1999 BMW Cracked head and other engine troubles

[Russbeatty]

Hey guys, I have a 1999 bmw 540i wth the M62TU Vanos engine, recently I was driving home from work and the car back fired and quite running, now I had the problem before with a chevy where the car jumped time back fired and quit running and wondering if this could be the same with this vanos unit, also when I check out the engine I knoticed a crack at the top of the head where the valve cover and the head connect to each other, would it be wise to replace the head, I read somewhere that putting a new head on an engine could cause more problems on the lower end of the engine because of compression, so basically I am asking should I replace the head the vanos unit and see what happens or am i better off getting another engine alltogether. I took the car to the BMW dealership they recomended a new engine $22,000.00 plus labor casue they found metal shavings in the oil which were aluminum shavings Im guessing from the valve cover cause it looks like the vanos chain was rubbing against it







So if anyone can tell me what they think the car has 76,000 miles on it its a 1999 production was febuary 1999, its an Automatic I bout the car wih 62000 miles september 2007

[Clark Griswold]

$22,000!!!!!!!!! You could buy 2-3 used ones for that kind of money!

[BISMARK]

May Be All You Need Is A New Vanos And Chain. The Vanos And Chains Needs To Be Taken Apart, Cleaned And Inspected. Good Luck.

[emiliomax]

$22,000??!!! Okay, so you might need a new head. And timing system. That is still not 22 grand. That sounds like highway robbery. If you don't want to fix it yourself, get a second and maybe third opinion. BMW are legendary in their longevity. A new head is pretty minor when it comes to a system failure. Annoyin and inconvenient, but minor. And not 22 grand. Good luck and don't get taken

[marti5]

New head, engine flush, check out the vanos unit and chain and all should be fine.

You dont even need a new head a 2nd hand one will be fine.

[Russbeatty]

does anyone know what the gold shiny piece in pic two and three is, it seems to screw inside the head not sure what it is but its bent and I need to know what it is so I can replace it