Vanos Kit repair "Bolts sheared"

[sweetm3 180]

Hi all Monday morning while going for my morning coffee I heard the sound of a couple of nuts falling off and then there was a cloud of smoke (later I found a trail of oil on the road). Luckily I was only 100mtrs from my mates garage. Parked up and deposited about 2/3 litres of last week's oil change on his forecourt. After the banter of what oil did you use, my car has rejected/ejected it. We lifted the bonnet to find one big mess, oil everywhere. The reason 3 of the 4 Vanos Exhaust camshaft end cover bolts had sheared off. Luckily , I had a Iridium Engineering Vanos Kit in my spare parts department (garage at home been there for a couple of years) I had read how the seals go hard and how sometimes the bolts shear and at the time I had a leak which I thought was from the vanos it wasn't and I just forgot about the kit. Anyway after about 10 cans of degreaser I have now installed my Vanos Kit. Last week I had the power steering pump reconditioned and after inspecting the belts I decided to replaced both belts, 2 adjusting pulleys, Deflection pulley and the complete hydraulic belt tensioner. This was also done today. Boy what a week

Update

OK, 4 months down the track I still have a small leak from the exhaust side of my vanos that's after 3 sets of O rings. I was hoping that it was my installation job not the less than perfect surface where the solenoids are seated. It hasn't stopped me using the car as a DD but no driver training.

After a call to JC and a chat with Ray, as JC want $3000+gst for a new unit. I took Rays advice and I found a unit in the states.

It's from a Florida racing team, who are leaving E36 racing moving to V8's. The unit was on a new motor brought by them in 2003

and only used for setting the motor up in its new home(they went with a vanos delete), so it has some dyno hrs on it so basically new/old stock.

Hopefully it should be here in a couple of weeks , I have another Iridium Engineering kit just waiting to be installed. Then it back to driver training I hope will update as things progress.......................

Edited November 18, 2013 by sweetm3

[euroriffic 601]

Good thing you noticed before you ran out of oil! Must be the season to rebuild vanos units, be about the 5th/6th one in the last month! Hopefully mines next

[sweetm3 180]

Good thing you noticed before you ran out of oil! Must be the season to rebuild vanos units, be about the 5th/6th one in the last month! Hopefully mines next

You're right it happened at the right place and the right time.

[sweetm3 180]

Updated

[sweetm3 180]

$ 500 US + shipping $ 150 US + Import Taxs ??? + IE Vanos Kit $ 200 NZ + Install ???

[allan 295]

Hi Mark if the install cost 800 say you will still be up for 2G's better than the price JC quoted but still expensive.

[sweetm3 180]

Hi Mark if the install cost 800 say you will still be up for 2G's better than the price JC quoted but still expensive.

Allan that s what I'm hoping, there is always an element of risk when buying second hand but I'm an optimist.

Thank you.

Peace of mind can be priceless sometimes and shortly after you're up and running again you'll forget the cost.

Peace of mind is priceless, but as always there are other things I would prefer to send the money on.

So with the savings I'll have a better time justifying to myself (& the boss) that a E46 diff & lightened flywheel are worth looking at

[sweetm3 180]

diff ratios

e36 3.2 evo 3.23

E46 M3 3.64

From what I've read it makes the car more lively, better acceleration out of corners etc. Most of the reviews have been positive.

[sweetm3 180]

It's a DIY, once you have found the parts required

Edited November 19, 2013 by sweetm3

[sweetm3 180]

Hi all Monday morning while going for my morning coffee I heard the sound of a couple of nuts falling off and then there was a cloud of smoke (later I found a trail of oil on the road). Luckily I was only 100mtrs from my mates garage. Parked up and deposited about 2/3 litres of last week's oil change on his forecourt. After the banter of what oil did you use, my car has rejected/ejected it. We lifted the bonnet to find one big mess, oil everywhere. The reason 3 of the 4 Vanos Exhaust camshaft end cover bolts had sheared off. Luckily , I had a Iridium Engineering Vanos Kit in my spare parts department (garage at home been there for a couple of years) I had read how the seals go hard and how sometimes the bolts shear and at the time I had a leak which I thought was from the vanos it wasn't and I just forgot about the kit. Anyway after about 10 cans of degreaser I have now installed my Vanos Kit. Last week I had the power steering pump reconditioned and after inspecting the belts I decided to replaced both belts, 2 adjusting pulleys, Deflection pulley and the complete hydraulic belt tensioner. This was also done today. Boy what a week

Update

OK, 4 months down the track I still have a small leak from the exhaust side of my vanos that's after 3 sets of O rings. I was hoping that it was my installation job not the less than perfect surface where the solenoids are seated. It hasn't stopped me using the car as a DD but no driver training.

After a call to JC and a chat with Ray, as JC want $3000+gst for a new unit. I took Rays advice and I found a unit in the states.

It's from a Florida racing team, who are leaving E36 racing moving to V8's. The unit was on a new motor brought by them in 2003

and only used for setting the motor up in its new home(they went with a vanos delete), so it has some dyno hrs on it so basically new/old stock.

Hopefully it should be here in a couple of weeks , I have another Iridium Engineering kit just waiting to be installed. Then it back to driver training I hope will update as things progress.......................

Well the new/old vanos arrived .....................

Forget the new, it was a big disappointment looks like it been thrown off the shelve a few too many times.

: It looks like a hammer was used on the exhaust inboard side leaving a big flat spot on the top edge, multiple scratches and marks

: There was a missing bolt from the intake cylinder cover

: The exhaust piston head was broken, it had been removed and inserted into the inboard side of the vanos oil pump

And of course you cannot buy this piston, you have to buy a whole new vanos unit.

So on the bright side I'm hoping that I'll be able to use the body of the old/"new" unit with my internals.

The question now is do I buy the rattle kit and the kit with the teflon seals. ?

[Allanw 1051]

Bummer!

All I know, is that you do NOT want to use the wrong type O-rings. Supposedly, BMW still use the wrong kind in replacement units. I guess if they update to the correct type they'd have to admit a mistake, and there's be all sorts of costs involved.

[hybrid 1039]

Apparently the Beisan guys contacted BMW about correcting their mistakes in the use of a rubber compound that goes hard over time. They got it all the way up to the head of engineering. Then they got word that it wasnt going to happen. This is how Beisan started its product line. There was a thread several years ago about it in bimmerforums I think it was.

[sweetm3 180]

The vanos solenoid O-rings also fail and in some cases and cause external oil leak. These O-rings are made from Buna and harden and flatten.

Replacing the O-rings with Viton O-rings has proven to not work. The Viton O-rings shred from the high oil pressure. BMW has redesigned the solenoid O-rings for the S62 engine (E39 M5) vanos unit. The S62 vanos solenoids are the same as the Euro S50 vanos solenoids and share the same O-rings. The new S62 solenoid O-rings are not only made from Viton but also have multiple facets. These facets function to divert oil flow away from the O-ring and keep it from shredding.
The new S62 vanos solenoid O-rings are the correct design and can be used for this vanos solenoid O-rings. These are purchased directly from BMW and are not provided in the Beisan seals kit.

Taken from Beisansystems.com site

There is more to this write up, hence my procrastinating over buying the other kits

Brought the Beisansystems Euro S50 Double Vanos Seals Repair Kit, chicken out of the rattle kit after reading the Procedure

Edited November 29, 2013 by sweetm3

[sweetm3 180]

Dude, that sucks! I'm afraid to ask but did you get pictures of it before they sent it? I don't imagine it was cheap to haul it across the Pacific either. Do you think you have any recourse with the vendor?

Photos no but we exchanged a few emails, he offered me other parts so I did some research found out he works as a Coaching/Rental/Race Programs Manager for TMG Motorsports.

This was before I brought the unit

Total shipping $ 130.00 US . I have emailed about how dissappointed I am, but havent recieved a reply. Even if he offered a full refund do I pay another $130US to send it back.................

and I still have the same problem of a marked solenoid seat.

​As it stands I have checked the solenoid seats they are in good shape, so combining the two units should work it won't be as pretty as mine. Just not the straight swap I was hoping for.

If you're going to have the unit out at all then 100% get the relevant Besian kits (seals and rattle kit). The seals because you know you'll need them and the rattle kit because once you're in there you might as well do it.

Only the the Seals for me

Additionally you'll need the following BMW parts, these numbers include the newer, up-rated S62 parts.

4 x Large Solinoid O-Ring (11-36-7-830-828) Got

4 x Small Solinoid O-Ring (11-36-7-830-829) Got

1 x VANOS Oil Filter (11-36-1-401-973) Got

1 x Oil Filter Washer (07-11-9-963-073) Got

1 x Intake Solinoid Cover Gasket (11-36-1-402-659) Got

1 x Exhaust Solinoid Cover Gasket (11-36-1-404-154) Got

1 x Splined Shaft & Piston Nut (11-36-1-313-170) Need

2 x Sproket Hub Diaphragm Spring (11-36-7-833-218)

Which I priced up at about NZ$216 from Milland BMW.

I've got all of this, the two Besian kits and the required e36 dual-cam tools which are no longer available from BMW Ag (you can get aftermarket ones but they're hella expensive).

I am not a mechanic by any stretch and the most I've ever really done is replace the clutch on a 1978 Datsun 120Y which is about as complicated as changing a battery BUT having spent hours reviewing the guides and various forums and videos I'm going to give it a go myself. I just need a small torque wrench and the various consumables before I begin (oh, and I need to arrive back in the country!).

I have been to the stage of removing the vanos and sprocket hubs before when I was looking for a leak a few years back, as it worked out the leak was in the rocket cover/bridge area not the rear vanos seal. That's why I had a Iridium Engineering kit already. I procrastinated for about 4 hours back then, I hadn't found any of the write-ups now available.

So I'm still too chicken to attempted the rattle fix just because I'm there abouts, it would be different if mine rattled.

I'll be doing mine in late December or January (also North Shore, Akl) and am thinking there might be a few of us that want to do our own cars together. Doing multiple at the same time might not be practical, the first one may take a couple of days, but somehow sharing the experience, tools and confidence might be worthwhile.

Could be the New Year for me as I have a lot of commitments leading into Christmas. Hell only 3 weeks away

Failing that I'll have the tools to rent out after I've done mine.

[sweetm3 180]

Vanos done,

put back together, will do some k's this weekend before I say it was a success. Write-up to follow

[sweetm3 180]

Ok, update not DIY.

The Beisan systems Euro S50 Double Vanos Seals Repair Kit has a great how to write-up that you download 124 pages (more if you do the rattle kit).

So I took my vanos off found that the leak was between the block and vanos, not the exhaust solenoid seat as I first thought.

I had a bit of trouble getting the timing right, when putting everything back together, I actually got it wrong...... not enough to do any damage

as I did a what I'll call a "soft start" prior to installing the spark plugs. Placing the car in 6th and rolling it round to check nothing was binding up.

Started fine but was running a bit rough, so I took it over to Gavin as always Gavin was great showed me what could happen to a engine if you got it wrong.

He gave me some advise, had a chat with Dave as well (M3AN). Spent the next day redoing the timing properly that was a couple of weeks ago now

No leaks and the car is purring now.

Today I installed another Beisan Repair Kit in my now spare vanos this is the one I brought from the USA. By the way the guy

I brought it off found and sent me another piston.

So now my spare parts department has Brakes, suspension, sway bars, air box, exhaust sections 2 & 3 and a vanos (watch out Ray)

Just some points I learnt

The splines from the cams come out . They do have to be set/seated on the right teeth to get the cams timing right, but you don't have to match them to the photos (depth wise) in the instruction when do the timing. So only 3 things to check not 5.

I did have trouble with both units installing the pistons top Teflon seals, cutting them in half but I was saved the first time by "Advanced Seal" in Rosedale thanks Luke.

And I had Beisan send a spare with the second kit.

And Happy New Year everyone

[*Glenn* 854]

Twink or a sharp scribe can often be your friend

[sweetm3 180]

Dave

My understanding from Gavin's explanation was that If the teeth weren't in the right place your timing would be out as you wouldn't be able to line up the cam marks with the markers on the block at TDC

On my first attempt mine were only just out, so not enough to do any damage, but the car idled as though it had wild cams compared to how she is idling now.

On my second attempt I only removed the inlet spline and then put it back in clock wise one tooth.

Let say TDC is at 6.O'clock when set, my markings were at 8.O'clock and that last bit of turn to get to 6 O'clock sucked the spline back in.

Mate I hope this make sense.

I've also heard it's sometime better to be luckly than good which may explain my success

Edited February 14, 2014 by sweetm3

[*Glenn* 854]

So you're suggesting the Beisan procedure is incorrect?

No.. I wasn't suggesting that at all.

Technicians work with other peoples repair instructions all the time... ie: TIS

It's best practice pulling something apart to scribe or twink location points for critical items to insure correct fitting when reassembling even when you have instructions... ask any technician or engineer... it's like using a ruler in school. Many documents have unclear or misleading diagrams & photos.

[sweetm3 180]

Sorry mate only have the vanos unit, no splines.