Did the VCG and vanos rebuild yesterday

[BLKX3]

Gave my X3 some serious love yesterday. It just turned 90K and the vcg was leaking slightly. I can't say enough about the quality of the Beisan Systems vanos seals. I did the procedure three years ago on an E46 330i. The instructions available on their website really helps alot. Its a long slog though, fair amount of stuff to remove before the valve cover comes off. Took me 5 hours and then more time to put all my tools away. Worth the effort though, as you can feel the increased torque and power. The original seals were so worn the vanos pistons were flopping around the unit with no resistence.

[BLKX3]

Couldn't get pics to upload from my phone, so here is a couple of pics....top end of engine looks clean for 90K....I bought the car with 60k on it, so it looks like the previous owner changed the oil regularly...I know I do...

Even noticed the fuel mileage went up...I went on a little 70 mile run over to a friends house and it's doing better on the highway...

[bmw5]

Hello from Greece.
Did the VCG too, original one from bosch.Sometime in the near future must do the vanos too.Car is in perfect condition love it so much.

[BLKX3]

Well, the car ran amazingly well for about two hundred miles. It had all kinds of power and torque and was smooth as glass....Then suddenly it started to run rough and stalled. The SES light came on, but I was able to restart it and limp home. It had code p0344 which said Cam position sensor exhaust side, so I had to order one. Put it in today and still runs poorly and is now throwing p0014 exhaust cam timing too far advanced. I am kind of giving up. I made an appointment for service with the local dealer. Maybe I should have left it alone and not rebuilt the vanos unit...

[BLKX3]

Well, my experience at the local dealer was less than stellar. They did diagnose the problem as being the vanos unit. I am suspecting that the exhaust solenoid is either failed or gummed up. They quoted me an estimate of $1800+ to replace it. Um, no.....Their price for the unit is $900 plus nine hours of labor. How can experienced BMW techs take nine hours to replace it when I removed, rebuilt and replaced mine in about five. So, I should be able to remove and replace a unit in about 4. I thought about maybe getting another car....but, the cost of getting a brand new BMW vanos unit from ECS tuning in Ohio is ~$600. I ordered the unit plus another VCG and a few other items related to the repair for approximately $690. Not sure how long the free shipping will take, especially this time of year. I'm hoping this will square the car away. I opted for a new one because the cost of a new solenoid for intake and exhaust is about $180 each, so already halfway to the cost of a new one. The new unit comes with new solenoids and even the CPS....Hopefully before the month is out I will have received the parts, pulled it apart and put it back together again...

[BLKX3]

Well, after staring at the hideous YELLOW Service engine soon light for more than a week, my order from ECS tuning arrived on Friday. So, it was round three with the vanos saga. I was able to remove and replace the vanos unit in about four hours and after clearing the P0014 code the car is back to being "The Ultimate Driving Machine". I guess the lesson learned here is not to wait until 90K mile to rebuild the vanos seals. 60k would have been better. Plus, if you wait as long as I did you might as well replace the whole unit as it is more cost effective than the seals and rebuilding the solenoids and actuators. Hopefully the car will run good for quite a while now....

[JP-X3]

BLKX3, thanks for sharing your experience. My ‘05 is at 121K miles and have not replaced the seals yet. Any idea of what could’ve gone wrong during the rebuild?

[BLKX3]

Hi JP,
Technically nothing went wrong with the rebuild - there are really four components in the Vanos assembly. The intake and exhaust camshaft pistons, intake and exhaust solenoid/actuator rods and exhaust camshaft position sensor. When I rebuilt the piston o-rings and teflon seals I did not clean or rebuild the solenoid/actuator assemblies and I believe the exhaust side solenoid failed or the actuator plunger gummed up. It can get costly to rebuild the entire unit on your own, but with a higher mileage vehicle its so much easier and cost effective to replace the whole unit with either a Dr Vanos one or even a new one from Ecs tuning.com. The procedure is not difficult but tedious because of all the steps needed to get the valve cover off. Beisan systems website has detailed instructions that make it a breeze. If you are interested in doing it read through the procedure...and since Ive done this on my X3 and also a BMW 330i I should be able answer a question or two....