M54 Vanos DIY or not?

B

bearded_ed

Member
Hiya,

I've been thinking a lot about doing some substantial maintenance on my Zed.

I've only had it a month or so but its a 15 year old car with over 90k miles.

I'm comfortable doing regular maintenance stuff like coolant, oil, filters and brakes etc. But things like disa and vanos are new to me!

DISA looks easy enough to do with the x8r kit but the vanos is definitely a bit more involved than I've done in the past. Especially considering that it will need all the gaskets doing around it.

So on a scale of air filter to engine rebuild, how hard is the VANOS to do yourself?
 
Having done the VANOS on my previous E85 3.0 I would rate the difficultly as 4/10, given 1=air filter and 10=engine rebuild.

There are plenty of guides on this forum, the hardest part is removing the VANOS over the last stud as the room is minimal :headbang: you may have to tighten a nut onto the existing nut on the stud and remove the stud altogether to get the VANOS off.

The work itself on the VANOS is quite straightforward, you just need an impact driver.
 
I'd echo the above. I didn't do mine but I was present for some of it. It's the getting it out that's a pain.
 
Zikim said:
Having done the VANOS on my previous E85 3.0 I would rate the difficultly as 4/10, given 1=air filter and 10=engine rebuild.

There are plenty of guides on this forum, the hardest part is removing the VANOS over the last stud as the room is minimal :headbang: you may have to tighten a nut onto the existing nut on the stud and remove the stud altogether to get the VANOS off.

The work itself on the VANOS is quite straightforward, you just need an impact driver.
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Honestly that doesn't sound too bad! From searching through a lot of the posts on here I noticed people all mentioned how fiddly it is.

Any particular reason I need and impact driver?
 
Zikim said:
The work itself on the VANOS is quite straightforward, you just need an impact driver.
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bearded_ed said:
Any particular reason I need and impact driver?
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Should note impact driver is only necessary if you are doing the rattle rings I believe which in most cases not needed? In fact I think that's only for the s54 motor (someone correct me if wrong).

[Edit] I'll correct myself here. Rattle rings/procedure IS available for the m54 http://www.beisansystems.com/procedures/double_vanos_rattle_procedure.htm[/edit]

I did my vanos on my m54 after a lot of umming and ahhing as well as it does seem daunting at first.

Echo others thoughts - hardest part is getting the unit off the front studs.

A few methods to do so - and have all tools (and mind) ready to do all of them, but certainly try the simpliest which is to lever the bulk head against the water pump. You literally just need a few MM to clear the stud so a bit of flex on it will hopefully get it off.

If you run through my thread (link in Sig), I wrote a description for how I levered and rotated the unit out.

Once out, the rest is very straight forward with sockets etc.

DISA valve is 100% diy and super satisfying if your unit is not working. My flap was free spinning and once i fixed it it felt like the car went from NA to turbo :rofl: (exaggeration but those who have experienced will get what I mean!)
 
What everyone else has said, don't forget long nose pliers that are bent at 90deg for the little caps at the end.
 
I think I am gonna do it guys!

Probably next month as already doing all 4 tyres and the disa now, so it's already an expensive car month :D

I'll need to do my shocks at some point too... So expect a thread on that soon!
 
bearded_ed said:
I think I am gonna do it guys!

Probably next month as already doing all 4 tyres and the disa now, so it's already an expensive car month :D

I'll need to do my shocks at some point too... So expect a thread on that soon!
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Good luck with the Vanos :thumbsup:
Please let us know how you get on :D
 
You'll want to replace the bolts that hold the vanos pisons to the cam shafts too, theyre single use and break easily if reused. Theyre also left hand threaded, so something to be aware of when removing. See if you can borrow a low range torque wrench with left handed capabilities, as I believe theyre only done up to around 12nm.

The guide on Besian Systems is excellent, albeit showing the E39 chassis so a couple of things are a bit different but very obvious once you see them i.e. needing angled pliers for the caps and removing the one stud from the block.
 
mjennings23 said:
You'll want to replace the bolts that hold the vanos pisons to the cam shafts too, theyre single use and break easily if reused. Theyre also left hand threaded, so something to be aware of when removing. See if you can borrow a low range torque wrench with left handed capabilities, as I believe theyre only done up to around 12nm.

The guide on Besian Systems is excellent, albeit showing the E39 chassis so a couple of things are a bit different but very obvious once you see them i.e. needing angled pliers for the caps and removing the one stud from the block.
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The bolts, are these the ones in the pic?

I found a great guide from X8R, although I'm buying the kit from i6.
 

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bearded_ed said:
Quick question guys, did anyone do anti rattle rings? It's only a fiver more for the kit with them from i6!
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I changed the anti-rattle rings which is why I needed the impact driver, fairly easy. I guessed that if I didn't change them it would start rattling after 10k and I'd have to do the job again.
 
bearded_ed said:
I changed the anti-rattle rings which is why I needed the impact driver, fairly easy. I guessed that if I didn't change them it would start rattling after 10k and I'd have to do the job again.
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No, those are the rocker cover bolts. The two mentioned are a pair and left hand thread. You can get them from BMW but they aren't cheap enough to make it a no brainer. The real problem is that due to access it's far too easy to over-tighten.

I didn't do the antirattle springs, despite having impact tools, because I didn't want to get nylon jaws for my vice. The problem seems much more common on the ZHP 3.0 engines or the S54, not the regular M54 we get in the UK.
 
I highly recommend getting new bolts just because of the single horror story on the forum of breaking one.

Positioning is very tight and iirc they only take very little. Not worth the risk (imo) of breaking a used one as it will put your entire job up sh*tcreek. If you get new ones and it still breaks... Well you've done due diligence so less bad feels!

I ordered mine through a local parts seller in Aus. Part number I supplied was 11 36 1 748 745 but they would have double checked for me against their system for my motor so not 100% sure what they shipped (Clickable Automotive highly recommend for Aus/NZ).

Was $5 AUD each which I suppose is nothing to the UK guys as our dollar is so weak now :rofl:
 
Oh you'll also want a set of Allen keys with decent length for the cylinder caps.

I have a right pain trying to use my ratchet with hex drivers as there literally wasn't enough room to put it in the gap.

Some have used flexible adaptors which works. I ended up using Allen keys. Caveat is I think these take 45-50nm and doing any extensioning will make a torque wrench lose accuracy.

I ended up just putting it as tight as I could and it's been fine. It's not a rotating part and I think the worst case if it does loosen is the vanos cylinder loses a bit of oil pressure/leak. But thats all internal and not catastrophic. Easy to open back up and tighten or try to torque to spec (it'll just require rocker cover off which will be a walk in the park for anyone after doing this service!).
 
tomrdy said:
I highly recommend getting new bolts just because of the single horror story on the forum of breaking one.

Positioning is very tight and iirc they only take very little. Not worth the risk (imo) of breaking a used one as it will put your entire job up sh*tcreek. If you get new ones and it still breaks... Well you've done due diligence so less bad feels!

I ordered mine through a local parts seller in Aus. Part number I supplied was 11 36 1 748 745 but they would have double checked for me against their system for my motor so not 100% sure what they shipped (Clickable Automotive highly recommend for Aus/NZ).

Was $5 AUD each which I suppose is nothing to the UK guys as our dollar is so weak now :rofl:
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Thank you for the recommendation, I have managed to find them for a couple quid each. But I'll try local bmw dealer next to see if they have some!

For the sake of a few £ I'm gonna get them and probably swap them in even if I don't break the originals
 
bearded_ed said:
tomrdy said:
I highly recommend getting new bolts just because of the single horror story on the forum of breaking one.

Positioning is very tight and iirc they only take very little. Not worth the risk (imo) of breaking a used one as it will put your entire job up sh*tcreek. If you get new ones and it still breaks... Well you've done due diligence so less bad feels!

I ordered mine through a local parts seller in Aus. Part number I supplied was 11 36 1 748 745 but they would have double checked for me against their system for my motor so not 100% sure what they shipped (Clickable Automotive highly recommend for Aus/NZ).

Was $5 AUD each which I suppose is nothing to the UK guys as our dollar is so weak now :rofl:
Click to expand...

Thank you for the recommendation, I have managed to find them for a couple quid each. But I'll try local bmw dealer next to see if they have some!

For the sake of a few £ I'm gonna get them and probably swap them in even if I don't break the originals
Click to expand...
FYI BMW sell parts direct online with free P&P which make them very competitive for small orders.
 
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