VANOS Question

[scubastove]

Please see attached service record. I have to confirm with the shop, but does this mean my car's VANOS system has been taken care of? Thanks!

[Tbonem3]

Looks like they disassembled and retimed, replacing the bolts and chain guide. You'll at least want the Besian pump disk, if you have an exh hub with good tabs. You can also get better o-rings for the vanos sealing plate.

They charged $50 for fancy Wurth parts cleaner? Good grief.

[WOLFN8TR]

They charged $50 for fancy Wurth parts cleaner? Good grief.

It's funny that's the most expensive thing on the parts list! They should of went with the complete Beisan Systems vanos upgrades. Pump disk, seals, anti rattle kit and upgraded chain guide.

[ATB88]

Please see attached service record. I have to confirm with the shop, but does this mean my car's VANOS system has been taken care of? Thanks!

The good news is that the trickier stuff has been taken care of -- the stuff that requires you to have to re-time the engine afterwards. If you want to have your VANOS fully taken care of, as mentioned, you need to replace your oil pump disc with a Beisan one, and then at that point you might as well also do the seals and replace the solenoid pack. But that stuff is pretty easy to DIY since it doesn't mess with the timing, so, it would be cheap and pretty straightforward to finish bulletproofing your VANOS yourself at this point.

[DanAvoN7]

Please see attached service record. I have to confirm with the shop, but does this mean my car's VANOS system has been taken care of? Thanks!

Based on the info there they replaced the upper chain guide with a Genuine OE BMW part (this part commonly breaks ~85-90K miles) and addressed the cam gear bolts (unlikely they used thread locker) and hub bolts. They did not address other inherent issues within the vanos system such as the vanos oil pump disk. So in short.. no, your vanos system has not been "taken care of" and it is advised to install the full line of Beisan Systems vanos parts to really address the root problems within the system.

They charged $50 for fancy Wurth parts cleaner? Good grief.

At a quantity of 10 bottles in total, not just one bottle hehe. While it is on the higher side for brake parts cleaner there could have been a lot of oil/grime from previous vanos oil leaks in that area. I actually like seeing this on an invoice in hopes that the tech cleaned the area he/she worked in so it's cleaned up like new and if there happen to be other leaks on the engine those can be easier to identify. I've seen a lot of vanos overhauls in which people simply remove the vanos, change the seals and oil pump disk, and slap it back on the car leaving a huge mess of oil/grime on the engine from previous leaks. The leaks may be fixed.. They may not be.. But you won't know unless you clean the area.

Example of what a typical cylinder head looks like once the vanos is removed. All very common oil leaks from the vanos, vanos valve body sealing plate, etc.


New cam gear bolts installed with thread locker, new Beisan Systems upper timing chain guide, and area cleaned of previous vanos oil leaks

[Arith2]

Maybe they cleaned the solenoid pack out and used a few cans for that. Could just be hidden labor fees. 10 cans is alot, even for someone who loves brake cleaner.