Vanos Bulletproof at 64k?

[Cubieman]

My car has 64K on it and everything seems fine, the previous owner supposedly had VANOS bolts done so I assume that would mean he did the cam bolts.

I was wanting to bulletproof this thing but wondered if I'm jumping the gun due to low mileage. I am the 4th owner though and I have no idea how good or bad the car was treated in the past. Overall the car seems to have been very well cared for and many preventative maintenance items have been taken care of.

In my reading I see that replacing oil disc is a must if your in there, but replacing the Exhaust Hub is only advisable IF you see damage. I thought the breaking of those tabs on the exhaust hub was the "big deal" thing to go wrong.

Unless you had the Exhaust Hub MPI inspected or something similar how would you know if it's OK, just by seeing the tabs are still attached? So wouldn't a full "lockdown" also involve replacing the Exhaust hub as well?

Considering getting the built/cleaned unit from another forum member here, he does not use a beisan oil disc though, he re-drills them himself.

[ethan]

The exhaut hub tabs break due to excessive clearance in the oil pump disc holes. The hub design itself is fine if you get a Beisan disc to correct the clearance issues before a tab breaks.

Even BMW engineers thought they'd get away with increasing the clearance on the S54 VANOS just a bit from the S50B32 design in order to make VANOS installation easier, but turns out it needs to be perfect. I would only trust Raj with my oil disc.

[ATB88]

64k isn't jumping the gun, it's preventative maintenance. Did mine at 50k. Yes the biggest thing you're trying to do is eliminate the possibility of an exhaust tab breaking off and grenading your engine, which, sure, is probably more likely at higher mileage with harder driving, but never out of the question on a lower mileage car. Therefore I think that it's one of the first things that should be done to any E46 M3 one obtains, no matter how low the mileage. I think the consensus on exhaust hub tabs is that if you can't see any cracks or anything like that developing, it's okay. As far as we know, there has never been a reported case of a stock exhaust hub failing after installing a Beisan disk, so, this seems to hold up. So I would go in expecting not to have to replace your hub, and if you get in there and somehow your hub has visible damage, then order a new one. Even if you're low mileage and your VANOS is still working great, it still makes sense to replace all the seals etc while you're in there because the replacement Beisan seals won't wear out nearly as quickly as stock seals, so, again, it's just good preventative maintenance regardless of mileage.

[kaiv]

Vanos bulletproof is not so much mileage or usage related (like rod bearings). Any and all S54 can benefit from it, regardless of mileage.
The lowest mileage broken hub I've seen was on a 15k garage queen. The engine looked brand new and the car was so clean it could've been in a museum!

[terra]

My car's original hub failed at 60k. Second hub had a hairline crack at 120k.

[ethan]

My car's original hub failed at 60k. Second hub had a hairline crack at 120k.

Both on stock disc?

[terra]

Both on stock disc?

Yeah, happened before aftermarket discs were available.

[ethan]

Yeah, happened before aftermarket discs were available.

That's rough!

[COVID-19]

I got mine taken care of around 45k. (Wasn’t able time sleep at night)

[Cubieman]

So I may buy the VANOS unit compete and return mine as ancore. So I'll be taking the vanos assembly off, and sticking on another one with Beisan parts installed. I also want to do the cam bolts.

With that in mind what specialty tools besides the bridge camshaft timing tool would I need? There is a pin to hold the crankshaft at TDC correct?

Also with that bridge I see it comes with 1 pin, is getting a 2nd pin a good idea and/or necessary?

Does removing/replacing the Cam Bolts require any other speciality tools and/or timing changes?

From what I think I understand you are NOT timing the engine when doing a Vanos parts replacement, you are simply holding crank TDC and locking both cams with the bridge tool and removing, replacing then reassembling everything.

I will be thoroughly reading all the DIYs posted but had a quick break at work and wanted to ask a few basic questions.

[terra]

Not a whole lot of point to doing that. It doesn't save as much labor as you think

No need for a second pin. Doesn't help, might actaully make things work.

If you loosen the hub bolts, you will have to retime the engine. So getting to the cam bolts will require that as well.

[ATB88]

With that in mind what specialty tools besides the bridge camshaft timing tool would I need? There is a pin to hold the crankshaft at TDC correct?

All tools (down to exact sizes of wrenches and sockets and cleaning supplies) needed for the job are listed in the Beisan procedures I linked in your other thread. But as far as "specialty" tools go: The timing bridge (which comes with one pin to lock a cam in place, you don't need two), the crankshaft locking pin (different from the timing bridge pin) which locks the engine to TDC at the harmonic balancer, and a water pump pulley tool that holds your water pump pulley in place while you try and wrench your fan clutch off of it -- this last one isn't strictly needed, as there are ways of doing without, but might as well make it easier Also, magnets for cleaning the valve body, if those count as "special tools"

I agree with Terra that once you've got the VANOS off, cleaning the unit up and doing the seals isn't much work compared to everything else you will have done overall, but if you want to spend the money no harm I guess.

If you're not doing cam bolts/rattle/chain guide and just switching out the VANOS unit itself, then timing is not affected and you don't need the timing bridge or the crankshaft locking pin, there's no need to lock anything in place since everything will rotate together and keep in time if it rotates.

Also, unless you've had one quite recently, makes sense to do a valve adjustment while you're in there. In that case you'll need shims, feeler gauges, and a BMW shim removal tool. You can rent these easily and cheaply from the tool rental thread, and just replace whatever individual shims you end up using from the kit with new ones (which are very cheap).

[heinzboehmer]

So I may buy the VANOS unit compete and return mine as ancore.

Honestly the most labor intensive part of the job is getting the VANOS unit off. Seals and pump disk replacements are very easy. Cleaning might be time consuming depending on how dirty your VANOS is, but again not hard.

[Cubieman]

Honestly the most labor intensive part of the job is getting the VANOS unit off. Seals and pump disk replacements are very easy. Cleaning might be time consuming depending on how dirty your VANOS is, but again not hard.

OK, I think I've been convinced I will rebuild mine instead, plus I will forever know that I didn't get the "full vanos experience"

I just liked the idea of NOT re-timing plus from what I have read (not much) the Beisan anti-rattle can be a pain.

I have never worked on engine internals and have a lot of reading to do, timing my M3's engine just scares the s**t out of me right know with my current knowledge level.

[terra]

As I mentioned, if the hubs are loosened, you can't avoid retiming.

Timing these things is pretty easy compared to most other engines anyway.