vanos solonoid question

[xantiaman]

Hi all
I'm about to strip and replace the seals etc. on my Z4 m54 2.2 vanos unit, I have done this before on a couple of E46 and I want to clean and test the solenoid's while I'm in there, the solenoid's on the E46 where quite long with holes in the body that brake cleaner was squirted into to clean them out, from what I can see from looking at images of the z4 ones they are short stumpy things with no tubes with holes in...before I start farting about removing them how do I clean this type?

 

[xantiaman]

ps am I being dumb? do the tubes unscrew or something?

 

[enuff_zed]

Those are just the electrical actuators. A pin comes out the end and pushes on a shuttle valve in the unit. The valve has a spring behind it that returns it when the solenoid is deactivated.
You can put 12v across the pins to be sure it pops out ok.
The valves can stick so worth popping them out and gently cleaning any old oil varnish off them.