Allanw

+1 I had ongoing problems. One conncetor was a bit melted/deformed. I tidied that up, and STILL had intermittant warnings. I replaced all the brake bulbs, and the warning has stayed gone. Bulbs to age, and can start running super hot too.

Dude, that looks AWESOME! I need the new E39 bumper done at some point, and it could use a few touch ups too! Have to wait until I have money though :-( Going back on one income soon and the Mrs is in the UK spending the savings

Cheers, nothing to dread then! I still have to fit a new drivers door lock mechanism - I'm dreading that! It looks to be a pain in the arse.

US$17 - totalled a bit under NZ$100, plus I got the vanos gasket and left hand thread bolts from Milland - not sure what they were, maybe 20 or 30???Not too bad anyway. Cheaper than a tank of gas!

it sure would have killed them! The design, using an o ring it a little bit cheap for a BMW anyway - I'd have thought a spring or square section rubber ring. I think the cold idle problems are caused by the car trying to control the vanos with lower (idle) oil pressure, while trying to heat the cats up fast (apparently it uses more overlap to pump some fuel into the exhaust of heat them faster). It's funny the problems that emissions gear causes too!

Yeah, I always wonder if it's a real problem in all markets when it comes to stuff like this - Like nikasil engines having no issues in NZ because of our fuel always having had sulphur removed (for fertiliser!). Yeah wave if you see me - I haven't actually been out much though I'll be the one driving everywhere at 2000 to 3000 rpm

Typical, Bloody BMW drivers!

The bolts are worth getting (few bucks each I think???) I put new ones in because the thought of snapping them didn't appeal AT ALL! Shame it had no effect on yours. At least you know they'll stay good now!

*groan* I still have to do that... it's just a touch weepy - leaves a drop or two a week, but I want to do it soonish (next 6 months). At least I have the Vanos done already . Was it all pretty straight forward?

You'd assume yours would be worse than mine with double the kms, though it probably depends on the type of driving and oil type etc a bit too. The double Vanos engine seem to suffer the most - I suppose because of the infinite variability factor. It's not too tricky! The fan is the hardest part - that was another tool I had to borrow - Dad has a bunch of giant spanners, so had to wait for him to bring it over! That's very handy to remember! a couple of good blows with the hammer will set it free... or smash your expansion bottle or shroud if you miss . Check the bottom of the radiator too - they're known to expand downwards sometimes, getting ready to pop Also, If you are planning on doing a thermostat* or water pump, do them at the same time. I have the water pump, but didn't want to do it this time as I have a plan for the thermostat, but it's all OK at the moment. (*check for codes regularly on the M54, as the thermostat doesn't put on the fault light! It then runs very hot, but the gauge doesn't show it either!) I just drove it from cold again, and I'm still impressed!

Mine was just slightly unstable, mostly when cold. It only hunted up and down by probably 50 rpm. If you eased the clutch out, then pressed it in, the idle would hunt for 5 or so seconds. It was also super easy to stall - reversing out of our garage it would shudder and almost stall initially. You'd have to rev it up a bit, or slip the clutch a LOT. It's very easy to reverse out now, without throttle. No special tools (they are listed in great detail on the Beisan Site I mentioned earlier - after starting, I realised I didn't have the right torx bit, and a small torque wrench that worked backwards for the two torx bolts in the mechanism. No, I wish I'd got plugs to do them, but it was a bit of a last minute decision to do it this weekend! My valve cover gasket seemed very fresh anyway, certainly no leaks or weeping. You may as well do them all - especially if it's leaking! I say: Do them! I thought I posted this bit last night, but it must have not worked (I have some weird network problem!) I've just been for another drive of 1.5 hours to get my sick little boy to sleep! - I'm home alone, the Mrs is over in the UK! I drove out along the coast road, turned inland over some hilly country with LOTS of corners and ups and downs, then along a big long straight, through suburban fringe area and back through the country to home. Only done a total of about 65 kms so far still. I've noticed a few things: The torque is HUGELY increased from 1500 up to 3000, it also seems to go a bit better higher up than that too, but I could be dreaming. I used to feel a sudden drop in power as I lifted my foot up for corners when going up a nearby hill, almost like the throttle closed, when I only closed it half way. It doesn't do it now - it's VERY smooth. It seems to hold the revs more between gear changes, where the revs used to drop a bit sudden, they drop less quickly, making gear changes much smoother. There are no sudden increases in torque or power anymore. The low end has improved so much, it feels quite linear from 1500. OBC is showing an economy improvement, but it's not a long enough distance to compare. I put all the fillups in Fuelly, so I'll see if there's any distinct change in the economy (just filled it up after the work was done). The Mrs mostly drives it, so the economy won't improve - she'll just go faster! For the small cost of it, I'd very much recommend it for the double vanos 6 cylinders for sure! Even without any signs now, they may still be somewhat poked. The slow deterioration may mask the fact that they are worn for some time.

Certainly NOT on the M54 - I just did it this morning: My Vanos Post

I had read on the interwebnet that the Vanos seals on the M54 are practically guaranteed to be poked if they haven't been replaced with the correct type (Beisan Vanos Seal Kits). This is where I got my seal kit from. I thought because our car has only 117K on it, thay ours wouldn't be too bad. Wrong. We had issues with the engine (M54B25) nearly stalling when riding the clutch to reverse, or trying to manouvre in carparks etc. It also would bunny hop on our drive if you touched the gas pedal at low speed when cold - you either had to go fast or let it idle. The cold idle hunted just a touch, and there was a slight hesitation when tapping the throttle. I'm not sure how different the symptoms would appear on an auto. The Vanos works by using oil pressure to alter the cam timing. The M54 has Vanos on both cams, and it's infintely variable (between two points).The cams are connected to the cam sprockets by a piston with a set of helical gears and a spline. The piston in the Vanos pushes on the cam piston which alters the position of the sprocket on the camshaft through a range of about 40 crankshaft degrees for the intake, and 25 degrees for the exhaust. The engine measures the cam angle and adjusts a pulse width modulation signal to the Vanos solenoids to push the Vanos pistons in or out. The Vanos pistons have two grooves, which have an O ring installed, covered by a teflon sealing ring. The O ring BMW uses is not suitable for the environment it's in - They get a flat spot on them, and go hard. Very hard! I removed mine this morning, expecting them to be not too bad considereing the car has only 117kms on it. I was quite surprised by how rooted they were! The first clue as to how poked they were, was that the intake piston moved of it own accord when I tilted the Vanos unit (The exhaust piston is spring loaded). Once I removed the covers that hold the pistons in, the pistons fell out without any force! Totally poked! With the covers off, I could move the pistons laterally and SEE the movement, as well as hear them tapping each side. When the old seals and O rings were removed, the O ring (behind the teflon seal) was so flat, it was about half as thick as it was wide - it would have started off round! They were also hard enough that I could fold them over and break the O ring rubber, and they no longer stretch. The outer teflon seal seems to show no signs of wear etc - just the O ring behind no longer provided the pressure and support required to keep a good seal. The same pistons with the new seals installed were actually VERY difficult to move by pushing them, once the new seals were on and resized in the bores. I spent about 4 hours doing it, but had to borrow a couple of tools during the procedure. The whole thing is quite easy, following the instructions from the Beisan website (I think he is a bit OCD too!). If you have an M54 (or probably anything with Vanos!) you probably need to do the seals. On other forums, people speak of Vanos seal failures at anything from about 30,000 kms up to whatever! After doing them, I've only driven about 10 kms. I'll take it for more driving over the weekend. Already, it's clearly smoother at idle, the bogging is almost disappeared and the hesitation when tapping the throttle is gone. I replaced nothing else during the procedure, so can't put it down to anything else. The paperwork with the seals suggests 300kms+ are required for the seals to bed in. I took a few pictures while doing it, but the Beisan website has super detailed procedures with all the pictures you need!

Yes. Thats where I got mine.

I have a very good excel version at home - does tyre size, diff ratio, gear ratios etc. You can set a shift point too, and it gives you a graph with the speed at every 1000 rpms, and the rpm drop at each gear change. It's been very handy for sorting ratios for the Subaru box to put in my VW If you want it emailed, PM your email address... I just realised it's locked though, so you can't mod it... but it's very handy :-)

Cheers! I'm hoping it will make a huge difference - the car is pretty quick for a "poxy" 2.5, but i ONLY wanted manual, so was limited for choices! My wife still stalls it sometimes, because it sort of bogs a bit as the load comes on. I think she only ever stalled her old Impreza once, the BMW has happened probably 15 or 20 times - it varies depending on engine temp etc. I've already done the Clutch Delay Valve delete, which smoothed out takeoffs and changes a bit. I just have to get a fan clutch spanner, but I think dad has one (we certainly had one for his E30 anyway). Thanks.

Dad still has the 325i, yes, a manual - He sold his run around car, so it's the shopping trolley now (well for the last 8 or ten years anyway!) - has nearly 220k on now, but looks far lower. He looking for a Ford Model A as a toy, now. Dunno what he'll do if the E30 dies though - probably fix it! I've got an E39 525i manual for the Mrs - sensible family car for our boy and another bubba coming in August. Might have to start looking for a loser mover after the third one eventually comes along and they're all a bit bigger... Even your avatar pic looks awesome, so the big ones will be MEAN! Was just looking at Z4 Coups for a guy at work today too! Cheers, Allan.

My M54B25 has gobs of torque, from about 1200 up it pulls ok. Theres a distinct increase at 3000 (probably somewhat related to the poked vanos seals). from what i've read, pretty much EVERY M54 has failed Vanos seals (unless they were replaced - and BMW used the old style seals in the replacement units which fail again!). I know mine has knackered ones - easy to stall, lurching when cold, uneven/hunting idle mostly when cold, trouble maintaing idle under laod (riding clutch reversing etc). The M54 vanos is infinitely variable between two points. where earlier versions had only two or three settings I think. The M54 is both cams too. I think it gives a better low end spread to the torque (not based on experience - never driven a comparable model, other than an auto jap 525i, which was dull in comparison). I'm hoping to change he Vanos seals over the weekend

Ha, Funny! I remember you and your Red 325i - It had some 5/6(?) spoke wheels on it - some motorsport option in the day?. Dad got his E30 (about 12 or 13 years ago) and I spoke to you way back then - must have been on some forum, but I think it was an overseas one (BMWE30.net or similar???). We got a Glacier Blue 325i SE - I seem to recal your was an SE, but auto?? Or was it Manual but not an SE? Red though, right? Z4 coupes are very nice! great proportions and not at all hairdresser-ish!

I don't know any specifics, to be honest. One thing I DO know, is make sure they are rated heavy enough for the car. I would assume the E39's would want at least a 95 or close to it. Higher load riatings tend to give less "squishy" ride as they are firmer sidewalled.

Genuine E39 Hella Xenon groupbuy About NZ$700 + shipping (could easily be another $200) I did a Halogen group buy, for $640 a pair, but the xenon were going to be 1800 a pair, including ballasts etc. The link above is a better deal, even once shipping is covered (the boxes are BIG though!) You'll get stung for GST and import duty etc though!

Same key, WAY cheaper: Milland. Mine was under $320 (E39 diamond key). Genuine key, cut to your chassis number. You can get a non-remote one cheaper too - but you can keep your old one as a spare anyway. There's a little procedure to program it to the car, but it's easy (check online, it took me 5 mins to do).

I saw a cast aluminium version of the factory ones..... somewhere... weren't cheap either! At least you'd never have to buy another!

The auto up/down can be programmed to work or not, dependant on which settings are laoded for that key. BMW or someone with the sftware can do it for you.

Whizz