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Thinking of doing my VANOS seals..

2003 - 2009, roadster, coupe, facelift
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Ducklakeview
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Thinking of doing my VANOS seals..

Post by Ducklakeview » Fri Oct 28, 2016 2:12 pm

Ok,

As my Zed has just hit 56k miles (full BMWSH) I have been reading that the seals could well be "past their best, even at this mileage? Any thoughts on this?

Couple of questions..

Is there any way of actually testing for correct VANOS operation, possibly using diagnostics?

Has anyone who has done, or had this done, felt a worthwhile difference?

Now I know I may be tinkering for the sake of it, but now got that niggling thought that I may get more OOMPH with them redone..

Mike

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Chris_D
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Thinking of doing my VANOS seals..

Post by Chris_D » Fri Oct 28, 2016 2:20 pm

I'm curious as to the condition of mine too mike. At twice your mileage I probably have more to be concerned about but you know what? i'm not worrying that much - there's no indication whatsoever that there's a problem and when it does go south i understand from my own research that it will more than likely fail in a progressive manner rather than a catastrophic immediate failure.

Signs to look for are predominantly noise. Can be a chatter, rattle, or knocking noise coming from the vicinity of the vanos itself.
I had a sort of rattle at every engine shutdown before i started working on getting back up and running. almost 2 months later and it's gone.
I also had a chance to give the vanos a visual inspection and not really knowing what to look for apart from the chain guides, which seemed tiptop, I couldnt see anything out of the ordinary.
ofc a visual inspection will yield next to zero useful info in operation but as soon as i experience power dropoff or excessive noise i'm going to leave well alone, following the edict: 'if it aint broke, don't fix it'

I'm sure others will disagree but i followed the same philosophy on my 270k mile e36. i always wondered if i should get it checked but never did, and it was fine...
my e46 m3 however, that's another story :x
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Thinking of doing my VANOS seals..

Post by Marlon » Fri Oct 28, 2016 2:21 pm

Ducklakeview wrote:Ok,

As my Zed has just hit 56k miles (full BMWSH) I have been reading that the seals could well be "past their best, even at this mileage? Any thoughts on this?

Couple of questions..

Is there any way of actually testing for correct VANOS operation, possibly using diagnostics?

Has anyone who has done, or had this done, felt a worthwhile difference?

Now I know I may be tinkering for the sake of it, but now got that niggling thought that I may get more OOMPH with them redone..

Mike
I believe badly worn seals rattle a little, you may find this post useful:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=88141&p=1301565&hil ... s#p1301565
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Ducklakeview
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Location: Merseyside

Thinking of doing my VANOS seals..

Post by Ducklakeview » Fri Oct 28, 2016 2:23 pm

No noise from mine yet guys - Apart from the exhaust :)

But, ya should know by now, I do like to tinker :)

Mike

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