'll also refill initially with plain water to detect any leaks after I am finished as the antifreeze is damn expensive!!
One quick question that was troubling me was that if I drain the system, including the block, when I refill, it does fill the block fill back up before the stat has a chance to open doesn't it ?
This may be the first of many dumb questions mate.. I seem to remember seeing your coolant flow diagram stating that it does.

this is a job on my list next spring or maybe christmas in the workshop when im quite. have you priced the chain and guides up yet and all the bits with it.

I haven't dared to total it up, but they are all bought. i have gone for the Febi Bilstein guides and chains as they appear very good quality and price is good, I am not sure if they are the actual OEM manufacturer of the genuine parts.
I am heading towards the £600 - £800 mark I reckon by the time I factor in the price of oil, coolant, gaskets, vanos seals and press tool, chain guides, engine timing kit etc. etc....

One thing I have discovered today is the central oil feed tube in my oil filter housing is missing. I don't know if I chucked it away with one of the oil filter changes I have done or whether it has never been in there, but I am going to have to source a new oil filter housing I think unless somebody tells me otherwise.

Anyway, day 1 i have managed to flush the cooling system and flush and drain the oil, that's about it, not been on it all day but had to make a start.

I havent checked the Rave for a write up on timing the VANOS, but Ive got a Bentley manual for an X5 that goes into terrific detail. Let me know if you want a lend HC.

Ok, thanks very much, I have had a good read through rave which is pretty good, but sometimes hard to follow as the procedures are cascaded so every time you follow one path you have a to open another list of procedures for that path which in turn opens another list and so on but I have printed out what I need I think.
There are also some really good videos on YouTube especially from one guy who has filmed the entire timing chain guide replacement from start to finish which made things a lot clearer for me i hope.

Hi HC, are you tackling this 'hans' solo or is your mate enrolled for another session of fags n coffee?

Pretty intensive procedure from what iv'e garnered, this guy seems worth a watch...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGW1SGGqUS5JLp0Yo4DQqdw/feed.
Are you rebuilding the Vanos(i)?

I think the early duplex chained M62 engines had issues with oil pump bolts dropping out into the sump, hopefully not the case on the TuB44.

Hope all goes well...one of the reasons i sold mine was this looming reality, I have just checked 'dearly departed's' MOT status, it's been out since January. Poor thing, i hope it's in a cosy garage!

Just me on this one i'm afraid, my looney mate is still too cuckoo and yep it's pretty intense.
That's the guy I have been watching on YouTube, he seems really methodical in his approach, my only slight concern is the engines changed slightly after 2002, which is the one he is doing and the timing kit I have is off of somebody who modified it to suit the later model, but whose car died a few minutes after startup but we think that is down to one of his cylinder bores failing
The oil pump bolt issue was fixed by 2004.

Yes, I am rebuilding the vanos, hopefully, I have the kit ready and waiting along with my 4 foot breaker bar and 3/4 drive socket for the crank bolt.

I have got to make up a jig to hold down the cam locking jigs as it is a separate land rover tool and doesn't come in the kits, but I have an idea of adapting an old spark plug and I have got to helicoil the sump drain plug as mine is stripped, although I have been using a bolt left over from my transmission rebuild that is slightly longer and seals perfectly so that will come down to time available and the spare cam covers are away for powder coating.
If mine goes well, buy yours back and fix it up.
Thanks for the kind words

Pic below of my oil filter housing minus the central feed tube, but the drain back valve seemed to be working as I heard it release as I took out the filter cartridge, but I will check this more thoroughly as this can be a source of startup rattles also I have heard.

Are you on about the clamps that lock the Cams in place??

If so, I have those in my timing kit....

Thanks Ant, I have those, its the items circled on the attached I am thinking of making which stops the locking fixture from jumping out or moving.


My vanos timing jigs have been modified from the pre 2002 type to suit my 04 as they changed, the guy who did them is really switched on so i am hoping they are ok to retime the vanos but if not i'll be knocking on your door. Do you know what year your kit is for?

Jesus HC, don't be giving mine ideas! I've got enough to contend with without making her think she's missing out on something Good luck I shall be looking in now and then but only when the Golden Girl isn't watching.

No pressure then,if I brick my engine we could probably make one good one out of our two, well when i say good, I mean functional.

Watching with interest. Best of luck it

Yes, deffo one for the "Watched Threads". Fingers crossed.

holidaychicken said:

I am guessing you still have the tap tap?

Click to expand...

Ye its still being a noisy bugger lol.

holidaychicken said:

i have gone for the Febi Bilstein guides and chains as they appear very good quality and price is good, I am not sure if they are the actual OEM manufacturer of the genuine parts.
I am heading towards the £600 - £800 mark I reckon by the time I factor in the price of oil, coolant, gaskets, vanos seals and press tool, chain guides, engine timing kit etc. etc....

Click to expand...

Did you price up genuine parts and ask for discount? Mine were a lot cheaper than I expected and not much more than oem/aftermarket (except the cheapest option which wasn't an option).
Anyway, best of luck with it mate, subscribed lol

Thanks mate, I did price up genuine but the febi were a lot cheaper than the genuine and I am hoping the same quality, made in Germany apparently..
Thanks for watching all.
Managed to get about 5 hours on it today but I have been taking my time and on a few occasions I stall as to what to do next and just stand and stare
I stripped off as much as I could at the front but still need to remove the water pump.
I got the cam covers off and rotated the engine to what appears to make sense with rave as far as TDC although Rave is pretty darn confusing when you are trying to follow this procedure as you have to keep skipping all over the place and also remembering that the right hand side in rave is the left hand side as you are working on it.
I'll have a good go at it tomorrow.

Second hand oil filter reservoir on its way so i can replace my oil feed pipe in the centre although I am not sure how much of a difference it will make but it will bug me if it's not there.

I am thinking or removing the valley pan with the PCV valve still attached to save fluffing around too much at the back of the engine but i think i will do the all the vanos and timing chain parts before starting on the valley pan and then again, I might not

A little sneak preview below.


Stand by

I may have mentioned way back when you had your box out, and in particular reference to what appeared to be an oil leak on the back of your block, i may have mentioned then that I had gleaned from somewhere that when the valley pan leaks ( they all l do at some point apparently ) it does so out of a dedicated tell-tale hole on the rear of the block, from memory the leak looked to be the from that hole/drain.
(Vague recollection you thought it was from a oil gallery blanking plug, did you resolve it at the time of box out?)

The purpose of the pan, which is hull shaped is to direct coolant to the inner sides of the bores. This vid is quite good, although Jack Nicholson looks different to what i remember


Removing manifold is a good idea because there is a water pipe that connects the water pump housing to the rear water distribution ducting, this pipe can corrode if car has run on neat water or the wrong antifreeze.(also on vid)
Also a doddle to change PCV with man. off.

If you knew all that then great but though I'd use up some E-ink and chance my hand at looking remotely credulous...lol.