Vanos Actuator Rebuild

[scottinAZ]

Not a how-to or a tutorial here, but just wanted to share the difference made in the performance by changing out the seals.

Cost was minimal, Time took about an hour, and the difference in running and performance was a bit surprising.

Old Vanos had about 150K on it, and will self retract with no help other than gravity now that the unit is out of the car. Musta been leaking like a son of a bitch when in place. seals show almost NO friction when manually moving in and out of the piston bore.

New reman unit is stiff, but not hard to move, and holds position when moved.

Used the Beisan kit for those interested. Well worth the investment

[bastianshaw]

so what was the difference made in performance?

[scottinAZ]

better off idle performance, no hesitation at 3500rpm (vanos actuation point) where it would stumble before. butt dyno shows a +10 to midrange performance.

as I stated though, my VANOS was pretty well knackered. the piston showed almost no resistance to movement by hand, whereas the new reman unit shows that the seals are indeed making contact, felt through resistance to movement.


Not so much an upgrade but a return to specifications is what was experienced. well worth the 30 bucks and an hour and a half of labor

[treff-7]

What were the symptoms? Did you have the marbles effect?
Mine has the marbles and a little hesitation. Trying to figure out if i only need to change the seals or the spring plate as well. Maybe adjusting the bearings...
Thanks!

[scottinAZ]

had a bit of the marbles, but mostly hesitation. I did not do the bearing adjustment, endplay was not severe enough to warrant it in my case.

[treff-7]

did the marbles go away after?
looks like i need to do both seals and bearings... crash course on vanos! yey!
at least it will be taken care of.

[scottinAZ]

marbles seem to have quieted down, but they werent that loud to begin with. its easier than the tutorian on Beisan makes it seem

[treff-7]

Did you use the vanos tool? My only concern is me f**king up the timings...

I don't remember hearing the vanos making any noise after swapping the engine in. It started doing it about a week or two after. Actually I noticed it then but I did rev it a bit after the swap-in and I would have noticed the marbles I'm sure. I'm thinking the oil might be too thin and after the trapped old oil cleared out it started making noise. I used 0-40w fully synthetic.

[scottinAZ]

im using 15w-40 in mine, and it was quiet. I have an early 95 motor, so the vanos does not have the spring plate on the intake cam. only tool I needed was the lock blocks (cant use the crank tool with the flywheel I have. being methodical and careful will prevent issues with the timing. once I locked the cams and took the nuts off the vanos plate, easy pressure had it off in about 2 seconds. install was just as easy, offer it up, and make the first engagement with the cam, and you are good to go. use the oil marks on the cams if you are unsure if its correct, the staining will show fresh areas if you are not back where you were before. its pretty idiot proof (though I have met some that could fuck it up)

[treff-7]

i'll give it a shot then. mine is a '97 s52 so it has the spring plate but it's hard to believe that it would fail. most likely it's the bearings. according to beisan the s52 vanos is more sensitive to wear due to the more aggressive cam.
i think i can weld something up to lock the cams. i guess if i mark the position of pretty much every part i can then i can't go wrong... and then i have the oil marks like you said.
thanks for the info!

[AnimalE30]

Did you use the vanos tool? My only concern is me f**king up the timings...

I don't remember hearing the vanos making any noise after swapping the engine in. It started doing it about a week or two after. Actually I noticed it then but I did rev it a bit after the swap-in and I would have noticed the marbles I'm sure. I'm thinking the oil might be too thin and after the trapped old oil cleared out it started making noise. I used 0-40w fully synthetic.

I was worried about this too. I re-did mine about 3 times after I thought it was good lol. Just get the right tools and read up on multiple peoples how to's.

[scottinAZ]

see if someone local has the tools. much easier than trying to mickey mouse it and fucking up the timing. Most areas have someone that has a set that will borrow/rent them