Engine Tapping
- Thread starter jimmybell
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StevenH72 said:
Depends what you mean by failure. My VANOS hadn't 'failed' as such but running the various VANOS tests in DIS it was on the limit of falling outside acceptable parameters, and in a couple of the tests did fall outside parameters. This doesn't neccesarily turn on an EML light so don't assume if you don't have one everything is perfect. Overhauling it means it now consistently falls smack bang in the middle of the test parameters, plus the cam bolts were changed for uprated ones. I would say the VANOS not operating to its optimum is a 'failure', even if it's not catastrophically failing, although this can happen as well, Google M3 VANOS failure. Whatever happens to M3's will become potential issues on ours eventually. Mines only on 66k mileage wise.
I wouldn't put VANOS overhaul at the top of my preventative maintainence list but it would certainly not be too far from the top
AndyBeech said:StevenH72 said:
Depends what you mean by failure. My VANOS hadn't 'failed' as such but running the various VANOS tests in DIS it was on the limit of falling outside acceptable parameters, and in a couple of the tests did fall outside parameters. This doesn't neccesarily turn on an EML light so don't assume if you don't have one everything is perfect. Overhauling it means it now consistently falls smack bang in the middle of the test parameters, plus the cam bolts were changed for uprated ones. I would say the VANOS not operating to its optimum is a 'failure', even if it's not catastrophically failing, although this can happen as well, Google M3 VANOS failure. Whatever happens to M3's will become potential issues on ours eventually. Mines only on 66k mileage wise.
I wouldn't put VANOS overhaul at the top of my preventative maintainence list but it would certainly not be too far from the top
I understand, but have there been no modifications to the vanos from the E46 M3 to our cars? I have read very little regarding Z4Ms suffering Vanos issues.
StevenH72 said:AndyBeech said:StevenH72 said:
Depends what you mean by failure. My VANOS hadn't 'failed' as such but running the various VANOS tests in DIS it was on the limit of falling outside acceptable parameters, and in a couple of the tests did fall outside parameters. This doesn't neccesarily turn on an EML light so don't assume if you don't have one everything is perfect. Overhauling it means it now consistently falls smack bang in the middle of the test parameters, plus the cam bolts were changed for uprated ones. I would say the VANOS not operating to its optimum is a 'failure', even if it's not catastrophically failing, although this can happen as well, Google M3 VANOS failure. Whatever happens to M3's will become potential issues on ours eventually. Mines only on 66k mileage wise.
I wouldn't put VANOS overhaul at the top of my preventative maintainence list but it would certainly not be too far from the top
I understand, but have there been no modifications to the vanos from the E46 M3 to our cars? I have read very little regarding Z4Ms suffering Vanos issues.
Absolutely none. The parts that came off mine were exactly the same as from an E46, confirmed by James at Redish who's done many of these on E46's. Yours being an 07 car, you 'may' have the uprated cam bolts from BMW, they were changed around 2007 time, but that would be it.
With our cars being younger and generally less mileage most of the M3 type problems probably just haven't shown themselves yet. If you know someone nearby that can run DIS on your car, do it and see how your VANOS test results come back, you may be surprised!
AndyBeech said:StevenH72 said:
Depends what you mean by failure. My VANOS hadn't 'failed' as such but running the various VANOS tests in DIS it was on the limit of falling outside acceptable parameters, and in a couple of the tests did fall outside parameters. This doesn't neccesarily turn on an EML light so don't assume if you don't have one everything is perfect. Overhauling it means it now consistently falls smack bang in the middle of the test parameters, plus the cam bolts were changed for uprated ones. I would say the VANOS not operating to its optimum is a 'failure', even if it's not catastrophically failing, although this can happen as well, Google M3 VANOS failure. Whatever happens to M3's will become potential issues on ours eventually. Mines only on 66k mileage wise.
I wouldn't put VANOS overhaul at the top of my preventative maintainence list but it would certainly not be too far from the top
It's not a particularly common failure on e46 M3s either, much more of an issue on E36's I believe.
Mine is similar mileage to you Andy and Vanos tests were all slap in the middle of the ranges.
Obviously worth checking as this seems to vary car to car.
S54s in the early E46 M3 and late Z3M were prone to spinning their bearing shells and VANOS problems seem to be more common in these early S54 applications than later cars. As such, I uprated the bolts on mine and changed the bearing shells at 50K miles just for peace of mind (mine sees a lot of track time). I'm pleased to say that the was no evidence of a problem with either.
I've looked at a few S50 Z3M Coupes in the last 6-12 months and the S50 VANOS is far noisier than that in my ///M, and in one car it was clearly stuffed.
I've looked at a few S50 Z3M Coupes in the last 6-12 months and the S50 VANOS is far noisier than that in my ///M, and in one car it was clearly stuffed.
Whoever's video that was, i'd say i think you're OK - if you compare my video to yours directly, you can hear the one-valve-is-louder-than-the-others tapping when directly above the engine, which equates to one louder tick for every full cam rotation.
If you're really concerned, in order to check the shims/followers, it's only a case of removing the cover and feeling the followers, and using teh appropriate measuring tool.. it's not too intrusive. I think decent indy's would do it for a few hundred quid (including re-shimming as required).
If you're really concerned, in order to check the shims/followers, it's only a case of removing the cover and feeling the followers, and using teh appropriate measuring tool.. it's not too intrusive. I think decent indy's would do it for a few hundred quid (including re-shimming as required).
Cheers Jimmy, it was my video. I'm actually heading over to an indie this afternoon to have him take a look, I'll feedback here what the outcome was so there's some closure to the loop, just in case anyone in the future has a similar sounding engine and is going through the same thought process.jimmybell said:
Had the car checked over by an indie who gave it the thumbs up, tres relieved.
Off topic slightly. Anyone living up North, Newcastle/Gateshead area, I highly recommend DW MotorWorks. The guy there is good as gold. Granted, he hasn't actually performed any maintenance yet for me. But he's previously went out of his way to email me over previous invoice work he'd done on my car, answered many daft newbie questions, and today without even asking, free of charge, took a half hour or so out of his day to run a diagnostic as well as talk me through a few things on the car which were quite fascinating. He even pulled the bluetooth pairing code out for me while he was at it! You can tell he's genuinely enthusiastic and ridiculously knowledgable about ///M cars and all that's BMW, bit of a weird one given that I haven't had any work done yet but that is certainly gonna change very soon. Top bloke
Off topic slightly. Anyone living up North, Newcastle/Gateshead area, I highly recommend DW MotorWorks. The guy there is good as gold. Granted, he hasn't actually performed any maintenance yet for me. But he's previously went out of his way to email me over previous invoice work he'd done on my car, answered many daft newbie questions, and today without even asking, free of charge, took a half hour or so out of his day to run a diagnostic as well as talk me through a few things on the car which were quite fascinating. He even pulled the bluetooth pairing code out for me while he was at it! You can tell he's genuinely enthusiastic and ridiculously knowledgable about ///M cars and all that's BMW, bit of a weird one given that I haven't had any work done yet but that is certainly gonna change very soon. Top bloke