What jobs to do when vanos being done?

[thecremeegg]

So my car is having the Vanos replaced in a few weeks, as well as new (used) cams and followers being put in, and so I wondered if there is any other jobs that might be good to do whilst stuff is pulled apart?

Thanks!

 

[AndyBeech]

Deffo replace the chain guide, probably already broken depending on mileage / if its been done before.
Just make sure that whoever does the VANOS knows what they're doing as you don't really want to have to pull it off again if you don't have to, fairly time consuming.
Tbf, if your going as far as taking the cams out I'd be doing the head gasket as well. But then I'm on 110k, depends on mileage I guess.
What happened to your cams / followers?

 

[BMWZ4MC]

What happened to your original camshafts? A few years ago over a fairly short time period, there were several owners here whose cars suffered premature cam lobe wear. It seemed to be secondary to loss of the case hardening on the followers, which then damaged the cam lobes. I don't think anyone found the root cause, but it was speculated that oil starvation to the head may have driven the problem. Schrick make followers with more robust case hardening, so if you have experienced this problem, consider Schrick followers rather than OEM. Of course, if you're buying Schrick followers, you could get Schrick cams too and liberate a little more top-end power (albeit at the cost of a little low end torque)...

Have the crankshaft main bearing shells been replaced on your car? Bearing shell wear seems to be (loosely) related to mileage and perhaps to how the car has been warmed up and driven, with many showing significant wear by 100k miles, some even earlier. A few people have experienced catastrophic engine failure necessitating a rebuild or replacement (you've been here for quite a few years, so I expect you've seen the threads). Whilst your wallet is taking a bashing, it's something else to consider.

 

[Jimbo76]

.

Have the crankshaft main bearing shells been replaced on your car? Bearing shell wear seems to be (loosely) related to mileage and perhaps to how the car has been warmed up and driven, with many showing significant wear by 100k miles, some even earlier. A few people have experienced catastrophic engine failure necessitating a rebuild or replacement (you've been here for quite a few years, so I expect you've seen the threads). Whilst your wallet is taking a bashing, it's something else to consider.

It’s the con rod bearings that are a concern, not the main crankshaft bearings.

 

[BMWZ4MC]

.

Have the crankshaft main bearing shells been replaced on your car? Bearing shell wear seems to be (loosely) related to mileage and perhaps to how the car has been warmed up and driven, with many showing significant wear by 100k miles, some even earlier. A few people have experienced catastrophic engine failure necessitating a rebuild or replacement (you've been here for quite a few years, so I expect you've seen the threads). Whilst your wallet is taking a bashing, it's something else to consider.

It’s the con rod bearings that are a concern, not the main crankshaft bearings.

Yes, indeed, I misspoke. Just like Donald Trump!

 

[GT Spec]

So my car is having the Vanos replaced in a few weeks, as well as new (used) cams and followers being put in, and so I wondered if there is any other jobs that might be good to do whilst stuff is pulled apart?

Thanks!

I assume you are going for the uprated Beisan Teflon seals? Whilst you are in there I'll recommend the drilled VANOS oil pump disk, upper timing chain guide, updated Torx head sprocket screws and new braided VANOS line. They will have to take the cylinder head off to replace the followers FYI.

Let us know how you get on

 

[thecremeegg]

Deffo replace the chain guide, probably already broken depending on mileage / if its been done before.
Just make sure that whoever does the VANOS knows what they're doing as you don't really want to have to pull it off again if you don't have to, fairly time consuming.
Tbf, if your going as far as taking the cams out I'd be doing the head gasket as well. But then I'm on 110k, depends on mileage I guess.
What happened to your cams / followers?

I've also ordered the Besian chain guide, forgot to say that! No idea on the cams and followers, found they had excessive wear during the inspection 2. The car is new to me so I assume previous owner wasn't so hot on the oil changes

 

[thecremeegg]

What happened to your original camshafts? A few years ago over a fairly short time period, there were several owners here whose cars suffered premature cam lobe wear. It seemed to be secondary to loss of the case hardening on the followers, which then damaged the cam lobes. I don't think anyone found the root cause, but it was speculated that oil starvation to the head may have driven the problem. Schrick make followers with more robust case hardening, so if you have experienced this problem, consider Schrick followers rather than OEM. Of course, if you're buying Schrick followers, you could get Schrick cams too and liberate a little more top-end power (albeit at the cost of a little low end torque)...

Have the crankshaft main bearing shells been replaced on your car? Bearing shell wear seems to be (loosely) related to mileage and perhaps to how the car has been warmed up and driven, with many showing significant wear by 100k miles, some even earlier. A few people have experienced catastrophic engine failure necessitating a rebuild or replacement (you've been here for quite a few years, so I expect you've seen the threads). Whilst your wallet is taking a bashing, it's something else to consider.

No idea on the followers and cams, it's got great service history but I think at some point in its life someone has used the wrong oil or not changed it enough.
I'll be honest, new Schrick cams and followers is out of my budget so for the time being I've just a good condition used set that are going in. It's had the rod bearings done already so that's one less thing to worry about thankfully!

I assume you are going for the uprated Beisan Teflon seals? Whilst you are in there I'll recommend the drilled VANOS oil pump disk, upper timing chain guide, updated Torx head sprocket screws and new braided VANOS line. They will have to take the cylinder head off to replace the followers FYI.

Let us know how you get on

I've bought a fully rebuilt vanos (send back my old one) with the following done:


I think you can actually replace the followers without taking the head off, you can slide them out the front if you remove the bumper. Re the screws and line, have you by any chance got a link for them at all? Thanks!

 

[BMWZ4MC]

When I was considering Schrick cams perhaps 10 years ago, Phil Crouch at CPC Performance Engineering in Amersham told me that’s how he does it. Apparently, it’s more straightforward with the E46 M3 where access is easier.

 

[GT Spec]

What happened to your original camshafts? A few years ago over a fairly short time period, there were several owners here whose cars suffered premature cam lobe wear. It seemed to be secondary to loss of the case hardening on the followers, which then damaged the cam lobes. I don't think anyone found the root cause, but it was speculated that oil starvation to the head may have driven the problem. Schrick make followers with more robust case hardening, so if you have experienced this problem, consider Schrick followers rather than OEM. Of course, if you're buying Schrick followers, you could get Schrick cams too and liberate a little more top-end power (albeit at the cost of a little low end torque)...

Have the crankshaft main bearing shells been replaced on your car? Bearing shell wear seems to be (loosely) related to mileage and perhaps to how the car has been warmed up and driven, with many showing significant wear by 100k miles, some even earlier. A few people have experienced catastrophic engine failure necessitating a rebuild or replacement (you've been here for quite a few years, so I expect you've seen the threads). Whilst your wallet is taking a bashing, it's something else to consider.

No idea on the followers and cams, it's got great service history but I think at some point in its life someone has used the wrong oil or not changed it enough.
I'll be honest, new Schrick cams and followers is out of my budget so for the time being I've just a good condition used set that are going in. It's had the rod bearings done already so that's one less thing to worry about thankfully!

I assume you are going for the uprated Beisan Teflon seals? Whilst you are in there I'll recommend the drilled VANOS oil pump disk, upper timing chain guide, updated Torx head sprocket screws and new braided VANOS line. They will have to take the cylinder head off to replace the followers FYI.

Let us know how you get on

I've bought a fully rebuilt vanos (send back my old one) with the following done:
Screenshot 2025-04-22 131110.png

I think you can actually replace the followers without taking the head off, you can slide them out the front if you remove the bumper. Re the screws and line, have you by any chance got a link for them at all? Thanks!

The whole front end will have to come off in that case mate not just the bumper.

VANOS line:
https://auto.helperformance.com/hel-braided-vanos-oil-supply-line-for-bmw-3-series-e46-m3-s54

Uprated screws:
07129905536 x 12 from BMW

 

[TomK]

The whole front end will have to come off in that case mate not just the bumper.

Pretty sure you're right. You can do it like that on an m3 but not Z4 afaik, not enough space.

 

[GT Spec]

The whole front end will have to come off in that case mate not just the bumper.

Pretty sure you're right. You can do it like that on an m3 but not Z4 afaik, not enough space.

Positive mate as I personally fitted my Schrick cams and followers fairly recently.

 

[Mr Tidy]

My car went for an Inspection 2 at 77K miles and the cam-chain tensioner got replaced then as it was leaking.

 

[thecremeegg]

What happened to your original camshafts? A few years ago over a fairly short time period, there were several owners here whose cars suffered premature cam lobe wear. It seemed to be secondary to loss of the case hardening on the followers, which then damaged the cam lobes. I don't think anyone found the root cause, but it was speculated that oil starvation to the head may have driven the problem. Schrick make followers with more robust case hardening, so if you have experienced this problem, consider Schrick followers rather than OEM. Of course, if you're buying Schrick followers, you could get Schrick cams too and liberate a little more top-end power (albeit at the cost of a little low end torque)...

Have the crankshaft main bearing shells been replaced on your car? Bearing shell wear seems to be (loosely) related to mileage and perhaps to how the car has been warmed up and driven, with many showing significant wear by 100k miles, some even earlier. A few people have experienced catastrophic engine failure necessitating a rebuild or replacement (you've been here for quite a few years, so I expect you've seen the threads). Whilst your wallet is taking a bashing, it's something else to consider.

No idea on the followers and cams, it's got great service history but I think at some point in its life someone has used the wrong oil or not changed it enough.
I'll be honest, new Schrick cams and followers is out of my budget so for the time being I've just a good condition used set that are going in. It's had the rod bearings done already so that's one less thing to worry about thankfully!

I assume you are going for the uprated Beisan Teflon seals? Whilst you are in there I'll recommend the drilled VANOS oil pump disk, upper timing chain guide, updated Torx head sprocket screws and new braided VANOS line. They will have to take the cylinder head off to replace the followers FYI.

Let us know how you get on

I've bought a fully rebuilt vanos (send back my old one) with the following done:
Screenshot 2025-04-22 131110.png

I think you can actually replace the followers without taking the head off, you can slide them out the front if you remove the bumper. Re the screws and line, have you by any chance got a link for them at all? Thanks!

The whole front end will have to come off in that case mate not just the bumper.

VANOS line:
https://auto.helperformance.com/hel-braided-vanos-oil-supply-line-for-bmw-3-series-e46-m3-s54

Uprated screws:
07129905536 x 12 from BMW

Thanks! Yea I saw that a lot of the front needs to come off, not sure what's easier, that or taking the head off?

 

[GT Spec]

No idea on the followers and cams, it's got great service history but I think at some point in its life someone has used the wrong oil or not changed it enough.
I'll be honest, new Schrick cams and followers is out of my budget so for the time being I've just a good condition used set that are going in. It's had the rod bearings done already so that's one less thing to worry about thankfully!


I've bought a fully rebuilt vanos (send back my old one) with the following done:
Screenshot 2025-04-22 131110.png

I think you can actually replace the followers without taking the head off, you can slide them out the front if you remove the bumper. Re the screws and line, have you by any chance got a link for them at all? Thanks!

The whole front end will have to come off in that case mate not just the bumper.

VANOS line:
https://auto.helperformance.com/hel-braided-vanos-oil-supply-line-for-bmw-3-series-e46-m3-s54

Uprated screws:
07129905536 x 12 from BMW

Thanks! Yea I saw that a lot of the front needs to come off, not sure what's easier, that or taking the head off?

Taking the head off isn’t too terrible tbh plus it gives you the chance to change the head gasket as a preventative measure if the mileage is high. Extra cost on the gasket kit obviously.