Warranty about to wear off...

[mgwatson48]

Originally Posted by puciorek

Currently, I am experiencing louder VANOS noise around 3,000 rpms, especially when the car is cold and the top is down. I'm wondering if that's normal(?)
Anyways, thanks for all of your inputs.
Best regards
Darius

Depending on the mileage of your car, louder vanos is normal. the bores where the input shaft (not sure of the actual part name) spin the oil pump are prone to getting bigger over time due to the nature of metal-on-metal contact... So if you're hearing a faint rattle, especially after a cold start, chances are that's what it is.

[ncnmra]

Originally Posted by mgwatson48

they did mention that to change the head gasket was 35+hrs of labor

Is that even possible? I'm blown away that the head gasket would take almost a week of man hours?!?!

[mgwatson48]

Originally Posted by ncnmra

Is that even possible? I'm blown away that the head gasket would take almost a week of man hours?!?!

I know, i was taken back by it too... That's why theyre called stealerships lol. What's really urked me the wrong way over this whole thing is the fact that the car was "test driven" before being returned to me and the first thing I noticed was how bad it was sputtering at idle... Makes you quesiton their quality standards.

[ncnmra]

Wow, I wish you nothing but the best of luck. It's one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't. I'd be very leery of their work, and I think you having it looked over by your buddy that you can trust is the best course of action after they "clear" this up. It literally makes me sick to my stomach reading this kind of stuff ... I don't have any warranty and can't find anyone local that I trust with this car yet.

[mgwatson48]

Ya i hear you.. like you said though.. ignorance is bliss.. and it truly is lol. I bet if I didnt spot that head gasket weeping a little oil, the car would have still run fine for a bunch of years. But, when you see something like that while the car is still under warranty, you want it fixed.

[Swashplate]

Originally Posted by mgwatson48

Ya i hear you.. like you said though.. ignorance is bliss.. and it truly is lol. I bet if I didnt spot that head gasket weeping a little oil, the car would have still run fine for a bunch of years. But, when you see something like that while the car is still under warranty, you want it fixed.

If my child was weeping blood I think I would want the doc to fix it ASAP. This applies here also.

[ncnmra]

Originally Posted by Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

If my child was weeping blood I think I would want the doc to fix it ASAP. This applies here also.

Hahaha! Agreed; I hate "knowing" my stuff isn't 100%. However I'd be even more worried if my child was weeping blood, I took them to the doc and they came back missing an arm.

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by mgwatson48

I know, i was taken back by it too... That's why theyre called stealerships lol. What's really urked me the wrong way over this whole thing is the fact that the car was "test driven" before being returned to me and the first thing I noticed was how bad it was sputtering at idle... Makes you quesiton their quality standards.

Wow. The "work" at some stealerships never ceases to amaze me. Test drive? Yeah, right. You're not in Toronto are you? If so, this wouldn't be the S54 a stealership in that area managed to **** up. This guy's issue was finally resolved with a new engine, and I really hope that's not where things are headed for you.

The S54 VANOS on a Z4M cannot be timed correctly without all the special tools. At least that's what the resident expert and mechanic here, O-Cha, has stated. And this factor makes the S54 in the Z4M unlike the E46 M3--the position of the engine and etc. makes dealing with the engine in our cars different. More about that and some technical discussion in this thread. I'll bet they didn't have either the skill or the right tools to tackle this head gasket job. 35 hours of labor is unbelievable as well.

I'd be sure these bozos have all of the right tools before they get in there and screw things up again. The tools aren't cheap. Here's a view of the inventory list and photos of the tools in action on Runner-X's car (who successfully replaced bad VANOS exhaust hub in his garage just before a track day). Too bad stealerships aren't half as good as Runner-X!

I think you're going to have to be really assertive and involved to get a positive outcome. Stinks, as they should be able to do their jobs, but I think that's the reality here with stealerships. I hope this gets sorted soon!

[mgwatson48]

Hey Finnegan, I'm in Calgary, Alberta, so that wasn't mine. I would love to get a new engine out of the whole deal haha.

But ya, it gets a little awkward trying to tell a service advisor how the job should be done without coming across as offensive. I want to stay on his good side.

edit: I just called him to ask exactly what is being done to the car and why my perfectly good vanos unit failed. Also asked for him to make sure that all the correct tools were being used. Ill keep you posted when I hear back..

[Finnegan]

Great.

Yeah, it's a tightrope to walk. The thing is, the S54 is a complicated bit of machinery, and it's notoriously hard to get the timing right--and that's even with the right tools and knowing what you're doing! A lot of these "techs" are paint by numbers guys, and our engine requires that plus so real old-fashioned mechanical know-how and intelligence (plus the right tools of course).

Hang in there.

[mgwatson48]

^^ Cheers, thx! Will keep everyone posted. I told the SA (the only guy I trust in this whole equation) to take the car for a HARD drive before I take it back. His answer was "Of course, that's how these cars are mean't to be driven"... Good answer.

[strokeoluck]

FWIW I just took my car to the BMW dealer to have them check out a sound that seems like it's similar to the one you're describing. They told me the same thing an indie shop told me a few weeks ago, that the "clattering" (as I call it) is normal on the M car. The BMW guy said it was related to the "Vanos" (which, frankly, I know absolutely nothing about; need to find some time to read some of the Vanos threads). Since both shops said I don't need to worry about it, I guess I won't. Only minor irritation to me is that it's just not what I envisioned a BMW high performance engine sounding like. But I certainly love the performance.

[mgwatson48]

Originally Posted by strokeoluck

FWIW I just took my car to the BMW dealer to have them check out a sound that seems like it's similar to the one you're describing. They told me the same thing an indie shop told me a few weeks ago, that the "clattering" (as I call it) is normal on the M car. The BMW guy said it was related to the "Vanos" (which, frankly, I know absolutely nothing about; need to find some time to read some of the Vanos threads). Since both shops said I don't need to worry about it, I guess I won't. Only minor irritation to me is that it's just not what I envisioned a BMW high performance engine sounding like. But I certainly love the performance.

The sound I heard when I got the car wasn't a vanos rattle, it was a grinding noise over 2k rpm . I wish it was just a vanos rattle lol.