Vanos Replacement

[TexasZed4MC]

Just thought I'd give some info. At 76k miles I started to noticed a noise that was not normal. Most of the noise was from around the timing chain tensioner area or a little higher. A repair to replace a throw-out bearing(did not stop the rattle)along with a clutch and pressure plate(because I am in there anyway). I then replaced the water pump and all the tensioner pulleys (still have the rattle)
The only thing left is the Vanos. Next week the car will go under the knife to have a rebuilt DR. Vanos upgraded unit, new cryo exhaust cam gear, an anti-rattle kit, and new cam gear bolts. Nice to drop about $3k in the past 6 months on the car.
I just can't sell the car AS-IS, because with that noise it would not bring the right amount of money. AND honestly there really isn't anything else out there that impresses me enough to go buy, well without spending $85k.
This is more of a heads-up guys post. The vanos is the S54 weak point and around 80k miles you all need to start listening to you engine. Yes $3000 isn't fun to spend on repairs, but its far cheaper than another S54 engine for the car!

[Rekla]

Thanks for sharing. What year & Month is your M? Didn't they introduce a Vanos upgrade on the assembly line sometime in 2007 - meaning some cars are affected and some are not?

[TexasZed4MC]

My build is a August 2006
I think there was something changed later about the cam gear bolts shearing off, but I'm not sure about the vanos changing

[inTgr8r]

Originally Posted by Rekla

Thanks for sharing. What year & Month is your M? Didn't they introduce a Vanos upgrade on the assembly line sometime in 2007 - meaning some cars are affected and some are not?

The only thing that was updated during Z4M series build time, was the cam bolts.
That happened part way through MY07.

[yousefnjr]

Overhauling mine too this weekend with the Beisan pieces. No symptoms, taking care of it before it blows rented the tools online, can't wait!

[bignosejim]

I did all of the Beisan upgrades last year to take care of this before it became a problem. If you are getting the rebuilt vanos assembly with the smaller oil pump holes you shouldn't need their cryo hub unless yours has a broken tab (my opinion). I also got the Lang Racing upgraded hub and sprocket bolts. After this the only thing your vanos might eventually need would be an upgraded solenoid unit. Beisan is the only people resoldering those things.

[XMetal]

OP,
Did the Vanos Overhauled fixed your noises? Curious to hear what would cause such thing. Why did you decide to go cryo exhaust cam gear instead of the less expensive drilled disc solution? Did you have a broken tab?

I did a similar overhauled about a month ago => http://www.zpost.com/forums/showpost...&postcount=730

I couldn't believed how much quieter just a few tighter tolerance pieces would make such a dramatic difference. The car ran fine and it didn't have any issues prior to the Vanos rebuild, I needed to do a valve adjustment at the time and decided that "while I was in there" kinda thing. It's just one thing that I can cross off the list that I have to worry about. Now I have to start saving for the inevitable bearing job

[yousefnjr]

Just wrapped up my vanos overhaul a few minutes ago, I also was impressed with the Beisan pieces. Tons of play with the OE pump disk, lots of rattles... Beisan disk is a perfect fit. I was trying to get it to rattle (on the bench) and couldn't!

[onebluemcm]

Haven't been around here much in quite a while so if this is common knowledge, I apologize. Are y'all having to lift the engine or shift it rearward to get the necessary clearance to remove the vanos unit? Seems very close to the rad support compared to the M3, as I recall.

Mine is a real rattler, but always has been. After all the positive info about the Beisan stuff, been thinking about doing the job preemptively as well.

[bignosejim]

Originally Posted by onebluemcm

Haven't been around here much in quite a while so if this is common knowledge, I apologize. Are y'all having to lift the engine or shift it rearward to get the necessary clearance to remove the vanos unit? Seems very close to the rad support compared to the M3, as I recall.

Mine is a real rattler, but always has been. After all the positive info about the Beisan stuff, been thinking about doing the job preemptively as well.

It can be done without lifting the engine. You have to remove a cable clip then the vanos unit can be backed out enough to disconnect the splined shafts. Then you can work the vanos out of the car. Here is a thread I posted earlier.

[onebluemcm]

Thanks for the link to your write up. Very helpful. Nice work with the repair too.

Between your write up and Kapt's write up, plus the Beisan info, there really is no guesswork to it.

This seems like a good opportunity to swap cams if one was looking to install hotter cams, no? It doesn't seem like there would be much more to do since with this vanos job you are pulling cam gears as well. Any thoughts on this?

[TexasZed4MC]

Ill update after I get the car back at the end of the week

[yousefnjr]

Originally Posted by onebluemcm

Thanks for the link to your write up. Very helpful. Nice work with the repair too.

Between your write up and Kapt's write up, plus the Beisan info, there really is no guesswork to it.

This seems like a good opportunity to swap cams if one was looking to install hotter cams, no? It doesn't seem like there would be much more to do since with this vanos job you are pulling cam gears as well. Any thoughts on this?

I'm not sure what extra needs to come off to get the cams out (timing chain, sprockets, rockers? Don't know what else), but you're certainly in the neighborhood. Timing is actually really easy to set with the bridge, so it might not be difficult if the head doesn't have to come off

[XMetal]

Originally Posted by yousefnjr

I'm not sure what extra needs to come off to get the cams out (timing chain, sprockets, rockers? Don't know what else), but you're certainly in the neighborhood. Timing is actually really easy to set with the bridge, so it might not be difficult if the head doesn't have to come off

I would assume that the engine needs to be lifted to get the cams out?

[yousefnjr]

^^ you know I'm not so sure it does, I'm looking at some pics I took while the valve cover was off and I see a series of caps running down the camshafts, 2 bolts apiece. If you have all the front interference off, maybe they can be lifted out? Just guessing

Not sure how the springs come out or if you need anything to relieve the tension

[StickMon]

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure you can get the camshafts out if you take the hubs/sprockets off.
That said, I don't think you can just remove the journal bolts, pop 'em off, and pop new ones on.
Pretty sure there's a clamp fixture that you'll need to hold them in place and gently decompress/recompress the valve springs.
The camshafts are hollow, and can be bent if not evenly stressed, and the journal bolts are not long enough to decompress/recompress the valve springs on their own.

But you may have already known all that.

[onebluemcm]

Originally Posted by StickMon

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure you can get the camshafts out if you take the hubs/sprockets off.
That said, I don't think you can just remove the journal bolts, pop 'em off, and pop new ones on.
Pretty sure there's a clamp fixture that you'll need to hold them in place and gently decompress/recompress the valve springs.
The camshafts are hollow, and can be bent if not evenly stressed, and the journal bolts are not long enough to decompress/recompress the valve springs on their own.

But you may have already known all that.

Yep, I'm pretty sure they make some special tool for this, as you mentioned. I'm also quite sure that even on the M3 where there is less room at the back of the engine bay, cams can be replaced with the engine in normal position.

[StickMon]

Thanks again Ron!

[elerner61]

At 56K miles my engine has some VANOS noise between 3,000-3,200 that doesn't go away until the oil temp has been at full operating temp for about 10 minutes. I did a C300 hub last year when during my valve adjustment my indy found a broken tab. I'm thinking I'll wait until my next valve adjustment at around 75K until I do what the OP has done (new VANOS unit and rattle kit).

Gotta pay to play.

[TexasZed4MC]

UPDATE- Well some good and some ??? news
Vanos did need replacing, nothing broken on the vanos or gears but was showing a great deal of age.
During the Vanos replacement it was found that my upper right timing chain guide lower tab had broken off.
I now have to have the oil pan removed to check and see if any damage was done because of a piece of plastic flying around all over the engine
This engine is really making me want my E30 M3 back with that little S14 engine.

[yousefnjr]

Bummer. I wouldn't be surprised if the noise you were hearing was just the broken guide, and your vanos unit is OK. Did you see it yourself, or get any more detail from them on what's wrong with it? Expensive piece to replace needlessly

[bignosejim]

Originally Posted by TexasZed4MC

UPDATE- Well some good and some ??? news
Vanos did need replacing, nothing broken on the vanos or gears but was showing a great deal of age.
During the Vanos replacement it was found that my upper right timing chain guide lower tab had broken off.
I now have to have the oil pan removed to check and see if any damage was done because of a piece of plastic flying around all over the engine
This engine is really making me want my E30 M3 back with that little S14 engine.

I feel for ya.

That part doesn't usually fall into the engine when it breaks. It is still held in place by the timing chain. It might have if they weren't careful while removing the tensioner though. I'm pretty sure your old vanos unit is/was just fine. I would bet that replacing the tensioner alone fixes your rattle.
Are you getting a core refund for your old vanos unit? If not I would ask for it back. I don't trust companies that sell "remanufactured" parts to tell me mine was bad without any specifics. I tend to think they just want to maintain their inventory. I'm sure they'll just clean up your unit and put it in somebody else's car.
I'm not an expert by any means, I'm just stating what I've read on the internet and what I've seen rebuilding my vanos. If something dropped into the oil pan, then it definitely needs to be retrieved.

Rant over. This makes me frustrated and I'm not the one dishing out the money!