Oil in Vanos solenoid plugs (2.0 N46 engine)

J

Jfgoldfish

Active member
Hello all,

I noticed last week that there seems to be oil making its way into the plug of the upper Vanos solenoid. There was some oil in the connectors for both solenoids but it seems odd that they would both fail, maybe oil wicked from one to the other?

I replaced the o-rings on the solenoids a few weeks ago due to oil seeping past them. The oil now seems to actually be leaking from within the connection.
Is this common? The solenoids, to the best of my knowledge, could be original. The car has done approximately 100k miles, is it time to replace them?

I have cleaned the solenoids thoroughly internally and cleaned the connectors 2 or 3 times now. The covering of oil seems to slowly return.

Interested to hear anyones thoughts about non-BMW replacements. They are quite pricey little things depending on where you shop.

TIA folks :thumbsup:
 
I fitted a couple of pattern solenoids off your favourite auction site over a yeer ago to my 3.0si, less than £50 the pair, still going strong and cured the fault immediately. No complaints
 
Thanks Rucky. That is good to know.
The OE Vaico solenoids are about 60 quid each.
I have found a pair online for only 50. They have good reviews so I think I will just replace them both and hopefully problem will be solved.

How did yours fail and what was the mileage that they failed at?
I am assuming that at 100k miles they have past their reasonable service life.
 
I covered them here -
https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=113858

Less than 60K, poor fuel economy and fault warning - not sure if the 3.0 and 2.0 are same mind.
Its probably down to oil change frequency, gumming up or somesuch.
 
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