After 10 years and 93K miles, I discovered a slight oil leak from the rear of the valve cover. While I have the cover off, I figured why not get the Vanos rebuilt as well using Beisan Systems’ Double Vanos Seals kit and Rattle kit. So…I enlisted the help of the "famous" Kevin, aka KAIV over on M3forum, to help me do the Vanos rebuild. Since Beisan already provided great DIY instructions, I didn't feel the need to repeat here. For the curious, here are the links to the install instructions:
Seals Kit =>
Beisan Systems - Procedures - Double Vanos Procedure
Rattle Kit =>
Beisan Systems - Procedures - Double Vanos Rattle Procedure
Overall, my Vanos pistons were in fairly good shape with only minor play (axial or radial). But since I already got the rattle kit, we went ahead with the rattle repair. Any improvement in terms of gas mileage is still to be seen. But from the seat of the pant, I can’t tell if there’s any improvement in torque as advertised...may be I never lost any to begin with
One thing that I was very happy and surprise to see was how clean and relatively stain free the engine looked. No signs of “cheese wiz” either. The picture of the valve cover was prior any cleaning. For the 1st 4 years of its life, it only got oil/filter changes per BMW’s free maintenance program (once per year or per the service indicator, which ever occurred first) using BMW’s 5W-30 oil. After the free maintenance program expired, I changed the oil/filter annually using various Mobil1 (0W-30, 0W-40, 5W-30, 10W-40) or Total Quartz (10W-40), whatever that was available at my local Walmart or what I can conveniently get online.
If any of you in So Cal wants to get this done, I would highly recommend Kevin (PM him over on M3Forum or PM me for his contact info). While you're over on M3forum, take a look at his S54 E36 M3 build here =>
kaiv's E36 M3 journal "back to basics" - BMW M3 Forum.com (E30 M3 | E36 M3 | E46 M3 | E92 M3 | F80/X)