[Alfre550i]

Hello to everybody, yesterday I was changing the oil pan gasket on my e60 550i and I found this piece of timing chain guide on the bottom, the piece it's really really small, does anyone know where the piece actually came from, like which exact part of the guide? I would leave some pictures for you to see. Besides that, the engine runs flawlessly.

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[Boz36]

By looking at the piece, it looks like that portion would go around one of the positioning posts for the guide. Others here with more experience will probably comment but I think you are going to have to get the front cover off and replace the chain and guides.

 

[F10NZ]

It's the beginning of the end

 

[applehugger]

How unusual for an N62! How many miles are on your engine?
It doesn’t really matter where it came from, you should probably replace all of the guides at this point, and install a 90 degree thermostat while you’re at it. That sucks though! These engines usually don’t have timing chain guide issues, unlike the earlier M62s.

 

[tstiglich]

Yikes

 

[Alfre550i]

How unusual for an N62! How many miles are on your engine?
It doesn’t really matter where it came from, you should probably replace all of the guides at this point, and install a 90 degree thermostat while you’re at it. That sucks though! These engines usually don’t have timing chain guide issues, unlike the earlier M62s.

The car has 110k miles but the engine runs just fine, I would take the risk and don't do the timing on the short time...

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[tstiglich]

If I were you, I would go to FCP Euro and look at pictures of the timing chain guide to verify what it is. If it is in fact the guide, I would not run the engine until you replace it. In the event that the timing chain jumps a few teeth, your engine is toast.

 

[Goblinski]

...I would take the risk and don't do the timing on the short time...

What @tstiglich said. An engine with broken chain guides is not safe to run, unless it's a non-interference engine (which the n62 is very probably not).

 

[jaye944]

it's like the old joke, "I bit into an apple and found half a maggot"
not too make light of this, but that is scary !