VANOS seal replacement

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

Jim:

Here is a dual-vanos repair DIY I did back on 2/14/08.

I would recommend doing this at home in case something brakes, you need extra time to clean, you find other WYIT stuff.

Been through two winters, no cold idle jo;t stumble, great mileage, torque (what torque) is back. 1st or second best repair / restore I've done to my touring behind replacing the rear carrier (subframe) bushings. *

Good luck and PM / Email if you have any Qs.

*Have the special tool for carrier bushings removal on tourings in case people are interested.

I used an acetylene torch to remove Touring bushings. And then practiced metal hammering skills on a piece of 1/4" metal stock to make an install tool.

[Jim Dunlap]

OK. Done for our 2000 328Ci. Took a lot of time. Figured the weather this past weekend was perfect, and indeed, we needed 1 and 1/2 days!! Luckily on Sat morning I realized I was missing the Vanos unit gasket; Alexandria BMW parts was open but that killed an hour. Why so much time? Not having a tech around to ask, just getting things loose (coil harness, for example) while being fearful of breaking something plastic...added lots of time. Hell of a job to get the valve cover dislodged and off. Did this job with the car parked just in front of the garage. At night, simply closed the hood and moved all tools inside. Issues not deal with in the Beisan (excellent instructions):

- Used some tools not mentioned, like plastic pry tools (valve cover), various socket attachments, swivel socket adaptors, long wall sockets.

- Get all the gaskets and grommets new, as some of ours were brittle and destroyed upon removal. Car had 72,000+ plus; valve cover had never been off.

- Used the kitchen table to work on the Vanos unit seals. Messy. Not sure if we didn't scratch the cylinders a bit trying to cut the old seals out. Hope not. Sizing and getting them reassembled = time.

- Ended up with one plastic bracket (came from behind the engine) that I never found a home for. Oh well.

- Fishing expedition about 3 times when I dropped things down onto the underengine plastic pan.

- You need fender protection; two big beach towels sufficed -held sockets, etc., quite well, besides protecting the paint. Have a BavAuto cover to put across the front of the car.

- We undid the negative battery terminal...don't recall this in the instructions, but seemed prudent to do so.

- Great opportunity to change the cabin filter (easy) and the spark plugs (hard - but which we didn't to, given that I pulled one; looked fine, and the car hasn't covered 100K yet).

The first day we had everything apart...but the Vanos was still on the engine. After going to the dealer, I'd say the job started around 10am - worked at a leisurely pace until about 8 pm. Second day started about 9 am and was testing the car by about 1 pm...so pulling the Vanos, re-sealing it, and reinstalling everything went much faster than taking it all apart. (Imagine that.) But tell you what: tech that knows what he/she is doing? You'll be looking at 3-4 hours of shop rate time...for sure.

Did not use a torque wrench for all of the little 5, 6, 7 pound torque settings. Fingers crossed. Did use it to retorque the two Vanos cylinder bolts.

Results? Waiting. Started right up and runs smooth as can be; cold weather will tell. Torque and power? Not sure yet.

Happy as heck to have this job done before winter falls upon us!!

[Jim Dunlap]

Senior moment. Now let me correct myself. It was dark outside when we did the re-seal work on the kitchen table so I have to correct the sequence comment above. The first day the Vanos unit was pulled; resealed, and put on the shelf. The second morning was all for reassembly. Sorry for the brain fade.