Michael. 2312 Report post Posted February 21, 2015 DO WANT 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
duvey 245 Report post Posted February 21, 2015 DO WANT That was a dealer option on Soarers, right? 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4015 Report post Posted March 1, 2015 Pretty sure I've worked out why my VANOS exhaust solinoid wasn't working... 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KwS 2373 Report post Posted March 1, 2015 yeah thatll do it. IIRC that should be able to be resoldered? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4015 Report post Posted March 1, 2015 Yeah, should be no problem. The solinoid responds to a charge but needs a clean, I'll reinforce them all whilst they're out. I've got all the necessary soldering equipment. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4015 Report post Posted March 2, 2015 (edited) Whilst I still don't have all of the parts for my VANOS re-rebuild I've made significant progress. All of the solenoids have been cleaned and tested and 100% working which is great. I was not sure of how clean/test them actually because there's not a lot of info out there when I was searching for E36/S50 VANOS topics. A chance discussion with Martin (BreakMyWindow) at the Auckland meet on Sunday helped me establish that the E36 and E39 M's use the same solenoids and the M5 lads have truck-loads of info on this topic. Using this info I was able to recover mine to factory form, and boy were they a long way away from that! One of my exhaust solenoids was almost totally blocked, the other was mostly blocked and even on the intake side they were bad. Now I have a reassuring 'click' from each. Feel free to reply here if you want more detail. Solenoids had ingested most of the "filter" - these will be discarded entirely. And this is on the intake (cooler) side, the exhaust ones had no gauze (orange stuff) left at all. Have really cleaned up the solenoid pockets as well, from this: To this: Just need some o-rings now and I'll be good to go! Edited May 18, 2018 by M3AN 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KwS 2373 Report post Posted March 2, 2015 looking good. Hate that orange crap that some of the evos had. Apparently it was to reduce chances of leaks, and aligns well with BMWs official stance of vanos not being serviceable. Dont forget to use the M5 O-Rings on the solenoids. PS. My vanos rebuild thread discusses the solenoids being the same as the S62 M5 engine 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BMTHUG 942 Report post Posted March 2, 2015 Dave looking good bud. Excellent work bruv. I think that the car will perform so much better with the solenoids functioning as they should Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4015 Report post Posted March 2, 2015 looking good. Hate that orange crap that some of the evos had. Apparently it was to reduce chances of leaks, and aligns well with BMWs official stance of vanos not being serviceable. Dont forget to use the M5 O-Rings on the solenoids. PS. My vanos rebuild thread discusses the solenoids being the same as the S62 M5 engine Interesting... you're the only other person that I've known to even recognise the "orange crap" - have you seen it before? Yes, will be using the S62 o-rings but I don't have any so need to pick them up. Will review your thread too... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KwS 2373 Report post Posted March 2, 2015 it seems it was used a lot way back in the day by BMW, its very prevalent in the UK on the evos. Some owners went in for vanos issue, and came out with the stuff installed. It couldve also been fitted from factory later on in production, im not sure, but a couple of people have reported that official "new/refurb" units from BMW have come with that goo pre-installed. The general consensus is that if your seals are good, and your covers are tightened correctly, its not needed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4015 Report post Posted March 2, 2015 it seems it was used a lot way back in the day by BMW, its very prevalent in the UK on the evos. Some owners went in for vanos issue, and came out with the stuff installed. It couldve also been fitted from factory later on in production, im not sure, but a couple of people have reported that official "new/refurb" units from BMW have come with that goo pre-installed. The general consensus is that if your seals are good, and your covers are tightened correctly, its not needed. Interesting. If you have any source links do post them up, I'm quite fascinated by this now. But either way, I agree with your final assessment, good seals and tight covers will be fine. It's not difficult to remove the covers every oil service to check for seal leaks and the gaskets are cheap as chips. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
euroriffic 595 Report post Posted March 2, 2015 Testing and cleaning the solenoids is something I didn't do on mine. Any links to what's involved? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KwS 2373 Report post Posted March 2, 2015 (edited) not to blow my own whistle, but theres info in my thread on how i tested and cleaned my solenoids. http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/49996-diy-s50b30-vanos-rebuild-info/ Edited March 2, 2015 by KwS 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4015 Report post Posted March 2, 2015 (edited) Testing and cleaning the solenoids is something I didn't do on mine. Any links to what's involved? If they've never been cleaned I bet you'll be quite amazed at how much crap is in there. Upon review Kelvin's thread linked above covers the essentials, I'm not sure how I missed that actually. But to provide some filler info here are some good links: http://m5e39.net/how-to-repair-s62-vanos-solenoids (video not text) http://bmwever.com/vanos-solenoid-cleaning-soldering-diy-guide/ https://zroadster.org/articles/bmw-z3-m-s50-engine-vanos-bolts-preventative-maintenance.53/ Keeping in mind that the E36 has a far simpler circuit board arrangement (i.e. none and no diodes). Edited March 2, 2015 by M3AN Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4015 Report post Posted March 2, 2015 not to blow my own whistle, but theres info in my thread on how i tested and cleaned my solenoids. http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/49996-diy-s50b30-vanos-rebuild-info/ That's not blowing your own whistle, it's being helpful! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4015 Report post Posted March 2, 2015 (edited) ^ to add to above: Use 9v not 12v Use brake cleaner and compressed air Clean from the 'end' out through the 'side' at first, reverse when there's no blockage You need to use both brake cleaner and air when the solenoid is open (charged) Clean, clean, clean = click!, click!, click! (rather than duh, duh, duh). Middle pin on connector is (-) (shared ground) outside pins are (+) (one for each solenoid) Check the circuit boards for dry solder, test impedance with multimeter Discard the brown plastic/gauze filters entirely (once the gauze is gone what's the plastic going to do?) Edited March 20, 2019 by M3AN 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BreakMyWindow 1870 Report post Posted March 2, 2015 My understanding is that if oil is leaking out from the noid covers then it would be the o-rings are not sealing the high oil pressure the noids are dealing with. The gasket should just be in place for protecting against dust. Shouldn't need any of the goop stuff. Good work though Dave. My vanos doesn't look to have ever been touched so wil be interesting to see how weak the noids have become. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4015 Report post Posted March 3, 2015 (edited) Solider on right? All solenoids re-soldered and reinforced... couldn't be happier with the result, better than factory because I've eliminated the copper (circuit board) connection. Workstation... Result: Did both solenoids on both sides, very happy with the result! Now just waiting for the new o-rings then Mark can have his unit back! Edited May 18, 2018 by M3AN 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
euroriffic 595 Report post Posted March 3, 2015 Nice! Might pay to check mine while the radiator shroud and fan are off at the mo. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4015 Report post Posted March 3, 2015 Nice! Might pay to check mine while the radiator shroud and fan are off at the mo. Yes, I would whilst you have easy access. Both of my exhaust solenoids had dry solder, all 4 were blocked to some extent and all of the filters were toast. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KwS 2373 Report post Posted March 3, 2015 i did wonder when i did mine, why BMW chose to use that wee circuit board on the solenoids rather than just hard wiring them. Seemed a bit redundant really. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4015 Report post Posted March 4, 2015 (edited) ^ I also wondered about that circuit board and thought to just remove it but that would have ended up being more work. As far as mine are concerned they're pretty solid now. Today I had an impulse to see if I could swap the seat cushions left to right without removing the seats... turns out you can and it's really quite simple. It's pretty filthy in some of those crevasses and the plastic seat pans were unspeakable. Gross. My leather is irrecoverable but I thought I'd try and give the one going back into the driver's side a bit of a clean and it came up okay considering. I've yet to decide what to do with the other seat - I'd like to get the leather rips seen to so they don't get worse before I put it all back in the car but I first need to check out my options and I'm not too sure of the legality of driving around with an exposed seat frame. Edited May 18, 2018 by M3AN Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BreakMyWindow 1870 Report post Posted March 4, 2015 (edited) Have a read of the furniture clinic site. They have rip repair kits. The videos will motivate you i'm sure. Edited March 4, 2015 by BreakMyWindow Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4015 Report post Posted March 5, 2015 (edited) I'm a little bit happy with cleaning the passenger seat and swapping it onto the driver's side. It's not perfect but those that have seen my car will appreciate the difference. I'm reluctant to install the other seat at the moment lol. Edited May 18, 2018 by M3AN Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
duvey 245 Report post Posted March 5, 2015 Looks loads better! Well done. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
