Do BMW mechanics know more than forum posters?

[whitebeach]

I think this is a valid question as like a lot of people who either own a Z4 or are thinking of buying one (me), come up with this scenario. I started looking into the apparent Vanos problem with the M54 (3.0) engine on this forum. There I found quite a few quotes stating that Vanos failure was a frequent problem with these engines. I then searched endlessly and there is plenty of stuff about Vanos this or that. I then called a BMW dealer in Melbourne (I live in Oz), I talked to the service manager who had been around since pre Z3 days and he said there was not a frequent or recurring or anything else with Vanos trouble and the M54 engines. So what to think? I didn't tell the service manager that my info was from a forum, just said I had heard this could be a problem and I was concerned because I was looking for an old Z4 3.0. 'Believe me it is not a problem with this car, you'll have more problems with the CD player!'.

So what do you reckon. Should I still worry about the Vanos problem on a 100K car (67K miles)?!

 

[tomscott]

Compared to the amount of cars made, vanos failure is quite small. Of corse looking on the internet will bring up plenty of cases, generally if people have problems they post if they dont they wont.

Not to say ots not an issue it is but its not a major. Every car has its faults.

But yes BMW techys/mechs are taught to read machines not to fix cars they way they should.

 

[Marius]

m54 vanos rebuild parts cost £25 so even if it fails it's really cheap fix if you doing it your self

Sent from my Xperia Arc S using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[daviddi]

My brother runs a 13 yr old 525 with 160,000 miles on the clock , has not had any serious issues with engine ,vanos is still originol ..i guess its luck of the draw...

 

[bigdog]

yes BMW techys/mechs are taught to read machines not to fix cars they way they should.

Over all. Modern cars are quite reliable. But as they are laced with modular systems with no component replacement parts from the manufacture on many modular items. It really is difficult to teach old style mechanical repair. Even the simplest thing like light bulbs are linked in with the computer. Look at all the problems trying to run an LED bulb on a BMW. I'd hate to think of the cost of trouble shooting an ECU at the individual component level. That's very time consuming and might just cost as much in labour to track down a bad resistor or diode as it would be to replace the ECU. Back in the day. My 1969 Corvette had a brilliant light bulb monitoring system. It had fiber optic cables running from the headlamps, Brake lamps, And turn indicator lamps to the instrument panel. If one was burned out. It was super simple to see that. Now days. Cars have more in common with a Rube Goldberg device. Yet for all their complexity. They work pretty well.

And one hardly ever hears good internet stories. So it can seem there is no such thing as a reliable car "according to the net"

 

[bigdog]

Marius. I'm going to be in London in a couple of weeks. I was thinking about heading down to Crawley to check out the Caterham dealer there. I take it that's the same crawley. Have you been there? Are they helpful? I'm keen to have one of the 7 type cars. But as I would be importing to the US. I need an old one.(pre 1992) So chances are they would view me as a tyre kicker. As I can't buy new.

Cheers

 

[BMWZ4MC]

Marius. I'm going to be in London in a couple of weeks. I was thinking about heading down to Crawley to check out the Caterham dealer there. I take it that's the same crawley. Have you been there? Are they helpful? I'm keen to have one of the 7 type cars. But as I would be importing to the US. I need an old one.(pre 1992) So chances are they would view me as a tyre kicker. As I can't buy new.

Cheers

A cheap Westfield will be much better value than a cheap Caterham and actually a nineties Westfield will be the better car. Have a read about the engine choices and suspension setups from that era and you'll see what I mean. Pistonheads will give you an idea about prices for each.

 

[Ben Cole]

I ran a 330 for a couple of years with a M54 engine.

No problems here. Dont remember it being a bug issue on the forums either.

 

[Marius]

Marius. I'm going to be in London in a couple of weeks. I was thinking about heading down to Crawley to check out the Caterham dealer there. I take it that's the same crawley. Have you been there? Are they helpful? I'm keen to have one of the 7 type cars. But as I would be importing to the US. I need an old one.(pre 1992) So chances are they would view me as a tyre kicker. As I can't buy new.

Cheers

Yes I'm in same crawley, but never knew there is a Caterham dealer :/

Sent from my Xperia Arc S using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[bigdog]

Marius. I'm going to be in London in a couple of weeks. I was thinking about heading down to Crawley to check out the Caterham dealer there. I take it that's the same crawley. Have you been there? Are they helpful? I'm keen to have one of the 7 type cars. But as I would be importing to the US. I need an old one.(pre 1992) So chances are they would view me as a tyre kicker. As I can't buy new.

Cheers

A cheap Westfield will be much better value than a cheap Caterham and actually a nineties Westfield will be the better car. Have a read about the engine choices and suspension setups from that era and you'll see what I mean. Pistonheads will give you an idea about prices for each.

Apologies to the OP for the thread hi-jack.

I have PH & ebay UK bookmarked. I'm def. looking at the westy SEiW. The wife and I are going to rent a Cat roadsport SV when we return from England. Just to find out if we are to old and rickety to ingress & egress. I'm of avg height 5'10" but 14 stone. I'm more concerned with my bum fitting. I think the Pinto engine is the same both sides of the pond. As is the Zetec. Of course the spanner in the works is always those pesky govmint officials. They insist that it be at least 25 yrs old to import with out any restrictions. So I can just get into the early 90's. As I will return to the USA in 2015. Yet you can buy a new Cat out of Colorado that is identical in every way to ones from England. You should see the price difference between the USA and England. One can add at least 7-10k USD to the British price for a late 80's early 90's 7 of any make.

These are two that caught me eye.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/westfield-SE-1989-Ford-Vegantune-engine-Long-cockpit-lotus-Caterham-/200945699594?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item2ec94c0b0a

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westfield-SEi-Wide-body-/370857733440?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item5658d7ed40

 

[bigdog]

Marius. I'm going to be in London in a couple of weeks. I was thinking about heading down to Crawley to check out the Caterham dealer there. I take it that's the same crawley. Have you been there? Are they helpful? I'm keen to have one of the 7 type cars. But as I would be importing to the US. I need an old one.(pre 1992) So chances are they would view me as a tyre kicker. As I can't buy new.

Cheers

Yes I'm in same crawley, but never knew there is a Caterham dealer :/

Sent from my Xperia Arc S using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Caterham South,
Unit 11,
Denvale Trading Park,
Crawley,
West Sussex,
RH10 1SS

 

[pokeybritches]

Agreed with the above regarding modern cars. Mechanics have a better real world knowledge of average occurances and typical issues. They don't necessarily see all the rare occurances, so the forum is a better place to learn what CAN happen. The mechanic will know HOW OFTEN they occur.

 

[Simon_P]

yes BMW techys/mechs are taught to read machines not to fix cars they way they should.

Over all. Modern cars are quite reliable. But as they are laced with modular systems with no component replacement parts from the manufacture on many modular items. It really is difficult to teach old style mechanical repair. Even the simplest thing like light bulbs are linked in with the computer. Look at all the problems trying to run an LED bulb on a BMW. I'd hate to think of the cost of trouble shooting an ECU at the individual component level. That's very time consuming and might just cost as much in labour to track down a bad resistor or diode as it would be to replace the ECU. Back in the day. My 1969 Corvette had a brilliant light bulb monitoring system. It had fiber optic cables running from the headlamps, Brake lamps, And turn indicator lamps to the instrument panel. If one was burned out. It was super simple to see that. Now days. Cars have more in common with a Rube Goldberg device. Yet for all their complexity. They work pretty well.

And one hardly ever hears good internet stories. So it can seem there is no such thing as a reliable car "according to the net"

'Kin hell, I can't find fault with any of that. The love in is well and truly on!

 

[Simon_P]

Marius. I'm going to be in London in a couple of weeks. I was thinking about heading down to Crawley to check out the Caterham dealer there. I take it that's the same crawley. Have you been there? Are they helpful? I'm keen to have one of the 7 type cars. But as I would be importing to the US. I need an old one.(pre 1992) So chances are they would view me as a tyre kicker. As I can't buy new.

Cheers

I have been there when my friend and i were looking at buying. its a fare size warehouse/industrial unit which is entered from the rear car park. They had about 25 cars when I went there of all ages and specs. They are relaxed on you looking around and trying for size if you ask

 

[bigdog]

Marius. I'm going to be in London in a couple of weeks. I was thinking about heading down to Crawley to check out the Caterham dealer there. I take it that's the same crawley. Have you been there? Are they helpful? I'm keen to have one of the 7 type cars. But as I would be importing to the US. I need an old one.(pre 1992) So chances are they would view me as a tyre kicker. As I can't buy new.

Cheers

I have been there when my friend and i were looking at buying. its a fare size warehouse/industrial unit which is entered from the rear car park. They had about 25 cars when I went there of all ages and specs. They are relaxed on you looking around and trying for size if you ask

Super. I might have to make a trip to Crawley then.

 

[Adamski]

Vanos failure is rare.

Vanos not working 100% due to perished seals - almost a guarantee. The BMW seals perish really easily. Get the seals replaced and you'll notice a healthy slab of mid range torque that wasn't there before....


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[RJS-Z4]

I can seem to find a lot about this on the ///M but not a great deal about the 3.0? Anyone care to push me in the right direction?

 

[BMWZ4MC]

Marius. I'm going to be in London in a couple of weeks. I was thinking about heading down to Crawley to check out the Caterham dealer there. I take it that's the same crawley. Have you been there? Are they helpful? I'm keen to have one of the 7 type cars. But as I would be importing to the US. I need an old one.(pre 1992) So chances are they would view me as a tyre kicker. As I can't buy new.

Cheers

A cheap Westfield will be much better value than a cheap Caterham and actually a nineties Westfield will be the better car. Have a read about the engine choices and suspension setups from that era and you'll see what I mean. Pistonheads will give you an idea about prices for each.

Apologies to the OP for the thread hi-jack.

I have PH & ebay UK bookmarked. I'm def. looking at the westy SEiW. The wife and I are going to rent a Cat roadsport SV when we return from England. Just to find out if we are to old and rickety to ingress & egress. I'm of avg height 5'10" but 14 stone. I'm more concerned with my bum fitting. I think the Pinto engine is the same both sides of the pond. As is the Zetec. Of course the spanner in the works is always those pesky govmint officials. They insist that it be at least 25 yrs old to import with out any restrictions. So I can just get into the early 90's. As I will return to the USA in 2015. Yet you can buy a new Cat out of Colorado that is identical in every way to ones from England. You should see the price difference between the USA and England. One can add at least 7-10k USD to the British price for a late 80's early 90's 7 of any make.

These are two that caught me eye.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/westfield-SE-1989-Ford-Vegantune-engine-Long-cockpit-lotus-Caterham-/200945699594?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item2ec94c0b0a

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westfield-SEi-Wide-body-/370857733440?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item5658d7ed40

I would go Zetec or Vauxhall Redtop if you can, otherwise a Pinto engine which would be more punchy than a Crossflow, but I understand the import issues restrict your choices a little. Avoid the Rover K-series engine favoured by older Caterhams as head gasket failure is almost guaranteed. Sorry for joining the hijack!

 

[Adam D]

In my experience they have an uncanny knack of ignoring a customer even when the problem to be fixed is widely documented or the evidence from forums/web is significant.

They couldn't diagnose faulty TPS sensors on my Z4M despite all the printouts given to them and them admitting it shouldn't stumble and splutter - three goes at finding the problem. In the end fixed by myself out of my own pocket in two hours....annoyed me enough to not renew the warranty.


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[mr wilks]

Compared to the amount of cars made, vanos failure is quite small. Of corse looking on the internet will bring up plenty of cases, generally if people have problems they post if they dont they wont.

Not to say ots not an issue it is but its not a major. Every car has its faults.

But yes BMW techys/mechs are taught to read machines not to fix cars they way they should.

Got disagree here Tom & stand up for the BMW trained spannermen here . The indy i use is master tech grade & was continually sent on training courses at BMW expense & now is more than capable of repairs that would be beyond the average mechanic IMO .
Whenever i,m there i ask him about the cars he's working on & twice he has had E60 M5,s with blown engines that he is rebuilding for customers with parts alone reaching £4//£5k
Ive seen him replacing the folding rigid roof mechanism of a accident damaged E92 & changing wiring loom on a 645Ci' .
Not exactly jobs that can be done by reading a machine :wink: