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Vanos rebuild

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Beedub
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Vanos rebuild

Post by Beedub » Thu Jan 18, 2018 11:57 pm

it doesn't seem that difficult to do DIY tbh.....
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AndyBeech
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Vanos rebuild

Post by AndyBeech » Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:04 am

Beedub wrote: Thu Jan 18, 2018 11:57 pm it doesn't seem that difficult to do DIY tbh.....
No, just time consuming more than difficult to do the whole works.
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Vanos rebuild

Post by beanie » Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:19 am

Thanks for that Andy, certainly food for thought :thumbsup:

I don't think that £1000 is too bad at all given its using genuine parts, includes labour and a warranty. Lets face it, there's no cheap way to do this unless you can diy it, but frankly I'd happily pay the extra to give the burden of responsibility to someone else-if I screw it up I'll end up paying twice!
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Vanos rebuild

Post by Beedub » Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:23 am

yeah i think a grand is reasonable too......
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Vanos rebuild

Post by Dave1971 » Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:16 am

Beedub wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:23 amyeah i think a grand is reasonable too......
My indy's an ex BMW master tech, he did a complete overhaul of the vanos including solenoids a CDV delete and a gearbox oil change for just over half of that.
Last edited by Dave1971 on Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Vanos rebuild

Post by AndyBeech » Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:27 am

beanie wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:19 am Thanks for that Andy, certainly food for thought :thumbsup:

I don't think that £1000 is too bad at all given its using genuine parts, includes labour and a warranty. Lets face it, there's no cheap way to do this unless you can diy it, but frankly I'd happily pay the extra to give the burden of responsibility to someone else-if I screw it up I'll end up paying twice!
Indeed, it's a lot of money, but it's piece of mind for a front of engine refresh that you won't need to worry about again it if it's something you decide needs doing. Other parts around that area will be checked as well, the plastic timing chain guide on mine was also cracked (common fault) and probably would have snapped part of it off had it been left for too much longer so that was swapped out for a new at the same time. Bearing in mind you also get a brand new solenoid and valve block, which is the most costly parts, as opposed to a soldered up solenoid and your old valve block. So I can forget about that whole area now. If you really want to tie up the whole top end in one go, you could do the head gasket and cam followers at the same time, but obvs that's going to really ramp up the cost!

Having said that, mileage dependant, I wouldn't necessarily prioritise that area of the engine for work unless you feel something's up. For example, a change in power delivery, idle characteristics changed, top end noise that wasn't previously there etc.

If you can get someone with ISTA / DIS diagnostics to carry out a full VANOS test, that will give you a good indication if it's working correctly or not. From there if you have no abnormal noises from that area through the rev range, no EML codes relating to it, or power abnormalities, then I wouldn't put it top of my list for work personally. Just my 2p on the matter :)
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Vanos rebuild

Post by Beedub » Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:51 pm

Dave1971 wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:16 am
Beedub wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:23 amyeah i think a grand is reasonable too......
My indy's an ex BMW master tech, he did a complete overhaul of the vanos including solenoids a CDV delete and a gearbox oil change for just over half of that.

now thats impressive!
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Vanos rebuild

Post by Dave1971 » Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:22 pm

Beedub wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:51 pm
Dave1971 wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:16 am
Beedub wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:23 amyeah i think a grand is reasonable too......
My indy's an ex BMW master tech, he did a complete overhaul of the vanos including solenoids a CDV delete and a gearbox oil change for just over half of that.

now thats impressive!
He's a top quality guy with a great reputation. Talking about jobs I wanted doing he said to me "it's really easy I don't know why places charge so much". I think because he finds it easy he doesn't fully appreciate that the rest of us don't.
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Vanos rebuild

Post by jamie_z4 » Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:51 pm

Dlv does it for 300 quid... But apparently is too dear :fuelfire:
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Vanos rebuild

Post by AndyBeech » Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:01 am

Dave1971 wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:22 pm
Beedub wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:51 pm
Dave1971 wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:16 am
My indy's an ex BMW master tech, he did a complete overhaul of the vanos including solenoids a CDV delete and a gearbox oil change for just over half of that.

now thats impressive!
He's a top quality guy with a great reputation. Talking about jobs I wanted doing he said to me "it's really easy I don't know why places charge so much". I think because he finds it easy he doesn't fully appreciate that the rest of us don't.
I depends on the 'rebuild'. It's the cost of parts. There's lots of parts you can replace and not all rebuilds are the same in that respect. The parts for mine alone, to put it in context, would have been at least £600 if not more. You get a new valve block and solenoid from BMW with Mr Vanos. That part alone if you went to BMW yourself today is £500 inc. vat. Add gaskets, seals, redesigned pump disk, helical gear work, optional extras such as timing chain guide plus labour on all of that and you can see it quite easily gets up to the grand mark. Add in a valve clearance check while he's in there because, may as well, and it's not a totally unrealistic price.
Obviously I don't know the extent of the repair you had, would be interested to know.

I don't know all the rights and wrongs and what should be replaced and what shouldn't be etc. I can only give advice from personal experience and what I picked up from numerous well known on here specialists I spoke to about it along the way. There's certainly more than one way to rebuild it for sure, and what works for some might not work for others, including my advice of course. The extra money I paid is in my opinion worth it though but yeah there is more than one way to crack an egg in the case of the VANOS.
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Vanos rebuild

Post by AndyBeech » Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:04 am

jamie_z4 wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:51 pmDlv does it for 300 quid... But apparently is too dear :fuelfire:
Eh? The parts alone for a full Besian rebuild would be more than that! Think you're talking about the M54, has Mike done an S54?
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Vanos rebuild

Post by jamie_z4 » Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:05 am

AndyBeech wrote: Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:04 am
jamie_z4 wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:51 pmDlv does it for 300 quid... But apparently is too dear :fuelfire:
Eh? The parts alone for a full Besian rebuild would be more than that! Think you're talking about the M54, has Mike done an S54?
Ah yeah M54, but still cheap sure you'll agree!
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Vanos rebuild

Post by AndyBeech » Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:08 am

jamie_z4 wrote: Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:05 am
AndyBeech wrote: Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:04 am
jamie_z4 wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:51 pmDlv does it for 300 quid... But apparently is too dear :fuelfire:
Eh? The parts alone for a full Besian rebuild would be more than that! Think you're talking about the M54, has Mike done an S54?
Ah yeah M54, but still cheap sure you'll agree!
No idea, don't know what's involved with that particular engine.
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Vanos rebuild

Post by jamie_z4 » Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:10 am

AndyBeech wrote: Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:08 am
jamie_z4 wrote: Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:05 am
AndyBeech wrote: Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:04 am

Eh? The parts alone for a full Besian rebuild would be more than that! Think you're talking about the M54, has Mike done an S54?
Ah yeah M54, but still cheap sure you'll agree!
No idea, don't know what's involved with that particular engine.
It's still gonna be the same principal, still an i6 engine with twin vanos....
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Vanos rebuild

Post by markos » Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:15 am

I remember about 6 years back Mr Vanos was around £600, definitely not more. He was sorting out a friend's Z3M, I brought mine over and asked him to have a listen to mine, which he did and he thought it needed doing. To my ears – and my friend's – we couldn't hear what he was on about. 5 years and 20k+ miles later (and asking every M tech who ever serviced the car to listen for any VANOS noises – which they never heard) the car ran perfectly, no issues, no unusual noises or rattles apart from the usual S54 noises. Guess his ear was a lot sharper than everyone elses.
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